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Kotaro Fuma FAQ
Warriors Orochi (A.K.A. Orochi Musou)
By ArabianShark

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Table of Contents
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1. Legal Section
2. About Kotaro Fuma
3. Unlocking Kotaro Fuma
4. Notation Used
5. Moveset
6. Weapons
7. Kotaro Fuma In A Party
8. F.A.Q.
9. Credits
10. Contact Information

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1. Legal Section
----------------

This guide may be freely, reproduced and hosted by GameFAQs, its users and any
other web sites without written notice or consent from the author. However,
telling me would be nice...

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2. About Kotaro Fuma
--------------------

Fuma Kotaro was the name adopted by the leader of the Fuma clan of ninja during
the Warring States Era of Japan.

The name Fuma means "wind demon", and, in Warriors Orochi, Kotaro is depicted
as an esoteric shinobi, even though there is no evidence supporting that Kotaro
or any member of the Fuma clan could employ supernatural techniques in combat
or otherwise.

In this game, Kotaro's fighting style depicts him employing gauntlets and able
to elongate his limbs in order to use them in the fashion of whips. He is a
Speed Characteristic character, which means he can perform an Air Dash and
stop himself mid-combo, jumping up and away.

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3. Unlocking Kotaro Fuma
------------------------

Kotaro Fuma may be unlocked in Story Mode only, in the Battle of Chang Shan
Stage (Wu Story, Chapter 2-X)

In order to unlock him, you must ensure every Supply Captain reaches your Main
Camp and defeat Kotaro Fuma, in this order. Chiefly among difficulties of this
task is:

* At least one Supply Captain might want to see Kotaro defeated before making 
his way home;
* Kotaro does tend do get close to said Supply Captain.

So, my recommended method is as follows:

- At the start of the battle, turn left and exit the Main Camp outter wall by
the East gate.
- Defeat the officer there and clear your way to the Eastern Garrison, taking
the enemy base on your way.
- Defeat the Defense Captain and the officer securing the Garrison. Kotaro will
speak and the Fuma Ninja Troop will appear, as will the Iga Ninja Troop.
- Escort your Supply Captain back home. He will leave the Garrison and proceed
West to the center of the map, then turn North towards home. You must defeat an
enemy Officer on the way, as well as some peons.
- Once the Supply Captain has safely reached your Main Camp, leave by the
Western gate and capture the Northwestern Garrison. Escort your Supply Captain
back to your Main Camp.
- Don't go to the last Garrison just yet. Notice an enemy base just to the east
of it. Capture it and clear the area around the Garrison of enemy soldiers.
- Capture the last Garrison. Kotaro will run to meet you there.
- Protect the Supply Captain. This means defeating the peons around him, but
beware: if you're using wide area of effect attacks, Kotaro might try to sneak
up on you from behind and you might accidentally defeat him too soon.
- Your Supply Captain isn't going anywhere for as long as Kotaro is around, but
fortunately, Kotaro will be far more interested in you than in the Supply
Captain, so let him follow you through the mass of peons pouring in from the
enemy base to the North.
- Make sure you run slowly enough that Kotaro can keep up with you and that you
don't inadvertently defeat him on the way. Capture the base and eliminate the
enemy peons left around it. You don't need to do away with every last one.
- Kotaro should be distracted by your own soldiers long enough for you to run
back to the Supply Captain and escort him back home.
- Once the third Supply Captain is safe, find Kotaro and defeat him. He should
pledge his allegiance to you.
- Finish the stage and Kotaro Fuma should be made available for play.

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4. Notation Used
----------------

As you might have noticed, this is an X360 FAQ, even though it may be used for
the PS2 version of this game, just as many PS2 guides may be used for the X360
version of the games they refer to. 

For this guide I'll be using the default controls of the game, which are as
follows:

X - Normal Attack.
Y - Charge Attack.
B - Musou Attack.
A - Jump.
LS - Left Analogue Stick, movement.
RB - Right Bumper, Special Attack.

I'll be referring to his moves as the sequence of buttons pushed needed to
perform said move. So "XXXYYY" refers to pressing X three times and then
pressing Y three times in rapid sequence. PS2 users should interpret this as
SSSTTT, S meaning square and T meaning triangle. Similarly, RB becomes R1 and
A becomes X for the PS2.

