For the character, see Lü Bu
Lü Bu is a playable Han faction in Total War: Three Kingdoms added by the A World Betrayed DLC. It starts the campaign in central China, located in Chen commandery. Gaining a rank as a duke, king, or emperor will rename the faction to Yin. The faction exclusively exists in 194.
Unique Features[]
- Unique Units
- Flying Riders
- Camp Crushers
- Unique Buildings
- None
- Unique Features
- Momentum
- Inspire Loyalty
- Inspire Commandery
- Coerce
- Annex Settlement
- Personal Victories
- Greatest Warrior
- Maintain Momentum
- Mercenary Treaties
- Momentum
Momentum[]
Momentum is one of the two faction resources available to Lü Bu alongside Personal Victories, which will be covered further below. Momentum is gained through three different methods. These are:
- Defeating a general in a battle in which Lü Bu is present - Grants 1 Momentum
- Defeating a general in a duel in a battle in which Lü Bu is present - Grants 1 Momentum
- Razing a captured county - Grants 5 Momentum, though reduces local faction support by -100
Momentum decays naturally, with its decay increasing as the amount of Momentum increases. Momentum ranges from a minimum of zero to a maximum of ten and is divided into eight tiers. These are as follows:
Momentum - Idle Dragon (0-3)
- No effects
You are the wind upon the fields; persistent, but no real threat.
Momentum - Rearing Dragon (4)
- +10 satisfaction (all characters)
- +5% campaign movement range (faction-wide)
You are the hurricane that sweeps away those foolish enough to stand against your power.
Momentum - Rearing Dragon (5)
- +15 satisfaction (all characters)
- +10% campaign movement range (faction-wide)
You are the hurricane that sweeps away those foolish enough to stand against your power.
Momentum - Rearing Dragon (6)
- +20 satisfaction (all characters)
- +15% campaign movement range (faction-wide)
You are the hurricane that sweeps away those foolish enough to stand against your power.
Momentum - Rearing Dragon (7)
- +25 satisfaction (all characters)
- +20% campaign movement range (faction-wide)
You are the hurricane that sweeps away those foolish enough to stand against your power.
Momentum - Flaming Dragon (8)
- +40 satisfaction (all characters)
- +30% campaign movement range (faction-wide)
- +10% melee damage for melee infantry (faction-wide)
- +10 morale (faction-wide)
- +15% replenishment (faction-wide)
What man has built, you easily rend asunder - there are very few with the power to stop your charge.
Momentum - Flaming Dragon (9)
- +55 satisfaction (all characters)
- +35% campaign movement range (faction-wide)
- +20% melee damage for melee infantry (faction-wide)
- +15 morale (faction-wide)
- +25% replenishment (faction-wide)
What man has built, you easily rend asunder - there are very few with the power to stop your charge.
Momentum - Flaming Dragon (10)
- +70 satisfaction (all characters)
- +40% campaign movement range (faction-wide)
- +30% melee damage for melee infantry (faction-wide)
- +25 morale (faction-wide)
- +40% replenishment (faction-wide)
You are thunder from the heavens; the very earth cracks and people fall in droves before your endless assault.
Inspire Loyalty[]
Inspire Loyalty in-game
Inspire Loyalty is a unique interaction available to Lü Bu in the court menu. At the cost of one Momentum, Lü Bu can inspire loyalty in any member of his faction, granting a deeper relationship between the character in question and the faction leader, as well as increased satisfaction. Its exact stats are as follows:
Inspire Loyalty
- +35 satisfaction (character selected)
- -1 Momentum
- Relationship deepens between Lü Bu and (character selected)
- Duration: 10 Turns
Inspired by the favour you have shown, your generals push to earn your favour.
Inspire Commandery[]
Inspire Commandery is an assignment unique to Lü Bu, assigned to a commandery. Its stats are as follows:
Inspire Commandery
- -2 Momentum (initiation cost)
- -35% construction cost (local commandery)
- -3 construction time (local commandery)
- -3k population growth (local county)
- +15% replenishment (own armies in local commandery)
- -50% corruption (local commandery)
- Duration: 5 Turns
Coerce[]
Coerce is a diplomatic option unique to Lü Bu. At the cost of 3 Monentum, Lü Bu can add coercion to his diplomatic proposals, making the receiving faction more willing to agree. This is useful for pushing factions over the edge if they narrowly refuse.
