Dynasty Warriors 6 – Ma Chao Guide

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                            Dynasty Warriors 6
                          (Shin Sangoku Musou 5)
                             
                           Ma Chao Character FAQ
                                         
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Dynasty Warriors 6 Ma Chao Character FAQ
Version 1.0
Created by: Kresselack the Black Wolf, on the 29th day of February, 2008
My email address is: MaBairui AT gmail DOT com


Table of Contents:
1) Intro and Updates
2) Who was Ma Chao?
3) Changes Made in DW 6
4) How to Unlock Ma Chao
5) Move Set
6) Yes, Ma Chao Has no Musou Mode
7) Weapons
7a) Horses
8) Costumes, Stats, and Skills
8a) Ma Chao the Splendid
8b) Stats
8c) Skill Tree
9) FAQs
10) Credits and Thanks
11) Legal Information

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1) Intro and Updates
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When my friend first introduced me to the Dynasty Warriors series, I had read
up on the generals in the games. Of the ones I read about, Ma Chao was the one
that I became really interested in. To my dismay, my friend didn't have him
unlocked when he brought the game over (He was stuck at Hu Lao Gate because he
kept trying to kill Lu Bu). I bought the game later and quickly remedied that.

Since my first DW game, Ma Chao has always been the first I try to unlock, the
first to get his ultimate weapon, and the first to get maxed out.


Updates: Future updates will be listed here.

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2) Who was Ma Chao?
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Born in the year 175 AD, Ma Chao died at the age of 47 in 222 AD

The following is from the in-game encyclopedia:

The eldest son of Ma Teng, he recieved the nickname "Ma Chao the Splendid" due
to his skills as a warrior. In an attempt to avenge his father, he commanded an
army of troops from Xi Liang to attack Cao Cao at Chang An, but lost. He later
went on to serve Liu Bei, where he proposed numerous strategies, such as the
capture of Han Zhong. He was counted among Shu's Five Tiger Generals.

In battle Ma Chao would wear a lion-shaped helm. a belt with the faces of
various beasts, and armor made of silver over a white robe. Seeing his majestic
figure, people began calling him "Ma Chao the Splendid." It is said even the
great warriors Cao Cao and Liu Bei used the nickname in awe upon seeing Ma Chao 
in the enemy lines.

For more information on Ma Chao you may look at:
http://www.kongming.net/novel/kma/machao.php
http://www.kongming.net/novel/sgz/machao.php
http://www.kongming.net/novel/sgz/machao-2.php

In the game Ma Chao's greatest enemy is Cao Cao, and you will hear unique
dialogue when the two battle each other. Shortly before Ma Chao died, he is
said to have written something to this effect to Liu Bei: "I used to have
some two hundred members in my household but they were mostly killed by
Cao Cao, except for my younger cousin and follower Ma Dai. He is the only
person left to continue the family line, hence I sincerely place him in your
care and I will have no regrets."

Ma Chao's friend in-game is Zhao Yun, and you will also hear unique dialogues
when the two of them are fighting alongside each other.


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3) Changes Made in DW 6
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Dynasty Warriors 6 made some major changes to the game. Here I will list how
they affect Ma Chao specifically.

- All characters now attack off the right side of the horse, removing him from
the exclusive Shadow Saddle domination club of DW 4 and 5 infamy.
- Ma Chao has only 1 weapon design
- Ma Chao has no Musou Mode of his own
- Most of the usual pre-Shu Ma Chao battles are not in the game i.e. Tong Gate
- Shares basic moveset with Taishi Ci, Sun Ce, Zhang He

Those are the major ones I can remember right now. I was skeptical at first,
too, but eventually the game, and the new Ma Chao, grew on me.

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4) How to Unlock Ma Chao
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It is not difficult to unlock Ma Chao in DW 6. You need to unlock the Wei side
of Battle of Han Zhong. The way to do this is to play Sima Yi's Musou mode to
the 4th stage, which is Han Zhong. Once you have the stage, you can unlock
Ma Chao in the Musou mode or on Free mode on any difficulty.

