Zhou Tai - Dynasty Warriors 5 Xtreme Legends - Chaos Mode

Dynasty Warriors 5 Xtreme Legends
Zhou Tai
Chaos Mode

Custom Audio:
Dynasty Warriors 3 -- Surprise Attack
Dynasty Warriors 6 -- Flame and Rapidity

[General Comments]

Zhou Tai's previous maximization had him equipped with the Light Orb, and Way of Musou, with not Wind Scroll. Here, I present a setup with the Fire Orb, Wind Scroll, but no Way of Musou. The aim is to show how Musou filling is faster, and offense is roughly the same, which gives him an improvement. See maximization notes below.

[Maximization Setup]

Medium Weapon
Attack
Musou
Fill
Speed
Defense / Charge

Fire Orb
Tiger Amulet
Green Scroll
Wind Scroll
True Way of Musou
Dragon Arms

[Maximization Comments]
no practical benefits gained with a light weapon as compared to a medium weapon
heavy weapon is a consideration -- will make his Musou much stronger, but Musou filling is limited to C3 if there is enough distance for it; otherwise, it is strictly C1 abusing.
offense with a medium weapon will allow for normal attacks to precede his Musou, so offense with a medium weapon can equal that of a heavy weapon. Since Musou filling is much better with a Medium weapon, it is preferred over a Heavy weapon
Dragon Arms greatly upgrades Zhou Tai's overall ability
1) C1 can be abused by canceling the long recovery time if you jump out of it, or do a quick Jump Attack (JA)
2) C4 can be used in more scenarios is the charge recovery is canceled.
Wind Scroll upgrades Zhou Tai's Musou filling ability. Without the Wind Scroll, C3 is not consistently safe in crowds, preceding a Musou with normal attacks is risky, C4 execution becomes risky, and the result tends to be C1 abuse for slow Musou filling.
Video shows how fast Musou filling becomes with the Wind Scroll -- C3 becomes a good approach charge attack, C4 execution becomes safer, and normal attacks can always precede Musou safely.
Extended reach from Wind Scroll is also important for Musou connection. Officers may be displaced in massive crowd scenarios (by neighboring peons pushing the officer in dense crowds). Equipping the Wind Scroll minimizes Musou failures by a lot
Musou filling can be done in many ways depending on the scenario
1) C3 -- if approaching at a distance -- best if filled Musou is foreseeable after C3 finishes because safe charge cancelation may be risky (the nature of the attack makes it hard to secure an escape route)
2) Four normal attacks, then C1 -- first 4 normals have good attack range, use C1 to scatter and escape crowds
3) C4 -- in smaller crowds
4) C1 spam
C3 transitioning to Musou is a great offense, activating the Fire Orb before Musou
C3 reach seems marginal -- sometimes will connect on officers, and sometimes will be blocked. Jump cancel and reset, if blocked
Best offensive approach is to fill Musou partially using any of the above methods, then 5 normals and a full regular Musou will KO a generic officer
C1 is very useful escape move
C1 good method for dismounting officers. Scatter the crowd with C1 and dismount with JA

[Tier List Comments]
Zhou Tai is a high-mid tier character
Fast Musou fill, 1-Musou-KO type character
against opponents stronger than generics, his offense is significantly slower -- must be separated from high tier characters that can 1-Musou-KO playable officers or equivalent
Relatively poor crowd clearer
very good vs mounted officers
either very good or average against multiple officers -- can kill multiple officers in one Musou
scattering Musou ending may waste a lot of Musou rage time when facing multiple officers
C1 abuse makes Musou filling very safe if archers are present -- will be significantly better than other characters with similar offensive speed in a Mai Castle run