the DR is a bad weapon. absolute unit but nonetheless bad.
Guide on how to be less* bad. Understand the mechanics of the DR and how to exploit its strengths and cover up its flaws.
*not guaranteed
SPOILER indicates a twitter clip
Ink Efficiency.
It uses up a lot of ink and you will find yourself out of ink very quickly. The DR has about a 1 second delay after a swing before it can start recovering ink again (hereby referred to as a Purge- coming from the plumbing term to drain or flush). So to maximize turfing and build up your special with less ink, you want to roll- yes roll- during purge as opposed to going into squid form immediately.
the following is a clip of me building special without recovering any ink or using any ink abilities.
Humping
You will see in the above clip that I am jumping intermittently while rolling to minimize ink usage. I do that because you start to recover ink when the roller isnt actively turfing (midair/standstill). Sure its slow, but the less ink you use the better- with the worst TTK/range ratio as well as the worst DPS/range ratio and the heavy weapon mobility decrease- the last thing you need is to be out of ink. At least by doing this you are safely and smartly building special meter. Ever get caught off-guard mid-swing? Reduce mid-swing incidents by turfing more often with intermittent rolling. You should have your map up while humping.
only a 30 second clip but you can hump a long way before running out of ink. and i'm not even using any ink abilities. you can go on forever if you have ink recovery + ink saver main.
Im not saying to exclusively turf this way (especially not for long periods of time) but dont ignore it. most useful when
Walls
DR whips out a large amount of ink at one time. dont let all that ink go to waste. Techniques to help you efficiently cover walls
riding. simple- just make the initial swing close and worthwhile to the target wall.
corner split. cover two planes of an object
covered the target wall, and cleared the top.
combo. vertsplit to ride. ++++efficiency
splitting between two walls. not a lot of other examples like this
turf split. ideal when riding wont reach high enough
use with ink rails, even sponges too. don't just aim at the object alone
ride down the wall. useful for retreating. even use it to kill opponents trying to hide on walls.
How to Aim
or specifically how to make use of its unique trajectory.
very sad.
you can see from the above clip that this reticle alignment also works for vertflicks. super useful stuff.
If you're wondering why we use the horizontal reticle (HRet) to judge the clearing its because the HRet is half the the size of the VRet. this guarantees majority of the ink makes it over. though as long as the vret tip clears the edge- then at least some ink will make it
Angle Conversion
So now that you maybe understand the rets and trajectory of the DR- you can learn how to convert a downward angle into an upward one. Why would you want to do that? for those moments where an opponent is behind an object especially when you are higher elevated.
in the clips i pull out the map to see the down angle, then camera reset to gauge the distance needed to aim upwards for the up angle. Mind you the map is just there to show you the cursor and how the angle conversion works. You can do it without pulling up the map.
Blocking
This technique makes use of how the DR launches its ink. Allows you to attack enemies from a point where they cant shoot back at you. Great against snipers- whose shots dont curve
Ideally you want to use a wall/object that is about 1 or 2 blocks in height. Anything more than 2 blocks in height and you'll start to sacrifice range to compensate its trajectory.
in this clip i spooked a hydra. lmao.
basically showing some simple block spots on arowana
take note: USE SLOPES TOO! very useful on musselforge
scare tactics
once again, showing the importance of the relation between hret and vret
starfish is awesome for blocking. the entire mid is blockable. just watch your flanks.
DAMAGE
A brief look at how the DR deals damage. There is basically two layers of ink globs. A top and bottom layer each with different characteristics.
*picture says bottom glob is 90 to 0, meant 90 to 40**
the damage scales down very quickly because the bottom glob reaches its max range and the damage is based solely off the top glob
in that clip the bottom glob alone does 41.2, but shortly after it does 81.5 because both globs connect.
BCT concept
BCT stands for block, challenge, threaten which is a basic way to understand range and damage and how to choose your matchups. This looks into matching a weapons range and seeing how much damage you can deal to them from the same distance. Only applies to vert flicks
Block - covered above, basically means do not engage this weapon unless you can block them. They will out range you 9 times out of 10
Threaten - landing a hit at matched range can result in a fight or flight response but are guaranteed 2HKO.
Now this next list is what flicks you can use to combo for a kill. Delegated down to vertical flicks (vflick) and horizontal flick (hflick).
40 dmg hflick translates to a ~60 dmg vflick. That means 100 dmg if you combo.
If we use the above list and take anything with 60+ vflick dmg range then the following weapons are vflick to hflick combo viable
2HKO hflick and L3 cant touch you
MOBILITY TRICKS
Small movement tricks.
Sliding
This trick makes use of non-surface objects (you cant stand on these, you slide off) to temporarily maintain a height and reach a distance/angle that would otherwise be impossible.
"mid air" hflick
what is this? a 3D sonic game?
slide on these little pipes
situational, but hella fun to do.
Hopping
Sounds like something you already do right? Its simple really. When doing hflicks DO NOT- i repeat DO NOT do full jumps! Do 2 small hops. Just tap B lightly. This allows you to zig zag, jump out of corners, and otherwise makes your movement less predictable.
in this example you can see the difference it makes when jumping out of cover. when full jumping- i am exposing myself unnecessarily.
make your movement less predictable. try this out on the Tower
hop drop
happy feet
VFlick Wall Jump (couldnt think of a cooler name)
Not as cool as it sounds. Its just doing a vflick out of climbing a wall. Cuts a little bit of exposure time which is nice. Most importantly it can be done out of very little height.
How to do it: While on a wall just set the control stick to neutral or downwards then jump and flick.
basic
no jumper. this is perfect for blocking! now youre not exposed while jumping. very few blocks like this though.