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5. Moveset
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The moment you unlock Kotaro Fuma, he has fourteen moves available:

X - A sideways swipe from the right to the left in front of Kotaro.
XX - Same as X, with a second swipe, from the left to the right.
XXX - Same as XX, with a roundhouse kick at the end.
XXXX - Same as XXX, with a claw thrust at the end.
Y - Kotaro stretches his arms and wraps them around himself, striking enemies.
XY - Same as X, then Kotaro slam his fist to the ground, creating a blast that
launches enemies up in the air.
XXY - Same as XX, with an elbow jab at the end.
XXXY - Same as XXX, then Kotaro elongates his arms and spins around himself.

X (while airborne) - Kotaro launches a blade of energy forward and downward.
Y (while Airborne) - Kotaro flips back and charges hands first towards the
ground, creating a small shockwave around the impact point.

RB - Kotaro grabs a foe in front of him and slams him into the ground.

NOTE: This is an improved version of his Unblockable Grab from Samurai Warriors
2. Not only is it still unblockable but also it is much faster and creates a
moderate shockwave around the spot where the enemy is slammed on the ground.
Does not use Musou.

RS+RB - Kotaro slides in the direction RS is pushed, striking prostrate foes.

NOTE: It's not as useless as it seems on paper. On time critical missions, it
may help dealing that last bit of damage to enemy officers before they recover
from the combo you just unleashed. However, it's hard to aim properly, not only
because it doesn't even try to home in on anything but also it has both a
maximum and a minimum range. I don't use it much.

Musou Attack - Kotaro runs forward whipping his right arm sideways, hitting
enemies left and right (literally).

True Musou Attack - Same as regular Musou Attack, with some kicks and a lariat
with elongated arms at the end.

NOTE: To perform a True Musou Attack, either activate your regular Musou Attack
when your character's life gauge is in the red or activate your Musou Attack,
then quickly change to another party member and activate your Musou Attack. You
may do this with only two or all three of your party members, for even further
enhanced attack strength and added effects.

AA - Air Dash. Kotaro jumps up in the air then propels himself forward. Not
much use for it in combat.

Fully leveled, Kotaro has twelve more moves available:

XXXXX - Same as XXXX, with one more claw thrust at the end.
XXXXXX - Same as XXXXX, with one more claw thrust at the end.
XXXXXXX - Same as XXXXXX, with one more claw thrust at the end.
XXXXXXXX - Same as XXXXXXX, Kotaro does a backflip and launches a blade of
energy at the end.
YY - Same as Y, with increased range.
YYY - Same as YY, with increased range.
XYY - Same as XY, with an extra claw slam at the end.
XYYY - Same as XYY, Kotaro digs one claw into the ground and dashes around it
once.
XXYY - Same as XXY, Kotaro swipes his claws upwards in front of him, stunning
enemies.
XXYYY - Same as XXYY, Kotaro launches a ball of energy that travels a moderate
distance, harming enemies.

NOTE: The ball of energy does not dissipate on impact, making it ideal for two
things: cutting down the ranks of incoming enemies and dealing with officers,
since they will take multiple hits.

XXXYY - Same as XXXY, Kotaro whips his left arm in front of him, swatting foes
four times before performing the spinning lariat.
XXXYYY - Same as XXXYY, Kotaro performs two more whipping swats before the
spinning lariat.

NOTE: This is a great crowd clearing move, and, more often than not, you might
find yourself using this against officers rather than XXYYY, which is fine,
especially because officers tend to come with a bunch of peons in tow.

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6. Weapons
----------

In Warriors Orochi, each character has four different classes of weapons he or
she can use, and Kotaro is no exception. Each weapon class has its own base
attack value, which determines how much damage it does. Each weapon has its own
attack bonus, number of slots and special effects. These may be transferred and
accumulated with the Weapon Fusion feature.

6.1 - Gauntlet

Base Attack - 9.
Your very first weapon.

6.2 - Chaos Guards

Base Attack - 19
With a name befitting Kotaro's beliefs, it delivers twice the punch of the
Gauntlet.

6.3 - Demon Claws

Base Attack - 38
With a name befitting Kotaro's appearance, it delivers twice the punch ot the
Chaos Guards.

6.4 - Thorns of Peril

Base Attack - 77
Kotaro's final and most powerful weapon. When fitted with the right effects,
it makes Kotaro a force to be reckoned with.

6.4.1 - Acquiring a Thorns of Peril

Unlike in Samurai Warriors 2, there isn't only one of each fourth weapon. In
Warriors Orochi, you may have up to eight weapons at the same time, and they
may very well all be of the fourth weapon class.

