By the way, Xing Cai is awesome. She can take down any officer on any difficulty setting, but her crowd control is mediocre even with 4th weapon, Tiger Amulet Lvl20, Ginseng and Windscroll equipped. For crowd control, Lu Bu (Duh) and Zuo Ci (double-Duh) are the best. For all around play, Ma Chao is up there (especially on Shadow Runner, which is basically designed for him and Zhang He). Let it be said that Zhang He is another good all around character when he is equipped with an attack-boosting item like Tiger Amulet and Phoenix Talon (4th Weapon).
For Zhang He, My item combination at max rank is Red Hare Saddle(sub Shadow Saddle for mounted combat)+Ice Orb+Tiger Amulet(or Horned Helm)+Green Scroll(switch for Tribal Remedy on Chaos Mode)+Wind Scroll+Herbal Remedy+Speed Scroll. Some of you might be wondering why I don't use Way of the Musou with Zhang He. The reason is that I use his Musou attack on Chaos Mode to break chain attacks and guard. I also use it as a finishing move, but never as an all-out attack (unless I'm at a high risk of dying). I just tap O and it uses only a fraction of my bar. His charge attacks and evolution attack are good enough (and this also optimizes my elemental orb for supreme *** kicking).
On Chaos Mode, Ice Orb is probably the best equip for most characters if you use elemental attacks optimally, as it minimizes your damage taken without killing your Musou Bar like the Dark Orb.