These videos of top X officers of Dynasty Warriors are underrated. As a hardcore Dynasty Warriors fan, I approve these great lists overall. Keep going!
Guo Jia was almost perfect in the novel. Every single stratagem he used or suggested were successful. Basically, he's like the only strategist in the book that has naver failed. And the only time Cao Cao did not heed Guo Jia's advice was about Liu Bei ['If you let the enemy off today, they will become a threat to you for a long time.'] And we all know, that Cao Cao deeply regreted about his decision for the rest of his life. Some may say, that Guo Jia never failed only cos' the time span he served Cao Cao was way too short. I guess that's fair to say, but we'll never know for sure what would have happened if this brilliant mind would live longer. Then again, in real history, couple of ideas that he came up with were actually someone else's [mostly Cao Cao's himself] and vice versa...some ideas that were attributed to other people were actually of Guo Jia intelligence. But in folklore it's a common practice to mix things like this.
Hi. OK, have not watched the video yet, but ... Guo Jia was truly brilliant. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guo_Jia Have other chinese sources too. Most Chinese didnt even know, but they also prayed to him as a Tai Sui.
Warning: This list would trigger two individuals who deem that they’re number one and the idea of the Sleeping Dragon, Zhuge Liang, being the number one most intelligent character in Three Kingdoms lore Zhou Yu: Why does Zhuge Liang has to get all the glory, huh?! Aaah! If God made me, why did he have to bring Zhuge Liang in this world as well? Aaah! Sima Yi: IMBECILES! Only fools would claim that Zhuge Liang is the most intelligent man in this realm!
I think Sima Zhao should be at least number 10 or so since he is historically: almost unified China, take down longterm threats even his father couldn't, completely take power over Wei, mitigate the PR disaster of killing the emperor. in game: talk Liu Shan into agreeing, almost fuse Wei meritocracy and Shu benevolence, see through flaws of other people's plans and mitigated damage.
I definitely thought of him while making the list, I just didnt think he impact was significant enough to include within the list as throughout most the games and history he falls short in most of his plans, but definitely thought of him!
Your ranking of smartest characters is by far the best one i see. Great to see underrated characters get the acknowledgment they deserve. If there is anything that bug me in this video then it would be the placement of Lu Su. I personally would rank him higher, at least around top 11.
So it could be argued that if he was that intelligent why not take his talents somewhere else, be more like Jia Xu and stay true to his own genius instead of staying with Lu Bu
I think one character I think worthy to be on this list, but in lower rank, is Liu Bei. He is nowhere near Cao Cao in terms of being general to give strategic opinion on the battle field, or to be able to lead the line on the battle field. But, in terms of recruitment and charisma (or cons people), he is the GOAT. Even, his strength is nowhere near Cao Cao, less than tenth of army Cao Cao had. But Liu Bei still managed to recruit A LOT of rank A-S warriors and strategist to join him. This quality alone I think he is at least 19th to 21st place on the list. PS. It was him also who convinced Cao Cao to execute Lu Bu.
@@TheNightowlGaming I respect your opinion and maybe it's because I haven't heard much of his contribution in later Shu era or how he could play his role in DW series if he's playable
Amazing video and I agree on all 20 of the smartest in dynasty warriors and no doubt that sima yi and that sleeping dragon are the two most smart man in history
Wasn't expecting an NPC like Fei Yi on the list! I'm relatively new to your channel and I enjoy pretty much every video so far, Great job bro! I think I would've put Liu Bei on here as well as he may not have been the smartest in terms of strategy but he's very much intelligent emotionally, similarly to what you said about Cao Cao, Liu Bei was able to win Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Zhuge Liang and so many other talented officers over to his cause despite the fact that he LITERALLY had nothing to start his kingdom with and is basically always on the run. I know all this also has to do with the fact that he's very virtuous and all that but I personally would've put him maybe somewhere in between no.20-16 or something like that. Either ways these kinds of lists are always debatable LOL. I'm digging the DW content on here bro, keep them coming!!
Appreciate the kind words so much!! Welcome to the channel! 😁 and yeah I can definitely see the argument for him, its always tough with such subjective lists but I can definitely see it !