To acquire a weapon of the fourth class, you must collect every weapon on a
stage on Normal difficulty if the stage has a difficulty rating of four or more
or on either Hard or Chaos Difficulty if the stage has a difficulty rating of
three or less. I recommend you get your fourth class weapons on the Battle of
Wan Castle stage (Wu Story, Chapter 4-X). There are exactly four weapons to be
had on this level: three in wooden boxes and another dropped by Pang De. You
don't actually need to use the character you're trying to get a fourth weapon
for, for as long as he or she is in your party. Personally, I get all of my
fourth weapons hardly using anyone but Hanzo Hattori.

Here's my method to collect the weapons:

- Start by equipping Vitality, Fortitude and Karma as your Abilities. Recover
is also recommended. You won't need Impulse or Cavalier. Adrenalin might also
be a good call. Decide whether you'll be using more Charge Attacks or Musou
Attacks and take either Boost or Awakening respectively. You might even want
to take then both, or you may choose to take only one and equip either Speed,
Power or Technique, depending on what characters you're taking to battle.
- At the start, run up along the left wall until you find an officer. Just to
the right of his entry point are two crates. One of them has a weapon.
- Turn back and run all the way to the bottom of the path. There's another
weapon in a crate around that area.
- The exit point for the fleeing people has two crates on the left. A weapon
awaits inside one of them.
- You don't have to ensure the safety of any of the fleeing people, and your
Allied Commander, Yeyasu Tokugawa, is more than capable of looking after
himself, but each peasant, maidservant, lady samurai or village elder who
successfully escapes leaves you food and power ups.
- When Pang De arrives, defeat him and collect the weapon he drops. That makes
four.
- When Zhang Ji appears, defeat her. She's the toughest enemy on this stage,
but once she's done for, every character in your party might very well have
at least one weapon of the fourth class.

At least one character WILL have gained a fourth weapon. All others MIGHT get
one as well. If the character you were trying to get a fourth weapon for ends
up getting lower weapons only, check that you have Karma equipped and that
you were playing on Hard or Chaos Mode and try again.

6.4.2 - Weapon Effects

Some effects are strictly better than others, while some are arguably better
than others.

Agility - Kotaro is quite swift in his own right. It can't hurt to be a bit
swifter, but if there's another effect you'd like to add to your weapon but
don't have a free slot, this should be a prime candidate for elimination

Might - Compared to the likes of Tadakatsu Honda and Lu Bu, Kotaro is only
moderately strong. Even his fourth weapon has only a Base Attack of 77,
whereas Lu Bu's has 100. Might will enable you to deliver damage like only
the Power Characteristic characters would.

Flash - Enemies might block your attacks, which is somewhat annoying. Flash
prevents your Charge Attacks from being blocked. A must, especially if you're
playing in higher difficulty settings.

Slay - Slay increases the chance of killing a peon in a single blow and
delivers massive damage to officers. It only applies to Charge Attacks, but,
at Slay level 10, you might deliver twice as much damage to an enemy officer
than with a charge attack than you would without Slay. Highly recommended.

Brave - Increase damage against officers. How is this a bad thing? Get it.

Multi - Create doppelgangers. These copies of yourself only pop out during
Charge Attacks and remain for a little while afterwards. They don't deliver as
much damage as the original, and they might even strike only after the enemies
have been hurled away by the original blow. Not as interesting as it seems on
paper.

Drain - Refill your own life gauge with each Charge Attack that lands. With
Recuperate and Adrenalin, it becomes less useful than it would seem.

Absorb - Refill your own Musou gauge with each Charge Attack that lands. Since
there is only one Ability that lets you refil your Musou gauge during battle,
Refill, Absorb is slightly more useful than Drain. I like it.

Ice - Enemies struck by a Charge Attack may become enclosed in ice, unable to
move and take more damage while frozen. Useful, no doubt, but there's more
interesting effects to be had.

Air - Deliver more damage to airborne foes. This is only useful if you mean to
juggle your enemies a lot. Kotaro has few launching moves. Definitely not the
best choice.

Flame - Foes struck by a Charge Attack may catch fire and drop to the ground,
taking extra damage over time. Not a bad choice.

Bolt - Foes struck by a Charge Attack may be dealt extra damage and send an arc
of lightning to nearby foes, who take damage as well. My choice of element.

Range - Increases attack range. Kotaro may elongate his arms to attack, giving
him pretty decent range as it is. Still, can't hurt to reach a bit further.

