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.
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!
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.
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
@@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
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 !
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
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
I would have had Sima Zhao and Sima Shi somewhere on this list,. During the battle of Dongxing Shao, reluctantly, explains to Yuangi why Zhuge Dan's plan is a dumb one by pointing out the obvious trap that Wu has set for them via the bridge. The following Battle of Hefei displays Shi's intelligence when he manages to use Wu's momentum against them by luring them into the castle and using the defenses to wipe them out before taking down Zhuge Ke. There are other examples throughout 7 and 8, but those are the ones that come to mind.
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
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
Maybe Cao Cao would be more charismatic than intelligent. He still has intelligence, but his ambition and charisma might lead people to inflate his intelligence. That could be another video though, the top ten charismatic characters. Maybe you could also do a top ten bromances too!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 😆
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
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
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
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 😅
@@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
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.
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.
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!
Appreciate it so much! Alot of work goes into them and Im glad the OG fans are enjoying them 🙏
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.
100% info consistently gets mixed up so getting the most accurate info is always difficult but definitely no doubt about Guo Jias intelligence
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.
As you known, Pang Tong was not presented during The Battle at Chi Bi and Fa Zheng was a token evil teammate of Shu Han.
Yep!
This is literally the best video I've ever watched
Hell yeah! ❤🔥❤🔥
I love Zhuge Liang and Jia Xu, your list is great
Appreciate it so much!
Your list gets an A+ from me.. Got the top 10 right.. And got all the intelligent characters overall
Thank you thank you!
I think Cheng gong needs a shout
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!
Great channel man, and I respect the way you stay positive responding to comments disagreeing with you.
I appreciate the kind words! Yeah I do my best and since every list I make is subjective there's bound to be some dislike for sure
I’m glad you had Zhou Yu at 4 he’s always been my favorite character since Dynasty warriors started.
He's dope one of my faves too
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!
Nailed it! 😂😂
@@TheNightowlGaming you are a fool 🤣
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.
Tru true, ill prob redo this vid at some point
I'm sorry but there's no way Jia Xu beats Zhou Yu. Just. Nope lol
Haha for sure, I can definitely see the argument haha hope you enjoyed the vid!
@@TheNightowlGaming I did indeed. Thanks!
Jia xu is definitly smarter Zhou yu is ment to be front line not strategist otherwise id agree
The thing is....according to the 4 book set, Three Kingdoms, Jia Xu is placed right. He was smarter and better.
You really don't know who the real Jia Xu is then. Historically, he was one of the most intelligent ever.
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.
For sure! Will definitely be redoing this one at some point with more in depth research for characters
I am biased for xu shu he is just too humble
Haha for sure, hes a good character for sure!
Chen gong should be here he was a mastermind Lu bu just wouldn’t listen
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
Staying with Lu Bu was a foolish decision in the end. Especially after seeing how much of a wild beast of a man he was.
I love your smartest character tier list and I think I will switch Fei Yi with someone else below his rank and put Chen Gong in this list
Appreciate it! Yeah I could see that, but dont underestimate em cause he's an NPC 😁
@@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
This was so fire 🔥
🔥🔥
What about sima shi im interested in your opinion on him
Definitely a smart candidate, he'd probably be top 40 or 50 maybe if I had to rank down that far
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 !
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
Appreciate you and all your comments, glad you liked it! 🙏🙏
@@TheNightowlGaming anytime and I love dynasty warriors so much ❤️
Wait what about jang Wei?
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
@@TheNightowlGaming he wasn’t the reason shu failed.. he just prolonged their defeat.. attacking wu after the death of guan yu .. caused the down fail
@@TheNightowlGaming if shu would’ve stayed on business they would’ve been top dog
@@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
@@karabomafa5609he got betrayed by his own leader, wasn't really his fault he lost.
Good list!
Ty ty!
