Destiny of an Emperor II Shu Generals

Destiny of an Emperor 2

Ideal Playable Characters

Unlike Destiny of an Emperor, there is some choice towards the end of the game as to who you should use. Nearly everyone that joins gains soldiers so everyone keeps up. Since "ideal" is really a very vague term, I'll tend to list your options and let your preference decide from there.

Chapter 1 -

You don't have many options here. Of course you could reject Cao Cao's help and not use Lu Zhao or Zhu Ling at all. That's not advised but I can't imagine it would matter other than maybe you have to build up a level or two before you get to Yuan Shu. When you get back, the former two flee and Guan Yu and Zhang Fei are lost in a retreat from Cao Cao. Thus Liu Bei and Chen Deng leave towards Ji Zhou.

Chapter 2 -

Not much here. You get these two jokers who get destroyed by the "Mysterious Warrior" ala Guan Yu. The scene then shifts to Guan Yu for chapter 3.

Chapter 3 -

Well get used to these three, you are going to have them for a while. Zhou Cang is decent for a while but ultimately the worst of the three. Guan Ping is decent overall and has a high soldier count. That Zhao Yun guy, yeah, he'll be in your army from here until the end and you will use him always. Tactics, fighting, whatever, he'll do it for you. Zhao was a unanimous choice as the top playable general of Destiny of an Emperor 1, but unfortunately he loses his top slot this time to the beefed up Jiang Wei. Still, Zhao Yun is no worse than the 3rd best general you can get and he is probably number 2 (some others may prefer Zhuge) as he is a rock in your lineup.

Chapter 4 -

It's a good thing it is only Zhuge here. Look, tactics are as dominant if not more than they were in the original DoaE, so Zhuge is a beast needless to say. He is faster and he can An Sha anyone other than those who aren't allowed to be An Sha-ed. Unfortunately he is in and out of your party but when he is in I would advise cutting your party to 5 or appointing a different tactician because Zhuge is much improved in battle. Top 5 general, no doubt.

Chapter 5 -

Well you really can only have Lu Su, and he is only for a limited amount of time (he leaves when you complete the Wu Alliance). Taishi Ci and Zhou Yu are involved in the battle against Cao Cao but you are not allowed to control them. Lu Su, consequently, is a solid general for when you have him.

Chapter 6 -

Well hey, you get some generals finally. Yi Ji is mandatory to have when you enter the Ma house. Wei Yan joins immediately after the Chang Sha battle and plug him in and leave him there until you get Ma Dai and Ma Chao. That's what I do, some people prefer using Huang Zhong here. Ma Su is also a good general who has versatile stats and leans towards tactics so he is good in battle. Ma Liang is probably too weak to be using in battle but he can help out as a strategist if you need to use Zhuge in battle or something. With Zhuge in battle and the Zhao/Guan/Zhang trio taking up 3 spots, that leaves 1 spot for the three new generals. Again I suggest Wei Yan but using Huang Zhong or Ma Su won't kill you.

Chapter 7 -

So your team is getting cluttered right now, especially if you picked up Zhang Lu. If you picked him up, he is a must use. Over all of these characters here. A top 5 general in his own right, he is probably 4th or so as his progress slows down immensely towards the end. Meng Da is a solid general whom you might use for a while in the Han Zhong area. Also you get the Ma brothers who are very good themselves. Luckily Zhao Yun and Guan Yu are away so use the two in their spot along with Pang Tong, Zhang Lu, and Zhang Fei. Liao Hua and Fa Zheng are nice recruits but are nothing more than experiments if you want to make the game harder.

Chapter 8 -

The Shu area offers four of it's best generals to your army after each of them loses to you at their respective castles. Sadly there is a good chance that none of them will see any play time. Yan Yan has to be considered the best of these, as Lei Tong and Wu Lan are fighters that you have in multitudes. Wu Yi has some unique stats but they are a little too low unfortunately. Jiang Wan is mandatory for the battle at Yinping, but should be put on the bench right afterwards. Again, use them if you wish, but Zhang Lu and the Ma brothers are going to be taking some spots in your party for a while.

