A constantly reoccurring problem I’ve been recently getting is messages not saving and therefore losing out on really good replies and drastically slowing down the chatting process.

Even when asking the AI assistant, it said it didn’t have any relevant information on how to fix it: Does it only last a few hours or am I going to have to take steps to get rid of it?

I’m using JanitorLLM Beta, not a Proxy.

Splattershot Nova has always been in the background, it has never had that one moment where people saw the weapon and truly clicked with it, just always flying under the radar and never getting some eyes on it.

Originally, I just developed some buffs to make the weapon a stronger fighter and indirectly boost its painting power to have a higher special output. Here’s the snippet from that collection of balance proposals:

- - -

The Splattershot Nova

+ Increased damage by ~5%

(From 24 to 25)

+ Increased fire rate by ~11%

(From 6 frames per shot to 5 frames per shot or
10 shots per second to 12 shots per second)

• Added a third weapon kit consisting of:

Torpedo & Super Chump (200p)

The first very impactful change is increasing the damage so the Splattershot Nova can now splat in four shots, which is a huge deal for the weapon. Because of its poor accuracy and low damage, the weapon isn’t exactly much of a fighter, so this is a massive boost in one of its weak points.

Furthermore, the fire rate is getting increased to be 5 frames per shot, allowing it to fire 12 shots per second instead of 10. Through this, the dps is now 300 and the time-to-kill has greatly improved, providing the weapon with more options during a match. The fire rate buff also gives the Splattershot Nova stronger painting power.

That’s not all, the Splattershot Nova gets a third kit tailor made for aggression and support at the same time. Torpedo is a naturally strong option at locating enemies whilst also providing a poking tool and good combo tool to set up very satisfying splats. As for Super Chump, the special provides plenty of turf and pressure when making pushes with your team or maintaining objectives in your favor.

- - -

So I established Torpedo and Super Chump for a blend of fighting power and painting, but this is one of those weapons that really can work with so many kits considering it has great ink efficiency and amazing paint that lets it have good output with anything, pair that up with its very low gear dependency and you have a recipe for-…mediocrity-look, it’s not perfect but it’s something, alright? We already saw some decent usage back when Inkjet was meta and the Annaki Splattershot Nova happened to have the best output for it.

With that said, I wanted to take its third kit further and experiment, what truly would be the best kit for the Splattershot Nova with all these benefits mentioned? Let’s get into it!

Kensa Splattershot Nova

Burst Bomb & Tacticooler

Starting off with a blend of support and fighting power, the Splattershot Nova would obviously be a strong beneficiary of Burst Bomb considering it’s always guaranteed to at least shave one shot off from its time-to-kill and even make it easier to net splats against more mobile or further targets, Tacticooler on the other hand…I mean come on, that’s a match made in heaven! Every single ability Tacticooler provides is something the Splattershot Nova can take advantage of, combine that with its great turf allowing to have a lot of uptime with the special and it becomes a supportive powerhouse in the right hands.

Splattershot Nova D

Angle Shooter & Triple Inkstrike

For a more ranged kit, we have Angle Shooter and Triple Inkstrike, which focuses more on taking advantage of having a stronger poking power whilst still providing utility in painting and combos, but the main selling point is the range of these tools so the Splattershot Nova can soften enemies and apply pressure at a greater distance.

Neo Splattershot Nova

Fizzy Bomb & Crab Tank

For a mix or range, paint AND fighting power, Fizzy Bomb and Crab Tank. Considering the weapon has the range to hang a little further from the action and give it access to those spots where Crab Tank can thrive whilst also having Fizzy Bomb, a very handy displacement tool to throw onto ledges and just make space in general whilst also providing paint and chip damage for your team to work off of.

Splattershot Nova Nouveau

Sprinkler & Ink Storm

If we wanted to have a kit dedicated to just pure painting, then Sprinkler and Ink Storm just make perfect sense, now this of course doesn’t help the weapon’s poor fighting power and doesn’t take advantage of its low gear dependency but it could possibly rival the Reef-Lux and Aerospray in Turf War, not much else from that though.

Custom Splattershot Nova

Squid Beakon & Ink Vac

To focus on the weapon’s supportive aspect, Squid Beakon and Ink Vac would really help boost your teammates effect on the match through the use of your own tools, though yet again, the kit doesn’t help the weapon’s poor fighting power but it can take advantage of the low gear dependency through using Special Charge Up and Sub Power Up without any real disruption to your performance.

Tentatek Splattershot Nova

Splash Wall & Big Bubbler

To compensate for the weapon’s poor fighting power, a kit dedicated to helping its survivability could possibly prove to be a good success, especially in the weapon’s more supportive role that includes focusing on the objective, as Splash Wall and Big Bubbler work great in securing the tower, protecting your Rainmaker and possibly blocking paint from hitting the zone.

Conclusion

So with all those kits established, which would save the Splattershot Nova? Well, this would be a perfect chance for a poll, but again, we can’t do that :/

Like usual, feel to comment which kit you would use, or suggest a completely different one. There’s no right or wrong answer, only opinions.

Thanks for reading!

Disclaimer: This post was originally designed for Typical Colors 2 (I don’t have a PC), but I’ve gone and translated it to fit TF2 terms as well as remove some paragraphs that feature weapons unique to TC2 so there’s no confusion. Most notably, Pyro may have different damage compared to the TC2 Arsonist, thank you for understanding

Recently (now 3 months ago) I’ve been coordinating a friendly little competition for weapon concepts, one of the ideas from MixerEggs69…yes that’s his username, his idea of a medigun that could support an Engineer’s buildings was very detailed and well-made but that’s not the main focus of this post, I wanted to point out a particular reply he made about a medigun that worked differently for each of the nine classes, and while he’s absolutely right that it’d be too complicated and gimmicky…what if it was just simplified?

Heavily inspired by the Your Eternal Reward (Again, this weapon was successfully reworked in TC2 to offer unique buffs depending on the class role you disguised as), the Specialist will have different buffs and supercharges depending on the patient’s “role” instead of specifically their class. I know the class roles are and have almost always been inaccurate, but they still do achieve a good idea for what each class specialises in, and that’s where the Specialist comes into play.

Offense classes get more damage to greatly decrease their time-to-kill, defense classes are able to tank more damage and support classes are able to recover from their injuries WAY faster.