Flick Cancelling
Have you ever initiated a swing then immediately regretted it as you see a Baller or Bomb Rush come your way? Ever start up a flick then see the empty roller indicating no ink? Dont waste your time- use a flick cancel! There are two types of flick cancels. Special (SpC) and superjump (SjC)
example of a spc. If you are using the Stingray- there is carryover lag. Meaning however much more frames there was leftover from the cancelled flick will affect how soon you can go into squid form.
spc is also useful for combo damage. ie vflick into stingray for faster TTK. probably the best anti-sniper move. especially if you can muck them.
spc because no ink!
in the above clip you will see the difference between carryover lag.
Overall exposure time remains the same. So how is this useful you say?
In the first example SPC clip, I use it to allow myself to walk off an edge. You can also use it to walk behind a wall/object for cover. (think of the Tower). SPC is also useful for if you want to attack someone faster than if you waited for your flick especially vflick.
Example of SJC. Pretty straight forward concept.
1 main of QSJ = 1.08s
1 main + 1 sub QSJ = 1.03s
1 main + 2 sub QSJ = 0.97s
I recommend at least 1 main of QSJ. I personally run 1 main and 2 subs because surviving is worth it. No loss of special meter, no dead time spent watching the killcam/respawning, an extra body to receive ink armor.
Times of weapons in frames (subject to lag and reaction time- the avg human reaction time is 12 - 16 frames)
No QSJ Needed (1:42s)
1 sub QSJ (1:19s)
1 main QSJ (1:05s)
1 main + 1 sub QSJ (1:01s)
1 main + 2 sub QSJ (0:58s)
These are times for a SJC- which assumes the extra 0:21s of superjump charge time because you are in kid form.
While not applicable to SJCs, but still related and important if you are going to be running QSJ, are the times for other weapons while superjumping from squid form.
1 Main in Squid Form (0:44s)
This is why i recommend at least 1 main. While you might not be able to SJC your way out of every situation, you can at least escape in squid form from most threats- given your lack of mobility. However, 1 main + 2 subs, leaves room for reaction time so choose wisely and practice! Highly recommended for vanilla DR. With Gold DR, your Ink Armor should cover your *** for the most part, but you shouldn't be aggressing without it anyway- not exactly required for Gold DR users.
oh no a baller!! i'd rather run and keep my special meter and not give up my clams to the enemy
Wind Up
Super simple. Just for fun really. All you do is prepare a roll from behind cover and to make it faster go in a circle four times really quickly to get to that point where your rolling speed picks up. To maintain your speed DO NOT let your control stick go to the center (neutral). If you want to change direction you have to curve.
I use it mostly to be a Sneaky Pete. If you know someone is coming around the corner (ie- ink mine/point sensor, rainmaker, power clam) you can pop out and TBone them.
clam blitz goalie. didnt have enough time to go full speed but it wasnt needed
Slipturfing
Slipturfing is the technique of letting the DRs huge globs turf under, around, and through objects/walls. However, this is just TURF and has no damaging hitbox.
use it to cover corners behind large walls especially if you suspect someone is hiding there. Use it when walls are too high/far to arc a flick over. Also- instead of trying to arc a flick over- you can trap them in your turf to slow them down and cause chip damage then potentially go in for the kill. Direct hits dont always produce ink beneath their feet- so they are free to escape easily.
Deflecting
Nintendo Direct from Splatoon 1 even said it themselves! While the hflick makes this inconsistent the vflick remains constant for this. Very difficult to ever use this intentionally, but nonetheless possible. Ever get in the fray and magically survive? Probably saved by deflecting some shots. The ink globs have to actually clash with each other which is not easy to do. I have been able to do this several times against inkjets due to their slow speed and predictable movement. I'll experiment more with this. No footage yet
Volley
Aiming a flick upwards to delay the hitbox/turf. Great for bombs, missiles, superjumps, splashdowns. Also useful for if you predict an enemies movement.
in the above clip, i saw enemy movement to the right so I converted my vflick into a volley, then I volleyed again soon after noticing the splat bomb. If you look closely my ink covers up the splat bombs inkplosion.
i figured this octobrush would come after me from behind that gray block- so i reared up a volley.
volley camped a inkjet super jump + superjump
converted into a volley upon seeing the baller- and hit him post-explosion
Crashing
Simple way to attack someone below you- whether on a wall or what have you. Trying to aim normally - depending on height- can leave a blind spot. You need to aim perpendicular to the ledge. Very useful for Tower control!
you see what happens when you have a huge blind spot! you let teammates get roasted!
Drop
Retreat and reduce exposure time by using drops. Its easy- just initiate a flick near a ledge and creep off / jump off. If you jump off with a vflick you must compensate and aim slightly higher- as by the time the flick comes out, the ledge you were on would be more elevated.
compensated aim
Creeping
A huge concept behind using the DR is reducing exposure time. Creeping is simple- just like a stalker with a restraining order- you slowly peek around corner with a flick
during a vflick you can slowly shift towards any direction very slowly. Ideally you want to land just before the wall gives you line of sight- creep out the corner just enough for the vflick ink to not hit the wall. To gauge whether or not the vflick will hit the wall- a good rule of thumb is to line up the edge of the vflick reticle with the proposed wall.
another reason to creep is that part of your hitbox is concealed. some weapons like chargers with right hand syndrome might have difficulty hitting you despite you being able to hit them. Also works great against particularly inaccurate weapons- as they might spread and shoot into the wall/object.
if you're not blocking- then you should be creeping!. Be aware of all walls/objects you can creep/block. Plan out escape routes with plenty corners to creep if a greedy player really wants to take your name.
Similarly, it can be done with hflicks - essentially just splitting.
Hammer
Hitting people from above near a ledge while technically blocking downwards. Its super satisfying.
you can see how far from the ledge you are and still smash them.
