Dynasty Warriors: Origins: How to Unlock the Halberd

How do you unlock the Halberd weapon type in Dynasty Warriors: Origins? For this Dynasty Warriors: Origins guide, we're going to provide a step-by-step walkthrough on acquiring the game's best overall weapon.

How Do You Unlock the Halberd in Dynasty Warriors: Origins?

As you play through Dynasty Warriors: Origins, you'll unlock a total of nine weapon types across the campaign. These weapon types are:

• Sword
• Spear
• Gauntlets
• Wheels
• Podao
• Staff
• Twin Pikes
• Lance
• Crescent Blade

However, there is a tenth weapon type that only one character in the whole game uses — and that's the Halberd, Lu Bu's weapon of choice.

The Halberd is probably the best overall weapon in the game, sporting massive range, long, easy-to-use combos, huge damage, and absolutely brutal Battle Arts. Even its musou rage mode is ridiculous, changing your moveset to that of an all-conquering demon. It's the ultimate power trip in Dynasty Warriors: Origins.

If you're looking for a weapon that makes you feel like a boss character, look no further than the Halberd.

Based on our own experience, there are two conditions that you need to meet in order to unlock the Halberd:

• Complete the game once, on any difficulty, with any of the three kingdoms
• Defeat Lu Bu during the Battle of Xiapi in Chapter 4 (this battle is only part of the Shu and Wei campaigns)

Once both of these conditions are met, you'll be able to purchase Halberds from weapon shops on New Game+. Buying a Halberd unlocks the weapon's progression tree, and allows Halberds to be dropped at random from enemy officers.

If you want to make the Halberd — or any other weapon type — as powerful as possible, be sure to check out our Dynasty Warriors: Origins: Best Weapons and How to Unlock Them guide.

How to Beat Lu Bu in the Battle of Xiapi

Lu Bu is at his most powerful during the Battle of Xiapi in Chapter 4, in both the Shu and Wei storylines.

This is pretty much the hardest boss fight in the whole game, and can be exceptionally difficult if you're not in New Game+, having already beaten the game at least once.

In Shu's campaign, the recommended rank is 37, while Wei's campaign recommends a rank of 36. Obviously, the higher rank you are, the better your chances of defeating Lu Bu.

The boss fight takes place after the main stage is complete, and you'll be joined by a smattering of allied officers, including Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Xiahou Dun, and Guo Jia. Don't expect much help from these allies, though. Chances are that Lu Bu's far-reaching attacks will take them down long before he's beaten, leaving you to fight alone.

As with any battle against a dangerous officer, you need to prioritise defensive actions and hit your opponent as hard as you can when they're vulnerable. For Lu Bu, it's all about parrying and dodging. Guarding isn't really an option for many of his moves, because he'll smash your guard and continue attacking.

Having a weapon with the perks that increase the timing for your parries and perfect evades may be useful here. Get used to the timing of his strikes, and react accordingly.

However, be wary of dodging too much. Dodging twice in a row is often a bad idea, as you'll be left vulnerable after the second, longer dodge, and be caught by Lu Bu's follow-up attacks anyway. Try to rely on the first, smaller dodge when you can.

What's more, perfect evades restore large chunks of your Bravery, letting you spam Battle Arts more often to maximise your damage. Again, dodging is often the way to go here, except for a number of multi-hit attacks that are much easier to deal with if you parry the first blow right off the bat.

When you eventually whittle Lu Bu down to low health, he'll activate his musou rage mode, and you'll need to break his stamina in order to stop him and finish him off for good. He'll keep reactivating this mode over and over again unless you break him and take him down.

Your best option here is to use your own musou rage mode, which should be full by this point. Just make sure not to pop it too early, before his stamina bar even appears. Whenever Lu Bu's vulnerable during this phase, you need to hit him with everything you've got.

There are also meat bun pots scattered around the back of the arena — so be sure to grab them if you're running low on healing items. And on that note, it's worth buying some of the more powerful healing items from the shop before taking this challenge on.

Again, this is a hard battle — but remember, you can always try lowering the difficulty if you're having trouble.

Did you find this guide on unlocking the Halberd in Dynasty Warriors: Origins useful? Be sure to check out our Dynasty Warriors: Origins guide for more help with the game, and then feel free to show off your own Halberd in the comments section below.