Rage - The closer you are to defeat, the more powerful your attack becomes.
Pretty silly, if you ask me. If you're about to snuff it, you had better just
change characters and let your injured character rest for a bit.

6.5 - Unique Item

In Warriors Orochi, every character has a personal item they may collect in a
certain stage after certain conditions have been met. This item enhances their
abilities.

Kotaro's Unique Item is the Fuma Blood Seal. You may find it in the Battle of
He Fei Stage (Wu Story Chapter 6), on either Story Mode or Free Mode, in any
difficulty setting. Here's how:

- Kotaro worships Chaos, and even though his Clan is in service of the Hojo, he
has no master - no master he won't betray, that is. Ignore all orders you get.
- Go forth and defeat Keiji Maeda and Zheng Ji outside the castle. Don't lure
them in.
- Cruise through the battlefield and find Cao Ren near the centre of the map.
Defeat him.
- You should receive orders to defeat two Defense Captains in order to destroy
a bridge. Don't. Just keep on fighting until you have scored 300 K.O.s.
- You should receive a message saying the Unique Item has been found. It's in
the island at the middle bottom of the map, in a black box, near the upper
right corner.
- Win the battle to keep your Unique Item.

NOTE: There's no time limit, and no officer you must protect, safe for your
Allied Commander, Sun Ce, and at least one of the Defense Captains guarding the
bridge.

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7. Kotaro Fuma In A Party
-------------------------

Kotaro can pretty much do it all by himself, really. Quick and pretty strong,
all he could hope for is a way to counter enemy attacks, but that's a feat
reserved for Technique Characteristic characters. However, as a supporting
character, Kotaro may be used for his great speed to carry your whole party
across the battlefield quickly, even if you don't have a horse the likes of
Matsukaze or Red Hare.

If you're planning on using Kotaro as more than a chauffeur, I recommend, as 
his companions:

Hanzo Hattori - Not just for the irony, his counter attack is devastating. Even
if you don't use him for anything else, just having him to bail you out of a
tight spot is worth the party slot.

Keiji Maeda or Tadakatsu Honda - If you're under heavy arrow fire and it's
stopping you every which way, having someone who can take the hits and not be
stopped cold in his tracks helps a lot. And, if you're going for a Power
Characteristic character, why not make it a big one? Furthermore, both Keiji
Maeda's and Tadakatsu Honda's RB move buff up your whole party.

All of the above characters can inflict insane amounts of damage to enemy
officers in addition to their other perks (Keiji Maeda's or Tadakatsu Honda's
RB move can nearly kill any officer, as can Hattori Hanzo's XXXRB). On the down
side, neither can do it without spending some measure of Musou.

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8. F.A.Q.
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Q. Why should I go through the trouble of unlocking Kotaro?
A. You need to unlock him to unlock Orochi. You can't get the "All Officers"
Achievement without him.

Q. Why should I use Kotaro?
A. Kotaro is a cool character, with that outrageous hair, demon-ish skin tone
and face paint. Also his Musou Attack can get you clear of just about any tight
spot and put enough distance between you and your foes to give you a good head
start when running away or stopping for a break to recover.

Q. I can't unlock Kotaro because he keeps running headlong into my attacks and
retreating way too soon.
A. Try playing on a higher difficulty setting or not using wide area of effect
attacks. 

Q. Your guide has misled me. Some information is wrong/unclear.
A. Sorry about that. Please let me know so I can fix it. My contact is at the
bottom.

Q. What is the best combination of effects to get for the weapons?
A. It depends on your preference and style of play. Me, I like Bolt, Flash,
Slay, Absorb, Range, Might, Brave and Agility.

Q. This guide is useless.
A. That's not a question.

Q. Why would you make such a useless guide?
A. I was bored. You don't have to read it.

Q. Pirates trump Ninjas.
A. No they don't.

Q. Hanzo is way better than Kotaro.
A. I know...

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9. Credits
----------

Me: I'm the one who wrote this, you know...
madaboutbuffy: I learned of the best method to get weapons of the fourth class
from his work.
Accendo: I learned of the conditions to unlock Kotaro Fuma from his work
KWMrHonda: I learned of the conditions to unlock Kotaro's Unique Item from his
work
...
That's about everyone, I think.

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10. Contact

You may reach me at ArabianShark (at) gmail (dot) com. Please be sure to write
"Kotaro Fuma Guide" as the subject, or your message may be mistaken for spam.

I welcome every little bit of constructive criticism. No random flaming please.

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