Touhou 15: Legacy of Lunatic Kingdom/Doremy Sweet

Non-Spell #1[edit | edit source]

Doremy's first nonspell consists of a spiral of mentos spawned around Doremy, with odd waves spreading out in a counterclockwise formation and even waves spreading clockwise. Small clumps of mentos can be seen at certain points along the spiral, although because of the low density here they pose little issue.

On Normal, Doremy's first nonspell sees the addition of pellets along the length of the mentos spiral, adding an extra layer of reading to the pattern. Due to the increased density, a noticeable pattern starts to form in each wave, with odd waves tending to create vertical corridors between clumps that host the occasional bullet and even waves tending to flatten out. Because of this, both types of waves should be familiarized. Moving up is recommended in order to dig through each wave, as the crisscross nature of the bullets in this nonspell can pin the player down if played too passively.

Hard mode further increases the difficulty compared to normal, upping the density of both the mentos and pellets and increasing the duration of the wave to create a partial second cycle, which appears on the left on odd waves and on the right for even waves. Pellets tend to appear in awkward places, so the player must always maintain awareness of nearby bullets when making tight dodges, especially if crossing into the overlap from the partial second cycle.

Aggressive movement is paramount to capturing this, as the density is starting to reach the point that one can easily be crushed against the wall due to the excessive clustering of mentos. While the overall pattern structure remains similar to Normal, it's recommended to dodge odd waves to the right of Doremy and even waves to the left of her, as this will completely any overlap from the partial second cycle.

Lunatic ups the density even more and replaces the partial second cycle from Hard with a full wave, resulting in each spiral having to be crossed through twice. Dodging to the right on odd waves is still recommended, as this will enter the second cycle in a relatively sparse area.

However, thanks to a typo with the rotation parameter of the second wave the spiral is completely replaced with a seemingly chaotic pattern. While it will still make clusters when first spawning, it quickly devolves into a mess of fast-moving mentos and pellets. Starting near one of the initial clumps (particularly the lowermost one to the right of Doremy) tends to lead to a reasonable path, but caution should be advised since the pattern may still attempt to trap the player. Be proactive in finding safe areas, but also watch out for moments where the pattern unfolds around the player character instead. Speedkilling this pattern is paramount, as facing multiple even waves is extremely dangerous.

Video Demonstration
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Spell Card #1[edit | edit source]

Dream Sign 「Indigo Dream of Anxiety」:[edit | edit source]

Doremy's first spell is Indigo Dream of Anxiety, which summons a crescent of slow-moving purple stars and blue rice between the player and Doremy, which advances for a moment before accelerating and unfolding into two patterns. The rice will move in a wave away from the player (and back towards Doremy), while the stars unfold into a wave of stars that moves similarly to the rice, as well as two crescents that meet in the middle of where the initial crescent spawned. The first (usually bottommost) star in each crescent is aimed directly towards the player.

Despite what this spell may look like on the first wave, Doremy does NOT fire the pattern downwards, but aims it towards the player instead. It's recommended to stay below Doremy's horizontal position, and never move above Doremy.

Spinning the crescents[edit | edit source]

The most common method of dealing with Indigo is spinning the crescents. When the pattern accelerates, move slightly downwards and then horizontally in either direction, then move back up as the crescent passes to circle around it.

Crescent micro[edit | edit source]

Alternatively, the player can move downwards (recommended at least twice the player's height) before slightly tapping either horizontal direction to slip through the stars. However, this is less sustainable than spinning the crescent due to the player being pushed down with each successive wave.

Dream Sign 「Indigo Dream of Anxiety」:[edit | edit source]

This spell is fairly similar on to the Easy version, but with a few small changes: The crescents are slightly denser, somewhat disincentivizing the micro strategy, and now also connect to the upwards wave of stars. This results in a "tail" forming on the crescents, so one must take extra care to circle around the crescents as there's a longer distance to move compared to the Easy version.

