Youmu Konpaku

Youmu Konpaku is a character from the Touhou series.

Changes from the Prologue version

 * Youmu's 236A no longer cancels into her 236236A unless it is used immediately afterwards. In other words, 236A can only be used as a hitconfirm for 236236A at mid to long range and not short to medium.
 * Youmu's 4B now has a larger startup time.
 * Youmu's 623A~B now takes a few frames longer before the hitbox comes out. This can be seen as both a nerf and a buff: if used as a standard attack, opponents will have more time to block, but if used as a reversal, the longer invincibility frames will result in fewer traded hits.
 * Youmu's 63214C now has a slightly longer startup time.
 * Youmu's 2C now has slightly more ending lag.
 * Youmu's 421B now has MUCH more ending lag.
 * Youmu's 236A~B has more ending lag.
 * Youmu's 236C now causes reeling and can be followed up with fast attacks before knockdown. Note that, if comboed into 236236A, the opponent will now stand up.
 * (Peculiarly, the new Youmu's 236C is a multi-hit that causes no damage against prologue characters.)
 * (The older Youmu, when pitted against the newer version, can oddly enough knock down with 2C)
 * (The older Youmu's 22C->B~C does no damage against Prologue characters. The newer Youmu will also refuse to use 22C->236236B against the older Youmu.)

Moveset
Most of Youmu's moveset is derived her moveset in the semi-official Touhou fighting games.

5A: Youmu hits the opponent with the butt of her sword. Much like in her 12.3 incarnation, she can chain this by itself up to 4 times. Minimal damage

5B: An upward swipe with Youmu's sword. Good damage and can be cancelled into specials as well. Does 55 damage.

5C: Youmu rears back and chops at the opponent's midsection with her (his?) sword. Very laggy startup and ending, but does more than 5 times of her/his 5B's damage. Cannot be cancelled into anything, however. Does about 225 damage.

2A: A short-medium-ranged foot-poke. Minimal damage; can be chained into itself up to about 6 times. Does 12.5 damage

2B: Youmu chops at her opponent's midsection while crouching. Does good damage (40).

2C: Youmu kneels, lower her sword, and raises it as if praying to a deity. Cannot be cancelled into anything, but does 3 5B's worth of damage (120). Deceptively good; can combo from a j.C, taking away at least a fifth of a lifebar, and is decent anti-air. "Safe" on block in the sense that it has a decent amount of pushback after blocked; but if an opponent has one meter or more, he/she can dash-cancel/border escape and counter-attack,

4B: Youmu stabs forwards with her sword. Extremely fast and has massive range; can be used to ward off pursuers; however, it is risky if whiffed or blocked. Does good damage and knocks down. NOTE: This attack has been nerfed in non-prologue versions. It now has a slower startup.

j.A: Youmu jabs her/his foot out. Minimal damage.

j.B: Youmu chops diagonally. A good anti-air move.

j.C: Youmu's j.2a from her official incarnations, albeit without the fastfall.Average range for a j.C, but does as much damage as her/his 2C.

Specials:

236A: Youmu throws a miniscule green wave of energy that travels along the ground. Great if the opponent has a laggy projectile, considering that it sometimes doesn't cancel with other moves due to its low height, and even if it does, Youmu may be fast enough to block or, if Youmu is not fast enough, dash-cancel. Only does decent damage, but a sufficiently fast-reacting player can combo this into Youmu's 236236A if there are no other projectiles on the field.

236B: Youmu punches forwards and throws something that arguably looks like Myon. Knocks down, and does good damage. Has twice the startup time of 236A though.

236C: Youmu pauses for a moment, and slices forwards with both of her/his swords, creating an energy projectile. Only travels 3/4 of the screen, does one 2C's worth of damage, and has thrice the startup lag of 236A, but successful hit on a grounded opponent forces reeling, allowing for more time to close in and get into position. Otherwise, knocks down. Cannot be cancelled at all.

22C: Youmu enters a stance, and holds his/her sword vertically pointing down..

22C->A: Cancels the stance

22C->B: Does a quick slide kick forwards that travels half the screen. Decent damage.

22C->C: Youmu brings his/sword up, knocking the opponent upwards. Great for combos, and can be cancelled into supers.

623A/B: Youmu does her/his 623B from the original games. The A version keeps her/him horizontally stationary, while the B version results in moving forwards slightly. Doing the A version while dashing, however, results in a far jump forwards. Both versions have invincibility frames on startup, and last approximately until the hitbox actually comes out. This attack has been "buffed", in the sense that it now takes longer for the attack to come out but in return it has more invincibility frames.

623C: The C version of Youmu's 623 from the original games. More startup lag, but hits twice and travels forwards before jumping. Essentially the last two hits of Youmu's 236236C super.