I definitely think Fei Yi was a genius, Zhuge Liang was smart cookie but he really shouldn’t have gotten so involved with the army. Cao Cao was one of the his generation’s brightest minds. Hard for me to pick a #1. I would say Fa Zheng seeing as how he was able to get one over Cao Cao but he died just as he was being successful
If Fa Zheng lived on, he would notice that there is something fishy going on with Cao Cao’s forces during the war for control of Hanzhong “Hmm, looks like Cao Cao’s dispatched a measly force to engage us in battle! Aha! That dastardly villain, Cao Cao! He’s going to attack Fan Castle and he must have incited Sun Quan to attack Fan Castle as well! Hey, Kongming! (Zhuge Liang’s courtesy name), send Zhang Fei and a couple of troops to defend Jing Province and thwart any attempts by Sun Quan to steal it! Huang Zhong, Ma Chao, Wei Yan, come with me! Let us aid General Yunchang (Guan Yu’s courtesy name) and stop Wei from killing him!”
@@michaelbandada9887or he would have prevented liu bei from setting up his camp the way he did in Xiaoting. I imagine he also would have supported Huang Quan’s plan and that may have swayed liu bei
This is a solid list, but the “intelligence” level basis for me is quite inconsistent, probably because you took into consideration multiple types of intelligence like eq (to which for me I would exclude) That’s just my opinion though. Additionally, since I am Wu biased, I feel that Lu Xun should be higher since he did carry later Wu in general and not only in Yi Ling (Sun Quan just wont listen to him), also, his son Lu Kang (whom he prolly trained) is one of the last people to keep Wu together before falling bcuz of the stupid Sun descendants. It needs to be said. Lastly, since I am a Zhou Yu fan particularly, I am happy with his placement, I can prolly add a few explanations just my 2 cents (pls correct me if I’m wrong) 1. He is also a predicter - He predicted Yuan Shu’s declaration and allocated thousands of soldiers and people to Sun Ce and away from Yuan Shu, one of them is Lu Su. 2. His 2-part plan would’ve actually worked if he didn’t get injured - His DW9 hypothetical DLC explained this fairly well, Shu would have never existed if Zhou Yu’s 2-part plan worked. If anything, Zhuge Liang was banking on Zhou Yu’s recklessness for his 3-part plan to work, and indeed he was right, Zhou Yu was injured. 3. I wouldn’t heavily emphasize him in Chibi, but more in Nanjun - Just like how I credit Zhuge Liang in Wuzhang Plains, to put a strain in the enemy while his dying? I think DW8’s Nanjun level is enough to explain this. 4. He is the governor of Soochow - Not only military and advisory work, but also political work. 5. Two (or more?) people had to succeed him after his death - Cheng Pu succeeded him in his military position and Lu Su succeeded him in his adviser (and political) position. Side notes: -Why did I not give Zhou Yu as much credit in Chibi? Bcuz fire attack was Huang Gai’s plan, heck the fake surrender getting beaten up is Huang Gai’s plan. What I can give credit to Zhou Yu is overall command and synchronization of plans and their execution. -This is just an add-on but I don’t remember where I read this, probably from Baidu, he became lieutenant general at the age of 13, makes a lot of sense since he is from a military background family (superior Zhou family) -Idk if I would consider this, but he’s musically talented. I didn’t put it here just cuz he can play instruments, I put it here bcuz he’s critical and all up perfectionist about it. He could honestly mentor someone on music too.
Yeah definitelly hard to decide who goes where and based on what, I definitely based it on multiple avenues of intelligence including EQ. I can 100% see the argument for Zhou Yu and everything you pointed out was pretty spot on. The game heavily focus on Zhou Yu at chibi which is why its a prevalent argument to his placement, I definitely remember the impact he had in the battle of Nanjun. But I cant totally disagree with your assessment of the two Wu strategists!