Annex Settlement[]
A perk Lü Bu enjoys thanks to his notoriety is the ability to walk up to a settlement and annex it. The cost depends on the county in question that is being annexed. For a resource settlement, the cost is 5 Momentum, whereas a commandery capital costs 7 Momentum. Note that there is no distinguishment in costs of how developed a settlement is, so a small village and imperial city both cost the same amount to annex.
Personal Victories[]
Personal Victories is Lü Bu's second faction resource, though he has significantly less control over it than Momentum. It is gained largely in the same way as Momentum, namely by defeating enemy heroes in battles in which Lü Bu is present. Each general defeated in a battle in which Lü Bu is present grants one point of Personal Victories. Personal Victories has four different effects, two of which are helpful, and two of which are negative. Besides choosing to not enter the battlefield, Lü Bu has no real control over Personal Victories and has to control the debuffs by keeping his Momentum up to compensate for the satisfaction hits that Personal Victories. The four effects are as follows:
- Post-battle loot income for Lü Bu's army: +2% per point
- Prestige: +2.5 per point, rounded down
- Satisfaction (all characters): -0.5 per point, rounded down
- diplomatic attitude with most factions (strategic threat): -1 per point
The effects max out at 100 points of Personal Victories, at which point they have the following effects:
- +200% post-battle loot income for Lü Bu's army
- +250 prestige
- -50 satisfaction (all characters)
- -100 diplomatic attitude with most factions (strategic threat)
Greatest Warriors[]
Greatest Warriors menu at the start of the campaign
Greatest Warriors is a mechanic unique to Lü Bu, functioning similarly to Liu Chong's or Lu Zhi's trophy mechanics. However, instead of collecting trophies or books, Lü Bu is collecting kills against numerous major figures across China. If these generals in question are defeated in a battle in which Lü Bu is present, they will be marked as defeated and will grant a permanent faction-wide bonus. The Greatest Warriors come in sets, and defeating an entire set will provide an additional reward.
Note that if a character that makes up part of a set dies in battle or from natural causes on their own, they will no longer be able to be defeated, making the set impossible to complete. This makes some sets, like the Yellow Turbans, very difficult to complete. Some characters, such as Cao Cao, are part of multiple sets, meaning that Lü Bu can work towards multiple at the same time by defeating a single character. Finally, Zhang Liao, who is part of Lü Bu's faction at the start of the campaign, is part of the Five Elites set. To complete it, he would have to be dismissed, recruited by an enemy faction, and fielded as a general.
You have an option to reset it if the faction leader dies. Reform the Han Empire by putting back Liu Xie in control will basically lock you out from this mechanic, as Liu Xie is not deployable without mods.
The sets of Greatest Warriors and their associated effects can be found below.
| Targets | Target Rewards | Set Bonus Reward | Set Description | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Father Figures | Dong Zhuo | None | +5 satisfaction (faction-wide) | Fathers influence all children with their presence, their lack thereof, and everything inbetween(sic). |
| Ding Yuan | None | |||
| Cousins-in-Arms | Xiahou Dun | +5 melee evasion for spear infantry (faction-wide) | +15 prestige | What they lack in familial wealth, they make up for with martial synergy. |
| Xiahou Yuan | +25 charge bonus for shock and melee cavalry (faction-wide) | |||
| Three Kingdoms | Liu Bei | +25 prestige
+5 satisfaction (faction-wide) |
+50 prestige | Great lords and masters of the land, brought to heel by one far more talented and capable. |
| Sun Ce | +25 prestige
+15% melee damage (faction-wide) | |||
| Cao Cao | +25 prestige
+10 diplomatic relations with all factions | |||
| Sworn Brothers | Guan Yu | +25% armour-piercing melee damage (faction-wide) | Enables: Immune to Fear & Terror (faction-wide) | What these warriors share, let no blade nor storm rend asunder. |
| Zhang Fei | Ability: Blazing Roar (faction-wide) | |||
