Mononobe no Futo

Mononobe no Futo was released on June 5th, 2022 in "Festival Prayer: Wind of Faith & Mountain of Plates." For more up-to-date analysis, be sure to visit the  Official Discord Server.

Mononobe no Futo is a Taoist hermit, specifically a Shikaisen, who serves under Toyosatomimi no Miko and lives in the Divine Spirit Mausoleum with her and the other Taoists in Gensokyo. Unlike the other very old Taoists that Futo was resurrected alongside in Touhou 13: Ten Desires, such as Miko and Tojiko, Futo didn't really catch up with the times, and often uses antiquated language that confuses the present day Gensokyo residents, misunderstands present day language herself, and generally has a carefree attitude. Her ability, "to manipulate feng shui", is something of a way to manipulate the qi of fixed areas like buildings or shrines to invite fortune upon those who enter them. Futo spends most of her time maintaining her hermit status by practicing Taoism with Miko and the others.

In terms of raw damage and power, Futo can do rather well with her Yang-only Last Word, Inferno Reformation. A Last Word with only Energy bullets can easily be supported by story cards nowadays, and Futo comes with her own 2 levels of Accuracy UP via her third skill, Dunjia Divination, to make sure she can concentrate her story card buffs elsewhere. Combined with a decent amount of Yang ATK UP (3 levels from Dunjia Divination and 3 more upon activating Inferno Reformation) and even some decent Slice scaling to take advantage of her Agility buffs, Futo can definitely be a good damage dealer upon setting up.

As for what else Futo offers, her gameplan is rather straightforward: heavy Agility buffs mixed in with some elemental breaking. Her elemental breaks are strangely hit and miss. While she does have 0P breaks on both shots, Fire on her Spread shot, Liuren Holy Fire, and Earth on her Focus shot, Standing Mountain, the rest of her breaks aren’t the best. Her first spell, Wind Sign: Miwa Plate Storm, is a mix of four different elements, which makes it inconvenient for Full Breaks, whereas her second spell, Blaze Sign: Taiyi True Fire, is only 2 Fire breaks and 1 Star break, though they are at least all accessible at 1P. Inferno Reformation is at least a nice mix of 4 Fire breaks and 2 Star breaks, but you wouldn’t really want to use a Last Word for breaking unless it’s a finishing hit. 

When it comes to her skills, Futo is really a selfish buffer that is trying her hardest to be a hard-hitter. Her first skill, Nigihayahi Blessing, and her second skill, Bowyer’s Blood, provide 2 levels of Agility UP each to help with Slice scaling, with Bowyer’s Blood being a teamwide buff. Futo’s only other teamwide buff is the Accuracy UP from Dunjia Divination, which is nice, but not the greatest if other teammates come with their own accuracy support. Bowyer’s Blood also has the benefit of granting Futo 1.00 Spirit Power, which she can put into an early 2P Inferno Reformation or other general power. 

One other major flaw of Futo is her durability. WIth a low HP stat and even lower defensive ones, it may be wise to make sure the Taoist doesn’t find herself dead before contributing much to the party. Still, where Futo may not offer much outside of her high damage, she at least does this does well while having a slight niche in Fire breaking. Bring Futo along, and maybe burn down an enemy stronghold or two if you get the chance.

The secondary effects and scalings of Futo’s attacks are as follows:

Liuren Holy Fire:
Firebomb: 0%/0%/30%/0%/40%/0%

Standing Mountain:
Target Agility DOWN: 50%/50%/0%/0%/0%/0%

Wind Sign: Miwa Plate Storm:
Slice: 30%/50%/60%/0%/0%/80%

Blaze Sign: Taiyi True Fire:
Slice: 60%/0%/60%/0%/0%/0%

Inferno Reformation:
Slice: 30%/40%/0%/60%/100%/0%