This guide covers every character unlock in DYNASTY WARRIORS 3: Complete Edition Remastered, from the Shu, Wei, and Wu rosters to the “Other” fighters like Lu Bu and the hidden trio. If you’re working through Musou Mode and wondering why certain officers still aren’t showing up on the select screen, this is the checklist I wish I’d had from the start.
The one thing I want to flag before anything else: every unlock here happens in Musou Mode. Free Mode is a dead end for character unlocks, so don’t waste a run testing there. Difficulty itself is irrelevant to unlocking, which is genuinely good news — I’d recommend dropping to Beginner or Easy for fights like Lu Bu, because at Normal he can delete a fresh character in two combos and you’ll learn that the hard way otherwise.
How Unlocks Actually Work
Unlocking is tied to completing Musou Modes and hitting specific in-battle conditions — defeating certain officers, keeping allies alive, or triggering scripted events. Some conditions are straightforward “finish the mode once” tasks; others are easy to walk past because they’re buried inside a specific battle.
A detail worth noticing in the Shu and Wei lists: the “complete Musou Mode once with a Shu or Wei character” unlocks exclude a handful of characters. Specifically, Zhang Fei, Pang Tong, Dian Wei, Zhang Liao, and Zhen Ji don’t count toward that requirement. I double-checked that one, because picking the wrong officer for your first clear means redoing it.
Shu Generals
| Name | Requirements |
|---|---|
| Zhao Yun | Available from the start |
| Guan Yu | Available from the start |
| Zhang Fei | Available from the start |
| Zhuge Liang | Complete Musou Mode once with a Shu or Wei character (not Zhang Fei, Pang Tong, Dian Wei, Zhang Liao, Zhen Ji) |
| Liu Bei | Complete Musou Mode twice with a Shu character |
| Ma Chao | Complete Musou Mode once with a Shu character |
| Huang Zhong | Complete Musou Mode twice with a Shu character |
| Jiang Wei | Complete Musou Mode with Zhuge Liang |
| Wei Yan | Complete Musou Mode once with a Shu character |
| Pang Tong | Keep Pang Tong alive during the Assault on Cheng Du, by defeating Zhang Ren |
Pang Tong is the one that catches people out in this list. It isn’t a completion condition at all — it’s a “keep him breathing” objective during the Assault on Cheng Du, and the way to do that is to take out Zhang Ren. Miss it and you’ll be replaying the battle.
Wei Generals
| Name | Requirements |
|---|---|
| Xiahou Dun | Available from the start |
| Dian Wei | Available from the start |
| Xu Zhu | Complete Musou Mode once with a Wei character |
| Cao Cao | Complete Musou Mode twice with a Wei character |
| Xiahou Yuan | Defeat him during the Battle of Mt. Ding Jun (Shu Musou Mode) |
| Zhang Liao | Defeat him during the Battle of He Fei (Wu Musou Mode) |
| Sima Yi | Complete Musou Mode once with a Shu or Wei character (not Zhang Fei, Pang Tong, Dian Wei, Zhang Liao, Zhen Ji) |
| Xu Huang | Complete Musou Mode twice with a Wei character |
| Zhang He | Available from the start |
| Zhen Ji | Complete Musou Mode once with a Wei character |
Notice that Xiahou Yuan and Zhang Liao aren’t Wei-completion unlocks at all — you get them by defeating them during Shu and Wu Musou Mode runs respectively. If you split your playtime across factions like I did, those two will arrive almost by accident, which is a nice change of pace.
Wu Generals
| Name | Requirements |
|---|---|
| Zhou Yu | Available from the start |
| Lu Xun | Complete Musou Mode once with a Wu character |
| Taishi Ci | Make him surrender during Assault on Wu Territory, by defeating Liu Yong |
| Sun Shangxiang | Available from the start |
| Sun Jian | Complete Musou Mode twice with a Wu character |
| Sun Quan | Make Cao Cao retreat during the Battle of He Fei |
| Lu Meng | Complete the Battle of Fan Castle with Lu Meng still alive |
| Gan Ning | Activate and defeat his surprise attack in The Battle of He Fei (Wei Musou Mode) |
| Huang Gai | Available from the start |
| Sun Ce | Complete Musou Mode twice with a Wu character |
| Da Qiao | Complete Musou Mode once with a Wu character |
| Xiao Qiao | Complete Musou Mode with either Zhou Yu or Da Qiao |
Sun Quan is the trickiest one in the Wu list, and the first time I tried it I didn’t understand why he wasn’t unlocking. Here’s the sequence that works, step by step:
- Let Taishi Ci be defeated — this forces Sun Quan to retreat.
- Head to his position. A cutscene triggers where you jump across the river together.
- Zhang Liao will vanish from the battlefield, then reappear later near Sun Quan — defeat him.
- Once Cao Cao has no officers left on the battlefield, he retreats, and the unlock lands.
The counterintuitive part is step one. Your instinct is to save Taishi Ci, but the unlock requires the opposite. Let him fall, follow Sun Quan, and deal with Zhang Liao when he turns up again.
Other Generals
| Name | Requirements |
|---|---|
| Zhang Jiao | Defeat Zhang Bao, Zhang Liang and Zhang Jiao during the Yellow Turban Rebellion |
| Diao Chan | Defeat her during the Battle at Hu Lao Gate |
| Lu Bu | Get 1000 kills during the Battle at Hu Lao Gate |
| Dong Zhuo | Defeat both Diao Chan and Lu Bu during the Battle at Hu Lao Gate |
| Yuan Shao | Defeat Yan Liang and Wen Chou before Guan Yu can during the Battle at Guan Du |
| Meng Huo | Defeat him at all seven locations during the Nanman Campaign |
| Zhurong | Defeat her during the Nanman Campaign |
| Fuxi | Complete the Musou Modes of Cao Cao, Liu Bei and Sun Jian |
| Nuwa | Complete the Musou Mode with Da Qiao, Xiao Qiao, Sun Shangxiang and Zhen Ji |
| Ziluan | Complete Musou Mode once |
Hu Lao Gate is doing a lot of heavy lifting here — four of these unlocks happen there. For Lu Bu you need 1000 kills on that stage, and that’s a number you should commit to deliberately rather than hope you reach. Bring a character you’re comfortable with and stop worrying about Lu Bu himself; the kill count is the goal. Dong Zhuo then requires you to defeat both Diao Chan and Lu Bu on the same map.
Two more worth calling out: Yuan Shao is a race against Guan Yu at Guan Du — you need Yan Liang and Wen Chou down before he gets to them, so don’t take your time. And Meng Huo at the Nanman Campaign wants a defeat at all seven locations, which is the kind of requirement where a missed spot means a full replay.
For the hidden trio: Ziluan comes from a single Musou Mode clear, Fuxi needs Cao Cao, Liu Bei, and Sun Jian all completed, and Nuwa needs Da Qiao, Xiao Qiao, Sun Shangxiang, and Zhen Ji all completed. That last one means investing in the Wu and Wei rosters before she’s yours.
Conclusion
Working down these lists faction by faction keeps things clean, and most of the roster fills in as a side effect of just finishing Musou Modes. The exceptions — Pang Tong, Sun Quan, and anything at Hu Lao Gate — are the ones I’d plan around rather than stumble into.