Talk:Dynasty Warriors 2

Hit Effects
There are also common hit effects associated with charge attacks throughout the series, which is different from the knockdown/knockback state:
 * Launch: As it exactly says on the tin, the launch state is a state where the targets are knocked up into the air off of their feet. The most common way to set up this effect is with a C2 or C5 attack, but this mainly pertains to the usual launch inflicted by a C2. For each of the characters' moves, the total launch height and type of launch greatly varies. Either way, it's often a general rule in that launching a juggled target as opposed to a grounded one will allow for a greater window of time for them to somersault-recover from it. If launched from a normal grounded state, then the target must land on the ground in order to tech from the state. In past games, CPU's would not tech from a launch until hitting the ground, even if they are launched multiple times in a row very often from repeated juggling, whereas in more recent games as of Dynasty Warriors 4, CPU's will not hesitate to tech at the apex of their juggled launching state.
 * Stun: As the name says, this state causes the target to undergo an animation where they twirl around a bit and stay in a dazed position. Button mashing any buttons (barring any toggle and pause buttons) can enable one to break out of the stunned state sooner. Enemies on lower difficulties would stay in stunned state for an unusually long time. On higher difficulties however, especially for generals, they are able to break out of the player's inflicted stun much sooner than one would expect, requiring quick acting. Any attack landed on a stunned target would knock them off of their feet and put them into an air hit/juggle state. This is one of the few states that cannot be reversed with a Musou Attack, as once someone is hit by a stunning attack, they can only bide their time or button mash frantically to break out of it. Stuns only work on grounded targets, and any stunning attacks will have varying hit effects on an airborne target.
 * Guard break: A state that rarely occurs in games after Dynasty Warriors 3. This state involves the character being in a forced back position and trying to recover. All guard break states for all units and characters take up the same amount of time, though for archers in older games for both guard break and stagger state, their guard break state tends to animate much faster with no actual difference in comparison. This is different from both deadlock loss (the animation) and outright unblockable attacks (which cause targets to get hit anyway), and is commonly inflicted by a high-level attack of some sort, usually inflicted by any higher-ranked units. All characters can guard break enemies with a C1 attack only in Dynasty Warriors 2 and Dynasty Warriors 3, while in Dynasty Warriors 4, only taunting can break guards. Later games reuse the concept of higher-ranking units being able to break guards of lower-ranked units in a few strings of attacks.
 * Stagger: A state added in since Dynasty Warriors 4. This is similar if not completely identical to the guard break state in terms of the same exact animation, but only occurs on hit and the moves themselves that inflict stagger cannot actually break guards. This is also similar to the stun state in that during the animation, a staggered target will instantly be put into a juggled/air hit state when struck by a normal grounded attack. Staggering finishing blows often occur with a majority of the new C3 attacks characters have since the fourth installment. Just like stuns, staggering can only be inflicted on grounded-targets, and airborne targets are inflicted with a different hit effect depending on the attack landed on them. In Dynasty Warriors 4, some staggering attacks inflict a very small amount of damage that will not kill any units regardless of HP amount. In Dynasty Warriors 5 onwards, the damage from said attacks receive an increase and become legitimate enough to K.O. units properly.
 * Crashing knockback: A special type of knockback that often occurs with C4 attacks. Which causes blown back targets to slam into other enemies, inflicting damage. To also differentiate from a normal knockback, crashed-back targets will have their body flip-over upon contacting the ground. If they collide with any surface that acts as a wall, they'll bump into it and drop to the ground. Enemies that take damage from a target being in a crashing knockback state can also be K.O.'d, and thus this can count as K.O.s for the sake of total K.O. count (but not direct K.O.'s for needed requirements and battlefield messages). However, there is also the danger of accidentally K.O.ing any allies in the way of a crashing target as well, since crashing targets can be slammed into both allies and enemies alike. Sometimes the CPU very commonly in Dynasty Warriors 3 can also get themselves struck by their own crashing target due to how they position themselves awkwardly for their attack, though this is often a specific setup on the AI's behalf of bizarre programming that rarely occurs. The fifth title removes the damage done to units crashed into, but can only make sure it affects enemies instead, though later games bring back the damage crashing units can inflict towards other targets. As of Dynasty Warriors 4, a majority of other moves, such as unique C1 attacks can also inflict crashing knockback aside from C4 attacks as well, though some elements in future games may mess with it causing no knockback to ever occur.


