Orochi

Orochi (遠呂智) is an alternative spelling for a supernatural serpent. This particular serpent refers to the famed eight-headed serpent of mythology, Yamata no Orochi. It feasted on the flesh of young maidens in Izumo until Susano'o tricked and killed it. The tail of the beast held a treasured sword.

He is the titular antagonist of the Warriors Orochi series. He is a playable character in the first game once all other characters are unlocked. He can be unlocked as a playable character in Warriors Orochi 3 by viewing all of the game's endings. His height for the series is 210 cm (6'11"). He also has character image song titled Mugen Kodoku; it's a vocal version of his theme song in the series.

Role in Games
"How can this be? Orochi, your skills surpass my own."
 * ―Lu Bu; Warriors Orochi 2

Warriors Orochi
Orochi is a powerful, dangerous, and seemingly immortal entity from ancient times. From what can be told by putting various pieces of the stories and character's conversations together, Orochi was imprisoned by the mystics Taigong Wang, Fu Xi, and Nu Wa for various crimes against humanity (presumably from his time as a snake demon). Interested in the chaos he could bring and feeling sympathy for him, Da Ji, together with Dodomeki and Gyūki, free him from his imprisonment at the Wu Hang Moutains some millennium later.

He decides to test the strength of warriors from the Three Kingdoms Era of China and the Warring States Period of Japan. He places these heroes into a new world, which is presumably a void space between dimensions. He immediately sets his demonic armies upon the leaders and heroes from these worlds, quickly killing, imprisoning, or subjugating many powerful warriors. He sought to test his might against the heroes of these eras and among them find a worthy challenger.

After he subdues most of the forces against him, Orochi additionally defeats the mystics who once sealed him in the past. With his new army, it seemed that no one could shake his grasp on the land. By the end of the first game, however, he is defeated by the heroes of China and Japan -though it is never really made clear who exactly stopped him.

In Warriors Orochi 2, Orochi is revived beyond the grave as Orochi X. While Orochi himself doesn't resurrect in the latest installment, characters can sense remnants of Orochi's spirit throughout the story. The world's will takes his appearance multiple times at the end of the game.

Personality
Orochi is a surreal being who has the power to use the darkness and greed within people for his benefit, distorting their image of him into whatever they desire. Through this power, he can forcefully gain strongly loyal allies. He seems bored with actual administrating, leaving that up to his loyal strategist Da Ji. Of those who he has press-ganged into his service, he seems to respect Lu Bu the most, while Lu Bu is biding his time until he is powerful enough to slay Orochi and claim the title of the strongest for himself.

He has a powerful desire to battle someone who can end his life however, as hinted by various lines he speaks, Wei's ending in Warriors Orochi 2 and the Showdown at Yamatai Dream Mode level containing Lu Bu, Keiji Maeda, and Tadakatsu Honda. It's possible that he seeks peace in death.

Character Symbolism
In the Asian ports for Warriors Orochi, all of Orochi's weapons (as well as Orochi X's weapons) are named after the eight hot realms of Buddhist purgatory, each dedicated to torment a particular soul whom have indulged too deeply with a particular sin. Throughout these realms, souls are forced to suffer or die to only be revived again to repeat their torture. Torture gets progressively worse the farther one descends. Time seems to pass at a slower rate for a human soul stuck within these hells; one day within any of these hells can equate to 500 years -or even thousands of years- in normal time.

Orochi's first weapon is named Kukujo, or the black stringed hell. Second layer of the hot hells, this realm is for people who have killed and have stolen from another. Specifically, people who have enjoyed repeatedly taken the life of another living being and have gleefully extorted multiple times will be led here. For the soul sent here, their bodies are given "life" and forced to endure a painfully hot floor. Along their bodies is a distinct black line, a mark for their jailers and their searing hot saws to cut. If a soul isn't being bisected apart by their punisher, they are forced to walk across a rope bridge at a burning hot mountain of iron. As they walk, the bridge breaks apart to drop their victims. Or perhaps judges drop scorching hot pots on top of their victims to make them lose their balance.

His second weapon is Kyōkan, the fourth of the burning hells. People who have taken a life, stolen, indulged in obsessive gluttony or have performed some wrong doing with liquor (i.e. poisoning, purposely killing another by using the liquid) are sent to Kyōkan. Ten times the pain is received compared to the previous hells. Souls within this realm are repeatedly trapped within burning hot rooms. Their agony is too much to bear as they scream for mercy to the judges. Where ever they run, it sears them. If their words irritate their jailers too much, they become irritated with them and shoot at them down with their bows and flaming arrows.

Jounetsu or Ennetsu, his third weapon, is the sixth hell. Including the previously mentioned sins, this place is where liars or those with black-hearted thoughts may appear. Sinners are pierced with burning hot spears or lances, engulfing their insides and forcing their orifices to painfully shoot out flames. The heat from the earlier hells dwarf in comparison to the flames found in this hell. Kukujo's burning floor is like snow compared to Jounetsu's fires. Another method for luring sinners to suffer is by inviting them to rest at what appears to be a cool, refreshing pond. As they drink the pool's waters, flames burst within their bodies and internally burns them to ash.

His fourth weapon is named after the final burning hell, Mugen or "unending" hell. Those who have committed the previously mentioned sins, committed rape, and/or disobeyed Buddha's teachings entirely by killing their parents are tortured here. Since it's at the bottom and largest layer of hell, it takes a soul 2,000 years of falling to get there. A soul isn't free from pain as they fall, since they experience the combined pain of the seven other hells each minute they drop. Their body becomes a bloody pulp once they arrive to a world of odd yet terrible monstrosities. A mountain of swords may pierce their body, the sun may peel off their flesh, a demon may vomit fire on top of them, iron nails can pierce through their tongue, and venom or flame can be injected directly into their blood. Compared to the various other horrible tortures awaiting those here, the other hells are like a sweet dream.