Angle of Attack
The more time your ink spends in the air - the less damage it does. To increase damage you need to decrease travel time between you and your target. Meaning: you need to angle your slightly downwards with less airtime to see higher damage. This is pretty straight forward and shouldn't be surprising. This will be referred to as 'Apex Aim'. However, you will see further on that this is not always ideal.
Roasting
Roasting is a trick to technically deal a ton of damage per second. Really useful for Salmon Run. Anyway its done by initiating a roll then- lightly tilt the control stick in any direction (typically forward). This slowly deals out ink but as long as your roller is using up ink, its hitbox is active. So really youre just holding out your roller hitbox but at almost no cost to ink. And NO- this doesn't work on shreddable objects ie: Baller, Splash Wall, Ink Armor, Brellas. This is because those objects cause you to bounce back after making contact so its really pointless.
useful for camping superjump spots. dont be that idiot who tries to time a flick - only to get caught with your pants down because they have splashdown. with roasting you can at least revert to squid form quickly.
Its also useful for taking back an inkrail or sponges. though for sponges you wanna go at an angle so you dont start riding.
Fading Turf
This refers to the way the hflick dissipates over time and spreads less ink the more time it spends in the air. The vflick however sees very little fading and is the recommended form of turfing if you are on higher up.
that is the turf spread of the hflick if you were at ground level by the rainmaker spot
this is the turf spread when standing from up here. very disappointing.
Aiming to Maximize Range
Covered before- aiming with the apex or aiming with the shortest travel time to the target will deal the most damage. However, when delving into the 3hko range (40~49 dmg)- there is a huge threshold from which damage remains at 40. So at that point- you want to zone yourself properly and maintain a maximized range if possible.
showing that the apex aim results in shorter distance
showing that the 40 dmg threshold is almost an entire line-to-line distance in the testing room.
Mucking
Intentionally laying ink over an enemy to slow them down and deal chip damage and make them visible on the map. Very common trick for chargers when an enemy is hiding behind a corner. However, unlike most weapons, the dynamo (as with all rollers) can lay down ink behind an enemy while still damaging the enemy. Just aim slightly above as to allow the hit box to arc over and continue to turf. By opting out of an apex aim you of course sacrifice damage. When an enemy is mucked- they are forced out of squid form which costs them about half a second. That - combined with the slowed run-speed and surprise factor of being mucked- can lead to a kill.
showing the clear difference of turfing right behind and under an enemy. The slosher, while able to damage and turf behind- is not able to turf under.
This technique is applicable against every weapon. Most weapons will be able to escape due to rate of fire or because of good foot-turf. Foot-turf refers to the weapons ability to drop turf at its feet, hence the name. The H3 Nozzlenose was buffed to have amazing foot-turf. Most shooters foot-turf at about every 5 shots. The H3 foot-turfs on every 3 shot burst.
Best way to make use of this is when an opponents path is predictable. I.e: Blaster/Chargers shoot a line of ink then swim through it, swimming through curling bomb trails, jumping/midair - muck them as they land.
With these aspects in mind- the following list compiles a mucking tier. Tier 1 being highly susceptible and Tier 2 being less susceptible. Factors taken into account: rate of fire, foot-turf per shot, BCT range, burst/curling bomb, weight class.
Tier 1
Any weapon thats not in this tier list is not worth trying to muck. Keyword to muck is intentional.
*Note: While mucking is possible with hflick, it is not worthwhile. Short-ranged weapons have good fire rate and can escape easily, and long ranged weapons can kill you from hflick range anyway. The only exception being Luna Blaster which has poor fire rate for its range.
Drip
When you are out of ink, you are a sitting duck. Youre frozen in time for 1 second initiating a swing that wont do **** to anyone- not to mention that giant roller is obvious with its polka-dot pattern and people will try to capitalize on that visual indicator. There are 3 things you can do if in that situation. 1) Use your special- ink armor is perfect for this but stingray can work with awareness. 2) Superjump- now we previously talked about flick cancels and this is an overlapping concept. 3) Drip and roll
What is drip? Its when your ink is low and there isn't enough for a full splash of ink, and weak- short ranged ink comes out. Hdrip and Vdrip. Just like flicks. Hdrip produces 3 tiny splotches of ink that do 45 dmg each (scales down dramatically). These are very short ranged. Comparable to a Luna OHKO or a sploosh range.
Vdrip produces 2 tiny splotches of ink, only one has a hitbox that does 90 dmg (scales down dramatically). If you remember how dmg is calculated from above- you know that the vflick consists of two layers. the vdrip is just one half of a vflick. The range of the vdrip is that of the 85 BCT but of course with half the damage.
Note- a drip uses half as much ink as a flick. the more ISM you run, the better.
What is the application here, you ask? Every drop of ink counts. especially on a hungry weapon like the DR. There are ways to make use of this.
70~80 dmg is enough to scare off most people- especially if they think they have the upperhand in this situation. Great way to bait shorter ranged enemies.
Drip Combo.
Splat bomb splash damage (30 dmg) into drip combo
You might be thinking - "well thats situational but cool and useful- how will i know when to use it?" Using subs is an easy way to mark your tank. It depends on your gear abilities- how many Ink Saver Mains, Ink Saver Sub, and Ink recovery slots you run- so keep that in mind. I typically just listen for the squeal that indicates enough ink for a sub- or the flash of light that also indicates the same thing.
Simply just counting flicks also works. For example, with no Ink efficiency abilities, the DR can do:
5 flicks and 1 drip
1 splat bomb, 1 flick and 1 drip
Like all forms of User Interface- the minimap, the inkling display at the top, the rainmaker timer, etc. your Ink Tank is one you should always pay attention to. Pay attention to sub indicator and purging.
in this clip, i am waiting for the purge before i drip. When the gray disappears and the orange starts to glow.