 * Spiral: A type of knockdown/knockback state that is only unique in terms of visual cue. The target is often sent in a spiraling fashion with their body facing horizontally. This mainly applies to knockback type moves, normal and crashing alike, but this can also apply to certain launching attacks as well, but only very rarely.


 * Charge Drive Launch: A special type of launch that is mainly for the C5, AKA the Charge Drive, in Dynasty Warriors 3 and 4. Similar to the spiral knockdown state, but often vastly different in the fact that the target is sent whirling backward in a loop while being launched, much like them getting stuck in a Jigoku Guruma (Hell Wheel) throw. This state often lasts longer than the normal launch state from most C1 attacks, and often keeps them up higher. However, this only can occur if the target is hit from the front. If hit from the back, a normal launch of similar height occurs instead. Like the normal launch state, targets can recover before even hitting the ground if they are launched mid-juggle, which also will negate the special Charge Drive-type launch state. This state has been removed with the new C5 mechanic ever since Dynasty Warriors 5.


 * Trip: A stationary knockdown state where the target simply falls over in place as if they were leg-swept. This is one of the few states that cannot be recovered from with a somersault, as the air time caused by this state is very short. This commonly occurs with most quake-type moves, like Zhang Fei, Huang Gai and Meng Huo's C6 attacks. In Dynasty Warriors 5, any character with a C1 attack that causes a blue tremor can also inflict this state.


 * Tumble back: A state similar to the trip state, but instead causes targets to briefly lean forward before tumbling back quite similarly to the tripping state. Again, this cannot be recovered from due to the very brief air time caused by it. Zhang Liao's dash attack and Xu Huang's C6 are rare examples of attacks that inflict this state, but in Dynasty Warriors 3 and 4, practically almost every character's C5/Charge Drive finishers can inflict this state on any grounded targets in reach.


 * Slam/jammed down: A type of knockdown state that often occurs with targets that are sent downward at a high speed. Most of the time, they often have their bodies flip-over upon contacting the ground, much like with the end result of a crashing knockback. This often occurs on airborne targets struck down by any C5/Charge Drive finishers, pre-Dynasty Warriors 5, but also with any attack that sends targets down at a high speed from any airborne state.


 * Flip-over: A state that is often more of a visual cue than anything else, where the victim has their body flip-over on the side opposite of the side that was facing the ground. This often occurs with a proper crashing knockback state, a slammed down target, or a target dropping down from a launched or juggled state from a fairly high height.

SneaselSawashiro (talk) 20:27, May 20, 2015 (UTC)
 * Grab: A state added in since Dynasty Warriors 4, where the victim will enter a state of being carried by a certain part of the attacker used to grab the victim with (be it their weapon or bare hands). All grabs will cause the victim to enter a "being lifted up" state, but if they happen to be left alone without the attacker following up on time (mainly due to a possible gimmick such as a bug or another unit interfering by pushing the attacker out of range) due to the state being solely stationary and not being fully captured onto the attacker's grasp, they will slowly drop down via knockdown with no damage. Some grabs can be bugged if they hit a midair/juggled opponent in that after the grab animation hits someone but does not change and knocks the target back while doing so, the attacker may go on with the throw attack animation anyway without anyone in their grasp. However, this state was greatly refined in future installments especially via Samurai Warriors 2 and Warriors Orochi, where a new grab state animation is used for all victims and they are no longer as buggy as in Dynasty Warriors 4.