I would have had Sima Zhao and Sima Shi somewhere on this list,. During the battle of Dongxing Shao, reluctantly, explains to Yuangi why Zhuge Dan's plan is a dumb one by pointing out the obvious trap that Wu has set for them via the bridge. The following Battle of Hefei displays Shi's intelligence when he manages to use Wu's momentum against them by luring them into the castle and using the defenses to wipe them out before taking down Zhuge Ke. There are other examples throughout 7 and 8, but those are the ones that come to mind.
im gonna remake this at some point
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
Its super hard to decide and rank them, but hopefully I did most of them justice. I agree with everything you said
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
Chen Gong when it comes to strategy is top 7..but his arrogance and lack of awareness hurts him
Yee and those two things I wuold say knocks him down, key parts of intelligence is humility and self awareness, introspectively I think he struggled
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
True true, I still need to watch that
@@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
@@CoachSMETAGaming That hex game sounds kinda interesting
@@TheNightowlGaming its fun if you like tedious micro managing and having to plan waaay ahead lol
I enjoy it
Maybe Cao Cao would be more charismatic than intelligent. He still has intelligence, but his ambition and charisma might lead people to inflate his intelligence. That could be another video though, the top ten charismatic characters. Maybe you could also do a top ten bromances too!
Top 10 charismatic could be good! Charisma I think is a type of Emotional intelligence and some people use it really well
I am happy that Jiang Wei was not listed in this
Good ranking overall
Appreciate it! Might redo it at som epoint
Damn good selection
😎
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.
Yeah imma remake this at some point
@@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.
@@djn6962 sima yi 6th is crazy
@@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.
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.
yeah, imma remake this one eventually
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.
He did, he had that rizz to recruit some of the best generals from the time period
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!
@@TheNightowlGaming thank you and that is true, now if only we have people like them this days to lead us and not this current trash we call leaders
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.
Guo Jia, Xun Yu, Xun You, Xi Zhicai, Liu Ye, Jia Xu, Sima Yi... ngl Wei is kinda stacked xD
so stacked
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 😆
Number 1 and 2 are more joint 1st as they where both as smart as each other really
Purty much
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
No worries, thats why I make these vids, Definitely tough lists to make, especially when there's no hard number to quantify and rank em
Oh I forgot to mention ma su lol
i would def switch nr 2 and 1
Understandable
Fei Yi I agree
🔥🔥
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.
True true
@@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
Shu had the best people... but the worst leaders
Yeah they got some cool ppl
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 ^^
well the video is also old so my knowledge was more limited back then so ah it has a few flwas, but cant underestimate emotional intelligence
@@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
Why am I not in this list?
😂😁
Chen gong is the teacher of 4 guys in the list and he still didn’t make it ? 😂
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 😅
great vid lol, might be a bit off topic but what scene was the Fa Zheng and Jia Xu one in the intro ?
Appreciate the kind words, thats the intro for Dynasty Warriors 9 Empires 👍
Guo Jia personally I believe would have been #1 if he lived longer.
He would've accomplished a lot, him and fa zheng
@@TheNightowlGaming That I can certainly agree with and frankly those two are just two personal favorites of mine.
I think you should including Li Ru and Yuan Shu
And actually Chen gong is more intelligent than cao cao
ill be remaking this list at some point yeee
@@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
Bto in my opinion Sima shi and guan ping was pretty smart oh don't forget about cheng gong lubu officer
very true, might remake this at some point
Wei Yan snubbed for a top 3 spot 😭
Haha definitely an underrated character
Where's Xu Zhu?!
sadly, he just barely missed it 🍔
Calling it now, Zhuge Liang is number 1 and Sima Yi is number 2
Edit: Called it.
😎
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
Haha thanks! and yeah I can definitely see the argument for him, definitely a tough list to make
When shall we expect a coc stream 😏 I see you come back active you can’t hide from me 🌲👀🌲
👀👀
No cheng gong :(
new list coming at some point
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.
@@paradonkeyz Its all good!
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
I could definirely see the argument for that, its hard to say who was the smartest, but I know most sources and people think Kongming reigns supreme!
I did like your presentation 👍
@@adamdickerson2762 Thank you! 🙏🙏
Zhuge Liang lost to Liu Shan, not to Sima Yi😅
@@8Smoker8 yea right lol 😂
Lubu should be top1 hahaha
Zhen Ji over Lu Meng and Deng Ai, bruh
Old list imma remake it at some point, still zhenji is pretty intelligent
@@TheNightowlGaming
That's cool, please just do it because you wanted to, not because of any criticism. You and i are entitled to our own opinions.
@@aiquangat8620 Of course 🙏
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.
seems a little biased 😅😅
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.
@@tidalwaveknight1897 ok sure, I'll build a time machine and travel back in time & ask Yuan shao if he betrays his own friends 🤦♂️
@@brendenreecegaming284 that's completely what I expect out of you. You got this, time traveler. Also, I was talking about how Cao Cao killed him.
Pang De must be in first five!
Didnt know Pang De was known for his smarts!