Weapons/ sub-weapons/ specials discussion & analysis

[Chhipz]

I wanted to start a discussion on what the best weapons/ sub/ specials are based on the recent Nintendo Direct we've seen. I'm aware that we cannot customize our loadouts ourselves, but wanted to lay down my impressions and analysis of the weapons that caught my eye. Feel free to pitch in and bring up ones I didnt! What weapons caught your eye? Which seem totally useless?

Main Weapons

==Shooter Category==
-Jet Squelcher: This thing is a beast. It's range is its biggest asset, allowing it to be useful in every situation making it a sort of "jack of all trades" weapon. With its high rate of fire, the time it takes to kill someone is also relatively short. I can see this weapon dictating the flow of a match since it's great at putting on pressure, as well as doing damage from a safe distance (outranging the other shooter weapons mentioned in the Direct).

-The Blaster: I wish we saw more of this weapon. I'd like to know more about its range and how much ink it can cover. From the Nintendo Direct it looks like the shots blow up autonomously at medium distance. It has a medium rate of fire and bullet travel time, and the splash damage from two shots is a kill, and if you hit them directly it's a one shot kill. If you miss your first shot in close quarters you'll probably die, but if you hit it you'll win the engagement. In other words, this weapon rewards a skilled user. Im interested to see if the shots from this weapon can be blown up by enemy ink weapons, or if it can block shots for you as it travels (it probably does neither).

==Charger Category==
*Note 1: I noticed that when you charge the weapon, the targeting laser sight is visible to the enemy, which will give away your position. It's best to charge your weapon while aiming where enemies wont see the laser sight (aim to the ground and charge) and then when youre ready to shoot it simply aim and fire.

*Note 2: This weapon category doesnt seem very good for covering areas in ink since you need to wait for the charge to complete before firing (Im assuming). But it's a strong choice if you want to focus on picking enemies off, assuming the map accommodates for snipers.

-Splatterscope: This weapon is better than the E-liter 3K because it has increased range (from the scope) but without the longer charge time. The charge time seems identical to the standard charger (not 100% sure). If that's the case, and if you're an excellent sniper than this will be your bread and butter.

==Roller==
*Note: It appears that the standard rollers are also one "shake" kills as well.

-Dynamo Roller: I initially thought standard rollers took two shake attacks to kill, but that is not the case. I do believe the shake attack from the dynamo roller has more range, and it does kill multiple targets. The only drawback is that it's slower. Id prefer speed so that when you get a kill, you can capitalize on spreading the ink faster.

-Inkbrush: I'm a huge Super Mario Sunshine fan (personal favorite Mario game of all time) This game in general has many references to Sunshine and the Mario universe (gooper/ bloopers and squids, paint and ink, fludd and ink weapons, and the iconic inkbrush). This weapon is noticeably much faster, spreads much less ink, and it's melee is much faster. Too early to tell how this weapon will do in an actual match.

**I will add more of my impressions and analysis in the near future, so please look out for those :)

 

[Chhipz]

Sub Weapons

-Splat Bomb: The minor delay is offset by the fact that it's a oneshot kill, and I'd prefer this over the Burst Bomb. I'd rather set up a situation with the Splat Bomb and follow up with my primary weapon as opposed to using the Burst Bomb in place of the primary. In fact, the Blaster primary weapon kills in one body shot, while the Burst Bomb takes two body shots for a kill, making the Burst Bomb far worse.

-Sprinkler: Sprays ink in an area in a small amount for an unknown duration. Since it can stick to surfaces, i wonder what kinds of combinations you can use it by putting it on walls or narrow choke points, and whether or not you can destroy it by shooting at it.

-Seeker: At first I didn't like this weapon, but then I realized it could be used to flush people out of an area, which will allow you to advance position and take map control/ hunt down the fleeing enemy. As a bonus, it leaves behind a trail of ink where you can follow it in squid form to follow up with. Very interesting! Just dont chase the player back to the enemy's teammates XD

-Point sensor: It's not nearly as useful as most other options, as it's more utility based rather than attack based.