Remember, always have a Plan B, as the drip range/damage is limited and leaves you with no ink. Superjump away, use a special..
*Fun Fact: The DR slow flick actually allows for a brief moment on ink recovery in between.
You will always have enough ink to at least make a small line of turf. This also means you can always steamroll for 125 dmg.
Dynamo Sharking aka Double Tapping
This has nothing to do with the term of the same name, to mean "ambush playstyle". The DR is not capable of sharking in that manner. This is completely different; a simple, yet advanced concept. This require knowledge of how to gauge your range and damage. Previous combat concepts revolved around reducing exposure time and essentially knowing how to zone out enemies- sharking however is much more aggressive. Its a mindset really.
the vflick is the dorsal fin cutting the surface, define your presence. the hflick is the JAWS-esque lunge that takes lives, assert your dominance!
might seem pretty insignificant - and straight forward but allow me to go into depth.
The above clip shows the quickest way to kill someone from the furthest possible distance. Maximized TTK x Range ratio. This relies on one of two things from your opponent upon seeing the dorsal fin (landing the vflick): fear and greed
fear: when hit, they know to run. prevent running with mucking. always try to muck.
greed: don't care if hit. they underestimate the amount of damage they take, or simply think they can take you on. this is what you want
in either situation. a mucked enemy trying to run or a greedy player trying to secure a kill- they are dead.
The downside? You must be willing to take damage when going for the followup hflick. By relying on the hflick- you sacrifice safety in distance for damage.
Splat Roller showing greed. I took damage but got the kill!
splat charger displaying fear. mucked too, lol. but beware of a good charger and their snaps.
This is definitely the way to go about killing weapons in the Challenge tier (BCT). Jet Squelcher, Rapid Blaster (Pro), Heavy Splatling especially- instead of opting for a 3HKO shark their lil ***** ***. Jet Squelcher has terrible TTK, rapid blasters usually kill in 3 shots anyway, and heavy splatling has charge time so its fairly safe. (except for jet squelcher with burst bomb, but nobody runs that set.) But nonetheless this works on any weapon given they are greedy.
When dealing with upper mid-range weapons like dualie squelchers, splattershot pro, 96 gals, squeezer, etc. try to tease their range. (when attempting to shark) Do not engage from a range that is obviously out their reach. You want to instill the sense of greed. Hitting them from too far out will only increase the likelihood of them running away. When it comes to these upper mid-range weapons in the Threaten tier, you don't need to swim up so close when following up with the hflick.
Just make sure your ink path from the initial vflick doesn't get covered up.
Let me put it in a simpler way- you know how a Blaster is a guaranteed 2HKO most times? Everyone knows that. But the Dynamo? It can be a 3HKO- but with Sharking you essentially guarantee a 2HKO scenario- and the enemy doesn't know it. They're disrespecting you! Or in fighting game terminology- the first hit is a kill confirm. Just capitalize on that and swoop in for the kill!
double sharked the same guy twice in a single 30 second clip.
Right Handedness
What? Isn't that like a charger thing. Yes- in fact its an every weapon thing. How does it affect the DR? Very insignificantly, really. But look at the following pieces to understand how and why.
You can see that the player is holding the DR on the right side.
If someone is in front of you- you can extend your hitbox by turning to the left.
Further proving the point that the outer end has a longer hitbox (in relation to the player)
Applications? Not much at all. If you are rolling and the enemy is front of you- try to turn counter clockwise slightly, keeping the outer end extended. Conversely, if the enemy is behind you- turn clockwise, but in most cases this small hitbox difference wont add up to much. Unless you play that mini-game in private battles where you try to roll each other over.
Dry Roll
Lol pretty dumb trick but it objectively does have application. You should know by now that rolling at max speed is faster than running. On an inkproof surface like a grate walkway, plastic wrap, metal or whatever- you can't swim so youre forced to run. But with the 10% heavyweight class speed decrease is it optimal? For speed you can roll along those, but at the cost of ink. Well.... if it wasn't obvious - this is about rolling while not using any ink at all- in fact, you'd be recovering ink.
Important to remember that the squid/octos are right-handed. This can only be done on right-handed edges.
Blindspotting
Ever be close to someone and you wonder how they completely dodged your hflick? I am going to explain why that happens and how to alleviate that problem.
the infamous blindspot effect
the blindspot zone. its a danger zone for yourself. its essentially the eye of the storm.
In the clip i am aiming slightly upwards. The blindspot effect usually happens when aiming at an elevated target and they move downwards/towards you ie) someone on the Tower.
There are three ways to mitigate this flaw.
Generator Aim is using the the generator piece on the DR model as a guide to aim. In case you didn't know- the term "Dynamo" comes from generators.
This results in aiming with the most shallow part of the hflick arc. Recommended form of aiming in the blindspot range when elevation is NOT at play. Its much more consistent but not guaranteed
Showering is simply aiming straight up with the intent to turf directly in front of you to cover your blindspot. This a complementary technique to Crashing and similar to Volley. Crashing is for decreasing blindspot zone when aiming downwards, while Volleying is to aim upwards to delay the delivery of ink and/or hit enemies behind objects.
take note of its range.
showering covers your blindspot perfectly (turf-wise). Its like 2 halves of a whole
You can also wall out enemies who like to rush in close in between your flicks like blasters and short range boys like splattershot, dapples.
Lastly , your third option is to rely on vflicks when the enemy is at higher elevation then you. Less room for error but completely removes the problem of the blindspot effect.
Hitbox Spread Effectiveness
Lets take look into how the spread for hflicks work. As you should already know- the spread comes out in a sort of triangular/fan shape
The further away- the safer it is , unless you are sure of the enemies attack pattern try to stay at a 2HKO distance.
