Shotgunning?

[Phoenix_lostarr]

Good evening, MoTK!

so I'm browsing the forums, and I hear all these references to something called "shotgunning" a boss or shot type. Can anyone tell me exactly what this is, and how to pull it off effectively? It sounds vital if I want to go for a high score.

[ふねん1]

Shotgunning means getting really close to a boss. This is typically used for characters with shots that cover a wide area - by staying close, you're able to get more of your bullets to hit the boss at any one time. However, being so close is quite dangerous, as you won't have any time whatsoever to react to any bullets the boss fires. Choosing to shotgun a boss is really a case-by-case basis as a result.

[NEETori]

Note that also some shot types get a huge boost in power from shotgunning while some shot types barely get anything.  Here's a couple of examples from PCB and IN:

PCB:
ReimuB and MarisaA are considered the two strongest shot types in the game when they're up close and unfocused firing.  This is fairly impractical, amongst other things (Reimu's literally got to sit on top of some bosses to get all of the needles to hit, if it's even possible [not including Yuyuko's fan]).

Both of Sakuya's unfocused shots aren't much stronger up close.  SakuyaB unfocused in particular has almost no appreciable damage increase or decrease at any range.  SakuyaA never gets stronger than her focused shot, either.

IN:
Yuyuko competes with the Malice Cannon and Youmu for highest damage when shotgunning.

Sakuya (once again) has an annoying tendency not to get very powerful when shotgunning.  Highest damage comes from a strange sweetspot.

[Esoterica]

As far as "shotgunning may not be practical" goes, keep in mind that you can freely sit on top of a boss during invincibility from a bomb and shotgun to your heart's content.  This can allow certain shot types (MarisaB wood in SA, namely) to deal huge amounts of damage, even if the bomb doesn't hit the boss.

[NEETori]

Bomb-shotgunning works particularly well from MoF forward, due to strong bombs mixed with no shot-damage penalties (notably MoF everyone, UFO SanaeB and Esoterica mentioned MarisaB wood, and I'd like to add MarisaA). 

It sorta works for ReimuB in PCB, but otherwise, most of the time, the bomb does most of the damage.

[Esoterica]

(notably MoF everyone, UFO SanaeB and Esoterica mentioned MarisaB wood, and I'd like to add MarisaA).

Then I'd like to mention ReimuC in SA and MarisaB in UFO as well. :smug:

[Drake]

SA ReimuC bomb + all shots hitting racks up a crapton of damage. UFO MarisaB, however... nope.

[Esoterica]

SA ReimuC bomb + all shots hitting racks up a crapton of damage. UFO MarisaB, however... nope.

Still better than not shotgunning during MarisaB(ad)'s crappy bomb.

[Drake]

Considering it's shortness I'd rather use it to get my bearings and positioning right so I don't get killed immediately after invul frames.

[orinrin]

ReimuC in MoF is fun to shotgun with.

[shadowbringer]

also, depending on the game (or series, lol), there's a cap on the limit of your main/secondary shots (for example, the cat's shots in Dangun Feveron, or Car-pet's piercing option shots in Armed Police Batrider -- which are used for milking points on bosses -- or Gain's piercing option shots -- which are used to raise difficulty rank against Black Heart mkII).

iirc shotgunning isn't very relevant for scoring, even shooting itself isn't.. but collecting point items (from the enemies you defeat) and raising their value (besides cancelling bullets by taking down spellcards/nonspells/certain stage enemies/using bombs) and grazing is important in most games.

[nintendonut888]

You're all forgetting the ultimate shotgun shot type: Yuka in MS. :smug:

But yeah, I wouldn't really recommend shotgunning in the post-PC-98 games unless you know what you're doing and know which attacks to do it on. Otherwise you'll just get ripped apart.

[Paper Conan]

I mostly shotgun in any game, no matter what.
Even with Marisa's lasers.  :V

[NEETori]

But yeah, I wouldn't really recommend shotgunning in the post-PC-98 games unless you know what you're doing and know which attacks to do it on. Otherwise you'll just get ripped apart.

Or your name is SanaeB  :V

[AJS]

Shotgunning can be especially helpful in EoSD, the only Windows Touhou game where bosses don't have invulnerability during the spell-card declaration.  Several of Flandre's spell cards come to mind, since you can sit directly in front of Flandre for quite a few seconds after the spell-card is declared before you are in immediate danger from bullets.

[ふねん1]

Shotgunning can be especially helpful in EoSD, the only Windows Touhou game where bosses don't have invulnerability during the spell-card declaration.

Um, SA, anyone?

To elaborate on what you're hinting at, there is almost always a brief period between the end of an attack and when bullets start appearing for the next. This period obviously varies on a case-by-case basis, for a number of reasons. Example, Flandre's Four of a Kind card sees her spend time summoning the clones before any bullets are fired, so no matter if she has brief invulnerability, you get even more time. But more commonly the boss will summon bullets that take a bit longer than usual to come down the screen, leaving you able to stay in a reasonable shotgun range.