On your first playthrough ofDynasty Warriors: Origins, you’ll have nine different types of weapons available for cleaving through armies. Once you’ve finished the game, though, you’re able to start using the hidden tenth weapon; halberds. With its wide, sweeping attacks and whirlwind effects, the halberd is a throwback to classic Dynasty Warriors, especially Lu Bu’s aggressive play style.

Halberds may be a bit slower than similar weapons like crescent blades, but they make up for it with raw destructive power. Clearing a base or a large force is as easy as it gets when you bring such a mighty blade to battle.

the soul crusher halberd in a shop in dynasty warriors origins.

How To Unlock Halberds

Once you’ve completed any of the game’s storylines,load your postgame save file. It will have a new mark on the filethe same color as the faction that you supported.You’ll be taken back to the World Map, just before the final battle, with new options at the Inn for replaying past battles and events.

Once you’re in the postgame,visit a Weapon Shopin any city; they’ll have theSoul Crusher halberdavailable for400,000 coins.Even if you’ve been saving for most of the campaign, you might need to fight a few extra battles to come up with the cash - that’s a lot of money.

ziluan fights using a halberd in dynasty warriors origins.

Once you’ve purchased the Soul Crusher, you’ll start to see them drop alongside other epic-tier weapons.Epic weapons are more likely to drop on Ultimate Warrior difficulty, and when youfight battles of a higher Rankthan you currently have. Of course, both of those are extremely challenging propositions, so make sure you’re locked in!

Halberd Moveset In Dynasty Warriors: Origins

Halberds allow forHeavy Attack combosas well as Normal Attack combos, giving them more options than other weapon types. This means that there are more moves to memorize if you truly want to master the weapon, but halberds are alsopowerful enough that you can usually get by on button-mashing alone.

Thrust and sweep combo.

ziluan with a halberd after clearing zhang jiao’s army in dynasty warriors: origins.

Low sweep, launches enemies.

Left Stick + Heavy Attack while Dodging.

Jump and drill dive in the direction of the left stick.

Hold the button to throw the halberd after the jump; this is a longer animation overall, but hits and deals damage earlier.

Sweep and ground slam combo.

Flurry and ground slam combo.

Heavy Attack in midair or on horseback.

Ground slam; dismounts if used from horseback.

Halberd Musou Rage

Musou Rage works differently with halberds. Instead of letting you spend Musou instead of Bravery to power Battle Arts, halberdssupercharge their normal attackswhile in Musou Rage. During this time, you may only slowly walk, butHeavy Attacks cause you to lunge swiftly toward your target.

Using Musou Rage with a halberd equipped isone of the best ways to wear down officers, since you’re effectively immune to damage and can relentlessly hack away at them until your meter runs out. This means it’s best tosave your Musou when using a halberdfor a big finale against an enemy commander or large force.

Best Halberd Build

Halberds don’t need a lot of help, but if you’re planning to try some battles on Ultimate Warrior difficulty, you’ll need all the bonuses you’re able to get.

Halberds havethe longest reach in the game by far, so equipping a high-levelOblivion Gemis a great choice. Tacking on an extra thirty to forty percent to their already-prodigious range means that nobody in the enemy army will be safe from your wrath.

Halberds are unique in that theydon’t need to rely on Battle Artsnearly as much as other weapons; in many cases, relentless slashes are more than enough to get the job done. There are, however, a few key Arts that are always worth having in your arsenal.

As always, it’s a good idea toequip Palm Strikeso that you’re never without an option for handling enemy Special Arts. Whenever possible, though, you’ll want to useBoundless Launchinstead. It costs three Bravery instead of one, but it can interrupt Special Arts and has an extremely wide radius. It’s easily the halberd Art you’ll find yourself using the most.

Sky Crusheris a short-range jump attack with a decent area that’sgreat for multi-officer melees.Four Bravery can be a bit steep, but it’s useful for getting you some breathing room or starting off a combo.

Once you’ve gotten yourself up to Proficiency 6,Sky Blazeis good for finishing up your loadout. It provides some aerial coverage that’s useful against charge-up attacks. Note, however, that it’snot a Special Art, so it won’t interrupt everything.