421A/B: Youmu's Slashing a Flower Upon One's Head skillcard. Both versions can be cancelled into supers and thus can be used for comboing, but the B version causes groundslam, allowing for potential normal followups like 2A. Amusingly enough, the B version can be used to jump over another Youmu's Last Word. The A version hits high, and the B version can be used to cross up in the corner. Both versions cannot be cancelled, but 421A has no ending lag. Surprisingly fairly safe on block; if the opponent does not border escape, the blockstun lasts until Youmu is on the ground. However, due to Youmu's other laggy ground options, 421C or blocking is oftentimes necessary against a wary opponent.

421C: Youmu enters a counter-stance. Being hit in the active counter frames, whether it be with a projectile or a melee attack, results in an automatic 4B with invincibility frames.

63214C: Youmu brandishes his/her sword, and charges for about 2 seconds before bringing her/his sword down. Unblockable, has a range of half a screen, and causes wallslam, but extremely vulnerable during the charge phase. Causes massive damage, taking down 2/5 of Rika's HP in one blow. With good spacing, guesswork, and against a person over or underestimating the 63124's range, a GC super can confirm into this.

Supers:

236236A: Youmu's well-known runpast from her incarnations in the semi-official fighting games (Human Sign "Slash of Present"). It cannot graze and doesn't even have any invincibility frames. A well timed projectile or even long-ranged melee attack can knock Youmu out of 236236A, but given the speed at the 236236A comes out, opponents don't even have time to jump out of the way, let alone time a sufficiently long-ranged attack. In other words, good against other laggy characters or characters with short range, but poor against people with quick long-ranged normals. The effective range is 2 screens long.

236236B: (Only usable while in 22c stance): Youmu charges forwards with a hitbox in front of her until either reaching half a screen's distance or coming into contact with an opponent.Youmu jumps up with yet another hitbox, hitting anything in her way. Knocks down, and is not vulnerable on whiff or block due to ended animation at the apex of her jump.

236236C: Youmu's well-known Reincarnation Sword "Sword of Cycles" from her incarnations in the semi-official fighting games. Vulnerable on block, and has more or less the same stats as her semi-official incarnation.

Last word:

632146D: Youmu slashes forwards, stunning the opponent, and follows up with a screen-tall energy slash. The initial slash is unblockable, and if both hits hit, it does about as much damage as 63214C. If the energy slash is blocked, it does one 5B's worth of chip damage.

Analysis
Youmu has arguably one of the highest HP counts in the game, having 1000 HP. It takes 5 of her 5Cs to KO her/him (For comparison, it takes 4 5Cs to KO Akasaka and 3 to KO Rika). Clearly, with Youmu's slow speed, high damage, and overall slow attack speed, Youmu is ironically the tank/Utsuho/etc. of the game.

While Youmu can easily rack up damage with every hit, whether it be through chip damage or raw smacking, with her/his laggy moveset, it will be difficult to outspeed opponents. Depending on the opponent in question, Youmu can either spam projectiles, or, if the opponent is largely projectile based, approach.

Though Youmu's approach and subsequent pressure is bound to be poor against those with better projectiles, Youmu has 3 counter tools at her/his disposal: 623A~B, her DP that provides invincibility on startup; 421C, which functions as a counter; and 4B, a fast (now-slow), long ranged move designed to poke away pursuers. Youmu can use these to ward mashing attempts off.

While

=Weaknesses= Youmu, while having enormous advantages, does have a few glaring weaknesses. All of Youmu's ground-startable attacks, with the exception of her 421A, can be lowblocked; as such, the only weaknesses a lowblocker has against Youmu are chip damage, her 421A, and 63214C. The 63214C is out of the question due to its lag, while grabs can be gotten out of. While the 421A is a very good move itself and opponents generally have a hard time or cannot react fast enough to Border Escape and counter with something quicker (especially in lag), its followups if blocked are very limited. A 236236A is useless, due to the added reaction time from the superflash. Few of Youmu's other ground moves are fast enough to counter ground attacks from most other characters. To use Akasaka as an example, the only options Youmu has against a subsequent 5C after using a point-blank 421A include a 421B, a GC super, a last word, or a 421C. If a 421B is used, Akasaka can immediately block and punish the ensuing 421B. 421C only has a few counter frames while the rest are vulnerable, and GC supers usually cannot be used on demand. The Last Word, arguably the best option, requires 3 meter, something that Youmu cannot generate easily due her/his laggy moveset. As such, playing against and as Youmu turns into a guessing game; if Youmu does anything other than the 3 moves listed on a blocking opponent, countermeasures can be taken, while any other actions would result in more "blockstring" shenanigans by the Youmu.

Combos
j.C->2C

236A->236236A: Given fast enough input speed, the hitstun from the 236A should easily give enough time to combo into a 236236A.

421A->236236A: Practically the only combo that works after a 421A hits