@@TheNightowlGaming Oh yeah no problem, this is your list afterall and it was just my personal take to put Lu Xun higher 🤣 I have zero problem with the other placements tbh, I’m especially happy to see Zhou Yu placed high so I’m not really debating on his placement, moreover I’m just adding my two cents to explain why he deserves to be #4 😄
@@eternal_seokjin7441 Haha for sure, love reading the comment! I love everything about this game and love hearing peoples thoughts and what they know about the characters and stff 😆
Edit: omg where is Chen Gong? 😮😮😮 I don't think it's fair to consider "charismatic" as "smart" in this case. Having Cao Cao above someone like Pang Tong is kind of weird. Cao Cao was pretty mid as a strategist, he got outsmarted many many times. Also while I appreciate the recogniton for Zhen Ji having her above Yue Ying also feels quite unfair. Well you do love your Wei, can't blame some personal preference ^^
@@TheNightowlGaming eh yeah but it's an uneven criteria: if we go so much by emotional intelligence we should also have Diao Chan, Liu Bei himself etc... I think there's the Leaders' list for charisma, this is supposed to be the Strategists list or at least I thought so :/
@@8Smoker8 ill remake it at some point, the best strategits ive yet to make, this is overall intelligence of all characters, game and novel but back then knowledge was limited
Only one I disagree with is I believe Lu Su should be higher but I dont think I should base my opinion on the tv series. I believe he isnt as prominent in the games by comparison
@@TheNightowlGaming as somebody who has played the game since DW2 and the Romance of the Three Kingdoms hex turned based game.....it makes goin back to play the game even more enjoyable
Yue Ying is the one who actually created and invented most of the things Shu used in combat. She also helped Kongming devise a few strategies for different combat environments. She should be higher on the list in my opinion. Yes, the list is your opinion and not mine. She just doesn't get the credit she deserves. Probably because it's also said she was very ugly.
my personal opinion is that this list is somewhat wrong, now I know that you take game informations into it but in historical point of view I think that cao cao is the smartest from this list, (not big fan of his here) the things that man did in his life is just amazing, yea zhuge liang did know military strategy but that is the only thing he was good and best you can say but he was terrible person, he did not even care about his wife, he saw her as just a object to be there so for me is 1 cao cao, 2 sima yi, 3 fa zheng and 4 zhuge liang but again I am saying that is my opinion on things I know and think
Oh 100% and thats okay! Everyone's got their opinions especially when it comes to subjective lists like this one! But I respect it and regardless of which number the character are, they were all extremely smart!
ermm, have not watched the video yet, but ... yes, Cao Cao has to be number 1 actually. He literally can do everything. Esp love his poems and songs ... A big fan of his (closing one eye on his cruelty. Recently watched a few chinese historically accurate info vs RTK ones ... bad era to live in) Zhuge Liang's real-life biggest achievements are actually political, and even economical. E.g. He imposed heavy taxes on exports to Wei and Wu, and with the resources of a single province managed to INVADE the mighty Wei (which is the entire northern china) FIVE freaking times, instead of the other way round.
Definitely was considered, but with the many failed Northern Campaigns and him being partially responsible for the fall of shu it was tough to put him in top 20. top 30? probably but not top 20
@@bigmoe3661prolonging defeat is not a positive.. Especially when it means a lot of people dying for no reason... Jiang Wei intelligence should be top 15..but his obsession with defeating Wei detracts from all of that. A smart man knows when he's beaten
Zhong Hui would have been a good honorable mention. While he was a pompous and arrogant individual, he was very well educated and extremely resourceful. Even the RTK games rate his Int in the low 90s. I can see not putting him in top 20, though I’d maybe give him Zhen Ji’s spot.
@@TheNightowlGaming 1: Zhuge Liang 2: Guo Jia 3: Jia Xu 4: Pang Tong 5: Sima Yi 6: Zhou Yu 7: Xun Yu 8: Lu Xun 9: Xun You 10: Fa Zheng 11: Xu Shu 12: Lu Su 13: Cao Cao 14: Zhong Hui 15: Jiang Wei 16: Jia Chong 17: Chen Gong 18: Deng Ai 19: Lu Meng 20: Yueying Honorable mentions: Sima Shi, Sima Zhao, Zhang Jiao, Xin Xianying, and Cao Pi This is mostly based both on their Int/Pol ratings in RTK, as Koei has really good internal experts on the era.
