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“The Whitehorse General 白馬將軍 (bái mǎ jiāng jūn)”
Who is he?
Among the starry sky composed by the heroic legends during the period of the Three Kingdoms, the Whitehorse General Gongsun Zan was like a bright meteor, illuminating the darkness in the north part of China. However, coming in a hurry like a real meteor, he disappeared from history in a hurry as well. Between his
diligence, good looks, education, and a noteworthy resonant voice, he caught the eye of a royal member of the Han dynasty, who married his daughter to him. He spent the first half of his life crusading against the nomadic tribes in northern China, and each tribe there was afraid of his name. He had a strong preference for white horses: he chose three thousand horsemen as his elite troops and allocated the soldiers with white horses, earning his title of Whitehorse General. But alas how did such a handsome and competent General fall to such dramatic ruin? Read on to find out!
Why is he an SP character?
Unlike characters with SP versions due to a change of allegiance (like Sun Shang Xiang 孙尚香), or minor revisions (like Diao Chan 貂蝉's portrait), Gongsun Zan is a new addition. As such, his abilities don’t allow the same level of cooperation as other characters (e.g. Liu Bei 刘备, Zhuge Liang 诸葛亮 and Huang Yueying 黄月英, etc.). KayaK, one of the founders of SGS, said: “People should not compare the abilities of the SP characters with the normal ones, it’s not comparable. I know that Gongsun Zan’s abilities may be way too weak comparing to other expansions, but that’s why we chose him to be a SP character, it’s a proper way to introduce him to the game.”
Ok KayaK, we get the idea. Now let's bring on the firepower!
Character ability: “Righteous Cavalry 义从 (yì cóng)” [Enforced ability]
When your health is more than 2 units, you have -1 distance in any range calculations. When your health is equal or less than 2 units, you have +1 distance in any range calculations.
Ability's relation to story
The design of Gongsun Zan’s ability reflects perfectly the character’s whole life experience: first half of his life as a brave young general and last half of his life as a cruel conservative dictator. When Gongsun Zan was just deployed to Youzhou (a state in northern China, including a part of Beijing, a part of Tianjin and the south part of Liaoning Province), he led his Whitehorse cavalry to quell rebellions and won honor; in his last years he just locked himself behind the solid walls and stored lots of grain with him - only
women and boys under seven years old were allowed to come into his fortress.
Additional info based on story:
1. Most famous achievement - Gongsun Zan was famous for his preference of white horses and his Whitehorse Cavalry. At first the Cavalry was just his personal guards, then it became the top 1 light cavalry during the Three Kingdoms period. With these excellent mounted troops, he even made the Huns, who have been always famous for their horsemanship, be afraid of meeting him and his Whitehorse cavalry.
2. Cause of death - I would say the real cause of his death was his vanity, cruelty and tyranny. He used to be a hardcore warmonger, and then he lost all his fighting spirit and his mercy. In the end he was surrounded by Yuan Shao 袁绍 in the luxury grave he had made for himself and finally committed suicide. The legend of the Whitehorse Cavalry faded away in history as well.
Wiki Link:
Gongsun Zan Wiki
Usage Tips:
The ability of Gongsun Zan relies on the range calculation (both attack and defense). So even if you were sitting beside him with a crossbow in your hand, after making his HP drop to 2, you could not keep attacking anymore. But for the characters whose abilities don’t rely on range, like Xiahou Yuan 夏侯渊, Zhou Yu 周瑜 and Diao Chan, that wouldn’t be a problem. And a series of AOE from Cao Cao 曹操 would be a death threat to Gongsun Zan as well. Interestingly, the ability of Yuan Shao, who killed Gongsun Zan in history, can help him kill Gongsun Zan in the game easily too.
How to obtain this character?
He is available on SGS online now! (But VIP only) For obtaining a card, purchase ZYZ magazine issue #4 （April 2011).
Contributing Writers:
- Cherry Cat
Does he get the +1 WITH the -1 after reaching that health barrier, or does the +1 swap with the -1?
ReplyDeleteAlso, I'm assuming that if Gongsun Zan has a +1 and -1 equipped, then he would have a total of +2 and/or -2?
It swaps, as you said. The ability is depends on his current health.
ReplyDelete+1 and -1 can not exist at the same time. So that means either +2 or -2.
ReplyDeleteGongsun Zan is probably the worst character in this game in my opinion. He should have 6 health :D
ReplyDeleteHe is one of the famous 'Bafei'(Eight Useless) in normal identity game.
DeleteI LOVE Gongsan Zune!!! Probably because the portrait of him is so good! He is really shitty ?though... I think they should of given him a +1 and a -1, at the SAME time. I have actually customized my Gonsan Zune to do this. Any thoughts on the editing of him? And him in general?
ReplyDeleteThey should at least change how his ability is triggered.
ReplyDelete