Video Demonstration
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Dream Sign「Indigo Three-Layered Dream of Anxiety」:[edit | edit source]

As the spell name might indicate, Hard further builds upon Indigo Dream of Anxiety by making the player dodge three cycles in rapid succession. The dodging is fairly similar to Normal, but when a crescent is dodged the player should return to where they started the first crescent of the set in order to dodge the next. When done correctly, it should look like the player is spinning the crescents, alternating between the start point and the tips of each crescent.

While this pattern seems to move somewhat quickly, less movement is required than one might expect. Unfocused movement is unnecessary, although it may help Reimu players deal extra damage to Doremy.

Dream Sign「Eternally Anxious Dream」:[edit | edit source]

Lunatic increases the difficulty even more by changing a few properties of the pattern: The crescents contain a much larger quantity of stars than Indigo Three-Layered Dream of Anxiety (further disincentivizing the micro strategy), and the crescents move slightly faster, making the "head" and "tail" of each crescent much more threatening while spinning. While the dodging remains similar to the Hard version, player must pay extra attention to their precision, as the spin is much tighter.

Video Demonstration
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Non-Spell #2[edit | edit source]

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Video Demonstration
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Video Demonstration
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Spell Card #2[edit | edit source]

Dream Sign「Ochre Confusion」:[edit | edit source]

Doremy's second spell is Ochre Confusion, which spawns a large ring of yellow and yellow-green rice around the player that slowly spreads apart before sending bullets both outwards (away from the player, unless they attempt a ring escape) and inwards. The ring isn't all spawned at the same time but instead spawns around the player as if circling them, resulting in a looped limaçon formation forming around the player instead of collapsing evenly to a single point. In order to capture Ochre Confusion, one must be able to avoid the "loop" of the limaçon while making sure not to crash into the outer edge of it.

Note: It's recommended to stay in the middle at the start of this pattern, as the pattern can spawn misaligned with the player if they're too close to the edge of the play area, potentially resulting in bullets spawning near (or even on top of) them.

What is a "looped limaçon"?
Ochre Confusion forms a looped limaçon around the player.

Getting into the limaçon[edit | edit source]

When the outer ring spawns around you, estimate the "center" of where it spawned (most likely the player's position if they're not moving too much) and move slightly below that point. When the limaçon pattern starts to develop, rotate counter-clockwise around the loop if on an odd wave, and do the same movement clockwise if on an even wave.

Dream Sign「Ochre Confusion」:[edit | edit source]

Ochre Confusion on Normal is almost identical to the Easy version, only slightly increasing the bullet count and lowering the bullet speed. As a result, this pattern should be no harder to dodge, but will give more graze than before. As such, refer to the Easy version of this pattern for a thorough explanation.

Dream Sign「Ochre Labyrinthine Confusion」:[edit | edit source]

Ochre Labyrinthine Confusion builds on Ochre Confusion in much the same way that Indigo Three-Layered Dream of Anxiety builds on Indigo Dream of Anxiety: In addition to being faster, the player must now dodge three sets of limaçons in rapid succession. This is easier than one would think due to Ochre spawning around the player, meaning that unless the player moves around erratically they'll simply have to spin the limaçon thrice instead of once. Regardless, the player should make sure to keep their movement under control. While unfocused movement isn't required the pattern does rotate faster than its Normal version, so hesitation is punished more harshly than before.

Dream Sign「Ochre Labyrinthine Confusion」:[edit | edit source]

As with the Hard version, Lunatic finalizes the pattern in the same way as Doremy's first spell: The player needs to be much more precise and confident with their movements. While the pattern is fairly similar to its Hard version, this version moves at a blistering speed, and thus the player has no room whatsoever for hesitation. However, focused movement is still the best way to move through this pattern due to the tight dodging required.

If the player is struggling to handle this it can help to build muscle memory using the Hard version, and come back to the Lunatic version once they feel comfortable with the Hard version.

Video Demonstration
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Non-Spell #3[edit | edit source]

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Video Demonstration
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Spell Card #3[edit | edit source]

Dream Sign「Dream Catcher」:[edit | edit source]

Dream Catcher is Doremy's third spell, which spawns rings of lasers around the player that bounce off the edge of the play area (except the bottom) twice before removing themselves from play. This spell may appear somewhat chaotic, but Dream Catcher can be routed relatively quickly thanks to the pattern's rotation and position being dependent on the player's and Doremy's positions. Two rings will be seen if shot down optimally, although up to six waves can be seen if the spell is timed down.