In the above clip I demonstrate just how much spread is at from certain distances. From between 2 and 3 lines away from a target is the ideal distance.
In this clip I am showing the vflick equivalent of the wall test. As you can see the vret does a great job of showing the projected spread as it fans downwards from the apex.
What this does show us however, is good visualization of just how much leeway a muck aim / non-apex aim provides for vflick spread.
Splatter (Instant wall turf)
This is a quick way to turf a wall- albeit you dont build special this way- its useful for mobility, for escape or objective pushing etc.
Here I show splatter vs regular wall turf. As you can see it is way faster ; no waiting for the ink to drip down.
very common wall to turf.
How to do it: You need to be about a blindspot distance (1 test area Line) away from the wall. Then aim under and behind the wall. Sort of aim through and beyond it.
How does it work? Not quite sure, but the game seems to think you are aiming at the ground and translates the turf spread to the wall. There are in-game parameters which dictate how ink should act as it hits a wall. For the case of the DR its supposed to make globs then slowly drip down when hitting a wall. However, the game thinks you are aiming at the floor (im guessing based on your coordinates and the angle youre aiming at) and sets the flag for FLOOR Turf.
Update: Only works on walls that have NO floor beneath them. Walls like the middle piece on Inkblot or the basketball hoops on Goby- will NOT splatter because the floor beneath those object still exists. Its hard to tell which walls dont have floors behind them, though usually the different layouts in ranked mode give it away.
*do not JUMP as you do it, it will make the splatter smaller
Distance x Angle to reticle Conversion
Somewhere in the first half of this guide I wrote something about how you can gauge the angle you want to aim downwards and convert it to an overhead. This is similar but instead uses the squid hret or map to allow for an adjusted aim with the arc. Lets start off with how to divide the screen into 5 different sections.
We will be focusing on top edge, mid top, and center.
Here I show three basic ranges.
Center = 3 lines
Mid Top = 2 lines
Top Edge = 1 line
Application for this is simple- this is for you to gauge positioning and aim for trying to arc over an edge.
Starfish is a good example of where you want to opt for a 2 line arc. Going closer to the edge for 1 line arc is too risky.
Simply showing that the squid hret is 1:1 with the map reticle. Use either or to gauge screen sections.
Rule of Ear: A good rule of thumb, is the rule of ear. With a neutral camera- if the edge of a platform is about lined up with your player's ear- then a top edge angled arc will land just past and down below.
For a 2 liner distance, just do a short hop and line your ear up again.
Different gear like helmets will make this harder to utilize-- also, having a special ready will cause the player to do a different standing animation.
What about using a vflick? Well- for OHKO, the 1 line and 2 line angles should be your go-to. And those can be done with the hflick which is faster. However, a 2 liner hflick angle can be kind of inconsistent damage-wise and not always OHKO and sometimes you want to aim over an object as well- like the spire on the Tower Control platform. So here is a 2 liner vflick angle.
Its not quite top edge on the screen but just slightly lower. Be careful on stages with ceiling obstructions like Humpback, Mako, Goby, etc.
Over time you'll learn to position and aim accordingly without needing to use map/reticles/ears.
Vflick Overhead Angles (Shower Time)
Okay fine. To complement the above concept- here are the angles for vflick 3 liner and 4 liner. Ya know- just in case some guy is hiding behind an object or something
4 liner - in between center and mid top
3 liner - in between top edge and mid top
2 liner - just below top edge
1 liner - vflick blindspots on a 1 liner; use hflick
4 liner is a 3HKO, while 3 liner is a 2HKO.
the further away- the shorter the object (if any) needs to be. Cutting off too much of the arc might result in the damaging blob not landing on the opponent. Not sure if I MSPainted a picture explaining that. Oh well.
Mapping Range
Yadda yadda yadda this is pretty useful but in a real battle there are no lines on the ground- so seems kinda tedious to learn amirite?
Using the map's triangular display is a great way to correlate lines into any map.
*DO NOT use the testing room to try this out. Testing room is weird and disproportional to the actual maps; use recon mode.
Runoff HFlick
Oh I'm sure you've done this but in case you haven't heres an explanation. When running off a ledge- you keep your forward momentum much more than if you did a HFlick jump~ and also reach the bottom quicker which can be used to vary your approach or even turf better to reduce the fading effect.
EASY
Airtime Law
When doing runoffs, its important to remember this law- being midair for half a second or longer will force you to perform VFlicks only.
Wall Popping
Fairly simple trick but...once you incorporate it into your playstyle- you'll find yourself playing in a much more mobile, and map-aware fashion.
When on a wall, you can press ZR to pop out and do an hflick. With strategic ink placement this means we can do hflicks at locations and from angles that would otherwise only be reached with a vflick.
it carries your momentum forward- much more than jumping or run off hflick.
allows you to approach from unsuspecting angles and locations.
extend by landing on a wall- you would otherwise end up with a vflick.
Miscellaneous Wall Shenanigans
Here are some useful mini tricks to help with overall wall related mobility and approaches.
Pop Up
When you pop from a wall your momentum stays intact- use this to your advantage and pop up while cutting a few frames off of winding up a flick.
When you are about this close to the edge you can input a flick and you should land on the platform. This was the opponent doesnt see your swimming splash and you reduce exposure time and wind up time.
Pop Drop
I covered drops above as means to cover your *** while retreating or to be sneak boy. Anyway heres a happy medium between cutting exposure- and utilizing most of your flick arc.
For VFlick:
While on the edge, do a full hop VFlick, land and walk off
For HFlick:
While on the edge, do HFlick short hop, land and walk/hop off
Rail Pop
You can do some **** on Ink Rails too. Limited to select stages, and restricted to the (usually) single point of entry, but nonetheless useful! You can do HFlicks from new heights~!
