Best/Worst Shottypes in the Series?

[Sapz]

Well at least she can clear bullets every once in a while.

Too bad she also only has one life :V

And that's on top of her game being EIGHTY-FIVE STAGES LONG

[?q]

Okay, after some extensive PCB playing today, I have changed my stance on the game: MarisaB is the worst shot type in the game.

What the hell does the shot even do? ReimuA is horribly weak, but at least she's useful for getting into the game. SakuyaA is a terrible shottype, but like ReimuA, the lock-on helps people get into the game before they realize it's terrible/boring and move onto a better type.

MarisaB?

No.

I cannot find a single good thing about this shottype except the bombs. The lasers are terrible at dealing damage unfocused (which, y'know, you want to do for most of PCB), and when you focus, your range is roughly three pixels wide. The Cherry gain is terrible and the loss for bombing/dying is even higher than MarisaA.

The only redeeming factor I can see in the shot is the bombs. Non-Directional Laser is absurdly powerful if you bodyslam the boss, and Master Spark is Master Spark. However, this is not EoSD; those bombs are going to destroy your score, and Marisa only even gets two bombs at base.

There is nothing else even remotely good about this shottype beyond the bomb damage.

>:E

MarisaB is awesome.
1) Focus
2) Stay under the boss
3) Basically don't move
...and you can drain away enemy lifebars very quickly.  She's like SakuyA, except preferring cheap damage over cheap range.  (Their Cherry rates are comparable IIRC.)

ReimuA is good for "getting into the game"?  She's really not; that's what SakuyA is for :V
And if that was your best reason for justifying her existence, yes, she's the worst in the game.

[Sen]

MarisaB is awesome.
1) Focus
2) Stay under the boss
3) Basically don't move
...and you can drain away enemy lifebars very quickly.  She's like SakuyA, except preferring cheap damage over cheap range.  (Their Cherry rates are comparable IIRC.)

Which MarisaA can also do, only with more power, (slightly) more range, a higher Cherry rate, and a lower Cherry loss for bombing/dying. Oh, and MarisaA can actually do damage without focusing :V

SakuyaA's Cherry rate is abysmal, having a comparable rate to hers is not something to be proud of, especially considering how both shots need to be focused to do anything resembling damage. Focusing cuts their Cherry gain to roughly 10% IIRC, and although that applies to every shot in the game, it's especially bad when their rate is so terrible already.

ReimuA is good for "getting into the game"?  She's really not; that's what SakuyA is for :V
And if that was your best reason for justifying her existence, yes, she's the worst in the game.

ReimuA and SakuyaA are terrible shottypes overall, but they're both very good for beginners just learning the basics of Touhou. Auto-homing shots allow the player to focus almost purely on dodging, and not have to worry about hitting the enemies until they've improved their dodging skills. Outside of that, they're both garbage, I don't think anyone's going to debate that.


I guess my problem with MarisaB is not that she's a bad shottype, she just doesn't have anything super-useful that only she can do.
-ReimuB is solidly powerful, has good range, a small hitbox, and decent Cherry
-MarisaA does the most damage in the game per shot and has the highest Cherry gain
-SakuyaB is broken in every way and fantastic for both scoring and survival
-ReimuA and SakuyaA are good for learning the game, at which point it's better to move onto a better shottype

I just can't find anything MarisaB does that another shot can't do much better. She's strong when she's focused and has powerful bombs, that's not up for debate, but that's about it.

[?q]

-ReimuA and SakuyaA are good for learning the game, at which point it's better to move onto a better shottype

I just can't find anything MarisaB does that another shot can't do much better.

I contend that ReimuB is better for learning the game than ReimuA (definitely) and debatably SakuyA.
So putting ReimuA or SakuyA on a pedestal for being newb-friendly is a lie.

Similarly I would put MarisaB far above ReimuA on account of actually being able to do damage.  Homing isn't that useful in PCB tbh, and can actually make some things more difficult (Stage 4).

PCB has two tiers of shot types--
--Play for score/Cherry/Borders - ReimuB, MarisA, SakuyaB
--Play for fun/masochism - ReimuA, MarisaB, SakuyA
...and I think that it's most fair to compare the shots within tiers.

(Much as I would like to bash SakuyA because all the cool kids are doing it, she's better than the other two in her tier.)

[Esoterica]

I just can't find anything MarisaB does that another shot can't do much better.

Fighting Yuyuko after the fan comes out. :V

[Recon 5]

@ u?: I guess that ANY 'auto-homing' shot is considered newb friendly even if it can only chip a boss at most. It's a sentiment I wholeheartedly agree with since I always clear a game with homing Reimu first before moving to any other shot type.   

