(Hey! Did you know that it’s officially been one year of The Contrarian Corner? That’s pretty awesome, and it feels like time has really flown. Here’s to another year, and many more after that!)
What better way to close off an unexpected trilogy of Warriors-centric articles (and each one a different article type, at that) then with the countdown list of my Top 10 Favorite characters to play as in this wild and wonderful series. From Fire Emblem Warriors to Dynasty Warriors, and everything in between, here is my list. If you’re ever planning on picking a game in this series up, you can’t go wrong with on of these fine fighters!
10) Impa ~ Age of Calamity
I have yet to give Age of Calamity a fair shake, and I definitely plan on returning to it in the future. However, even with my relatively brief playtime, I still feel in love with battling hordes of monsters as Impa. She’s a fast, rapid-strike attacker, but it’s her ability to generate up to seven clones of herself that make her a veritable force of nature on the battlefield. All the clones attack together in a line, forming a sweeping wave of destruction that’s just a riot to actually control and see play out.
9) Naotora Ii ~ Warriors Orochi 4
I’ll admit: For as much as I love the Warriors genre of gameplay, I hadn’t actually played a true original Warriors game until finally dipping my toes into Warriors Orochi 4. Now that I have, I don’t think I could ever play another original game if it doesn’t have Naotora Ii in it. I’m a fan of the faster, lightning-like glass cannon characters to begin with, and there’s something so fun about watching Naotora cartwheel her way through an army of thousands, earnestly apologizing for the destruction she’s wrought.
8) Horo ~ Warriors All-Stars
Warriors All-Stars is a light-hearted and wacky crossover game staring a bunch of characters from different franchises battling together (William from Nioh, Sophie from Atelier, Ryu Hayabusa from Ninja Gaiden, Kasumi from Dead or Alive, etc.). Out of that whole cast, I found myself gravitating towards Horo from the Toukiden series, and that’s for one big reason: she wields a gun. Enough of swords and axes and magic powers! Who needs all that when you can just blast your foes with bullets from afar?!
7) Jeritza ~ Three Hopes
I’ve never been that huge of a fan of mounted characters in past Warriors titles, because I’ve felt their added mobility was a tradeoff for worse damage potential. Jeritza didn’t get that memo, because his might on the battlefield is monstrous. His strong combos are wide-reaching and highly damaging, the more souls he reaps the more damage he deals, and his charge-gauge scythe sweep can one-shot weaker captains. There’s barely a match-up he can’t handle, even against those pesky axe units.
6) Shez ~ Three Hopes
Shez (or, since you can name them whatever you want in your own playthrough, I went with ‘Sasha’) is the main protagonist of Three Hopes, and the only character required to enter every single main story battle. Thankfully, this isn’t an issue, because Shez is awesome. They claim ownership to a unique dual-wielding swordsman class that hits so fast your eyes can barely keep up. They have a special technique allowing them to dashstep short distances, and they can also straight-up teleport across the map to allied keeps. They will never not be useful in any given map, and I had to frequently rein myself in from just playing exclusively as them for every battle!
5) Ganondorf ~ Hyrule Warriors
How could I not put the King of Darkness onto this list? Ganondorf’s damage output is simply insane, and there’s hardly a foe he can’t decimate with his sweeping, dual-wielding greatsword attacks. Each attack he uses builds a meter he can spend to unleash a devastating dark explosion into the ground, and this isn’t even to mention his highly damaging special move, or his infamous Fist of Darkness. He can even conjure an entire spirit version of his monstrous form to blow up hundreds of goons at once. He’s a true menace on the battlefield.
4) Anna ~ Fire Emblem Warriors
There’s hardly a situation that Anna cannot handle in Fire Emblem Warriors, and a big reason for this is because, as a bow unit, she falls outside of the traditional weapon triangle. She’s incredible against flying units, bad against none, and still quite good against everyone else. She can block off areas with a rain of arrows, trigger a gazillion critical hits with her multi-striking moves, juggle an opponent infinitely with aerial combos, and unleash a literal tank onto the armies of her foes. She even earns double the gold in battle as part of her unique passive, ensuring her status as a necessary addition to your team!
3) Princess Zelda ~ Hyrule Warriors
Zelda fulfills the qualifications of several of the earlier entires on this list of my favorite characters. She’s extremely fast, hits rapidly with strong sword combos, and can tackle any challenge with ease, thanks to her overwhelming options. She has close range slashes and ranged magical abilities that absolutely melt enemy health, and the ability to alternate combos to keep foes permanently stunlocked. This isn’t even to mention her unique skill, which lets her consume orbs of light to modify all of her combos, granting her (effectively) twice as many moves as anyone else in the roster! On top of all of this, her special is one of the best 1-v-1 attacks in the game.
2) Lucina ~ Fire Emblem Warriors
In many ways, Lucina is the Fire Emblem Warriors equivalent of Zelda. She too is a speedy sword wielder with multiple highly effective and damaging moves to counter all enemies she faces (like, she’s crazy fast). Lucina also has a lighting fast slash that can be used instantly to initiate combos against foes, unique effectiveness against tricky dragon units thanks to her Falchion blade (logically, she trivializes the final boss since it is also a dragon), and Lucina also has a move that activates the stun gauge of whatever foe she is facing, even if she doesn’t have weapon triangle advantage against them. This means she ALWAYS gets crits against her enemies!
1) Lana ~ Hyrule Warriors
Is Lana the best character in Hyrule Warriors? No. I might love her, but I’m not that blind. Zelda is definitely superior in all aspects but one, and Ganondorf might even be better too. Still, Lana has always been, and always will be, my favorite character in the game, and in the entire Warriors franchise.
There’s just something about running across the war-torn battlefield with a skip in your step and a smile on your face, having just the happiest time in the world even as you rain destruction down on your foes. Lana requires a high degree of skill to play, as she sets up lightning traps (some stationary and some mobile) that she can then either detonate remotely or leave sitting around to entangle the monstrous hordes. Like Lucina, she has a superfast kick move that can initiate a combo from afar, a hilarious rolling dice attack, and the unique capability of blowing up every single boss in the game with a single tricky to pull off but infinitely satisfying maneuver.
Lana’s the best, and my one Warriors-related wish is for her to come back into another game some day, just so I can freshly experience the joy of playing as her all over again.
But hey, that’s just my opinion!
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