-Ink Mine: Could be useful for zoning and maintaining map control. Cant be used offensively and has to be set up at a high-traffic area to see the most used out of it. From the video it feels like the mine takes too long to detonate which worries me if people could run away from it.

-Squid Beakon: Seems mostly useless since you can just super jump halfway across the map anyways. There is a chance it could be great; you could hide this beacon deep in the enemy territory in an area they wouldnt notice, so you can have teammates flank for you. This could set up incredibly clutch plays potentially swinging the match in your favor. But if the beacon is destructible, or doesnt last long than it is a weak option.

-Disruptor: A pretty terrible option since it's skillshot based and its radius isnt that large, and doesnt do damage. If you toss it at an enemy what's stopping them from just gunning you down regardless? It cant turn the fight around in your favor, and you're better off just trying to kill them.

 

[Chhipz]

Special Weapons

-Kraken: This special lasts approx 5 seconds. During this time you can swim extremely fast through any area (regardless of enemy ink, and leaves its own ink trail behind), you're invincible, and you can one shot them with an up close squid attack.

-Bubbler: This special also lasts approx 5 seconds. You're invincible during this time and can use your other abilities freely. The real kicker is that your teammates can acquire the bubble from you if theyre close enough, and will last the remaining duration of your shield. The uses for the Bubble are incredible. Team pushes, saving a teammate, surviving enemy specials together, and it's instantaneous. I can see this being a staple on competitive teams.

-Inkzooka: Fast, has range, travels fast, but it's hitbox is vertical. You can fire it infinitely while it's active, so it can be great for quickly clearing out an area filled with enemies, from a safe distance away.

-Killer Wail: It seems like an awesome weapon, but it needs a few seconds to set up and you have a brief moment to see it and avoid it. You can't redirect the shockwave either. I believe it can go through walls, so setting it up behind a wall when enemies are coming towards you would be ideal.

-Inkstrike: It's another weapon that needs to be set up in advance, so it has the chance of missing. It is a big AoE attack and can be launched from a safe distance. I'd personally go with the Inkzooka since you can fire it freely and rapidly and clear enemies that are spread out, instead of just hoping that the enemies are conveniently next to one another.

-Echolocator: Has no offensive or defensive features and is pure utility. Can be used to take map control or to maintain it, but ultimately I'd rather have a special that takes out the enemy rather than just see where they are. The maps are typically open and small enough to see people in advance.

 

[Marraphy]

Is it just me or do the Burst Bombs feel completely useless? On the Splattershot at least. It takes about the same amount of time to kill someone with them as it takes to simply shoot at them with your gun, which is way more ink-efficient. I see no reason whatsoever why you wouldn't want regular bombs, or any other subweapon for that matter.

Now if they were paired with a Roller... having a sub weapon that gives you an effective long-range shot would be pretty handy for defending yourself whilst rollin', but the weapon configurations are predetermined so who knows if any rollers will be paired with them

Also @Chhipz don't be hatin' on that utility

 

[Chhipz]

Is it just me or do the Burst Bombs feel completely useless? On the Splattershot at least. It takes about the same amount of time to kill someone with them as it takes to simply shoot at them with your gun, which is way more ink-efficient. I see no reason whatsoever why you wouldn't want regular bombs, or any other subweapon for that matter.

Now if they were paired with a Roller... having a sub weapon that gives you an effective long-range shot would be pretty handy for defending yourself whilst rollin', but the weapon configurations are predetermined so who knows if any rollers will be paired with them

Also @Chhipz don't be hatin' on that utility

It's funny you mention that, I was thinking about the echolocator all last night lol. It could be really useful in other game modes (not turf wars) where the enemy gets map control and you'd pop echolocator to see where they are and break their setup, or even use it to keep map control by seeing where the other team is pushing. But in all honesty most maps are open and small enough where you can see people ahead of time.