It's worth noting that although the rings attempt to spawn over the player position, if the player is close to the edge of the play area it could potentially spawn lasers on top of the player. For this reason, staying somewhat away from the edges is recommended. Despite this fact, it can be beneficial to start each wave near the bottom edge in order to send more lasers out of the play area.

Dream Sign「Dream Catcher」:[edit | edit source]

This spell is similar to its Easy version, but with one key difference: lasers can now bounce off the bottom of the play area in the same fashion that they bounce from the other sides. Because of this the density is much higher than before, and staying low to eliminate a portion of the lasers is no longer possible. However, this can still be routed in a similar way to Easy, although extra care should be taken since lasers will come from all sides.

Starting Low Strat[edit | edit source]

When the spell gets declared, move so that the player character is vertically aligned with Doremy while matching the height of the initial position of the spell name (before it moves up.) Once the ring spawns, move to the top-right corner of the space inside the ring, and move upwards when able. The first wave should become easier than if done in the middle, and the second wave should only have to be partially dealt with before the spell ends, assuming somewhat optimal damage.

The "starting low" strat.

Dream Sign「Azure Dream Catcher」:[edit | edit source]

Like both versions of Dream Catcher, each wave of Azure Dream Catcher comprises a ring of lasers that spawn around the player, with each laser bouncing off each the edge of the play area twice. Exclusive to Hard, an extra ring of blue bullets will also spawn in alongside each ring of lasers, with each bullet in the ring aiming towards the player upon reaching the edge of the play area for the first time (excluding the bottom edge.) This extra blue ring comprises the bulk of the difficulty of Azure Dream Catcher, and can become lethal if not dealt with carefully.

While this spell can be routed, it's somewhat sensitive to player movements, and can become chaotic if each movement isn't planned out beforehand. Shooting this down quickly is highly recommended, as each successive wave is more likely to be performed in an inoptimal position, making the pattern more difficult than it would otherwise be with a shorter kill time. Performed optimally, only two waves will be seen, although up to six waves can spawn if timed down.

Escaping the Ring[edit | edit source]

A particular property of the blue ring is that when spawning, each bullet starts moving directly away from the player. Using this fact, one can escape the ring with the proper timing to force the ring to move in a specific direction (optimally downwards), making the resulting aimed bullets much more predictable.

When the spell gets declared (ie. when the spell name appears on screen, before it moves to the top-right corner), move directly under Doremy while matching the height of the spell name. Right before the ring of lasers spawn, unfocus and move directly upwards until the player character is outside the circle. The ring of blue bullets will aim downwards and quickly escape the play area, where the lasers can be dodged by staying somewhat near the circle's spawn position. If enough damage is done, the spell should end before the aimed ring reaches the player position.

Note that it's substantially more difficult to escape the laser ring after the first wave due to leftovers from previous waves, so it's best to only escape the first ring. Additionally, there may be a few bullets don't get sent downwards, so keep an eye out for stray bullets, especially when a new ring spawns.

Video Demonstration
Load video Local File Local File might collect personal data. A demonstration of the ring escape strategy.

Dream Sign「Losing Oneself in a Dream」:[edit | edit source]

At first glance, Losing Oneself in a Dream may resemble Azure Dream Catcher, but LOiaD has a few key differences: Firstly, unlike on Hard where the blue bullets aim at the player after reaching the edge of the play area, the blue bullets in this spell will instead bounce normally, significantly lessening the threat they pose. Secondly, unlike all previous iterations of this spell, the lasers are now able to bounce a third time, resulting in the lasers sticking around much longer. And finally, each wave lasts slightly longer, resulting in less waves than before (up to five rings can be seen, instead of six.)

Routing this spell is recommended but not necessary, with strategies from lower difficulties having similar success on this spell. In particular, the ring escape strategy from Azure Dream Catcher can be used here to eliminate the blue bullets, although this may be considered unnecessary thanks to the marginal threat they pose.