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Shurikens

Are you having loose bowels? How can you poop so much?

Shurikens are cross-shaped bullets (like a sprayer) that are shot at high speed and then stay on the field at a very slow speed (slower than pellets) to block your path. There are three types of shuriken turrets: ordinary ones, regular ones (shuriken tide), and shuriken spinners.

Tiers and Patterns - Ordinary Shurikens​

  • Tier 0 (Figure 1): Will not fire bullets immediately, but will spray 2 shurikens forward after a short period of time.
  • Tier 1 (Figure 1): Fire 5 shurikens continuously each time.
  • Tier 2 (Figure 2): 5 groups of side-by-side shurikens are fired continuously each time, each group has 2 shurikens, and the gap in the middle is narrow.
    • This is also an even-numbered sniper. Don’t forget how you dodge the even-numbered dart.
  • Tier 3 (Figure 3): 12 groups of side-by-side shurikens are fired continuously each time, each group has 2 shurikens, the gap in the middle is wide, and the direction of each shuriken is offset.
  • Tier 4 (Figure 4): 18 groups of side-by-side shurikens are fired continuously each time, each group has 4 shurikens, the gap in the middle is narrow, and the direction of each shuriken is offset.
    • This is also an even-numbered sniper. Please consider how to exploit this feature at some point.

Shuriken (Forward Scattering) launchers track you slowly and flood the field if you do not quickly get rid of them. Even as a veteran player, shurikens are among the most annoying bullets in the game as it is very difficult to predict where they are going since they only appear as spinning counter clockwise, with no indication of which direction they are headed. This makes dodging shurikens very difficult. Always be sure to keep a distance away from shuriken turrets as they come out of the turret extremely fast and there is no defensive option that can deal with that fired speed. After they slow down, keep a minimum distance away from them (just outside the grazing range) to avoid dealing with their apparent random movement (even though it is not, there are so many shurikens on field you can't keep track of all of them).

In speedrunning, shuriken launchers are the most annoying turrets and should be gotten rid of as soon as possible. It is 2nd priority to eliminate them after MIRV turrets. However, for ships with main weapons that have a spread, you can go right up to the invaders' cockpits and stay there as these shuriken launchers take time to turn their way towards you. Only do this if it is an Eagle with shuriken launchers at both ends (and not the middle one), or a Vulture with shuriken launchers as the 2 outermost turrets. However, when faced with a shuriken cloud, you can graze off the edges of the cloud (provided you are brave enough). This is usually only recommended between Act transitions, but go ahead and do it mid-wave if you can handle it. You may wish to be careful about firing off an ult level BEMP as resetting pellet spreads will cause them to fire again immediately, particularly when the pellet spread turrets are in their cooldown state.

TP is the best defence against shurikens since you can easily escape shuriken clouds, and even T4 shuriken spinners are not a big problem. Phalanx is also an excellent defence against shurikens as the shoveling action can clear a whole cluster of shurikens, and the Phase Out time of Phalanx means an unlimited amount of shurikens can be cleared with Phalanx. The fact you have 6 counters of Phalanx means you can delete whole bunches of shurikens on field. Just be careful to watch your Phalanx, as lasers and other bullets can drain your Phalanx's strength and make it last shorter than expected.

PD is generally a bad defence against shurikens since the mass volume of shurikens drain PD fast. If you really need to use PD against shurikens, use it in bursts - fire one burst, move closer to where you want to go (go nearer to the remainder of the shuriken cloud), and then fire off the next burst, and repeat until you are clear of the cloud. Do not ever use PD to push forward, against the shuriken cloud as that will drain PD too fast. Instead, use PD to cut across shuriken clouds sideways. BEMP works well to eliminate most of the shuriken cloud as well, but it is a one time use. You can however, attempt to graze off other bullets (or even the remaining shurikens if you dare) to regain a bit of BEMP and use it in small bursts to cut through shuriken clouds. Barrier is a horrible defence against shurikens due to the pure volume of shurikens. However, very small barriers around yourself can work to cut through shuriken clouds. Just make sure not to use it at the last minute.

While it is possible to stay completely still and let T2~T4 shuriken launchers lock on perfectly onto you and both the shuriken lanes will pass by your core, it is a completely impractical strategy due to the slower tracking speed of shuriken launchers. Thus, do not try this, but it can be quite fun for you to actually do so when you are bored.

Tiers and Patterns - Shuriken Tides​

  • Tier 1 (Figure 1): After a period of charging, it will spray an arc consisting of 5 shurikens.
  • Tier 2 (Figure 2): After charging for a period of time, it will spray 2 arcs, each composed of 5 shurikens.
  • Tier 3 (Figure 3): After charging for a period of time, 6 arcs composed of 5 shurikens will be sprayed out at the same time. The two arcs in the front and back are in opposite directions.
    • The disgusting thing about this turret is that the charging time for a period of time can also be zero.
  • Tier 4 (Figure 4): After a period of charging, three wavy shurikens will be sprayed out. Each wave consists of 7 shurikens on the left and right.
    • This is where the Shuriken Tide got its name. Depending on the mark, 1 to 5 waves will be sprayed at a time.