Youve probably done this before. Its pretty fun.
Do note, however, you are subject to Airtime Law!
Easy fix. By letting go of ZL- you reset the timer for Airtime Law, and can HFlick at any point.
Object Shredder
Is it useful? Well...yes but actually no.
Tested on Rainmaker Shield
Close Range HFlick/VFlick (180 dmg)
In each of the tests Object shredder saves only 1 flick. In the grand scheme of things though- that is a full 1 ~ 1.2 second time saver as well as a huge 1/6th ~ 1/8th of your tank saved too.
But in a real battle, DPS wins. Hydras and Dapple Dualies will over take the shield in between flicks. So do not bother with Object Shredder.
Guide on how to be less* bad. Understand the mechanics of the DR and how to exploit its strengths and cover up its flaws.
*not guaranteed
SPOILER indicates a twitter clip
Ink Efficiency.
It uses up a lot of ink and you will find yourself out of ink very quickly. The DR has about a 1 second delay after a swing before it can start recovering ink again (hereby referred to as a Purge- coming from the plumbing term to drain or flush). So to maximize turfing and build up your special with less ink, you want to roll- yes roll- during purge as opposed to going into squid form immediately.
the following is a clip of me building special without recovering any ink or using any ink abilities.
Humping
You will see in the above clip that I am jumping intermittently while rolling to minimize ink usage. I do that because you start to recover ink when the roller isnt actively turfing (midair/standstill). Sure its slow, but the less ink you use the better- with the worst TTK/range ratio as well as the worst DPS/range ratio and the heavy weapon mobility decrease- the last thing you need is to be out of ink. At least by doing this you are safely and smartly building special meter. Ever get caught off-guard mid-swing? Reduce mid-swing incidents by turfing more often with intermittent rolling. You should have your map up while humping.
only a 30 second clip but you can hump a long way before running out of ink. and i'm not even using any ink abilities. you can go on forever if you have ink recovery + ink saver main.
Im not saying to exclusively turf this way (especially not for long periods of time) but dont ignore it. most useful when
- covering up small splotches
- barely out of ink but close to building special
- last seconds of turf war
Walls
DR whips out a large amount of ink at one time. dont let all that ink go to waste. Techniques to help you efficiently cover walls
- Riding
- Splitting
riding. simple- just make the initial swing close and worthwhile to the target wall.
corner split. cover two planes of an object
covered the target wall, and cleared the top.
combo. vertsplit to ride. ++++efficiency
splitting between two walls. not a lot of other examples like this
turf split. ideal when riding wont reach high enough
use with ink rails, even sponges too. don't just aim at the object alone
ride down the wall. useful for retreating. even use it to kill opponents trying to hide on walls.
How to Aim
or specifically how to make use of its unique trajectory.
- Understanding the reticle
- Angle Conversion
- Blocking
very sad.
you can see from the above clip that this reticle alignment also works for vertflicks. super useful stuff.
If you're wondering why we use the horizontal reticle (HRet) to judge the clearing its because the HRet is half the the size of the VRet. this guarantees majority of the ink makes it over. though as long as the vret tip clears the edge- then at least some ink will make it
Angle Conversion
So now that you maybe understand the rets and trajectory of the DR- you can learn how to convert a downward angle into an upward one. Why would you want to do that? for those moments where an opponent is behind an object especially when you are higher elevated.
in the clips i pull out the map to see the down angle, then camera reset to gauge the distance needed to aim upwards for the up angle. Mind you the map is just there to show you the cursor and how the angle conversion works. You can do it without pulling up the map.
Blocking
This technique makes use of how the DR launches its ink. Allows you to attack enemies from a point where they cant shoot back at you. Great against snipers- whose shots dont curve
Ideally you want to use a wall/object that is about 1 or 2 blocks in height. Anything more than 2 blocks in height and you'll start to sacrifice range to compensate its trajectory.
in this clip i spooked a hydra. lmao.
basically showing some simple block spots on arowana
take note: USE SLOPES TOO! very useful on musselforge
scare tactics
once again, showing the importance of the relation between hret and vret
starfish is awesome for blocking. the entire mid is blockable. just watch your flanks.
DAMAGE
A brief look at how the DR deals damage. There is basically two layers of ink globs. A top and bottom layer each with different characteristics.
*picture says bottom glob is 90 to 0, meant 90 to 40**
the damage scales down very quickly because the bottom glob reaches its max range and the damage is based solely off the top glob
in that clip the bottom glob alone does 41.2, but shortly after it does 81.5 because both globs connect.
BCT concept
BCT stands for block, challenge, threaten which is a basic way to understand range and damage and how to choose your matchups. This looks into matching a weapons range and seeing how much damage you can deal to them from the same distance. Only applies to vert flicks
Block - covered above, basically means do not engage this weapon unless you can block them. They will out range you 9 times out of 10
- E-Liter
- Splat Charger
- Hydra
- Inkjet Special
- Ballpoint
- Bloblobber (bounced)
- Bamboozler (40)
- Jet Squelcher (40)
- Rapid Blaster Pro (40) [with forward momentum]
- Squeezer (40)
- Heavy Splatling (40)
- Explosher (40)
- Goo Tuber (41)
- Flingza (46) **
Threaten - landing a hit at matched range can result in a fight or flight response but are guaranteed 2HKO.