The Stats

+ 35% supercharge rate

(From 40s to 26s or 8.7s for 1 charge)

• Supercharge is divided into 3 separate charges

• Supercharge is instantly used, applied to a patient and can’t be switched onto another teammate

• Übercharging an offense class: +40% damage bonus

• Übercharging a defense class: +50% damage resistance

• Übercharging a support class: +50 health regenerated per second that can overheal

• Healing an offense class: +15% damage bonus

• Healing a defense class: +10% damage resistance

• Healing a support class: +25% more overheal

How It Works

The Specialist will have a different healing effect and Übercharge depending on the class’ given role: offense, defense and support.

Ultimately, the Übercharge is instantly used so you’ll start building Übercharge right after activating it. The Übercharge is split into 3 separate charges that all last 3 seconds and will stay on a patient for their full duration, meaning you can’t switch your beam to another teammate and the supercharge will apply to them, the same as TF2’s Vaccinator.

Offense Classes | Scout, Soldier and Pyro

Healing | +15% damage bonus

Übercharge | +40% damage bonus

Base Damage

Class - Base | Healing | Supercharge

Scout - 60 | 69 | 84

Soldier - 90 | 103 | 126

Pyro - 6.5 | 7.5 | 9

Maximum Ramp-Up

Class - Base | Healing | Supercharge

Scout - 105 | 120 | 147

Soldier - 112 | 129 | 157

Pyro - 13 | 15 | 18

Now you’d probably initially be thinking this would make the Blood Doctor obsolete, and you’d be right…if we looked past damage fall-off, that is. I’d argue the biggest selling point of the Blood Doctor is completely negating damage fall-off and turning classes like Soldier and Heavy into much more dangerous threats.

The damage bonus on offense classes specifically benefits Scout and Pyro with a great boost in their dps, especially considering they already specialise in close-range combat so they don’t benefit from no damage fall-off in particular. Soldier would still most likely benefit from mini-crits though, as 5% more damage just isn’t as beneficial than sniping classes from a mile away.

A 40% damage bonus also doesn’t pass any important damage thresholds that Mini-crits could already do, besides the Soldier now passively being able to one-shot lightweights at max ramp-up while you’re healing him. Generally, the damage bonus can just be translated to Mini-crits with damage fall-off.

One thing I should note is that the damage bonus also applies to buildings, this means Soldiers being healed can passively destroy mini sentries in one rocket and Pyros are able to destroy buildings much quicker, how he gets into that range in the first place without being teared to shreds will remain a mystery. Soldier does actually get to kill sentries in two rockets but a supercharge is required, without it, he’s still 10 damage short of destroying it.

Defense Classes | Demoman, Heavy, Engineer

Healing | +10% damage resistance

26 effective healing per second

Class - Health | Overheal | Effective Health | Effective Overheal

Demoman - 175 | 260 | 192 | 286

Heavy - 300 | 450 | 330 | 495

Engineer - 125 | 185 | 137 | 203

Supercharged | +50% damage resistance

48 effective healing per second

Class - Health | Overheal | Effective Health | Effective Overheal

Demoman - 175 | 260 | 350 | 520

Heavy - 300 | 450 | 600 | 900

Engineer - 125 | 185 | 250 | 370

Defense classes would of course be able to tank much more damage so they’re able to hold their ground not just in defending objectives but also in capturing them, and while this does technically make the Specialist stronger than the Vaccinator, it also only applies to Demoman, Heavy and Enginner, who aren’t as viable in making pushes as the offense classes…kind of, but you get the point. Demoman, Heavy and Engineer can already output some insane damage, the highest in the game in fact, so adding more damage would just be overkill, this is why I think a damage resistance makes more sense for them, especially for how their weakness is getting rushed down by more mobile classes.

Focus fire in general is a lot weaker against the Specialist compared to the Vaccinator but it can’t take as much damage, especially to yourself. Self-defense in general for the Specialist is far weaker, as instead of just popping the correct bubble and rendering your oppressor useless, you have to first find a Defense class and then pop a much less disposable supercharge to still have a weaker resistance of 50% rather than 75%, that doesn’t sound big but you go from an effective health of 600 to only 300, that’s much more manageable damage for an oppressor to output in a pinch.

That being said, the focus fire your patient can withstand is much stronger, Heavies especially being able to get away with a lot more damage before needing to retreat. Engineer in particular doesn’t get that big of a boost in effective health, and his buildings don’t even benefit from the Übercharge unlike the Blood Doctor. One notable thing this does however is make Battle Engineer much stronger, with an effective health of 450 once fully overhealed. The effective healing of 48 per second especially comes in handy to mitigate some of the dps your patient will be taking.

Support Classes | Medic, Sniper and Spy

Healing | +25% more overheal (From 150% to 175%)

Class - Health | Overheal | Specialist Overheal

Medic - 150 | 225 | 260

Sniper - 125 | 185 | 215

Spy - 125 | 185 | 215

Supercharged | +50 health regenerated per second that can overheal

Supercharge - 50hps

Supercharge + Healing - 74hps

Support classes don’t exactly need Übercharge considering they have the lowest healing priority and can’t fight all that well in the first place, which is why the passive bonus instead provides more overheal. Medics and Spies will really feel the bonus of being able to take more of a beating, Snipers on the other hand, not as relevant…I guess you can withstand more chip damage but that’s grasping at straws.

The supercharge will instead give support classes 50hps that can overheal which can stack with your beam for 74hps, allowing said support classes to have much better odds of escaping from danger or others trying to pick them, unless your teammate is playing Spy, not exactly worth a supercharge, is he? But this means if a fellow Medic or Sniper is about to be picked, you can quickly apply an Übercharge before healing the frontlines again. Though you can always just apply an Übercharge to benefit yourself since you’ll also receive the 50hps for 3 seconds, meaning support classes that are nearby can be used to quickly get some overheal before going into a dangerous environment with your patient.

The Problem(s)

In order for Medics to take full advantage of the Specialist, they need to have a diverse team composition with a handful of every class role, that may sound natural but, is it really? This is where the class limit increase works against you…again (For some context, TC2 used to have a 2 player per class limit, which was recently bumped up to 3). This isn’t to say the Speciliast depends on a particular class role, but it still means you’re greatly limited on what you get to do if support classes are missing for example.