Chapter 9 -

Well, Guan Xing and Zhang Bao join you here. Guan Xing is slightly worse than Guan Yu, but still a top ten general I'd say. Zhang Bao is good, but not as good as Ma Chao or Ma Dai. Because of this and the fact that you cannot take Zhang Bao out of your party, there is the option of not recruiting him to free up a slot. This can be done but if you pick him up that is not a bad choice either but it may annoy you later when you are trying to get 5 members and you have to use him and his 90 intelligence. Jiang Wei is the best general in the game, simply put. Over 200 strength with 240 and 245 for his intelligence and agility respectively, quite the beast. You will be using him also until the end. Your party will vary when people leave, but the best party in my opinion would be Guan Xing, Zhao Yun, Zhuge Liang, Jiang Wei, and Zhang Lu. The Ma brothers or Zhang Bao are the other three to consider at this juncture.

Chapter 10 -

Well, Guan Suo is your last general as he comes in for Guan Xing. With 250 attack, he more than makes up for the lost intellect and agility. Okay, so you have all the characters now. If you got Zhang Lu, your party should have him, Guan Suo, Jiang Wei, Zhao Yun, and Zhuge Liang in it. Their intelligence is as follows; 190, 160, 240, 200, 255. With the dangerous Wei tacticians, you don't want a 90 (Zhang Bao) in there. Otherwise, shift in Ma Chao for Zhang Lu, or Zhang Bao if you have to use him. Hopefully this party can get you over the top against Sima Yi.

The List

1. Jiang Wei - Str. 210 - Int. 240 - Agi. 245 - No contest. Add those stats up. No one else is close cumulatively. Did I mention he consistently has the best or second best soldier total?

2. Zhao Yun - Str. 240 - Int. 200 - Agi. 180 - The champ from DoaE 1 is back, lacking strength by 5 and intelligence by 16 but he seems faster than he was in DoaE1. It's not really that he's much worse but that DoaE 2 decided to make Jiang Wei god.

3. Zhuge Liang - Str. 80 - Int. 255 - Agi. 155 - His stats don't add up to anything crazy, but 255 is pretty good I heard. I don't care if it's only a bit higher than Pang Tong or Ma Liang, when you get to the later stages of Wei that 255 is absolutely necessary.

4. Zhang Lu - Str. 170 - Int. 190 - Agi. 175 - What a quality overall general. Why is he so good? Oh, because he has 5100 soldiers at the beginning of Han Zhong. His ability levels off once your other characters catch up, but for the first hour you get him he is an absolute monster.

5. Guan Yu - Str. 245 - Int. 180 - Agi. 160 - Never underappreciate the greatness of Guan Yu. Look at those stats, and look at the sons he produces

6. Guan Xing - Str. 235 - Int. 175 - Agi. 150 - Just a tad lower than his dad in a bunch of the stats, and while he lacks the strength of Suo he surpasses him equally in intelligence and by fifteen in agility.

7. Guan Suo - Str. 250 - Int. 160 - Agi. 135 - Another quality Guan member. 250 is very rare, only Zhang Fei and Lu Bu wander in that area.

8. Ma Chao - Str. 240 - Int. 140 - Agi. 175 - Well he is a bit behind Guan Suo in strength and intelligence but his high agility boosts him up to near equal status with him.

9. Ma Dai - Str. 230 - Int. 175 - Agi. 135 - Some say he is better than Ma Chao. Depends what you need, but the intelligence is a plus definitely.

10. Pang Tong - Str. 150 - Int. 245 - Agi. 125 - So his agility is a little low. If you had him for a longer time he'd be up higher on the list with that intelligence and strength. I mean, his tactics are only 10 points below Zhuge's....and that is with 70 more strength points.

11. Huang Zhong - Str. 220 - Int. 175 - Agi. 150 - I don't like him, but yeah I can tell his stats are better overall than Wei Yan. I swear the Bow is an overrated weapon, I never like it. Too much chance to miss once, thus making his power more in the Jiang Wan range (blech).

12. Zhang Bao - Str. 240 - Int. 90 - Agi. 145 - Well, his stats are the same as Wei Yan but he has a higher agility. Easy huh. You can skip him (ie don't talk to him after you recruit Guan Xing). This isn't as far-fetched as you'd think, it's common place with my quests. Without him you can have a party of Jiang Wei, Zhuge Liang, Ma Chao, Zhao Yun and Guan Suo as opposed to having to leave Jiang/Zhuge out for tactical purposes.

13. Wei Yan - Str. 240 - Int. 90 - Agi. 130 - Again, just a little slower than Zhang Bao. Good when you get him though. The last few times through DoaE 2 he has been getting in my dog house by getting abused by tacticians (mediocre ones too), a pet peeve of lordyuanshu (ask Zhang Fei).