- Rapid Blaster (55) [with forward momentum]
- Squiffer (60) be careful if they store a charge though
- Nautilus 47 (60)
- Range Blaster (65) [with forward momentum]
- Bloblobber (65) [direct hit]
- Splattershot Pro (70)
- H3 Nozzlenose (70)
- Dual Squelcher (72)
- Glooga Dualies [Rolled] (72)
- 96 Gal (72)
- Splat Roller (82)
- Sloshing Machine (82)
- Tenta Brella (82)
- Slosher (85)
- Mini Splatling (85)
- Glooga Dualies (85)
- L3 Nozzlenose (85)
- Tetra Dualies (91)
- Blaster (93) [with forward momentum]
- Clash Blaster (94) [with forward momentum]
- Carbon Roller VFlick (96)
- Carbon Roller
- Inkbrush
- Octobrush
- Splattershot Jr
- Sploosh o matic
- Splash o matic
- Splattershot
- Luna Blaster
- Aerospray RG
- Splat Dualies
- Dapple Dualies
- Splat Brella
- Undercover Brella
- Inkbrush
- Octobrush
- Sploosh o matic
- Dapple Dualies
Now this next list is what flicks you can use to combo for a kill. Delegated down to vertical flicks (vflick) and horizontal flick (hflick).
40 dmg hflick translates to a ~60 dmg vflick. That means 100 dmg if you combo.
If we use the above list and take anything with 60+ vflick dmg range then the following weapons are vflick to hflick combo viable
- Squiffer * however, it is right at the 60 mark. very dangerous to attempt.
- Splattershot Pro
- Range Blaster
- Rapid Blaster
- H3 Nozzlenose
- Dualie Squelchers
- Glooga Dualies [Rolled]
- 96 Gal
- Slosher
- Mini Splatling
- Tenta Brella
- Glooga Dualies
- Sloshing Machine
- Carbon Roller
- Splattershot Jr
- Luna Blaster
- Splash o matic
- Splattershot
- Clash Blaster
- Aerospray RG
- Splat Dualies
- Tetra Dualies
- Splat Brella
- Undercover Brella
- Tri-Slosher
- Ballpoint Splatling during initial burst fire - but unless they dont go into long range fire you are pretty much dead before you can get a 2nd hflick out
2HKO hflick and L3 cant touch you
MOBILITY TRICKS
Small movement tricks.
- Sliding
- Hopping
- vflick wall jump
- Flick cancelling
- Wind Up
Sliding
This trick makes use of non-surface objects (you cant stand on these, you slide off) to temporarily maintain a height and reach a distance/angle that would otherwise be impossible.
"mid air" hflick
what is this? a 3D sonic game?
slide on these little pipes
situational, but hella fun to do.
Hopping
Sounds like something you already do right? Its simple really. When doing hflicks DO NOT- i repeat DO NOT do full jumps! Do 2 small hops. Just tap B lightly. This allows you to zig zag, jump out of corners, and otherwise makes your movement less predictable.
in this example you can see the difference it makes when jumping out of cover. when full jumping- i am exposing myself unnecessarily.
make your movement less predictable. try this out on the Tower
hop drop
happy feet
VFlick Wall Jump (couldnt think of a cooler name)
Not as cool as it sounds. Its just doing a vflick out of climbing a wall. Cuts a little bit of exposure time which is nice. Most importantly it can be done out of very little height.
How to do it: While on a wall just set the control stick to neutral or downwards then jump and flick.
basic
no jumper. this is perfect for blocking! now youre not exposed while jumping. very few blocks like this though.
Flick Cancelling
Have you ever initiated a swing then immediately regretted it as you see a Baller or Bomb Rush come your way? Ever start up a flick then see the empty roller indicating no ink? Dont waste your time- use a flick cancel! There are two types of flick cancels. Special (SpC) and superjump (SjC)
example of a spc. If you are using the Stingray- there is carryover lag. Meaning however much more frames there was leftover from the cancelled flick will affect how soon you can go into squid form.
spc is also useful for combo damage. ie vflick into stingray for faster TTK. probably the best anti-sniper move. especially if you can muck them.
spc because no ink!
in the above clip you will see the difference between carryover lag.
Overall exposure time remains the same. So how is this useful you say?
In the first example SPC clip, I use it to allow myself to walk off an edge. You can also use it to walk behind a wall/object for cover. (think of the Tower). SPC is also useful for if you want to attack someone faster than if you waited for your flick especially vflick.
Example of SJC. Pretty straight forward concept.
1 main of QSJ = 1.08s
1 main + 1 sub QSJ = 1.03s
1 main + 2 sub QSJ = 0.97s
I recommend at least 1 main of QSJ. I personally run 1 main and 2 subs because surviving is worth it. No loss of special meter, no dead time spent watching the killcam/respawning, an extra body to receive ink armor.
Times of weapons in frames (subject to lag and reaction time- the avg human reaction time is 12 - 16 frames)
No QSJ Needed (1:42s)
- Suction Bomb (upon landing) = 2:03s
1 sub QSJ (1:19s)
- E- Liter Full Charge = 1:33s
- Rapid Blaster Pro 3HKO = 1:33s
- Baller = 1:43s
1 main QSJ (1:05s)
- Splashdown = 1:10s
- Clash Blaster 4HKO = 1:11s
- Explosher TTK = 1:12s
- Goo Tuber Full Charge = 1:16s
- Rapid Blaster 3HKO = 1:21s
1 main + 1 sub QSJ (1:01s)
- Splat Bomb (upon landing)** = 1:04s
- Auto Bomb (upon stopping) = 1:03s
- Blaster 2HKO = 1:03s
1 main + 2 sub QSJ (0:58s)
- Splat Charger Full Charge = 1:01s
- Dynamo Roller Vflick (Close range) = 1:01s
- Undercover Brella TTK = 1:02s
- Rainmaker Full Charge = 1:01s
These are times for a SJC- which assumes the extra 0:21s of superjump charge time because you are in kid form.
While not applicable to SJCs, but still related and important if you are going to be running QSJ, are the times for other weapons while superjumping from squid form.