You know how I mentioned your survivability is worse? Well, I just realised something. If the Medic were to supercharge a defense class and then a support class, that would give him an effective health of 300 and effective healing of 100hps, and his effective health can go up to 450 if overheal is included. I’m not quite sure if stacking Übercharges on yourself should be allowed, especially considering it takes two thirds of your Übercharge to do it anyway whilst the Vaccinator only takes a quarter for a stronger effect, it would definitely have to go through some testing first.

Against other mediguns, the Specialist would really start to struggle. As much as you do have the tools necessary to negate each Übercharge, you still need the class necessary. The stock medigun and Kritzkrieg would just walk all over you if you never make a play to attack their Medic. That’s the advantage of the Specialist, your downtime and survivability is far greater, take full advantage of it and apply pressure to the enemy Medic, best case scenario: you force them to pop early and waste a few seconds of what’s meant to be an important power to turn the tides of a match.

This is kind of a problem for every medigun but the Specialist is stronger on defense and asymmetrical game modes because focus fire is a lot less common. The stock medigun and Quick-Fix are pretty much the only mediguns you can use on offense so I might also look into making a medigun to shake up the meta.

Conclusion

And that’s the Specialist, my proposal to make a far more unique medigun that doesn’t just scramble your brain outright. Offense classes are stronger at offense, defense classes are stronger at defense and support classes are less susceptible to getting picked off. Again, special thanks to MixerEggs69 for getting the ball rolling on this idea.

Like always, feedback and suggestions to tweek the numbers are incredibly helpful, so be sure to speak up if you have any concerns.

Thanks for reading, fellow Medic mains!

Picture this, you’re playing a good old shift of Salmon Run and encounter a Flyfish locking onto you, quickly rushing to the other side of the map and taking a good few seconds to get rid of it, possibly the longest time you’ll spend out of any boss to kill them, but then another shows up, and another, and another, taking up almost all of your time and forcing you to ignore some of them if you want to meet your quota. This isn’t okay, every other boss can be addressed quicker and easier, not to mention how literal physics and the other salmonoids can make that process more tedious if not impossible.

So what can we do to make this process much less of an investment and therefore less of a nuisance to the wave? Well, quite a lot actually. Considering this boss has basically no defenders, there’s nothing to lose. One solution would be to just completely remove Flyfish from the game, but of course that’s a big ask to remove a lot of work in coding, design and general effort and putting it to waste, so I’d say it’s better to just nerf it, heavily. I’m not kidding, I counted a total of 9 nerfs after finishing this.

Flyfish

• Reduced the time spent between spawning and opening the baskets to launch its first wave of missiles

- Greatly reduced the health of the pilot by ~89%

(From 360 to 40)

- Decreased direct hit damage by 40%

(From 150 to 90)

- Decreased splash damage by 20%

(From 50 / 30 / 15 to 40 / 24 / 12)

- Only one Flyfish can be present on the map at a time

- There is now a ten second period after a Flyfish has been destroyed where another one can’t spawn in

- Increased the duration of open baskets by 30%

(From 5s to 6.5s)

- Each basket can now be attacked by every main weapon when they are open, with a total health of 600 per basket

- Certain main weapons can now attack the baskets in a similar style to the Explosher, these include:

Direct Hits:
Luna Blaster
Blaster
Range Blaster
Clash Blaster
Rapid Blaster
Rapid Blaster Pro
S-Blast ‘91
Sloshing Machine
Explosher

Full Charge:
Classic Squiffer
Splat Charger
E-Liter 4K
Snipewriter 5H
Reef-Lux 450

Partial Charge:
Goo Tuber
Tri-Stringer
Wellstring V

Full Charge Melee:
Splatana Stamper
Splatana Wiper
Mint Decavitator

And yes, I’m going to go through each nerf to explain what they intend to achieve, so let’s get into it.

1. Flyfish will spend less time dawdling after they have spawned in, meaning it’s much easier to address them after they spawn in rather than hang around and begin to get overwhelmed by other salmonids as you wait for the baskets to open. This is technically a buff however, considering the Flyfish has a shorter time period before it can attack.
2. The actually Smallfry pilot is now incredibly weak, meaning any weapon that can pierce it is pretty much guaranteed to splat it, no more barely surviving Killer Wails or Booyah Bombs basically.
3. The direct damage can no longer one-shot you, you must have already been injured a little in order to get splatted by a direct hit, resulting in much less moments where you’re busy roaming map or throwing a pile of eggs and you suddenly just get splatted in the blink of an eye.
4. The splash damage has also been reduced to eliminate the harsher conditions present on more cramped maps such as Marooner’s Bay, Salmonid Smokeyard and Spawning Grounds.
5. Only one Flyfish can be on the map at a time, meaning there’s no moments where a constant stream of missiles are being hurled at you and adding up to getting splatted from the splash damage.
6. There is now a ten second cooldown between Flyfish so that Lady Luck herself can’t spit in your face and throw in a Flyfish the literal moment you just destroyed one.
7. Certain main weapons now carry the same properties as the Explosher where they can one-shot the open baskets under certain conditions, ultimately giving a lot of weapons more utility and a greater affect on the game now that Flyfish can be taken care quicker and therefore gives these weapon more uptime to deal with other bosses.

After all of that is established, I would say Flyfish would actually be a pretty balanced boss and a much more fun boss considering it’s a lot more interactive. It just blows my mind how this boss didn’t get any changes going into Splatoon 3, especially when you see these new bosses having much healthier aspects and they’re even able to make an infinite-range boss incredibly interesting and interactive.

So with all that said, what do you think of Flyfish? There’s no right or wrong answers, only opinions.

Thanks for reading, fellow Grizzco freelancers!

Hello, Medic mains! I’m a Doctor main from Typical Colors 2 and have 250 hours on the class. Don’t worry our classes are incredibly similar, our options on the other hand…

Introducing the Blood Doctor! A Medigun unique to TC2 that brings its own take on Medic/Doctor, and it’s certainly seen some success for casual play. So what I’d like to know is, what do you think about it? Would you use it if it got brought into TF2? Well, let’s break down what the Blood Doctor does exactly.

The Blood Doctor is a Medigun that’s divided into four separate Übers that last 2.5s each, the same as the Vaccinator. Each Über gives mini-crits and-…just mini-crits actually, so what’s the real selling point?

It’s the accessibility of the Übers compared to something like the Kritzkrieg, because your Über rate is much higher and you receive quite a generous amount from your patient taking damage, they’re incredibly easy to come by, and it means you can essentially pop them whenever you like on the battlefield.