| Liu Bei | +25 prestige
+5 satisfaction (faction-wide) | |||
| Setting Suns | Sun Quan | +10% campaign movement range (faction-wide) | Sometimes, the sons are indeed damned by the sins of the father... | |
| Sun Ce | +25 prestige
+15% melee damage (faction-wide) | |||
| Sun Ren | ||||
| Bandits & Rogues | Yan Baihu | Enables: Stalk (faction-wide) | Enables: Guerrilla Deployment (faction-wide) | "Villains to a man, but they do it with such impeccable panache." |
| Zhang Yan | +25% post-battle loot income (faction-wide) | |||
| Zheng Jiang | Ability: Poisoned Blade (faction-wide) | |||
| Bruisers & Brawlers | Dian Wei | +5% armour for all spear infantry (faction-wide) | +1 resilience (faction-wide) | "Not much of a brain between them, but they most certainly can fight!" |
| Xu Chu | +25% general health (faction-wide) | |||
| Five Elites | Zhang He | +25% speed (faction-wide) | Enables: Scare (faction-wide) | "When one elite simply won't do." |
| Zhang Liao | +5% armour (faction-wide) | |||
| Yue Jin | +10% melee attack rate (faction-wide) | |||
| Yu Jin | +5 melee evasion for melee infantry (faction-wide) | |||
| Xu Huang | +5 morale (faction-wide) | |||
| Northern Defenders | Han Sui | +10 prestige | -25% recruitment cost for cavalry units (faction-wide) | Determined bulwarks of the northern territories. Under no circumstances to be mistaken for the Warriors of the South. |
| Gongsun Zan | +10 prestige
+15% speed for shock cavalry (faction-wide) | |||
| Ma Teng | +10 prestige
-15% fatigue rate for shock cavalry (faction-wide) | |||
| Great Strategists | Zhuge Liang | Enables: Night Battles (faction-wide) | "The art of war is as the art of life. Proceed to(sic) fast or too slow, and you will come to ruin." | |
| Sima Yi | ||||
| Pang Tong | ||||
| Guo Jia | +5% campaign movement range (faction-wide) | |||
| Zhou Yu | Enables: Fire Arrows (faction-wide) | |||
| Scholars | Liu Biao | +10 prestige
+20% character experience (faction-wide) |
+15% income from commerce (faction-wide) | "Aha. That is not correct, because according to the encyclopaedia of..." |
| Kong Rong | +10 prestige
+2 available trade agreements | |||
| Traitors of Chang'an | Li Jue | +15 prestige | +15 diplomatic relations with all factions | Those who would cast out their saviour and heir-presumptive soon enough find themselves at his mercy. |
| Jia Xu | +2 available spy positions | |||
| Guo Si | +15 prestige | |||
| Tiger Generals | Huang Zhong | +100% ammunition (faction-wide) | Enables: Disciplined (faction-wide) | Five renowned warriors, their prowess supposedly unmatched. Until now. |
| Zhao Yun | Enables: Fatigue Immunity (faction-wide) | |||
| Guan Yu | +25% armour-piercing melee damage (faction-wide) | |||
| Zhang Fei | Ability: Blazing Roar (faction-wide) | |||
| Ma Chao | -10% upkeep for shock cavalry (faction-wide) | |||
| Warriors of the South | Huang Gui | +5% campaign movement range (faction-wide) | Enables: Ignore Forest Penalties (faction-wide) | Stalwart and proud warriors of the southlands. Absolutely never to be confused with the Northern Defenders. |
| Gan Ning | +25 charge bonus for shock cavalry (faction-wide) | |||
| Zhou Tai | +1 resilience | |||
| Taishi Ci | +10% ranged firing rate (faction-wide) | |||
| Yuan Clan | Yuan Shu | +10 prestige
+25 undercover network cost for enemy spies |
+25 prestige | A great lineage, brought low by arrogance, disinclination, and the strength of a peerless warrior. |
| Yuan Shao | +25 prestige
+50% diplomatic income from tributaries | |||
| Yellow Turbans | He Yi | Ability: Recovery (faction-wide) | +15 prestige | A noble ideal, perhaps, soured into violent revolution, and silenced by the blade of the worthy. |
| Gong Du | +5 military supplies (faction-wide) | |||
| Huang Shao | +5 bonus experience for units per season (faction-wide) |
Maintain Momentum[]
Maintain Momentum in-game
After a battle is won by Lü Bu, he has the option to "Maintain Momentum". This resets the movement range he has on the campaign map and grants the regular replenishment bonuses, however, the fatigue of all friendly units in the army will be limited to tired, which will make them perform worse against fresh units. This is therefore a high-risk high-reward strategy, as triggering an enemy ambush could prove fatal with tired troops.