Playing the Wei side of Han Zhong, you must complete the 2nd Target:
Defeat Ma Chao, Zhang Fei, and Zhao Yun in 15 minutes.

You must score the kills on them, as with other Kill X officer targets, or else
you fail the target and will have to try again.

It is not hard to do this target, you should start right near Zhao Yun,
depending on which character you picked, anyway. Ma Chao will advance across
the bottom of the map then head north up the west side, Zhang Fei advances
north up the east side.

Once you get the target done, you just need to complete the level, save, and
Ma Chao is yours.

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5) Move Set
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Ma Chao uses the same but different moveset as Zhang He, Sun Ce, and Taishi Ci.
If you're concerned that he's a 'clone,' try playing him before the others,
that way it may seem like he is the master character and the others are the
'clones.' Regardless, there are some differences between the 4 spear users.
The skill tree also helps provide some variation between them.


Note: Buttons listed for moves are for the 360 version.

Normal Attacks (X+): Right slash, left slash, upward-right slash, thrust,
repeat.
Renbu Level 2: Same as above, with another right slash and a spin-slash
added at the end.
Renbu Level 3: Same as level 2, with a left, then right slash, followed by a
hard swing left and then a hard swing right at the end.
Infinite Renbu: Same as level 3, with another left then right slash, followed
by a series of slashes at the end.

Power Attack (Y+): An upwards swing of his glaive, spins around and
swings it again when button is hit again.
Renbu level 2:  Same as above, with a 3rd spin-swing available.
Renbu Level 3:  Same as above, with a 4th spin-swing available.
Infinite Renbu: Same as above, with a thrust and airwave added to finish it.

Held Power Attack(Y held): Does a little spin and performs a slash in a wide
arc ahead of him (Not sure if it improves as Renbu is gained, saw no change)

Dash Attack (X after the green glow shows up): Slides along the ground and
slashes across the front
Power Dash Attack (Y after the green glow shows up): Leaps forwards, doing a
spinning slash in the air

Jump Attack (X in the air): Slashes downwards ahead of him
Jump Charge (Y in the air): Jumps even higher in the air, slashing his
glaive down as he lands resulting in a small shockwave-like blast in front
of him

Mounted Attack (X+): Slashes to the right side of the horse, 4 hits, pause,
repeat.
Renbu level 2:  Same as above, 5 hits.
Renbu Level 3:  Same as above, 7 hits.
Infinite Renbu: Same as above, 9 hits.
Mounted Power Attack (Y): Strong swing to the right side of horse
Mounted Musou (B): Normal attacks, ending with a power attack

Musou (B): Mainly the same as the basic attacks, on every thrust an air wave
will be shot out as well, ends with a strong thrust, small shockwave thing,
and an air wave.
True Musou(B when near death): Adds flame element to the above and standard
True Musou bonuses, adds a slash combo before the final thrust.

Deadlock (Hit X rapidly to win): Kicks back the enemy and slashes them

Grab (Hold LB and X): Stabs enemy, pulls spear around behind him and stabs
again from the other side of his body
Power Grab (Hold LB and Y): Does a flip-stab, then does a wide swipe around
him

Special (LT): Truespeed - Lets you move really fast and perform kills on the
run. It also applies to your horse, resulting in insanely fast speed.
Basic Attack (X while running): Same as normal dash attack, maybe better range
Power Attack (Y): Same as normal Power dash attack, except greater range



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6) Yes, Ma Chao Has no Musou Mode
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Ma Chao, along with 24 other characters, does not have a Musou Mode in DW 6.
If there has been official word as to why that is so, I haven't seen it.
It does make some sense, since some of the characters were in few, if any
battles. That logic is completely negated since the farb campaigns of Lu Bu
and Diao Chan exist, however. I do have to say that Lu Bu's Musou is some what
entertaining, especially later on, so it does make up for the missing Musou
modes, if only a little.

