Misumaru Tamatsukuri

Misumaru Tamatsukuri was released on July 8th, 2022 in Festival: Yin-Yang God & Yamawaro.

Misumaru Tamatsukuri is another crafty god out of the many within Gensokyo, but instead of crafting schemes, she crafts objects you might be more familiar with. While nowadays she crafts magatama, divine items that Misumaru can use to store people’s souls and identify their thoughts, she claims to be the one that crafted Reimu Hakurei’s yin-yang orbs, an important artifact that Reimu relies on for youkai extermination. The power of the orbs themselves still remains a mystery, which also puts into question Misumaru’s relation with the Hakurei line as a whole. While the intricacies can be theorized for hours, at the end of the day Misumaru doesn’t mind lending her own power to fight, and in doing so places her as an S Tier Friend.

For immediate damage and raw power, Misumaru primarily serves as a mixed (Yin and Yang) attacker with a Yang Last Word, Yin-Yang Planet. This is somewhat problematic, as the pre-ATK effect for Yin-Yang Planet buffs both Yin ATK and Yang ATK by 3 levels (3T), which doesn’t really help when her ultimate attack is going to only need that Yang ATK, and afterwards she’s not really going to need the Yin ATK. At the very least, she makes up for this with decent Hard and Slice scaling on most of the backloaded attack, something that can be taken advantage of during setup. Thankfully, since it is entirely composed of Heavy bullets, it has the perfect story card to optimize its damage and make Misumaru still a great pick for damaging strikes.

Misumaru’s mixed offensive nature plays into her teamwide utility as well, as she has plentiful buffs to provide. First off, her second spell, Queenly Gem: Beyond the Rainbow Door, buffs the team’s Yin ATK by 2 levels (3T) to help out fellow Yin nukes. A similar, slightly more niche effect comes from her first skill, Izanagi Object Item, due to its ability to buff all allies’ Yang DEF by 2 levels (3T). While this may only help Yang nukes with Hard scaling, any Friend can benefit from the 2 levels of Accuracy UP (2T) from her third skill, Mysterious Regalia. For debuffs, Misumaru can decrease all foes’ CRIT DEF by 2 levels (3T) with her second skill, Imperial Regalia Spell. While a bit more difficult to take advantage of in fights with multiple enemies, her first spell, Orb Sign: Yin-Yang Divine Orbs, lowers a singular foe’s Yin DEF and Yang DEF by 2 levels (3T) for indirect buffs to both types of nukes. For a Technical Friend, Misumaru can actually spend a lot of time assisting the team more than herself!

Of course, Misumaru can still benefit herself whenever necessary. All of her skills provide a special boon to herself, from Izanagi Object Item’s great 1 or 2 barrier restoration to Mysterious Regalia’s 1.00 Spirit Power gain to help dish out heavier attacks. Imperial Regalia Spell applies Burn to herself, something that grants Misumaru offensive buffs. Blind anomalies provide her defensive buffs, something that Izanagi Object Item also provides. Blind is something she also applies 3 layers of to all foes after using Queenly Gem: Beyond the Rainbow Door, something she can follow up with by using Yin-Yang Planet at 3P her Spread shot, String of Magatama, at 1P for Blind anomaly breaks. It’s already a great 3 anomaly breaks, but Misumaru holds great elemental breaks as well, in terms of Earth and Star. She gets an All-target 0P Earth spam option from her Focus shot, Plentiful Jewel Making, and all of her spells contain an even 3 Earth and 3 Star, making her great for breaking either element.

Overall, Misumaru is holding onto a lot of power, able to craft up barrier breaks and debuff to cripple opponents just as quickly as she can buff her team. Her mixed attacking may lead to some confusion when trying to nuke, but she still bounces back with good self-buffs and abilities to turn Burn and Blind anomalies into even more buffs. Her stern nature and mystery being the yin-yang orbs may make her difficult to approach, but she will definitely be a great asset in battle!