 

[Chhipz]

I was surprised how underpowered the charger was in the beta, compared to the ones shown in the Nintendo Direct. It didnt have as much range as it should have and was awkward to use. I think the ones in the full game will do this class more justice.

The roller was really fun to use, it's shake attack has a decent amount of range too and it kills in one hit if done properly. I also found myself hiding behind enemy lines and then coming out and rolling over everyone, and it was hilarious.

Splattershot/ Jr. are solid weapons, the staple on every team. They have decent range and high rate of fire, allowing you to put pressure and take back map control. I also found myself out playing people by diving in and out and moving around corners and throwing grenades while shooting. Lots of options made me enjoy using this weapon in conjunction with my others.

The charger in comparison is fairly straightforward; you know what to expect from them. They want to get close to run you over or do their short ranged shake attack. They can use their grenade for pressure but their neutral game is wide open to being pressured.

 

[Lyn]

I've noticed a lot of people find the Splat Charger useless and the Ink Roller overpowered. I disagree with this of course since that's obviously not true but does anyone know the reason why people feel this way?

 

[Astral]

I've noticed a lot of people find the Splat Charger useless and the Ink Roller overpowered. I disagree with this of course since that's obviously not true but does anyone know the reason why people feel this way?

The reason people think these 2 weapons are so overpowered is because of how many times they were splatted by it. The odds of the Roller winning a one on one were much higher, and the range on the Splattershot and Splattershot Jr. aren't exactly the best so most of the time it was a close quarters fight. Personally i think its because of how unused to the aiming system we are since we only got a total of 3 hours to play. Once people can adjust to the aiming physics i feel like we will see more of a balance for the roller and ink charger.

 

[Chhipz]

I've noticed a lot of people find the Splat Charger useless and the Ink Roller overpowered. I disagree with this of course since that's obviously not true but does anyone know the reason why people feel this way?

I'll address the Roller first. People find it OP because it's basically a noob killer. People don't have map awareness and Nintendo isn't really the platform known for having good FPS players. The Roller capitalizes on both of those characteristics. The Roller is honestly pretty easy to deal with if you're not complacent and have a decent shot.

The Charger will be a good weapon, just the one in the beta was a bit sub par. It felt like it was lacking a bit of range for me, and since holding the button down restricts a lot of your movement, you can't strafe as much into lining your shots. This means that you have to rely primarily on one thumbstick which can feel slippery at times.

But overall, it's the only weapon that actually takes skill to use in this game. As I've mentioned before, most people playing this aren't very good FPS players. On top of that, even someone who has played shooters competitively and was a main sniper for my team countless times, the charger felt a bit awkward to use and requires far more practice than the others.

 

[RespawningJesus]

If someone is good with the Charger, then they can easily send you and your teammates back to spawn really frequently. Not only that, it is also a great way to counter spawn traps as well, since all you need is just one shot to kill.

Squelcher is good, but it also has a weakness: less movement speed when firing it. So you better use that range to your advantage. Decent ink capacity, decent range, decent damage. Seeker grenades are meh. Probably only good for temporary pressure, since I am sure that a wall between it and the target will make it explode on the wall. Will be good for wide open maps. Mines are going to be very meh in my opinion. You can only place them in your own ink, and it just looks like it will counter roller players, due to how the mine works. It basicly detonates when the enemy inks it. However, the mines might be a decent way of pushing back an area for a very short amount of time, since it might undo some of the work of the enemy who just painted that specific spot.

Just some of my thoughts so far.

 

[Hope]

My personal favorite weapon is the inkbrush. You can basically be shadow mario from SMS which in of itself is beast. I also like the concept of a fast, assassin-like, melee weapon. The rollers could assassinate sure, but they didn't really capture the feeling of being an assassin because of how slow and big they were. I think the inkbrush captures this feeling really well and I plan on spamming games with it when I unlock it. That being said I will also put time into the Jet Squelcher as it will probably be the most competitively viable weapon.