Sakuya Izayoi (Gensokyo Reloaded)

*This article is about Sakuya's appearance in* Touhou RP: Gensokyo Reloaded*. For the character in other contexts, see Sakuya Izayoi.*

At first glance Sakuya may seem like a keepaway zoning character with many of her moves spawning multiple projectiles, but with many of them disappearing when Sakuya is hit, Sakuya's true strength lies in her ability to maintain offensive pressure on her opponent, using her projectiles as cover fire for her approaches, coupled with her speed and mobility.

## Pros

* Insanely mobile; has access to the fastest dashes and functionally the best grounded forward dash in the game, owing to it also shrinking Sakuya's hurtbox size substantially.
* Has access to a variety of powerful pokes that are both fast and long ranged.
* Is the only character with a safe standing overhead attack.
* Incredible offensive pressure and rushdown capabilities, which makes Sakuya proficient in neutral and especially dangerous if she can gain enough momentum.
* Has access to several multi-projectile attacks to provide cover fire and win projectile wars, in addition to aiding in pressure strings.
* Has access to a very fast teleport with plenty of invulnerability on it, making it proficient in allowing Sakuya to escape pressure and get past projectiles.

## Cons

* Sakuya is not a combo character, as her best combos don't usually go further than Normals chain -> Special -> Spell Card/Last Word.
* Individual damage output on many of Sakuya's attacks is not overly high.
* An unusually slow and overly mediocre reversal Special hampers Sakuya's defensive capabilities a little.

## Movelist

### **Normals**

 **P1 Power Gain** | 40

 **P1 Power Gain** | 60
 **Notes** | A good poke owing to how fast it is, and allows for additional combo damage compared to just poking with 5C, making it a strong burst option if used quickly out of a forward dash at mid-range; other than that, it's fairly standard chain combo filler out of both A Normals, but be aware that it will not connect out of 2A if the opponent is past a certain range.

 **P1 Power Gain** | 45x2
 **Notes** | What might possibly be the best 5C in the game. An incredibly fast poke with good priority that deals disproportionately high damage compared to Sakuya's other Normals, making it excellent to use in neutral to fish for stray hits and to apply pressure in general; furthermore, the move completely disjoints Sakuya's hurtbox from her actual position by a considerable distance, so any successful attempt by her opponent to (somehow) out-prioritise this move or whiff punish it will put a large space between the two compatants, making it difficult for the opponent to follow up with anything.Despite the move being unsafe on block, the optimal ranges of this move will make it hard to punish Sakuya for throwing it out casually, but even then, cancelling it into  *Bounce/No Bounce* will make the pressure string safer, to the degree of giving Sakuya plus frames if the distance between the two combatants is great enough. Surprisingly, this move isn't the most optimal to use in pressure strings leading from  Normals or 2A before a certain range, as 2C's slightly higher blockstun will leave a smaller gap between it and the *Bounce/No Bounce* cancel, allowing less time for the opponent to escape, but is the only option out of those moves past the range that 2C can connect.

 **P1 Power Gain** | 40

 **P1 Power Gain** | 60
 **Notes** | A surprisingly safe anti-air with the drawback of having a lot of startup, giving it competition with 4B for the role. Suboptimal as chain combo filler, as 5B will always lead to more total combo damage.

 **P1 Power Gain** | 90
 **Notes** | The increased blockstun over 5C makes it good for pressure strings when chaining out of  Normals or 2A and into *Bounce/No-Bounce*, and it does have its usage in the most optimal corner combo, but is otherwise a poor low to use in neutral when 2A exists.

 **P1 Power Gain** | 40

 **P1 Power Gain** | 60

 **P1 Power Gain** | 90

### **Command Moves**

 **P1 Power Gain** | 80
 **Notes** | Kind of weak damage-wise, but only adds to Sakuya's pressure game and can be used as a way to set up *"Killing Doll"*.

 **P1 Power Gain** | 40x2
 **Notes** | Looks like a quick anti-air at a glance, but the better hitbox for this task is on the second hit, which obviously comes out slightly later and can potentially lead to some lost damage that would have otherwise been obtained from the first hit. The move has very little reason to be used against a grounded opponent due to its mediocre horizontal range, limited followup options (which are unsafe), and putting Sakuya in disadvantage on block while moving closer to the opponent.

 **P1 Power Gain** | 80

### **Specials**

 **Hit Damage** | 80
 **P1 Power Gain** | -1000
 **Properties** | Cannot cause a K.O.

 **Notes on Frame Data** | Startup invulnerability 1f~20f.

 **Properties** | Knives activate after 160 frames, or if *Sense of Thrown Edge* is performed again.Knives disappear if Sakuya is hit.All spawned knives default to the  version arrangement if performed during *Sakuya's World*.Can spawn 2 sets of knives from this move during *Sakuya's World*.

 **Properties** | \*Knives are destroyed if Sakuya is hit.Can spawn 2 sets of knives from this move during *Sakuya's World*.

 **Notes** | The  version is Sakuya's combo bridge Special, allowing her to link both  Normals into *"Inscribed Red Soul"* or successfully set up *"Killing Doll"* for extreme pressure shenanigans; the  version leaves much to be desired, however, as there are no optimal situations that can occur where it will hit and the  version won't, and the  version is otherwise superior in every regard.The  version can in theory be used to approach against enemy projectiles, but because Sakuya will always perform her attack if the clone strikes anything, this can place her at incredible risk of running headlong into a projectile that can take more than a single hit, so it is often more preferable to use *Bounce/No-Bounce* to approach against projectiles or *Vanishing Everything* in an attempt to bypass them entirely.

 **Guard Type** | N/A
 **P1 Power Gain** | N/A

### **Spell Cards**

 **Guard Type** | 3x16
 **P1 Power Gain** | -1000

 **Notes on Frame Data** | Projectiles spawn 25f~55f.Projectile delay before active frames: 97f.

 **Guard Type** | 2x29
 **P1 Power Gain** | -1000

### **Last Words**

 **Guard Type** | N/A
 **P1 Power Gain** | -3000
 **Properties** | *"Sakuya's World"* must be selected at the beginning of the match.\*All attacks become  while this move remains active.P1 Power gains are disabled while this move remains active.Can use *"Jill the Ripper"* while this move is active.

 **Notes on Frame Data** | Timestop effect 41f.Timestop duration 420f.

 **P1 Power Gain** | 0
 **Properties** | Can only be performed during the timestop effect of *"Sakuya's World"*.Attack's damage is not affected by proration.Ends *"Sakuya's World"*.

 **P1 Power Gain** | -3000
 **Properties** | *"Deflation World"* must be selected at the beginning of the match.Spawns  if melee attack whiffs.Attack's damage is not affected by proration.