These shuriken launchers appear identical to the shuriken (forward scattering) launchers, but instead of silver rims, they have golden rims. These patterned shuriken launchers track much faster than shuriken (forward scattering) launcher counterparts. They track at about the same speed as boomerang turrets, if not, faster, but slower than dart tracking turrets.

T1 patterned shuriken turrets don't flood the field quickly, hence they are not very deadly.

T2 patterned shuriken turrets can get annoying fast because they spread out the cluster of shurikens into 2 sections instead of one from its T2 forward scattering counterpart. Furthermore, because they track fast, they have the capability to spread shurikens in 2 wide arcs by tracking your movement. The random movement of invaders make it all the worse, making these shurikens being shot out in 2 mostly straight lines terribly difficult. If you are not faced with other tracking turrets, try not to make rapid movements to align these shurikens in straighter lines.

Strangely, while a T4 patterned shuriken turret also exist (as explained later), these T3 turrets are actually the most dangerous turrets. This is because you are left with no choice but to dodge between 2 arcs of shurikens, usually necessitating a zig-zag navigation, which is extremely difficult. Otherwise, you will have break a hole in the pattern by using BEMP or Phalanx. The final alternative is to squeeze between the arcs, but you will need to do so twice, which is very difficult.

As shown in the picture below, it is hard not to think of a bad stomach:

In every field and vocation, there emerges a master of discord (sad).

T4 patterned shuriken turrets produce shurikens that look very intimidating since they appear to be simply spreading shurikens everywhere. However, not to worry, as you simply need to stand back at the bottom of the field so that these shuriken turrets can lock onto you. You will find a point in time when there is a small, but clear passageway for you to comfortably traverse. Be careful of other bullets such as MIRVs and pellets even as you traverse this passageway. Darts take up a considerable amount of space and thus going (almost) head on with a dart tracking turret is not a solution. Most of the time however, because it can be difficult to wait such a long time to find a clear passageway, it is more convenient to simply deploy a BEMP or Phalanx to push your way through. However, in the absence of MIRVs and darts, bear in mind you do not always have to waste a BEMP or Phalanx just to get through these shuriken patterns. An Eagle equipped with all 3 T4 patterned shuriken launchers is very possible to find a clear passageway. For T4 patterned shuriken launchers that are on opposite sides of the field, it is usually possible to find a brief moment with a clear gap in the pattern to head towards, and then exit through the arcs. Do not go head on with these T4 turrets as you will have to face the other 2 sets of 2 arcs even as the middle set of arcs is not a problem.

Tiers and Patterns - Shuriken Spinners​

  • Tier 0 (Figure 1): After a period of charging, 3 shurikens will be sprayed in 8 directions.
  • Tier 1 (Figure 1): After a period of charging, 5 shurikens are sprayed in 8 directions.
  • Tier 2 (Figure 2): After a period of charging, 9 shurikens will be sprayed in 8 directions.
  • Tier 3 (Figure 3): After a period of charging, 13 shurikens will be sprayed in 8 directions.
  • Tier 4 (Figure 4): After a period of charging, it will spray 6 groups of shurikens continuously in 8 directions, with every group of 20 shurikens forming a group. After each group of shurikens, it will turn to the opposite direction.

You can pretty much treat them like shuriken launchers because it is difficult to distinguish between shurikens fired from a launcher or a spinner. However, for T4 shuriken spinners, the ones that usually appear to last nearly forever (especially for high Mk T4 spinners), it is generally recommended to stay in the middle of the field and follow through the pattern. Unfortunately, because of the presence of other shurikens and bullets, you sometimes need to cut between the pattern and thus through the shuriken pattern walls. This is extremely difficult, even for veterans. Prepare to launch defensive options, such as a very small BEMP, PD, or even CF. PD is the best defence since it can be used in micro bursts and you only need to tap once to break through. If you are out of options, dodging through them is your only hope, so do it at the very bottom of the field since the shurikens would be more spread out by then. Good luck. Firing an ult level BEMP works very well to reset T4 shuriken spinners. It is highly recommended you destroy one of the T4 shuriken spinners (sometimes, it is of even higher priority than MIRV Bloomers, if the bloomers are not of high tier or high Mk) so that you do not need to dodge or use your defensive options to break through the pattern.

For speedrunning, if you are able to identify a line of shurikens produced from a shuriken spinner, these can be quite a joy to graze off since they move in a consistent manner once properly identified. For T4 shuriken spinners however, it is still recommended you destroy one of the spinners (unless they are no other dangerous turrets around and it is easy to navigate the pattern as such), and continue to graze off the walls of the shuriken pattern.