Touhou Chemblem - Low Turn Run: Chapter 6
4Cleared in 6 turns.
This is one of the most difficult maps in the game. You start in the worst place possible, trapped in a pincer attack from both sides. You're surrounded by Pegasus Knights and Cavaliers who have huge movement and can pick off your fragile units and healers easily beginning with turn 1 (Peg Knights can even position themselves on the hill and attack from there). They all carry Steel Lances too, and 17 attack in a map with such enemy density is a pretty big deal, especially since there is no single "tank" in our party yet. Suika does have 11 defence, more than anyone else by far, but she's doubled (being a knight) and in the end takes even more damage than the Cavaliers from any of the attackers.
The map is cleared by having Chen talking to Sanae, and I imagine you could do just that by wasting one of your Warp charges (clearing the map in 1 turn), but it seems like a bad idea since this is a perfect chapter to level your units in spite of all the difficulty.
We could go either north or south, and though the northern path is the shortest (Chen can theoretically talk to Sanae on turn 5, but good luck making it alive as the chances of survival are astronomical), the mages are a problem. They are aggro'd on the first turn's enemy phase immediately and both target Chen without waiting (she doesn't survive two spells). Even if Chen dodges one spell, the Cavaliers and Peg Knights surrounding her will die under the pressure of 4 Steel Lance Pegs and 2 Cavaliers. We're taking the south way for that reason, and it's still really tough.
Two characters join here, both being Pegasus Knights. Both are lv. 4 (kinda low when Medicine is all ready to promote but they're both worth using definitely), and their base stats are pretty good. Aya has 15 base speed and an 80% growth, which is really superfluous knowing Dracoknight has a speed cap of 23 (which hurts all fliers' endgame, amongst other things). Hatate has "only" 12 base speed, but a 60% growth in strength, meaning she is a good candidate for bosskilling. Once again, both are top tier characters any player should be willing to make use of.
Hatate comes with Wing Spear which triples in might when attacking cavalry and knights. Aya and she can pass it around and rape things. Since many of the game's bosses are knights and generals, Aya and Hatate become instant favourites when it comes to bosskilling. Wing Spear, however, is not a Prf weapon. It's rank A, but Aya, Hatate and also Momiji (who joins later) can use it right off the bat.
The first turn is pretty action-packed as we need to get rid of most of the enemies on the map. Horseslayer, Swordslayer (Youmu is preferred for killing enemy Mercenaries with this as her skill is higher than Mercenary Mokou's) and bows for peg slaying are all valuable tools in getting rid of the enemies at the bottom of the map. We're facing shaky accuracies here, but it only gets worse from here.
This map needs some characters (probably Chen, who should be advancing forward anyway, and who has swordlock) need to bait some enemies into attacking themselves so that Reisen and Medicine don't have to take all the hits. They're not nearly bulky enough to take more than 3 hits and need to have some luck with enemy hit rates either way (though Reisen has had 6 chances to proc defence with a 45% growth, but only gained 2 points so far).
A really intense and luck-reliant turn is at the end, where you have to dispose of all the enemies who weren't killed by Reisen and co on enemy phase and any miss will result in your healers and units near death being exposed to fatal attacks when your turn is over. Keine really helps as she can provide healing with the best mobility a healer can have in this game (no troubadours here) and is also the only character really capable of getting rid of that annoying Knight (Lunasa can't make it there on time with her Hammer).
Some precise trading of items, like door keys and master keys, is needed to open the door and attempt to open one of the chests as well. We manage to get a Bullion on turn 6 but don't have enough high movement characters to get that other chest, containing a Killer Axe. This is okay, seeing how axe users aren't worth using in most chapters of this run.
Yuyuko promotes to Dracoknight at the end, gaining crucial stat increases in HP, strength, defence and, most importantly, movement. This is essential for the next chapter where she needs to wear off quite a few fliers, including the opposition's own Dracoknights.
A tough chapter, but so is the next one.
MVP: Reisen. Though everybody contributed to the same extent.