Mercenary Treaties[]
Zheng Jiang becoming a mercenary for Cao Cao
Mercenary treaties are a diplomatic option available to bandits, including Lü Bu. One can't be too picky in times of war, and Lü Bu plays into this, having the ability to sell his faction to the highest bidder. Upon a foreign warlord accepting a mercenary treaty, Lü Bu will join the selected war. he will only join that war, and if a Warlord is involved in multiple conflicts at the same time, he will only fight on the side of the war for which he was paid.
The associated mission to attack Dong Zhuo
Once a Mercenary Treaty is signed, Lü Bu will declare war on the target and any vassals or allies involved in the ongoing conflict. He will gain military access and intel on the warlord paying for the mercenary treaty, granting the player full vision inside their borders and the line of sight of their deployed troops.
When Lü Bu has accepted his contract, his employer will expect him to hold up his end of the bargain, and a 20-turn timer begins. A similar tiered modifier as Infamy appears called Fame & Fortune. Fame and fortune will start at the second tier, Unremarkable, and will rapidly decline by -4 per turn. If the modifier hits zero, the contract will be immediately abandoned. Lü Bu will not receive the loot at the end of the 20 turns and will suffer a diplomatic penalty with the faction that hired him.
To raise Fame & Fortune, Lü Bu must attack the target of his treaty. The more casualties he deals, the faster Fame & Fortune rises. Furthermore, when bound by a contract, Lü Bu can gift captured settlements to the faction he is working for, which grants a significant bonus to the amount of Fame & Fortune he has. This is not required, however, and he can simply take the settlements for himself if he so desires.
The four tiers of Fame & Fortune are:
Lü Bu's option to hand over a captured settlement to his benefactor
Fame & Fortune: Despised (0-25)
- No effects
There are those who doubt you are worth your coin – tread carefully, lest you find yourself out of work.
Fame & Fortune: Unremarkable (26-50)
- Chance of additional rewards
You are yet to prove your worth. However, that can quickly change.
Fame & Fortune: Popular (51-75)
- Chance of additional greater rewards
- +4 morale (faction-wide)
The troops serving under you want for nothing, their wallets heavy and their morale high. You enjoy the benefits of your success.
Fame & Fortune: Celebrated
- Chance of additional much greater rewards
- +8 morale (faction-wide)
When your banners fly on the battlefield they inspire both pride and terror. Tribute flows to you from a grateful benefactor.
Starting Situation[]
A World Betrayed (194)[]
194 - Lü Bu (red), Cao Cao (blue)
Lü Bu is overlooked and insulted by those undeserving of his skill; a prodigious talent stung by the constant arrows of indignity. Although he undoubtedly did the land a service by ridding it of the tyrant Dong Zhuo, Lü Bu has felt nothing but the cold hand of derision from all those he has come to serve. Now, as Cao Cao's eyes are elsewhere, he has chosen to take matters into his own hands, rebelling against his liege's rule to forge a kingdom of his own.
Start: Normal
Lü Bu's starting situation
Lü Bu starts the A World Betrayed campaign at war with Cao Cao in Chen commandery. His starting situation is a bit tricky, as Lü Bu begins the campaign on the back foot in his war with Cao Cao. His capital of Suiyang County will be lost after one turn, leaving him with just a single resource county. However, not all hope is lost. Lü Bu can rebuild his strength and turn the war with Cao Cao around. Though outnumbered, he can cleverly defeat Cao Cao through the use of ambushes or just attack isolated settlements and armies. Lü Bu himself is by far the strongest character in the entire game, which means he can easily defeat one, two, or even three generals in duels in the same battle while taking on hundreds if not thousands of regular soldiers on his own. His strength is the ace up the sleeve of the campaign's early stages. If he can defeat Cao Cao, his faction has the potential thanks to his Momentum and Greatest Warriors mechanics to rapidly grow into a nigh unstoppable monster tearing through China unopposed.
- Characters
- Children
- Lü Ji
Gallery[]
