Deng Zhi


 * Warning: Contains blood, coarse language and dark themes. Read at your own Risk.

Deng Zhi (174 - 251) is an officer of Shu. He is well known for his involvement in renewing the alliance between Wu and Shu and is also the one responsible for earning Sun Quan's trust. He is often considered as a dangerous threat due to his intellect, his predictability, his creative insults and his savage words despite that he was well liked by his own men

He is the main protagonist in Episode 2 of Dynasty Warriors Bloodlines.

Description

 * "A Strategist who's wit is as fast as his savagery. Notable for his intelligence, he would often find ways to satisfy the Shu army with his creativity"

Appearance
Deng Zhi is a young man with short brown hair, a beard that covers his entire chin, black-hazel eyes, and an athletic build. He wears are dark green

Personality
Deng Zhi is a calm, composed and, though it happens at times, ruthless strategist who intellect is rivaled to those of Zhuge Liang, Sima Yi, Shingen Takeda, Kenshin Uesugi and Hanbei Takenaka.

He also has little trust in people that are either annoyances or just pure idiots as stated in his conversation with Kai in Warriors Orochi 5 when her constant talking annoyed him, adding that Naotora's constant apologizing angered him to the point that he intentionally left her behind.

When married to Yinping, however, he has grown mellower and kinder due to her presence. Though he has retained his savagery and killer instinct, he comes to appreciate people more, especially Motoharu Kikkawa, who he sees as his equal, in some way.

He shows a lot of respect to Suzaku Vermilion, despite their different backgrounds.

He is worried about his daughter and the path she will take if he dies. His fears were proven correct when Deng Yin went on a path he and Yinping refused to allow her: Becoming a vengeful, mourning warrior. Despite this, he's at least happy that she got some form of justice given to her after Zhong Hui's rebellion.

Story
He often appears as a part of Zhuge Liang's forces in most of the latter's battles and is always involved in the Battle of Jieting, acting as Ma Su's strategist. His final appearance is during the Battle of Wuzhang Plains. Afterwards, he retired and lived a happy life with Guan Yinping.

Episode 2
His story has been extended due to being the main protagonist of the main story, which takes place before the Pacification of Chengdu.

He also advised Zhuge Liang to be cautious of Wu during their alliance with them.

He was also part of the Shu reinforcements in the Battle of Fan Castle, but was too late in saving Guan Yu and Ping from the Wu/Wei alliance.

He severely criticized Liu Bei's actions against Wu and was completely against Zhang Fei bossing him around. After Liu Bei's death, Zhi offered a solution: Make amends with the Wu army.

During his visit to Wu, he, along with Lu Su, who is somehow alive, came into agreement with Sun Quan, and the Wu-Shu alliance was reformed.

In the Battle of Jieting, he and Wang Ping act as strategists for Ma Su. Despite that the both of them did well, Shu still lost, due to Ma Su camping on the hill despite that he was advised not to go there, and Zhuge Liang was forced to execute Ma Su for his failure. In spite of this, Zhi continues to provide support for Shu.

At 251 AD, Zhi, Yinping and their daughter were at peace, enjoying a cup of tea when they were under attack by Jiang Wei, who called him a traitor (In reality, Zhi left Shu on his own terms and retired from fighting). Left with little options, Zhi faces off against Wei and his small army, while ordering Yinping and his daughter to hide. Zhi fought the army off as long as he could, but was killed by a volley of arrows, caused by Wei's archers. As he laid dying, he looks at the necklace his daughter gave to him....smiling before he draws his last breath.

After his death at the hands of Jiang Wei, his daughter, Deng Yin, becomes part of the Shu army. Unbeknownst to him, however, she vows to avenge her father while looking after Liu Shan.

Warriors Orochi
Due to the time distortion, Deng Zhi arrives to help Guan Yinping, who was about to be overwhelmed by the Orochi army.

(TO BE ADDED)

Theme Song

 * PATH OF HEAVEN - Zhi's official theme. (By Lotus Juice and Night Lovell)

Voice Actors

 * Sota Arai - Dynasty Warriors Bloodlines (Japanese, NPC)
 * Kenji Akabane - Dynasty Warriors series, Warriors Orochi 5 (Japanese)
 * Khary Payton - Dynasty Warriors Bloodlines: Episode 2 (English)

Moveset
Deng Zhi's weapon is the Striking Sword though it's weapon is actually the Straight Sword. Some of Zhi's charge attack revolve around brawling with a couple of kicks. One of his EX attacks has him do a drop kick.