Because of the accessibility, the Blood Doctor is amazing for pocketing considering it can boost the damage and range of your patient with ease, which has proven to especially deadly with Heavy considering they soak up damage and therefore provide a lot of Über, especially considering they’re the biggest beneficiaries of mini-crits.

That’s not all! The Blood Doctor even has more range than its competition, allowing it heal from a much safer distance and have a sense of security despite having no source of self-defense from its Übercharge, but since Über is so accessible and isn’t as much of an important resource to maintain, it also lowers the penalty for dying.

Despite this, the Blood Doctor isn’t perfect. The weapon is considerably more of a defensive option considering it’s much stronger at dealing with one-or-two enemies at a time rather than addressing an entire group, that would be where crits are king. But of course with defense in mind, the Blood Doctor is the king at stalling and holding down objectives considering the natural lack of coordination the attacking team will have as they instead approach one-by-one, which is where the Blood Doctor thrives.

Ultimately, the Blood Doctor is a defensive powerhouse that truly takes its pros and cons to much greater extremes than any of its competition ever does, allowing to either thrive or greatly struggle in the right situations. Once an objective is in your favor, it takes great strides for the opposing team to take it back, especially if you have a Heavy available.

So, what do you think about the Blood Doctor? Would you consider using the Medigun? Feel free to ask any questions about the weapon if you’re curious, I have a lot of experience using the Medigun. Also let me know if you’d like me to explain any other Medic items unique to Typical Colors 2, I’m always happy to yap about what I love.

Thanks for reading, fellow Medic mains!

Whenever I play Salmon Run, I’m always thinking about how much I hate Flyfish, but while I was making a post on nerfing them, I suddenly realised, what if we just had more subs that could deal with them?

With a few tweaks to their damage numbers, these subs can really shake up the outcome of a shift for a lot more diversity and approaches to certain bosses…I’m looking at you, Flyfish. One thing that would be kept the same is the ink consumption of throwing eggs, keeping its 70% consumption no matter the sub.

So without further ado, here’s the subs I’d add to Salmon Run and how I’d buff them to suit the mode accordingly. Let’s get into it!

Subs

• Splat Bomb

Max Damage - 180 > 200

Splash Damage - 30 > 50

• Suction Bomb

Max Damage - 180 > 250

Splash Damage - 30 > 100

Suction Bombs applied on a Maws’ circle will be eaten by them.

Suction Bombs can stick to open Flyfish baskets and destroy them.

• Burst Bomb

Direct Damage - 60 > 100

Splash Damage - 35 > 50

Vs Maws - 60 > 600

Direct hits destroy open Flyfish baskets.

• Fizzy Bomb

Max Damage - 50 > 75

Splash Damage - 35 > 50

Fizzy Bombs that haven’t been shaken can still destroy Maws and open Flyfish baskets.

• Torpedo

Max Damage - 60 > 100

Splash Damage - 35 > 50

Droplet Damage - 12 > 50

Torpedos have a targeting preference for bosses before targeting other Salmonids.

• Angle Shooter

Damage - 40 > 200

Vs Maws - 40 > 600

Direct hits destroy open Flyfish baskets.

As you can see, basically every sub is now able to fit into Salmon run with very good performance and the damage necessary to deal with certain bosses that they otherwise wouldn’t be able to affect. Take Burst Bomb and Angle Shooter for instance, these subs dont exactly explode and therefore can’t damage Maws, so they have a massive increase in damage in order to splat Maws with two subs.

I personally really like these two subs in particular for how versatile they can be and allow certain weapons to deal with their range issues or poor ink efficiency, especially with how much easier taking care of Flyfish would be, allowing shifts with poor weapon rotations to possibly be salvaged by the random subs provided.

Conclusion

With all that said, that’s how I’d add more sub weapons into Salmon Run and overall make them a more important aspect of each shift.

Fee free to comment what you think of the proposal, what you liked, what you disliked, and most importantly, what you’d do differently! There’s no right or wrong answer, only opinions.

Thanks for reading!

So I’m currently torturing myself by trying to 100% Side Order, and that apparently requires Lady Luck herself to bless me in order to get a certain chip.

Brella Cooldown is already an incredibly niche chip that doesn’t provide much utility, but what’s really insulting is how rare the chip is. Because Brella has a chip bias for Drone and Power, it means this chip is incredibly rare to come by, and the fact that you need FIVE of them isn’t helping the situation. I’ve already done six runs and struggling to even come across three of these things. I’ve already followed some strategies such as getting rid of the Drone and Color Chip Bias hacks as well as going for the most rewarding floors for more membux and therefore more chances to reset floors, but I can’t for the life of me find five of these things!

So I beg of you, no matter how obvious the advice may sound, what else could I possibly do to make this process possible?

This is a follow up to the balance proposals made towards the weaker weapons of Splatoon 3 (https://www.reddit.com/r/splatoon/s/dclUvgH6aR) but now I wanted to take a look at some more cases, it’s simple as that really.

For some quick context, I’ve played Splatoon since the second game and have gotten some decent experience with every weapon but mainly support and backline, and all of the data used for reference has been taken from the Splatoon Wiki and Sendou Ink.

With all that said, balance is subjective, there’s no right or wrong answer, and let’s get into it!

The Ballpoint Splatling

+ Increased movement speed while charging and firing in short-range mode by ~12%

(From 0.86 units per frame to 0.96 units per frame)

+ Increased firing duration by 15%

(From 200 frames to 230 frames or 3.33s to 3.83s)

• Added a third weapon kit consisting of:

Squid Beakon & Tacticooler (220p)

The Ballpoint Splatling is in a pretty sad state when you think about it, when most weapons that are meta get nerfed, they usually just fall into the middle of weapons that are in a perfectly average state, but Ballpoint has just kept getting nerfed over and over, it hasn’t gotten a single buff outside of the universal hitbox buff every weapon received, so let’s change that.

The movement speed of the Ballpoint was definitely a big part of its selling point, having the tools necessary to move further up compared to other backliners and supporting its image as more of a fighter than a painter, so let’s bring back the Ballpoint that didn’t have a movement speed penalty when charging or firing in short-range mode, long-range mode of course needs and benefits from a slower movement speed to better focus on aiming, but what this change intends to do is either make the Ballpoint a more mobile threat or simply give it a lower gear dependency on run speed up, allowing it to focus gear on possibly helping its ink efficiency and its accuracy when jumping.