Since Ma Chao does not get a Musou mode, you will be playing him in Free mode,
unless you have someone to play as player 2 on co-op Musou modes with.

Make-your-own-Musou: There are a few stages where Ma Chao is present that you
can actually play. (Mt. Ding Jun, Han Zhong for example) Other than that, feel
free to go after Cao Cao as much as you can, Ma Chao's thirst for justice will
have it no other way.


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7) Weapons
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The weapons system has been redone for DW 6. Instead of the weapon itself
granting additional attacks to the combo, the new Renbu system provides that.
Similar to DW 5, there are 3 types of weapons. Standard, average attack,
grants more range as renbu gauge fills. Skill, low attack, grants faster attack
speed as renbu gause fills. And Strength, high attack, makes normal attacks
stronger as renbu gause fills.

Since Ma Chao does not get a Musou Mode, he only has one appearance for his
weapon. (Musou Mode characters have one for each type, although if you look at
Gan Ning's, for example, the Skill/Standard look like what a 1st, 2nd, or 3rd
grade weapon would look like on older games, while the Strength is a 4th)

Ma Chao's weapon does not look bad at all, and let's face it, most Ma Chao
fans would rush to get his 4th, meaning they'd be looking at the same weapon
design for the majority of their playtime anyway.

Ironhorse Glaive - Standard

Warsteed Glaive - Skill

Dragonrun Glaive - Strength


How to get the best weapon?: He Fei Castle on Chaos seems to be a good place
for farming weapons. It's relatively easy to accomplish the targets and end
the stage. For a detailed strategy for this see donthatemaleks Character/Horse
Guide at GameFAQs. I suppose any difficult stage on Chaos difficulty should
work.

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7a) Horses
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Horses are a deadly weapon in this game. They can be trained to level 5, and
get a variety of skills. Since Ma Chao lost his exclusivity to right-side
attacks, he doesn't feel nearly as unbalanced on a horse. He is still quite
competent, and most of my 20,000+ K.O.s with him were acquired while mounted.
Personally I like Renbu Gait on my horse, one of 2 skills it may acquire at
level 4, that makes your Renbu not go down while you are out of combat. The
other skills and element don't matter too much. Ice seems to be rarer than the
other ones.

If you want specific skills/element on your horse, remember not to save and
re-load the game to try again. Also be careful going from 2-3 because if you
get too many K.O.s on the horse you will jump to 4, meaning you may get what
you were looking for at level 3, then get screwed over on 4 and have to do it
all over again.

Considers the world is the best eyes, followed by in clarity, miss nothing, and
finally gazes into the distance. Body has Heavenly as best, and to be honest I
am not sure how the others stack up. Untold power is low starting stats, high
gains, Well-balanced is average for both, and superior is high start, low gain.

If you get a horse with high attack/destruction, you can inflict massive
damage on enemies. I had a horse with 400+ for both and was able to kill the
super-powered Zhang Fei at Chang Ban in 3 charges.


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8) Costumes, Stats, and Skills
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I've given these their own sub-sections, so, read on if you're interested.

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8a) Ma Chao the Splendid
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Ma Chao, like any other character, has been changing in appearance as the games
progress. The only thing that drastically changes really is his helm. In this
game it is nearly gone, he has a golden circlet type thing instead, which
exposes whitish-blonde hair. Here are links to his DW 6 appearance:
http://koeiwarriors.co.uk/artworks/dw6/arts/a-machao.jpg
http://koeiwarriors.co.uk/artworks/dw6/arts/a-machao2.jpg

I think he looks pretty good, and there's really nothing to complain about as
he *could* have ended up like Cao "I like armor" Ren or, shudder, Dong Zhuo.
Thankfully, the latter's definitely not likely to happen, we hope.