14. Meng Da - Str. 180 - Int. 155 - Agi. 185 - He is fast! Only Jiang Wei is faster than he is. Don't underestimate this, he is decent strength wise also.

15. Ma Su - Str. 170 - Int. 210 - Agi. 110 - So his agility is a bit low, but his intelligence is good and his strength is okay, especially when you get him.

16. Zhang Fei - Str. 255 - Int. 60 - Agi. 120 - Why is Liu Bei's renowned brother in spot 16? Because it says 60 under Int.

17. Yan Yan - Str. 200 - Int. 160 - Agi. 135 - I'm looking at this and wondering why I'm not putting him ahead of Zhang Fei. His stats are nice, strength could be higher though.

18. Ma Liang - Str. 45 - Int. 235 - Agi. 90 - Okay so his agility and strength are crap. You can't scoff at 235 though, that's 4th best in your army.

19. Fa Zheng - Str. 110 - Int. 205 - Agi. 75 - Yeah his stats aren't crazy but we're getting to the point where 200 of something is good and he has some balance too. I said some.

20. Lu Su - Str. 105 - Int. 235 - Agi. 65 - Yeah he's better than a lot of the generals above him, but you only get him for 1 chapter. If you had him throughout the game, I'd say he'd be right around the Zhang Fei/Yan Yan area in the mid-teens.

21. Wu Lan - Str. 195 - Int. 105 - Agi. 110 - Well he is decent overall, you won't use him though.

22. Lei Tong - Str. 205 - Int. 95 - Agi. 95 - His strength is okay, everything else is mediocre.

23. Jiang Wan - Str. 140 - Int. 195 - Agi. 18 - We're certainly gettin' down there now. You know that when you see an 18 for agility.

24. Wu Yi - Str. 175 - Int. 140 - Agi. 75 - He has a decent strength/tactical blend but 75 agility doesn't work for me. These Shu generals, what's the point?

25. Guan Ping - Str. 160 - Int. 110 - Agi. 100 - Well, he can roll with you for a while. Eventually his mediocrity catches up with him. When you adopt him (back when you get him, talk to Guan Ding) his Str. and Int. raise by 10 each (the stats listed are WITHOUT the boost).

26. Liu Bei - Str. 130 - Int. 200 - Agi. 85 - Again, he could be higher but you rarely use him. When you do, his stats suffice.

27. Wen Chou - Str. 235 - Int. 40 - Agi. 70 - Talk about a short life-span in your army. You don't even get him for a battle against an opposing general, unless you count when Guan Yu kills him in a turn. Still though; what could have been with those gaudy power stats, and he was so good in the first one!

28. Yan Liang - Str. 230 - Int. 55 - Agi. 95 - Like Wen Chou, Yan Liang was once a dominant DoaE 1 character. For a few gates he brings back those memories, with nothing but critical hits. Alas, his downfall comes at the hands of Guan Yu shortly after his glory moments.

29. Liao Hua - Str. 170 - Int. 100 - Agi. 85 - This clown will enjoy your bench. I'd tell you what it's like to use him in battle but I've never used him.

30. Zhou Cang - Str. 165 - Int. 80 - Agi. 75 - Yuck, well he was good when you needed him right? Just dump him when you can, you'll be annoyed enough that you have to use him at certain points in favor of better generals or in favor of having the tactician (Zhuge) in battle. .

31. Yi Ji - Str. 40 - Int. 185 - Agi. 45 - Another yuck general, this time strength and agility related. 185 is good for something though and you'll need him in your party for a short while.

32. Chen Deng - Str. 50 - Int. 160 - Agi. 30 - Eh, he's Chen Deng. He joins you early in Xu Zhou and you'll actually use him a lot more than some of the generals on this list. Not by choice, of course.

33. Zhu Ling - Str. 120 - Int. 75 - Agi. 45 - A joke, but he's good for taking hits early on, especially if you're a beginner.

34. Lu Zhao - Str. 95 - Int. 50 - Agi. 65 - My goodness, 34/34. Thanks for these awesome generals Cao Cao, I'm sure you can't afford to give us a Xiahou or two. I'm at the point where I don't even accept Lu Zhao and Zhu Ling anymore...

DESTINY OF AN EMPEROR 2