[AlexX Unlimited]

Fighting Yuyuko after the fan comes out. :V

As well as instantly destroying enemies that are lined up to prevent the ones in the back from firing (which mostly happens in stages 2 and 3, but still), as well as having slightly better spread than marisa A.

[Serela]

MarisaB is MarisaA with a little more range when unfocused, mega-rape bombs, and a tiny bit more power vs. Yuyuko. Penetration is helpful, but only marginally.

Still, MarisaB is fairly powerful, so she doesn't suck; but she isn't really the best choice. In Extra/Phantasm though, she loses uber doom bomb damage, and becomes almost completely inferior to ReimuB/MarisaA.

Also, about SakuyaB; yes, she probably has the best shot in the game, but to try to balance it she has a WHY AM I DYING focus speed and her bombs deal almost no damage (Although she gets 4 so that's nearly already balanced...)

[AlexX Unlimited]

Still, MarisaB is fairly powerful, so she doesn't suck; but she isn't really the best choice. In Extra/Phantasm though, she loses uber doom bomb damage, and becomes almost completely inferior to ReimuB/MarisaA.

It's not just damage that makes Marisa B's bombs good, its also duration since they last a good while. This means they can really help during tougher parts of the stage as well as for stalling during some of the more annoying cards.

[Esoterica]

as well as having slightly better spread than marisa A.

While unfocused.

Except her unfocused damage is abysmal.

Which is bad, because unfocused damage is extremely vital in PCB, because you shoot unfocused frequently for cherry.

And her cherry gain is abysmal as well.

To top it off, she loses a lot of cherry on death.

And I'm not even going to bother retouching on the whole "piercing is useless in PCB" thing.

It's not just damage that makes Marisa B's bombs good, its also duration since they last a good while. This means they can really help during tougher parts of the stage as well as for stalling during some of the more annoying cards.

Having two Master Sparks isn't worth three Evil Sealing Circles or four Indescriminates, if you ask me.  And Non-Directional Laser doesn't last all that long while being the powerhouse of the two; you could argue that that just means Master Spark is the bomb of choice when going for survival and Non-Directional Laser when looking for damage, but unless you're deliberately bombing something you aren't going to get a choice in the matter.

Plus, with less cherry gain you'll have less supernatural borders; coupled with two bombs, you aren't going to have as much protection overall, and when you do have it you're going to be forced to use most of said protection continuing to have your bomb active after what you needed the invincibility for is long gone already.

[AlexX Unlimited]

While unfocused.

Except her unfocused damage is abysmal.

My point was that that helped during stages. Unless its a death fairy, it doesn't usually matter how much damage a type does to generic enemies since they're going to die shortly all the same.

Which is bad, because unfocused damage is extremely vital in PCB, because you shoot unfocused frequently for cherry.

Er, is it really that bad? I know you have to get both lasers to hit the enemy for reasonable damage, but I you make it sound like it does nearly no damage at all...

To top it off, she loses a lot of cherry on death.

Doesn't that happen for both Marisa types, though?

And I'm not even going to bother retouching on the whole "piercing is useless in PCB" thing.

Yeah, I know, it doesn't seem to count for anything unless the game is UFO... >.<

Having two Master Sparks isn't worth three Evil Sealing Circles or four Indescriminates, if you ask me.  And Non-Directional Laser doesn't last all that long while being the powerhouse of the two; you could argue that that just means Master Spark is the bomb of choice when going for survival and Non-Directional Laser when looking for damage, but unless you're deliberately bombing something you aren't going to get a choice in the matter.

True, though I guess I can't say much on this since I struggle to deathbomb even just half the time...

Plus, with less cherry gain you'll have less supernatural borders; coupled with two bombs, you aren't going to have as much protection overall, and when you do have it you're going to be forced to use most of said protection continuing to have your bomb active after what you needed the invincibility for is long gone already.

Stalling as long as the master spark does usually doesn't dump you in the middle of the next attack phase, though I admit I  have little experience with that during higher difficulties since I suck and nearly no Extra/Phantasm experience since I completely fail the Extra stage and can barely make it to Ran, let alone past her first few attacks...

I don't know, I guess I'm just defending the 'useless' shot type because I barely managed to 1CC PCB with Marisa B as it is (largely due to her double damage to cut Yuyuko's attacks short), so I really don't want to be forced to do it again with a shot type I have nowhere near the experience I do with Marisa B...