Dynasty Warriors Bloodlines

 * Triangle: Does a front kick, that stuns the enemy.
 * Square, Triangle: Raises the sword to send the enemy up in mid-air
 * Square, Square, Triangle: Does a set of rotating slashes, ending in a downward slash, stunning the enemy
 * Square, Square, Square, Triangle: Delivers a jab with his sword. He pulls the blade out, making the target go forward.
 * Square, Square, Square, Square, Triangle: Summons a dark green blade, making the enemy go up in the air.
 * Square, Square, Square, Square, Square, Triangle: Rotates twice, delivering two shock waves.
 * Square, Square, Square, Square, Square, Square: Performs five different slashes in a criss-cross manner and follows up with swipe to the right. The first five hits produce broad slash marks that last during the attack string and can be converted into flying cutting waves via charge attacks.and an slash
 * EX 1: Square, Square, Square, Square, Square, Triangle, Triangle - Delivers a Drop Kick to send the enemy flying.
 * EX 2: Square, Square, Square, Triangle, Triangle - Presses his foot down on the downed target, using him as a slide to drag his/her body in a straight line.
 * Musou Animation - Does a set of downward slashes, in a X pattern.
 * Musou Attack 1: Haymaker - Zhi extends his right arm. From there, he does an upward slash, a downward slash, before delivering a BRUTAL Haymaker.
 * Musou Attack 2: The Kick of Heaven - Zhi smirks before he plunges his sword straight into the target's stomach. As the target is stunned, his legs get covered in lighting. From there, he looks upward before delivering a lightning induced roundhouse kick, which not only stuns the target, but also clears away the soldiers.
 * Aerial Musou: Cyclone - He does a Lariat that turns into a Dark Green Tornado
 * Ultimate Musou - Is the same as before, only that it ends with a him summoning a Dark Green Dragon. From there, he does a spinning roundhouse kick, the dragon following suit.

Warriors Orochi 5

 * : Hops back a bit and fires a large heavy arrow forward with bow low to the ground. Bypasses guarding with slowed hitstun.
 * ,, : Swings rod upward in a flailing outward swing to launch the target(s) (can also guard break), then on the next input fires a heavy arrow via a diagonally-upward shot trailed by wind rings. The wind rings each count as separate projectiles from each other.
 * , ,, , , : Fires multiple heavy arrow-shots in a row, before finishing with a final stunning shot. The final input can be performed without any extra inputs preceding it.
 * , , , : Shoots heavy arrow with enough force to knock away surrounding enemies with crashing knockback.
 * , , , ,, : Turns around and slams rod in front on the ground for a launching quake. Next input causes the user to backflip away to launch a heavy arrow-shot that emits a series of growing wind rings.
 * , , , , ,, : Backflips into the air and launches a piercing heavy arrow-shot that inflicts slowed launching hitstun. The next input has the user stay in the air for an extra bit while loading up a second shot that is trailed by wind rings (just like C2~2). The wind rings each count as separate projectiles from each other. Cannot be aimed-directed, thus the auto-aim function usually takes over this move completely.
 * , , , , , : Inward rod swing to the left, diagonal-downward swing to the right, inward-crossing leftward rod swing, crossing outward swing to the right, upward scooping swing to the right, then finishes with a leaping-turning rod slam that emits a small quake that knocks back.
 * Dashing : Leaps and pounds weapon into the ground for a quake.
 * , : Strikes at enemies downward while in the air. Shifts aerial momentum downward upon usage.
 * , : Fires a heavy arrow-shot at the opponent below, launching them into the air.

Quotes

 * Now it's time for me to plan out my Strategies - Character Select
 * I have already anticipated your every move - Deng Zhi's intro quote 1
 * I walked through the Path of Heaven, where I will rule over everything - Deng Zhi's intro quote 2

Outfits

 * Default
 * Informal
 * Swat Soldier
 * Butler
 * Kenpachi Zaraki (Episode 1: Bleach DLC Costume)
 * Jamie Lannister (Episode 1: Game of Thrones DLC Costume)

Weapons
He uses a Striking Sword in Dynasty Warriors Bloodlines and Warriors Orochi 5 though the latter is used in a similar fashion to the old games, most notably, the animations take note from Xiahou Yuan. Since he's the protagonist of Episode 2, he has eight weapons with two DLC ones.
 * 1) Iron Sword
 * 2) Steel Blade
 * 3) Qingang Sword
 * 4) Oblivion
 * 5) Justice
 * 6) Fury (RARE)
 * 7) Collapse (RARE)
 * 8) Heaven's Judgement (RARE)

Trivia

 * Deng Zhi is often similar to YouTuber I AM WILDCAT due to how similar the two act. Unlike Wildcat, however, Deng Zhi is calm and composed while retaining the same creativity and savage tone.
 * He is also similar to Souji Tendou, aka Kamen Rider Kabuto, mainly due to the similarities in his personality, his intro and win animations, and one of his musous. One of his enemy encounter animations is similar to his Henshin pose
 * The inspiration for Deng Zhi was a Strategist who is serious, but is also an expert in luring other people into his strategies.
 * Deng Zhi's theme, PATH OF HEAVEN, is notable for being made by Lotus Juice, a Japanese rapper known for his music on Persona.
 * Zhi's Bloodlines outfit shares some similarities to Xun You's DW9 outfit.
 * His weapon, the Royal Sword, can be considered as a variation of the Striking Sword.
 * His informal outfit takes notes from his ROTK 12 look.
 * In the Behind the Scenes video, Kenji Akabane, who is the Japanese voice of Deng Zhi, stated that he was surprised upon being called up to voice him because it was a different role than he usually voices.
 * Some of Deng Zhi's charge attacks are a nod to Chuck Greene's skill moves in Dead Rising 2.
 * His death oddly mirrors John Marston's death in Red Dead Redemption.
 * Like Sun Deng, Deng Zhi looks younger than his actual age. However, this was averted in an update on Episode 2 as a result of fan complaints about how he looks like (Bishonen is rather an issue nowadays). He's now face modeled after Philip Kwok from the Venom Mob.