Total War: Three Kingdoms is due to release next month, following a substantial delay from its original release date. With The Prophet and The Warlock DLC now out for Total War: Warhammer 2, Creative Assembly has turned their marketing attention back to Three Kingdoms. In their latest video, the studio explains to fans how they can play as the mighty Lu Bu in the Total War: Three Kingdoms campaign.
How You Can Play as Lu Bu in the Total War: Three Kingdoms Campaign
Overall, there are twelve playable faction leaders in the Total War: Three Kingdoms campaign. However, none of these are Lu Bu. Fortunately, players can still engineer a situation where they can either control Lu Bu as a hero in their faction, or even get him to be their faction leader. The first way is to defeat Dong Zhuo; Lu Bu starts the campaign in service to the corrupt tyrant, but with his defeat, he is sent out into the global recruitment pool. Lu Bu may then appear in the recruitment pools of nearby factions, especially if their leaders were allies of Dong Zhuo or have similar traits.
This is the easiest way to get Lu Bu in your faction. However, there is another way to ensure that he becomes your faction leader, as early as turn 13! As the video states; “You just need to betray and murder your adopted dad!” For this, players will need to start a campaign as Dong Zhuo. This itself isn’t necessarily an easy task. The other eleven faction leaders are all available to play at the start of the game. However, to unlock Dong Zhuo, players must reach the rank of Emperor in any other campaign. Once you do, you’ll be able to start a new campaign as Dong Zhuo, with Lu Bu already in your service.
Once you start that campaign, you’ll be able to make a series of decisions which mirror the events which led to Lu Bu’s betrayal of Dong Zhuo in Romance of the Three Kingdoms. In Romance mode, this will mean marrying Diaochan, whom Lu Bu is in love with. If you make the right decisions, then Lu Bu will assassinate Dong Zhuo and become your new faction leader!