And as a nice buff to the long-range mode, the Ballpoint now fires for 0.5s or 30 frames longer, the short-range mode still lasts the same duration but this means the Ballpoint has more poking power and value out of full charges, indirectly buffing its ink efficiency in the process.

Lastly, a third kit with a sub we all knew was happening: Squid Beakon! This sub has been proven to work with Ballpoint quite well considering the weapon has a very low dependency on its sub to make up for a none-existent range disadvantage, also being a great fit for how the Ballpoint likes to be further up than other backliners, meaning it has the positioning to set up aggressive and intrusive Beakons that can really make a difference, it’s a lot better than the Custom E-Liter where I frankly never see players plant Beakons anywhere considering they’re always far from the action and never need to go further in order to have an effect on the objective. As for the special: Tacticooler is a match made in heaven for the Splatling that’s already incredibly versatile in its range, allowing it to have support aspects whilst still keeping its fighting power, similar to the Dapple Dualies, but unlike them the Ballpoint doesn’t have as much kit dependency, so it’s more than able to sacrifice its kit for more supportive tools, to keep it as a competitor though, it’s 220p for your Tacticooler considering the Ballpoint doesn’t take as many risks in order to have an effect on the match.

The .52 Gal

- Decreased fire rate by ~11%

(From 9 frames per shot to 10 frames per shot or
6.67 shots per second to 6 shots per second)

- Increased ink consumption by 7%

(From 1.5% to 1.6%)

.52 Gal Deco

190p > 180p

The .52 Gal is another one of those divisive weapons for how it operates, and I’m definitely on the side of belief that while the weapon definitely takes skill, it might pay off a little too well. The weapon has pretty good paint, time-to-kill, range and accuracy without much holding it back, especially made even better with its kit, and that’s led to a pretty poor reputation amongst the community.

So what can we do about that? Just tone it back, of course. The two aspects I wanted to focus on was its time-to-kill and its ink efficiency, as both aspects aren’t exactly fun to deal with.

For the time-to-kill, a nerf in its fire rate, from 9 frames per shot to 10 frames per shot. This means the .52 Gal has a time-to-kill of 10-20 frames instead of 9-18 frames. Through the fire rate nerf, the .52 Gal also has a weaker painting power and dps, though nothing major. For reference, the .96 Gal has a fire rate of 12 frames per shot.

Despite having a lowered fire rate, there’s another aspect where the .52 Gal can be a bit annoying: its Splash Wall. Because of its ink efficiency, Splash Wall isn’t as much of an investment as it should be. In fact, it’s probably one of the best Splash Wall weapons out there. So with a small ink efficiency nerf, the weapon now has a total of 62 shots instead of 66, again, nothing major but it’s small steps to toning the weapon back.

The Clash Blaster

+ Increased direct hit damage by 25%

(From 60 to 75)

- Decreased blast damage by 10%

(From 30 to 27)

- Increased ink consumption by ~13%

(From 4% to 4.5%)

• Added a third weapon kit consisting of:

Burst Bomb & Killer Wail 5.1 (190p)

The Clash Blaster, everyone’s favorite weapon? Okay let’s be honest, people who don’t use this thing think it’s the devil. The Clash Blaster has the very poor positioning of being both very annoying but very weak at the same time, similar to the Blobblober. So in order to buff it without making it even more annoying, it’s actually a pretty simple process; just buff the skilled aspects.

For the Clash Blaster, this means giving its direct hits more damage, WAY more damage, a whole 25% more damage. Through this, the Clash Blaster is able to net splats with much more security, as a direct hit and blast will be able to splat opponents in two shots, though the combo will always require a direct hit.

The relatively large blast radius is only getting a slight nerf in its damage, from 30 to 27, this only works to make the weapon have a weaker combo potential, it still splats in four shots.

In tandem with these changes, the Clash Blaster gets a third kit with Burst Bomb and Killer Wail 5.1. Burst Bomb of course pairs really well with the Clash Blaster, essentially substituting a shot and can just about combo with a direct hit even in its 25 damage radius. As for Killer Wail 5.1, this special is intended to chip away and pressure opponents that would otherwise be outside of your effective range whilst also softening opponents you’re fighting to potentially shave a shot from your time-to-kill.

The Splattershot Nova

+ Increased damage by ~5%

(From 24 to 25)

+ Increased fire rate by ~11%

(From 6 frames per shot to 5 frames per shot or
10 shots per second to 12 shots per second)

• Added a third weapon kit consisting of:

Torpedo & Super Chump (200p)

Splattershot Nova has always been in the background, it has never had that one moment where people saw the weapon and truly clicked with it, just always flying under the radar and never getting some eyes on it. Let’s change that.

The first very impactful change is increasing the damage so the Splattershot Nova can now splat in four shots, which is a huge deal for the weapon. Because of its poor accuracy and low damage, the weapon isn’t exactly much of a fighter, so this is a massive boost in one of its weak points.

Furthermore, the fire rate is getting increased to be 5 frames per shot, allowing it to fire 12 shots per second instead of 10. Through this, the dps is now 300 and the time-to-kill has greatly improved, providing the weapon with more options during a match. The fire rate buff also gives the Splattershot Nova stronger painting power.

That’s not all, the Splattershot Nova gets a third kit tailor made for aggression and support at the same time. Torpedo is a naturally strong option at locating enemies whilst also providing a poking tool and good combo tool to set up very satisfying splats. As for Super Chump, the special provides plenty of turf and pressure when making pushes with your team or maintaining objectives in your favor.

Conclusion

And those are the balance changes that I would propose. Like usual, feel free to comment what you liked, what you disliked, and most importantly, what you’d do differently. Any feedback is helpful for more balanced product, two heads are always better than one after all.

Thanks for reading!

Okay quick rant, made post that proposed a balance concept for the E-Liter, people were positive…or not? People really don’t like the E-Liter, it’s probably the most controversial weapon in Splatoon’s history, and it’s not exactly hard to see why.

When you factor in how popular this weapon is in solo queue and how oppressive it can FEEL to deal with, especially when you’re playing as a backline because some E-Liters really like to target backliners, it can become really obvious that sure, it may be balanced, but is it fun? Now I do know the main problem is kind of in the maps, but even with the layout changes over time, improvements have been made, but not much has changed, so we kind of have to make due with what we got.

