10 Best Dynasty Warriors Characters

A little caveat on the next two entries – they're going to be team efforts. In this case we have frenemies Cao Cao of the Wei forces and Yuan Shao of the 'Other' forces. Once upon a time they were close associates who worked together, but eventually became rivals with Cao Cao winning out in the end.

So it's kind of fitting that they'd be together on this list – and even more fitting is the fact that Yuan Shao spent much of his time as a character in the Dynasty Warriors franchise as a clone of Cao Cao. Even now in DW9 they play very similarly, though I would personally give points toward Yuan Shao for being the better of the two. But only by a bare margin; his moveset is a little better than Cao Cao's, though no doubt the latter's stats will have a better growth rate overall.

Because Yuan Shao has lived in Cao Cao's shadow for most of the series I can't morally give him the slot on this list alone, and he must share it with his old rival.