Touhou Koumakyou New Classic Reimu Hakurei

Playstyle

Reimu Hakurei is the Hakurei shrine maiden and the wider of the two playable kits in Touhou Koumakyou New Classic. She moves at medium speed unfocused and noticeably slower focused. Her hitbox is smaller than Marisa’s, which is why veterans call her hard to hit even before New Classic draws the focused hitbox on screen. That small point sits around the white of her outfit above the red skirt. Learn it on Easy with focus held so the remaster’s visible hitbox trains your eyes; then practice unfocused streaming so you do not glue yourself to shift for every Rumia aimed shot.

Her unfocused shot covers a broad cone. You can sit off-center on Stage 1 and Stage 3 and still delete side fairies that Marisa would have to walk over. The cost is boss time. Reimu spends longer on health bars, which means more frames inside Sakuya knives and Remilia spears. That is a fair trade on a first Normal credit. It becomes a problem on Extra, where Flandre’s remaining time and remaining lives are the same resource.

Pick Reimu when stages scare you more than bosses. Meiling’s rainbow rings and Sakuya’s knife walls punish a thin laser more than they punish homing ofuda. If your deaths cluster on bosses instead, switch letters—or switch to Marisa A.

Reimu A: Homing Amulet and Fantasy Seal

Reimu A is Spirit Sign, the homing ofuda kit. Unfocused, amulets fan out and curve toward the nearest enemy. Focused, the stream tightens and the homing becomes less of a wander. You still do not need to sit under a fairy to kill it. That is why beginners and first-clear players should start here: movement practice is the whole early game, and A lets you watch bullets instead of lining up a crosshair.

The damage ceiling is the lowest of the four shots. Patchouli and Remilia will feel long. Reimu A’s job is to stay in the safest column that still tags the target. New Classic’s boss marker is there for this shot: if the marker is left and you are right, slide over so focused shots stop wasting travel time.

Fantasy Seal throws eight large homing orbs. It is a real screen-clear and lasts long enough to walk through a mistake. Bomb when a pattern has already committed—Meiling’s kick dash, Sakuya’s sudden knife ring—not as a habit on every spell name. A deathbomb window exists and is tight; treat Fantasy Seal as planned cover.

Reimu A is the wrong Extra default. On cards where Flandre summons familiars, homing ofuda peel off the boss and chew the adds. You can still Extra 1CC on A, but you will fight the timer more than B or Marisa A will.

Reimu B: Persuasion Needles and Evil-Sealing Circle

Reimu B is Dream Sign, the persuasion needle kit. Needles fire forward in a wide wall. Unfocused, the wall is for stages: you clip whole rows of fairies without sliding under each one. Focused, the stream compresses and the shotgun comes alive. Point-blank Reimu B is one of the two real Extra damage options. If you can stand close to a boss without eating the spawn ring, bars melt.

The bomb is the weak point. Evil-Sealing Circle drops a sealing ring on Reimu’s position. Invulnerability is short, the clear radius is modest, and you cannot use it as a full-screen panic the way Master Spark works. Bomb early, bomb on top of the threat, and never wait until bullets already surround the sprite. This is the main reason B is a poor first-clear survival shot even though the needles feel strong.

B is the Reimu you switch to after a Normal no-continue, when Extra is unlocked and you want shrine-maiden coverage with Marisa-like boss damage. It is also a respectable Hard and Lunatic shot if you already dodge well and only need the extra DPS to shorten Remilia. It is not a scoring miracle; you still collect point items high, graze, and keep spell bonuses. The needles just make those bonuses easier to keep because cards die faster.

When to pick her

Pick Reimu A for your first Easy or Normal credit, for Challenge Mode pattern study, and for any run where Stage 4 and Stage 5 are the wall. Pick Reimu B when you can already 1CC Normal, when you want Extra damage without Marisa’s speed, and when you are comfortable bombing on a short timer. Skip Reimu entirely if you already move well and want the fastest boss kills in the game—that is Marisa A.

Full kit math sits on shot types. Ranked lists for first clear, Lunatic 1CC, Extra, and scoring sit on the tier list. If you have not mapped bombs and focus yet, do that in Getting Started before you grind Lunatic on B and blame the character.

The hitbox was always small; New Classic lets you see it. Decide whether you want the homing crutch or the needle shotgun. Switching letters after a few credits is normal. Switching because a ranking said S-tier, before you can stream Cirno’s ice, is how people bounce off Stage 3.