The most common complaint I see and from primary research I got from my previous posts mainly highlights the weapon’s range and its matchups in general. And it really becomes obvious how much people don’t like this weapon, as in not a single person defended it in the comments, they want it gone, but of course we can’t just kill a weapon, there’s some people who love and main the E-Literally, I for sure wouldn’t be happy to see the Tri-Stringer get nerfed, so let’s see what a second attempt of balancing the E-Liter looks like.

The only changes from the previous attempt I’m keeping is the range nerf, the PFS buff on the custom kits and a the third kit of Sprinker and Ink Storm (210p)

For why I nerfed the range, it was just too oppressive and was the main reason E-Liters were able to bully backliners once they had taken mid or even from the safety of their own backline spot. So for reference, the E-Liter now has the same range as the Splatterscope, and the scoped variant has E-Liter’s old range, not quite fixing the problem for all maps but its definitely an improvement.

So let’s try again at making this weapon more fun for both parties.

The E-Liter 4K

+ Increased charge rate by 2%

(From 92 frames to 90 frames)

+ Increased uncharged damage by 12.5%

(From 40-80 to 45-90)

+ Splatting opponents refills 7% of your ink tank

- Increased ink consumption by 20%

(From 2.25%-25% to 2.7%-30%)

- Increased cooldown of being able to refill ink after firing by 50%

(From 20 frames to 30 frames)

- Reduced fully charged shot range by ~10%

(From 30.76 units to 27.75 units)

• Added a third weapon kit consisting of:

Sprinkler & Ink Storm (210p)

Custom E-Liter 4K

210p > 200p

The E-Liter 4K Scope

+ Increased charge rate by 2%

(From 92 frames to 90 frames)

+ Increased uncharged damage by 12.5%

(From 40-80 to 45-90)

+ Splatting opponents refills 7% of your ink tank

- Increased ink consumption by 20%

(From 2.25%-25% to 2.7%-30%)

- Increased cooldown of being able to refill ink after firing by 50%

(From 20 frames to 30 frames)

- Reduced fully charged shot range by ~6%

(From 32.76 to 30.76 units)

• Added a third weapon kit consisting of:

Sprinkler & Ink Storm (210p)

Custom E-Liter 4K Scope

210p > 200p

Okay, so what’s in it for E-Liter users? They now have slightly better self-defence through their tap shots without passing any notable damage thresholds on their own, but their shots are easier to combo with.

Their charge rate is also slightly faster, from 92 frames to 90 frames or 1.53s to 1.5s, meaning they can be more active and technically turf better, though that’s what the next change works toward preventing.

The E-Liter now has an ink consumption buff and nerf, so how’s that work? Well, your ink consumption is significantly worse if you keep missing your shots, but it’s slightly better than the current ink consumption if you keep hitting your shots, and that only becomes better with LDE and Main Saver.

The Custom E-Liter 4K also has a reduced PFS by 10 points, making the admittedly weaker but way more interesting kit hopefully a more frequent occurrence.

But speaking of kits, here’s a third kit for the E-Liter 4K that focuses on turfing through Sprinkler and Ink Storm. Sprinkler is an obvious choice for the weapon to have considering it’s a deployable sub that doesn’t harm your ink efficiency nearly as much as other options and can help set up camp or simply keep your feet painted in areas closer to the actions, such as holding mid. Ink Storm is a nice way to both quickly refill your ink tank and possibly shoo away any oppressors looking to pick you off, as the special pairs better with your now stronger tap shots, thought the special can always just be used to pressure an area or turf the objective.

That’s all nice, but what’s in it for players going up against the E-Liter? Well, the E-Liter now has a slightly longer downtime through and increase in whiting frames and it can be potentially longer if the E-Liter player is less skilled and keeps missing their shots.

Alongside a longer downtime, the E-Liter has reduced range that prevents it from becoming a major issue on maps like Brinewater Springs, Bluefin Depot and Crableg Capital. What will most likely happen is E-Liters will keep trying to target backliners, but they will of course have to get a little closer and become a little more vulnerable in order to do so.

And that’s how I would try and rework the E-Liter 4K. Like usual, feel free to comment what you liked, what you disliked, and most importantly, what you’d do differently. Any feedback is helpful for more balanced product, two heads are always better than one after all.

Thanks for reading!

One little nitpick I have with Splatoon 3’s gear system is how tedious farming chunks can be, and a little addition known as Star Power definitely makes the process a little insulting. For the low, low price of 350,000 cash for one piece of gear, that gear get’s a whopping…10% bonus…ten percent?

So if it wasn’t obvious, that’s a very low reward for how much you’ve invested into your gear, and that doesn’t take into account players with multiple mains and therefore multiple items of gear having to watch the prices skyrocket just for a smudge of extra xp.

For reference, here’s how much of an increase you get from each star power for a standard win or KO. Note that these can increase and vary from the events of the match but these are the flat values.

Star Power - Win | KO

2 Stars - 2,000 | 2,500

3 Stars - 2,060 | 2,575

3 Stars - 2,120 | 2,650

4 Stars - 2,200 | 2,750

It just isn’t worth it to spend cash on boosting Star Power past 2 Stars, and what even is the danger of increasing these figures? More ability chunks? What’s even more insulting is that you get x1.5 more from a drink ticket for 20 matches, FIFTY PERCENT. Why spend 350,000 for a single piece of gear when an xp multiplier is that accessible and applies to every piece of gear you wear.

Personally, I think ability chunks should become more and more accessible as the player progresses, and this would’ve been a really good system that could steadily increase their supply and allow players to make favorable gear without nearly as much of the burden of farming chunks on solo queue and having a disadvantage because of how essential utility subs such as Quick Super Jump, Ink Resistance Up and Bomb Defense Up have become.

So with that in mind, here’s my proposal to increase these figures to make boosting Star Power much more appealing and have a greater impact on your game.

3 Stars - x1.03 > x1.1

4 Stars - x1.06 > x1.2

5 Stars - x1.1 > x1.3

And here’s what that would look like for a standard win or KO. Note that these can increase and vary from the events of the match but these are the flat values.

Star Power - Win | KO

2 Stars - 2,000 | 2,500

3 Stars - 2,200 | 2,750

3 Stars - 2,400 | 3,000

4 Stars - 2,600 | 3,250

And here’s what that would look like if you also had used a drink ticket on top of that.

