Shinmyoumaru Sukuna

Shinmyoumaru Sukuna was released on April 21st, 2022 in "Festival Prayer: Reverse Rebel Heroes." She was initially a Festival on release and later added to the general pool. For more up-to-date analysis, be sure to visit the  Official Discord Server.

Shinmyoumaru Sukuna is an inchling, a rare race of tiny people whose treasure is the Miracle Mallet, an artifact with the power to change the size of anything, but only inchlings can use it. Shinmyoumaru is the current owner of the Miracle Mallet, and uses it in battle, as well as using it to create the tsukumogami Benben, Yatsuhashi and Raiko (albeit by accident). Alongside the Miracle Mallet, Shinmyoumaru also uses the Shining Needle Sword in battle while flying around in her bowl. She lived with Reimu at the Hakurei Shrine for some time, but returned to her original home, the Shining Needle Castle, after the events of Touhou 14, and has lived there ever since.

Farming-wise, Shinmyoumaru might not farm any notable story cards but she still does well for event farming. Her Last Word, Giant Killing, stands out as a fully Star and Yang nuke, providing many Killers and plentiful Hard scaling to ensure its singular target doesn’t escape unscathed. She has her own 2 levels of Accuracy UP (3T) through her third skill, Grant a Little Wish, as well as Giant Killing crippling the target’s Evasion by 4 levels (2T), meaning she can focus her story card slots on optimizing damage. She sadly cannot get to 3P turn 1, even with her two skills giving Spirit Power, but this inchling’s damage output is still nothing to sneeze at and can serve you well for event farms.

When it comes to challenging content, Shinmyoumaru is an Attack Friend that actually supports the rest of the team a fair bit. This is seen from her two spells’ pre-ATK effects. Her first spell, Mallet: Grow Bigger!, grows everyone on the team by increasing everyone’s Yang ATK by 2 levels (2T). Her second spell, Bewitched Sword: Shining Needle Sword, holds a similar effect by increasing the party’s Yang DEF by 2 levels (3T). The accuracy support mentioned from Grant a Little Wish is party-wide as well, giving those that lack Accuracy a very handy boost. While you may think Giant Killing can also be used as accuracy utility, Grant a Little Wish gives Shinmyoumaru self-Charge, meaning on a turn where everyone is going for Last Words, she will end up moving last, so you would have to plan your turns out well.

Shinmyoumaru’s first two skills are just about helping herself do even more damage, with 0.80 Spirit Power being obtained from her first skill, Shrink Just a Little, and 0.80 more Spirit Power coming with 3 levels of Yang ATK UP (2T) from her second skill, Grow Just a Little. Unfortunately, this is just about what Shinmyoumaru can provide for a team. Her breaking potential is rather low, with her main elemental highlights being her 0P Star on her Focus shot, Ebiichi Giant Rotation, and full Star on Giant Killing. She does have the potential to break Blind anomalies at 3P on her Spread shot, Kimono Pattern Resewing, and Giant Killing, but the anomalies themselves will have to come from other Friends. Her buffs being on spells instead of skills makes them a lot less limited as well.

All in all, Shinmyoumaru offers about everything you would expect from an Attack Class Friend. Having the capability to buff her allies upon using her spells can come in handy, and she can even use her Graze to raise the party’s Yang ATK for a single turn. Still, other Friends definitely have the potential to hit harder, even when Shinmyoumaru is fully set up. I would say that she did rather well for someone her size though! (Is she too small to pat on the head…?)

The secondary effects and Hard scaling for Shinmyoumaru’s attacks are as follows:

Kimono Pattern Resewing:
Hard: 0%/30%/0%/0%/0%/0%

Ebiichi Giant Rotation:
Hard: 30%/30%/0%/30%/0%/0%

Mallet: Grow Bigger!
Hard: 40%/0%/50%/0%/0%/50%

Bewitched Sword: Shining Needle Sword:
Hard: 40%/0%/50%/50%/0%/0%

Giant Killing:
Yang ATK UP: 0%/100%/0%/0%/0%/0%
Hard: 80%/80%/90%/100%/0%/0%