Secondary Costume: Reach level 25 as Ma Chao to unlock his second costume. He
now has golden armor, yellow-blonde hair, and most of his clothing is yellow.
Personally it looks like he fell into yellow dye to me, don't really like it.

Voice Gallery: Reach level 50 as Ma Chao and you can then listen to all his
dialogue in the Camp.

Interesting note: In DW 6 if you play a character and fight an enemy that's
that character, the enemy will use the other costume. (I don't recall if the
other games did that or not) Quick way to see what their alternate costume is.

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8b) Stats
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In DW 6 your stats increase as you gain levels or when you choose them at the
skill tree. The maximum amount is 1000 for each, but only Lu Bu will have all
1000s, as far as I know. Since I do not have that many characters maxed out at
the moment, I am not sure how Ma Chao compares, but he seems pretty good to
me, mostly since he was the first one I maxed out.

Ma Chao's Max Stats:
Life    - 946
Musou   - 953
Attack  - 976
Defense - 962

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8c) Skill Tree
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Ma Chao's skill tree is in the shape of a horse, and was the first
skill tree shape I noticed. To see his skill tree please go to:
http://www.geocities.com/muninoshinyu/shinobu/ssm5/tree_eng_shu.html

Ma Chao gets the standard ability + skills, renbu skills, and the following
'unique' skills:

Horsemanship - Raises your horse's abilities to their fullest.

Recovery - Improves effect of recovery items.

Ice Resist - Nullifies ice elemental attacks.

Thunder Resist - Nullifies lightning attacks.

Spirit - Musou increases faster.

Pouch - Allows you to carry up to 2 Tomes and they will appear more frequently.

Bonus Special - Receive one Tome for every 300 K.O.s.

Battlecry - Stuns nearby enemies while using your special attack.

Rush - Inflicts heavy damage on weak enemies by touching them while using True
Speed.

Power Rush - Defeats weak enemies by touching them while using True Speed.

Stamina - Increases the duration of your special attacks.

Note: You will have enough points to get every skill upon reaching level 50.


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9) FAQS
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Q) Are there really no 4th weapons?
A) Yes, as far as I know there aren't any ultimate weapons available. It's all
down to luck now, just like finding horses.

Q) Speaking of horses, how do I get the Shadow Runner/Red Hare/etc.?
A) I'd expect a Horse FAQ to be on GameFAQs at some point, but you need to get
a Considers the World for eyes/Heavenly for body horse. Dark dark black for
Shadow Runner, Red for Red Hare, White for Hex Mark, they all do unique things
though, so don't be too upset if you get an Auburn or Dapple.
Level it up with Ma Chao, or any character with Horsemanship Skill. If it has
the proper stats, all 485+ I believe, it will become a King of that type. If it
was a Red horse, it will also change in appearance to DW 6's monster Red Hare.
It seems to be all up to luck on obtaining the Consider/Heavenly mounts, too.

Q) Why doesn't Ma Chao get a musou mode?
A) I don't know, but most of the battles that should be in it aren't in the
game, any way.

Q) Will Chao be improved in the inevitable DW 6:XL?
A) Again, I certainly don't know. I would imagine Pang De and the other lost
characters will be making a return, possibly ultimate weapons will be added.

Q) What's with Ma Chao's justice obsession? It makes me want to mute the TV!
A) Much like Zhang He is obsessed with beauty, Ma Chao is obsessed with
justice. He seems less spear-obsessed in this game, I can only recall his
Musou attack talking about the spear.

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10) Credits and Thanks
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Thanks to:
http://koeiwarriors.co.uk/- For having the pictures of Ma Chao and other DW
series stuff.
Those involved with crafting this game, for obvious reasons.
http://www.kongming.net/ - For their extensive selection of officer bios.
GameFAQs, for obvious reasons.


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11) Legal Information
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All trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are owned by their
respective trademark and copyright holders.

Copyright 2008 AD by B. A. Middleton