Star Power - Win | KO

2 Stars - 3,000 | 3,750

3 Stars - 3,200 | 4,000

3 Stars - 3,400 | 4,250

4 Stars - 3,600 | 4,500

Much more of a worthy investment, isn’t it? While ultimately Star Power is useless and isn’t really a problem to begin with, it just bugs me that they would add such a system only to do nothing of worth with it.

Anyways, what do you think of the current Star Power system for gear? Do you think it needs to be made better, toned back, or is fine left as is. There’s no
right or wrong answer, only opinions.

Thanks for reading!

Have you ever been wrong? Completely mistaken, filled with guilt upon finding out the truth. I just had that, with the Bulbz Tri-Stringer. I used to treat this kit like a joke, a complete swing and a miss at an attempt to making the Tri-Stringer a more aggressive weapon, but upon my journey to 4-starring all 3 Tri-Stringers, I realised just how dominant the Bulbz kit really is!

Compared to the other kits, the Bulbz Tri-Stringer is a much stronger fighter and is also a very fun option compared to the rather passive play-styles of the other kits.

Angle Shooter provides a combo piece that while admittedly, Burst Bomb would’ve been nice, is still able to have its own benefits that the Tri-Stringer’s range can take advantage of. I’d say its biggest selling point is to comfortably out-range the Tri-Stringer’s and basically every other backline’s biggest oppressor: The E-Liter 4K. I don’t know why exactly E-Liters love to just target backliners for the entire game, but being able to have access to a sub that out-ranges them at least gives you a consistent option to retaliate from getting pressured, and that’s pretty important considering your special is basically charger food.

Inkjet is surprisingly good for the Tri-Stringer, as the weapon’s low build dependency makes Drop Roller a very negligible investment (btw did you know Drop Roller have you a whopping 30AP of Run Speed, Swim Speed and Ink Resistance for five seconds?), which was surprisingly very synergistic with the Tri-Stringer, not just Inkjet. Inkjet in general can also take great advantage of the Tri-Stringer’s low build dependency through Special Power Up as well, and I’m not sure why but this thing gets Inkjets insanely fast, so you can blast away as much you please. Inkjet’s synergy just lets the Tri-Stringer do so much more whilst also providing a solid self-defense special if you wish to keep playing passively.

Through this kit, I was able to get 10 knockouts out of around 15 matches, TEN KNOCKOUTS. I was so wrong, this is by the far most fun Tri-Stringer kit and it’s not even close. Inkline will always be better, more efficient, better at painting, but my god is Bulbz the boredom killer that the Tri-Stringer desperately needed.

And yes, my flames were finally put out when we lost to an E-Liter…I couldn’t think of a better way to end my fun than the literal fun police to do so.

Let’s be real, Salmon Run is one big slot machine, with most Grizzco employees having to get on their knees and pray that their next shift has good weapons.

To be completely honest, most of the Salmon Run weapons can do quite well, though there are the obvious outliers. You’ve got weapons like the Bamboozler that struggles both at crowd control and boss slaying…actually that’s the only weapon I can think of that’s notably bad. Most weapons struggle but never feel incredibly restrictive.

But what about the best of the best? The weapons that make your eyes light up when you see them on the shift? With the only rule being no Grizzco weapons, let’s get into the top 5 best weapons in Salmon Run!

S-Blast

With a heavy damage output and accessible skill floor, the S-Blast can take care of the majority of bosses with tease and deal with the lessers without much trouble considering it’s short-range mode has such a large blast radius. Where the weapon does show some signs of struggling is through the poor turf leading to the S-Blast having a rough time taking ground back after getting overwhelmed, though there are the long-range mode does paint a clean line forward.

Dynamo Roller

Again, you’ll start to realise just how valuable a good damage output is, and the Dynamo Roller is no different, passing a very important damage threshold of being able to one-shot Cohocks when it’s rolling, that alone makes its crowd control miles ahead of its competition and can also serve some useful niches on certain special waves such as Mudmouths. However, it also has a good damage overall, allowing it to be incredibly flexible unlike other options such as the Explosher which provide similar niches. The weapon does show some difficulties against Fishsticks, Flyfish and Stingers considering how easy it can be to trap the weapon.

Recycled Brella

The Recycled Brella feels incredibly overturns when taking a look at its damage. Its pellet damage got increased by over x2.3 and its shield bash was quintupled to have much better crowd control. The shield in general is incredibly spammable and provides a lot of turf whilst even having some unique tech! By flaring your shield in between shots for a shield bash, you’re able to sneak in an additional 100 damage without hurting your fire rate, meaning the Recycled Brella can boost its dps at close range. Despite having better damage at close range, the Recycled Brella also has great range in general and overall amazing turf that allows it to be an incredibly flexible option without any real weaknesses, there’s a real argument that this is the best weapon in the game.

Splatana Stamper

Just spam vertical slashes…the end. Real talk, the vertical slashes have amazing range and generous damage, with that going up to 400 damage up-close! 400! Let that sink in, an easily accessible, incredibly quick charging slash that deals 400 damage is some insane dps that truly lets the Splatana Stamper cut through anything in its path. And of course, Stamper also has great turf and a direct paint line that can let it move freely without getting trapped easily.

Douser Dualies

What if I told you the Jet Squelcher and the Dapple Dualies has a child? You’d probably laugh in my face because guns can’t reproduce but the Douser Dualies may as well be their kid with how it’s reaped their attributes for itself! The Douser Dualies carries the same dps as the Jet Squelcher with a minimal decrease in range and noticeably less turf, yet its turret mode provides the same dps as the Dapple Dualies but with more range. So yeah, when you combine two complete opposites and turn them into one weapon, you’re bound to get a very powerful result. The Douser Dualies can go from poking Stingers and Fish Sticks to chewing through the lessers and making quick work of Big Shots and Drizzlers. The dodge roll itself provides the Douser Dualies with additional movement options to avoid any sudden threats.

Conclusion

And that’s what I believe to be Salmon Run’s best weapons, feel free to discuss what could be improved on or just share what you believe to be the real strongest weapons, there is no right or wrong answer and I love reading comments so I assure you, your two cents isn’t going to waste. The only rule is no Grizzco weapons, they’d obviously wipe the floor with the rest of the competition.

Thanks for reading, fellow Grizzco employees!

Splatoon, Splatoon, Splatoon…enough of that intro-so it turns out a lot of my favorite weapons don’t have a third kit yet, the audacity! So in high hopes that we do see every weapon get a third kit, here’s my dream third kits for my favorite weapons.

