Recently, Samurai Warriors 5 was recently released for the West and a lot of fans are loving this newly rebooted series. There are a total of 27 playable characters in-game each with its own playstyle and skillset. Among these characters, there are 5 characters that I considered a favorite. The considerations range from their personalities to how fun their move sets are in comparison to other characters.
Here are my top 5 favorite Samurai Warriors 5 characters starting with Oda Nobunaga at the top!
Oda Nobunaga
Known as the FOOL and the Demon King of the Sixth Heaven, Oda Nobunaga’s character in the latest Samurai Warriors game has captivated many gamers including myself. It was great how his personality and strength changed as he grew. Oda Nobunaga’s playstyle is very easy to understand and it’s made for beginners. Wielding a long sword, Oda Nobunaga can easily chain basic combo attacks to deal with enemies further away from him, thus making him a particular favorite in this Samurai Warriors game.
Akechi Mitsuhide
Aside from being known as the man who finally killed Nobunaga, Akechi’s depiction in previous Samurai Warriors was solely focused on how and why he betrayed his Lord. But here on this latest installment, fans get to see how he reached the point of no return from his early days serving Saito Dosan’s faction all the way to when his loyalty was wavering in the face of Oda’s ideals.
Akechi is considered a favorite for his use of two playstyles in the game. First is the katana where Akechi swiftly attacks various enemies in close range with vicious combos and relentless attacks. With this weapon in hand, Akechi is a dominant fighter and matches well against boss-type characters. His second playstyle is Gun and Sword. With this playstyle, Akechi can now attack enemies from close range to long-range and can easily extend his combo. However, his speed is reduced from using this playstyle thus making him an easy target but his offense is greatly improved as well as his defensive capabilities.
Mitsuki
She is one of the new characters that debuted in Samurai Warriors 5. A young female Kōga Ninja, Mitsuki sparkles with a cheerful and friendly personality. And while her birthplace is unknown, she was raised believing her father is Nobunaga Oda.
Mitsuki greatly admires Nobunaga and makes every effort to help him after she begins serving the Oda family. Mistuki uses battle gauntlets to perform explosive combos and buff herself better which creates wonderful and colorful abilities. The main focus on her abilities is based on her speed but when facing opponents on a one-on-one basis, her ultimate skills make up for it thus making her one of my top 5 favorites.
Shikanouske Yamanaka
Another newcomer to Samurai Warriors 5, Shikanouske Yamanaka is a cheerful young man with a frank personality. He met Mitsuhide when he was being attacked by Mōri during an arduous battle. From then on, he began to work alongside Mitsuhide while working to restore the Amago family to their former glory.
Shikanouske uses dual blades that increase his speed and offense at the same time especially against hordes of enemies. His playstyle really suits his personality as well as his musou attacks that send numerous enemies in a twister. Even though he is new to the franchise, fans should play him in order to get out of tricky yet hard situations in the game.
Hanbei Takenaka
The great strategist under Saito Dosan who later serves Toyotomi Hideyoshi rounds the list of favorites that I have chosen. While he appears very mild-mannered, Hanbei has unparalleled quick wits on the battlefield. He senses that Hideyoshi, his former enemy, has the potential to alter the future of Japan, so he decides to serve him to achieve that goal. He mentors Kanbei, his junior tactician.
Using beat drum, Hanbei’s main ability is mostly on the defensive side. He creates sound waves which either target approaching enemies or create a defensive sound barrier whenever he is surrounded by hordes of enemies. Out of all the characters I played in Samurai warriors 5, Hanbei would be considered top tier for me since his combos can reach at least 10,000 plus and his ultimate skills can easily penetrate shielded enemies and archers.
With these 5 characters that I consider as my favorites, fans might be inspired to play them and even enjoy countless hours of playing Samurai Warriors 5 as I have. For those who wish to know the review of the game, players can check out our previous review of Samurai Warriors 5 and read all about it.