@@TheNightowlGaming5th, but yeah, I know hahaha. He is my all time favorite character, but apparently the others were just THAT smart. They just died earlier so achieved less (I guess) The differences between the top 5 intellects, compared to the thousands of characters in the story/era is very narrow though. So it’s like comparing shades of black… mostly they will appear the same.
I'm sorry but These list are so wrong If i had to make my own Top 20 I'll add characters like Ju Shou, Cheng Yu, Chen Gong, Zhuge Jin, Cao Ren Also, Lu Meng, Lu Su should be higher... Zhou Yu is smarter than Jia Xu
Nah dude was too stubborn to not understand the Lu Bu was a sinking ship and instead decided to die with it, idk if he was smart he wouldve taken the Jia xu route imo, who did he teach?
@@TheNightowlGaming but by that logic Zhuge Liang also chose to sink with Liu Shan instead of grabbing power, Xu Shu also chose to give in to a blackmail and fall into obscurity, Zhou Yu also chose to follow his inferiority complex to Zhuge Liang etc... Many of them had flaws like that. Imho to put Cao Cao above Chen Gong is a slap to the face 😅
TBF, Liu Bei spend most of his life with a very short retinue until he was in Jing. In comparaison, Cao Cao and Sun Quan quickly got their most important advisers and generals.
@@TheNightowlGaming Liu Bei has a pretty good cadre of strategists and if they managed to stay healthy and work together, Liu Bei would be coming out on top Xu Shu- he got coerced to serve Cao Cao Zhuge Liang- he died at the Wuzhang Plains, desperately trying to fulfill Liu Bei’s dream Pang Tong- he died during an ambush during Liu Bei’s quest to seize Yi Province Fa Zheng- he died after the Hanzhong Campaign
@@michaelbandada9887 True True, it would of been interesting to see the best strategists from shu go against the best from wei, cause wei also had a ton of talented strategists, dear lord
@@TheNightowlGaming it would be one epic chess match between Shu’s finest minds against Wei’s best geniuses with countless moves and counter moves at every turn
@@TheNightowlGaming and you should remember that cao cao always asking xun yu for advice Whenever cao cao made a foolish things or what to do or not to do Also xun yu is more intelligent than Guo Jia. From wei in terms of strategy is sima yi in terms of conclusion is Xun Yu But I agree with you put Guo Jia and sima yi above xun yu Cause Guo Jia is like the 2nd in terms of strategy and conclusion
Xu shu top 5, in the romance of the three kingdoms and theory in more realistic history he was a genius only behind sima yi and zhuge liang, other than that I'd say this was a great list lmao
Sima yi repealed zhuge liang 7 times so I would simply swap 1 and on the list.. something else worth noting zhuge liang picked Jiang Wei as his successor lol😂.. mean while the sima clan won the day so no.. I put yi above liang
Zhuge Liang was a manipulator and abused alliances. He gave Pang Tong the horse of Liu Bei which was obviously a setup, since Pang Tong was much more intelligent and threatened Zhuge's position in Shu. I wouldn't put that pos in the top ten.
Do you have any proof that he set up pang tong like that, I agree with you about the alliances part but saying that he set up his friends death like that is a bit extreme
@BrendenReece Gaming Here, use Liu Bei's horse while I betray our lord's cousin. Come on. Manipulates everyone, but it stops at Pang Tong? People killed their friends all the time, just ask Yuan Shao.
20. Sima Shi 18. Jia Chong 18. Lu Meng 16. Chen Gong 16. Deng Ai 15. Zhong Hui 12. Cao Cao 12. Jiang Wei 12. Lu Su 10. Xu Shu 10 .Fa Zheng 8. Xun You 8. Zhou Yu 5. Xun Yu 5. Sima Yi 5. Lu Xun 3. Pang Tong 3. Guo Jia 1. Zhuge Liang 1. Jia Xu
Wow Cao Cao down at 12 interesting, I have seen some arguments for Chen Gong, but dont underestimate Fei Yi just casue he an NPC, dude was hella smart 😁😁
@@TheNightowlGaming Cao Cao is great but he still need advisor. All characters above him are top advisor of era. (Not sure about Xu Shu) Fei Yi is good too but he come too late and unlucky. He and Wang Ping have a good one battle. (Battle of Xingshi) Sry for my bad english.