Like usual, these are just my opinions but feel free to comment what kit you’d rather want for these weapons, I’m always open to discuss and who knows, maybe you’ll change my mind. Let’s get into it!

The Explosher

Ink Mine & Crab Tank

The Explosher has a kit for marking opponents and turfing, a kit for giving it more aggressive options, but not a simple kit that covers its weaknesses. Therefore, its third kit will give the Explosher stronger self-defense and more poking and turf options for targets out of its range.

Ink Mine is an obvious choice considering it’s a deployable sub, allowing it to be used without damaging the weapon’s already poor ink efficiency, and can deal enough damage to allow the Explosher to possibly kill oppressors in one shot. Furthermore, Ink Mine’s can cover flank route’s that a few of the really poor maps have…seriously, a flank route so deep it can get behind the anchor, that’s the sign of a bad map, or at least one I’ll avoid considering it’s not an issue in basically any other map I could be playing.

Crab Tank is a very solid option and also provides the Explosher with a big advantage to itself; being the only true backline weapon with access to Crab Tank, with its closest contender being the Heavy Edit Splatling Nouveau, which is considered more of a midline option. With Crab Tank, the Explosher is able to boost its turf output and poke at further distances without being as vulnerable, and that can support where Explosher likes to be during a defensive hold after a successful takeover of something like the zone in Splat Zones.

The Splat Brella

Burst Bomb & Triple Splashdown

Splat Brella has some incredible potential in its kit considering how versatile the weapon is, being able to protect its landing, serve as both a skirmish, slaying and support weapon and combo incredibly well with more passive specials. Because of this, the Splat Brella is by far the most open conversation for me, because there are so many good kits it can have. Ink Storm, Tacticooler, Killer Wail 5.1, the possibilities are endless! But I eventually landed on Burst Bomb and Triple Splashdown.

Despite the flexibility in specials, the sub was an incredibly easy choice: Burst Bomb. No other sub does its job as consistently, and the Splat Brella is the perfect weapon to work off of it. By landing a direct hit and flaring your shield, you have plenty of time to find the right moment and throw out a Burst Bomb to finish the job, complimenting the Splat Brella’s performance in 1v1s and serves as a great poking tool for skirmishing, another highlight of this weapon’s versatility.

Now, Triple Splashdown is a choice I’m sure you’re not certain about, but hear me out, pretty please. The Splat Brella has a minor weakness of getting overwhelmed easily by two opponents and often getting stuck with its shield open before inevitably getting splatted. With Triple Splashdown, the tried and true panic button, you will always have an answer to getting overwhelmed and force oppressors to give you space or get splatted. Through this, the Splat Brella would be able to take more space and push further with a solid special sitting in its back pocket when the time arrives to hold its ground.

The Recycled Brella

Torpedo & Tacticooler

Recycled Brella was a bit tricky to make a third kit for considering its current kits are pretty solid. However, there’s a lack of actually good subs, but this does mean the specials are a lot more open considering Big Bubbler and Triple Splashdown really compliment the weapon.

Torpedo is an overall excellent sub and also incredibly versatile, it can locate opponents, be used as a combo tool, and just apply pressure in general during key events of a match. The combo potential is the main draw for the Recycled Brella in particular, paring up to make the weapon a lot more lethal in general. We have kind of seen this with the Angle Shooter, but Torpedo is a much more reliable source of damage.

Tacticooler is a very bold choice admittedly, but I really do think that Recycled Brella has the potential to have a niche comp in the current cooler meta. Despite this, Tacticooler just makes sense on a Brella with how much it can take advantage of Swim Speed Up, Run Speed Up and a little bit on Intensify Action, meaning the Recycled Brella could play a little risky and focus its build towards increasing their special output or shortening its respawn time rather than focusing on movement builds.

The Douser Dualies

Fizzy Bomb & Tenta Missiles

Admittedly, I don’t use Douser Dualies that much, but I love the idea of a backless comp that still technically has a backliner, or fake backliner, that is. So I wanted to give the Douser Dualies a kit suitable for longer ranges but still had offered chip damage to combo from and support its team.

Fizzy Bomb just is a great sub and helps turf the map, which is especially the Douser Dualies more lacking departments. The chip damage also plays a similar role to the Burst Bomb in helping the weapon’s fighting power as well as work off of the already great range.

Tenta Missiles does admittedly cover a lot of the strengths Killer Wail 5.1 provides, but also includes better AoE damage and can output some decent turf in the process, with the chip damage coming out of Tenta Missiles possibly shaving a shot or two from the Douser Dualies to easily net kills.

The Goo Tuber

Burst Bomb & Triple Inkstrike

I’m gonna be completely honest with you, I think the Goo Tuber is the most underrated weapon in Splatoon 3 and it’s not even close. People treat this weapon like a joke, a meme weapon, the same level as the Clash Blaster, Splattershot Nova and Undercover Brella, but it really isn’t. It can be used like any other charger without trouble and has a goodie bag of benefits to go with it. But apparently, people don’t see that, and the weapon has only ever been notable for its Tenta Missile output, so why don’t we just give it the best possible kit you can have in this game?!

Burst Bomb is just a really good sub in general that pairs well with any weapon and is an excellent finisher especially for the Goo Tuber’s partial charges for better flexibility in how you net your kills, and the extra turf provided helps it in having a greater special output, speaking of specials…

Triple Inkstrike just tears through anything and also has excellent turf to flip zones and force opponents to reposition. You get the point, just a really good special that doesn’t directly compliment the Goo Tuber but it’s apparently what needs to be done for people to give this thing a chance.

The Tri-Stringer

Fizzy Bomb & Booyah Bomb

A little bonus round considering the Tri-Stringer already has a third kit, but it’s kind of…how can I say this-terrible? Underwhelming? Not good enough to justify over the other kits? In order to still keep the concept of a more aggressive kit in mind, I went with Fizzy Bomb and Booyah Bomb.

Fizzy Bomb provides a clear trail similar to Curling Bomb whilst also providing excellent turf to apply pressure and can even be used for chip damage that suits the Tri-Stringer, meaning the weapon is allowed to reposition fluently and possibly focus its build towards mobility.

Booyah Bomb is just a really good special in general from having great range and giving opportunities to take space and advance. Looking past aggression, Booyah Bomb has the potential for self-defense when getting overwhelmed, giving the Tri-Stringer a stronger sense of security and motivation to take more aggressive positions and possibly oppress other backliners in the process.