Voice Actors

 * Gideon Emery - English voice
 * Ryotaro Okiayu - Japanese voice

Quotes

 * "Entropy will always triumph!"
 * "You have not yet earned the right to face me."
 * "I do not wish to waste my time. You had better be... worth the effort."
 * "Only the worthy have made it. Now I shall see for myself the strength of mankind."
 * "Before my ambition, you will be powerless!"
 * "Such anger."
 * Orochi and Cao Pi; Warriors Orochi


 * "So tell me, you gonna keep on looking for someone strong enough to end you?"
 * "Humanity will not surrender so easily. Perhaps the warriors strong enough to overcome me is closer than he knows."
 * Keiji and Orochi; Warriors Orochi 2


 * "I can feel my life getting shorter when you stare at me with that glum expression! What is it that disgruntles you so?"
 * "Actually, I am in a good mood today. I suppose I have your banquet to thank for that..."
 * "Oh, so this is your pleased expression... How am I supposed to tell the difference!"
 * Dong Zhuo and Orochi; Warriors Orochi 3

Ground Moveset

 * undefined,(undefined),(undefined): smashes the upper part of his scythe, which generates a massive electric shockwave around him. He raises his weapon free hand to fire a giant fireball in front of him. He follows with his other hand to shoot three electric bolts forward.
 * ,undefined,(undefined),(undefined): crouches to smash his scythe on the ground. As he does this, he is surrounded by a red aura that damages foes and launches them. He follows with two decisive horizontal swings.
 * ,,undefined,(undefined),(undefined): waves his weapon free hand forward to hurl three ice balls forward. Rotates his body to send red energy on the ground next to him with the same hand. He then becomes airborne and spins, his scythe cutting foes around him.
 * ,,,undefined,(undefined),(undefined): hops forward for two slashes. He then levitates in the air whilst in a fetal position. He emits a destructive red aura whilst aerial.
 * ,,,,,,,,: Orochi becomes invincible to his foes by surrounding himself in a blue aura, slashing forward with his scythe. As the effect wears off, he turns his scythe upside down to smash the head into the ground, emitting a red-and-black aura on the ground. He turns for a horizontal swing and follows with swing that cuts upwards. After four more horizontal swings, Orochi rotates his scythe to point forward. As he thrusts it, he fires a red-and-black horizontal tornado forward thrusting his foes upwards.


 * Dashing : downwards swing that slashes foes in front of him.
 * ,undefined: spins rapidly in the air before smashing his scythe on the ground, emitting a massive electric shockwave on impact.
 * ,: shoots a downwards fireball.
 * Orochi channels energy into his fist and pounds the ground. He stays in one place and generates a destructive electric shockwave around him that juggles foes in the air. He finishes with an aura-enchanced swing of his scythe forward and becomes invulnerable to attack for a limited time. In his True Musou version, Orochi performs three quick airborne spins after he finishes his massive shockwave.


 * R1: creates two duplicates of himself to surround a foe in a triangular formation. He and his doubles perform an overhead swing to their center target, creating red-and-black fissures on the ground.

Warriors Orochi 3

He gains the following changes in Warriors Orochi 3.


 * R1: Creates a large sphere of dark energy pulling surrounding enemies in. Finishes with a swing of his scythe.

Horse Moveset

 * undefined: horse rears on hind legs before smashing the ground with their front hooves. If the horse is sprinting, it will perform a long jump instead.
 * ,undefined: rising swing to his right that launches.
 * ,,undefined: harsh swing to his right.
 * ,,,undefined: harsh swing to his right.
 * ,,,,,,,: series of swings to his right.
 * horse stampedes with a powerful aura.

Fighting Style
Orochi shows immense strength in the way he handles his great scythe. He is fast, powerful, and mixes his attacks with projectile magic. Most of Orochi's moves do not have a particularly high damage output and can have awkward range such as his C1 and C3. His normal attack string gives him a small window of invincibility but can also be hard to manage.

The most effective way to play Orochi is to use his jumping attacks to facilitate his C1-1. His normal jumping attack is fast with decent coverage that can launch his opponents. His jumping charge is slow but deals decent damage and good for going into crowds. Orochi's C1-1 is particularly effective and reliable; it is fast, relatively easy to execute creates an explosion good for crowd control. Variations can be used with his ice elemental attacks to freeze the opponent before spamming this move, and using his jumping normal attack to gain an air element bonus. Orochi's element of choice is simple. Since he can't use his scythe for elemental attacks, Range is a bad choice. Most of his elements are those that adds more offensive power to his C1-1 such as Bolt and Slay. Flash can be used to enhance his other moves, but C1-1 already breaks guard, and Orochi has tons of attacks that can bypass blocking. Fire isn't too useful since Orochi can already burn the enemy with jumping attack. Drain and Absorb are pretty useful, since C1-1 is a spammable elemental move which turns Orochi into a sturdy character.

Orochi and Orochi X has a playable mod in Shin Sangoku Musou Multi Raid 2.

Trivia

 * Orochi's source of inspiration, Yamata no Orochi, appears without major alteration to its mythical depiction in Nobunaga no Yabou Online. The Black Dragon is also said to be an incarnation of the mythological creature in Harukanaru Toki no Naka de 4.