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Wily Beast and Weakest Creature/Gameplay/Strategy/General

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This article is the general strategy for Wily Beast and Weakest Creature.

There are three fundamental aspects of the new Roaring Mode mechanic to keep in mind in order to maximize your chances of survival:

  • When to start Roaring Mode;
  • When (and how) to end Roaring Mode;
  • What Spirit Items is it logical to collect.

This article will touch on all three aspects as well as general strategy tips for all of Touhou.
In essence, dodge the bullet.

Basic

Lives and Bombs

In Wily Beast and Weakest Creature, Bombs and Lives are not connected to scoring. As such, only the basic rules of resource management apply:

  • Don't be stingy on bombs and always use them way before a deathbomb could occur. Don't take pride in deathbombs, they indicate a lack of bombing-skill. Losing a life with 3 bombs left is pretty much the same as losing 4 lives at once. If you want to 1cc, learn to bomb.
  • Don't kill yourself getting items or the POC. Spirit Items stay on screen long enough for you to be able to collect them at some point, so don't rush into bullets trying to get one. Life and Bomb Pieces are more valuable, but if they are behind too many bullets, either bomb or don't go for them.
  • Only go for necessary-yet-risky dodging strategies if you're at 0 bombs (yes, even if they're really cool).
  • Don't end your run as soon as you need to use a continue: the game awards Achievements for getting the Bad Ending with each character.

Spell Cards

As always, the early ones are easier to capture, and the later ones are generally much harder (and not worth caring about if you want to survive). The Capture Bonus (which can be failed if you use Roaring Mode to erase bullets) changes the drops that appear after beating a card. While you will always get at least one Beast Spirit, capturing a card will also generate a Life Fish and Bomb Fish. Be sure to stock up on lives and bombs this way during the early stages, but don't be afraid to bomb if necessary after Stage 2.

Spell Practice

New players shouldn't underestimate the effectiveness of Spell Practice. It's recommended to run-through the game in Hard and Lunatic (using continues as necessary) to unlock Spells in Spell Practice, then... practice. By the time you successfully capture most of the Hard/Lunatic spells, you'll have the dodging skills necessary to beat Wily Beast and Weakest Creature. However, you will still need to train your bombing skills. You can also plan out your bombs strategically using Stage Practice.

Roaring Mode Basics

In general, Roaring Mode’s death-cancelling effect is understandably highly valuable.
During the early stages, you can practice acquiring only the Beast Spirits which match your shot type and focus on getting as many life-pieces as possible.
Once it becomes tricky to reach the Spirit Items you seek, new players might prefer simply grabbing as many Spirit Items as they can in no particular order to get the most out of Roaring Mode’s death-cancel. This is especially true while fighting bosses that have overwhelming non-spells. However, note that a Berserk Roaring Mode will usually last longer and thus give better protection. You have to find a balance between those two mindsets.


Roaring Mode

What to Collect

In general, you should aim to collect your Shot Type's spirit. Point Fish and Power Fish will take valuable slots in your Beast Spirit gauge, for not much effect (especially Power Fish collected at full power). Life Fish and Bomb Fish are usually better to collect while already in Roaring Mode since they will immediately physically manifest, allowing you to collect them with certainty if you chose your moment carefully. Ending a Roaring Mode with Life and Bomb Fish in your gauge will sometimes make you unable to collect the drops (without using a bomb).

If you accidentally collect another Shot Type's spirit, then shift your focus to collecting those for the time being. It's always better to have a Berserk Roaring Mode which lasts a long time and protects you for the length of multiple spells than no Berserk Roaring Mode at all. However, in later Stages, it becomes hardest to chose what and when you collect. As such, struggling players should probably collect whatever they can in anticipation of a difficult section.

While in Roaring Mode, collecting other Beast Items will increase its duration. However, the time increase is abysmally small, and it's usually smarter to dodge a Beast Item so that you can later collect it in your gauge. Except, of course, if it means running into bullets.

Note that during Boss conversations, Beast Items will continue to cycle, which allows you to collect exactly the Beast Item you need. If there are both Fish and Beast Items, prioritize the Beast Items and collect the Fish Items if a Roaring Mode is started. The Roaring Mode timer will not go down during this time, so use this moment to your advantage (and break your text-skipping habit).

Starting Roaring Mode

If you can chose when you start Roaring Mode, you should of course prioritize harder section. Starting a Roaring Mode before a hard section will often means it will timeout during it — which makes you extremely vulnerable. The visual clutter of a Roaring Mode timeout can easily make you lose focus of bullets during a hard section. There is one thing you can do to save yourself from this situation...

Ending Roaring Mode

Strategically chose how you end Roaring Mode. If you are about to timeout or get hit, calling off Roaring Mode by pressing X will save you the visual clutter of a timeout as well as remove nearby bullets, making it a sort of second bomb. While this can be incredibly useful, it has the downside of cancelling the Roaring Mode Extra Beast bonus, thus making it harder to start another Roaring Mode later.

As such, you should always try to timeout in early stages.

It's also possible to use the effects of this "second bomb" to chain Roaring Modes — that is, to quickly nab five new spirits using the Spirit Strike. This is however very risky, and can be achieved easier by using an actual bomb upon the end of Roaring Mode.

On this note, never press X during Roaring Mode thinking you're launching a bomb which will make you invulnerable. You will call off Roaring Mode and become extremely vulnerable. If you don't quickly press X again, you will have lost a precious life in one of the dumbest ways possible.


Scoring

This section is only valuable to experienced Touhou players.
(It should also be written by experienced Touhou players, so not me)


Miscellaneous

Character/Beast Strategies

Reimu-Wolf
Work in Progress.
Reimu-Otter
Work in Progress.
Reimu-Eagle
Work in Progress.
Marisa-Wolf
Work in Progress.
Marisa-Otter
Work in Progress.
Marisa-Eagle
Work in Progress.
Youmu-Wolf
Work in Progress.
Youmu-Otter
Work in Progress.
Youmu-Eagle
Work in Progress.

Rare Beast Spirits

Work in Progress.

Achievements

Work in Progress.