1 Main in Squid Form (0:44s)
- Stingray TTK = 0:56s
- Ballpoint Splatling Half Charge = 0:55s
- Explosher time between hits = 0:55s
- Rainmaker Explosion = 0:53s
- Heavy Splatling Half Charge = 0:51s
- Flingza VFlick (Close range) = 0:51s
- Rapid Blaster Pro TTK = 0:51s
- Clash Blaster 3HKO = 0:51s
- Rapid Blaster TTK = 0:46s
- Squiffer Full Charge = 0:46s
- Dynamo Roller HFlick = 0:46s
This is why i recommend at least 1 main. While you might not be able to SJC your way out of every situation, you can at least escape in squid form from most threats- given your lack of mobility. However, 1 main + 2 subs, leaves room for reaction time so choose wisely and practice! Highly recommended for vanilla DR. With Gold DR, your Ink Armor should cover your *** for the most part, but you shouldn't be aggressing without it anyway- not exactly required for Gold DR users.
oh no a baller!! i'd rather run and keep my special meter and not give up my clams to the enemy
Wind Up
Super simple. Just for fun really. All you do is prepare a roll from behind cover and to make it faster go in a circle four times really quickly to get to that point where your rolling speed picks up. To maintain your speed DO NOT let your control stick go to the center (neutral). If you want to change direction you have to curve.
I use it mostly to be a Sneaky Pete. If you know someone is coming around the corner (ie- ink mine/point sensor, rainmaker, power clam) you can pop out and TBone them.
clam blitz goalie. didnt have enough time to go full speed but it wasnt needed
Slipturfing
Slipturfing is the technique of letting the DRs huge globs turf under, around, and through objects/walls. However, this is just TURF and has no damaging hitbox.
use it to cover corners behind large walls especially if you suspect someone is hiding there. Use it when walls are too high/far to arc a flick over. Also- instead of trying to arc a flick over- you can trap them in your turf to slow them down and cause chip damage then potentially go in for the kill. Direct hits dont always produce ink beneath their feet- so they are free to escape easily.
Deflecting
Nintendo Direct from Splatoon 1 even said it themselves! While the hflick makes this inconsistent the vflick remains constant for this. Very difficult to ever use this intentionally, but nonetheless possible. Ever get in the fray and magically survive? Probably saved by deflecting some shots. The ink globs have to actually clash with each other which is not easy to do. I have been able to do this several times against inkjets due to their slow speed and predictable movement. I'll experiment more with this. No footage yet
Volley
Aiming a flick upwards to delay the hitbox/turf. Great for bombs, missiles, superjumps, splashdowns. Also useful for if you predict an enemies movement.
in the above clip, i saw enemy movement to the right so I converted my vflick into a volley, then I volleyed again soon after noticing the splat bomb. If you look closely my ink covers up the splat bombs inkplosion.
i figured this octobrush would come after me from behind that gray block- so i reared up a volley.
volley camped a inkjet super jump + superjump
converted into a volley upon seeing the baller- and hit him post-explosion
Crashing
Simple way to attack someone below you- whether on a wall or what have you. Trying to aim normally - depending on height- can leave a blind spot. You need to aim perpendicular to the ledge. Very useful for Tower control!
you see what happens when you have a huge blind spot! you let teammates get roasted!
Drop
Retreat and reduce exposure time by using drops. Its easy- just initiate a flick near a ledge and creep off / jump off. If you jump off with a vflick you must compensate and aim slightly higher- as by the time the flick comes out, the ledge you were on would be more elevated.
compensated aim
Creeping
A huge concept behind using the DR is reducing exposure time. Creeping is simple- just like a stalker with a restraining order- you slowly peek around corner with a flick
during a vflick you can slowly shift towards any direction very slowly. Ideally you want to land just before the wall gives you line of sight- creep out the corner just enough for the vflick ink to not hit the wall. To gauge whether or not the vflick will hit the wall- a good rule of thumb is to line up the edge of the vflick reticle with the proposed wall.
another reason to creep is that part of your hitbox is concealed. some weapons like chargers with right hand syndrome might have difficulty hitting you despite you being able to hit them. Also works great against particularly inaccurate weapons- as they might spread and shoot into the wall/object.
if you're not blocking- then you should be creeping!. Be aware of all walls/objects you can creep/block. Plan out escape routes with plenty corners to creep if a greedy player really wants to take your name.
Similarly, it can be done with hflicks - essentially just splitting.
Hammer
Hitting people from above near a ledge while technically blocking downwards. Its super satisfying.
you can see how far from the ledge you are and still smash them.
Angle of Attack
The more time your ink spends in the air - the less damage it does. To increase damage you need to decrease travel time between you and your target. Meaning: you need to angle your slightly downwards with less airtime to see higher damage. This is pretty straight forward and shouldn't be surprising. This will be referred to as 'Apex Aim'. However, you will see further on that this is not always ideal.
Roasting
Roasting is a trick to technically deal a ton of damage per second. Really useful for Salmon Run. Anyway its done by initiating a roll then- lightly tilt the control stick in any direction (typically forward). This slowly deals out ink but as long as your roller is using up ink, its hitbox is active. So really youre just holding out your roller hitbox but at almost no cost to ink. And NO- this doesn't work on shreddable objects ie: Baller, Splash Wall, Ink Armor, Brellas. This is because those objects cause you to bounce back after making contact so its really pointless.
useful for camping superjump spots. dont be that idiot who tries to time a flick - only to get caught with your pants down because they have splashdown. with roasting you can at least revert to squid form quickly.
Its also useful for taking back an inkrail or sponges. though for sponges you wanna go at an angle so you dont start riding.
Fading Turf
This refers to the way the hflick dissipates over time and spreads less ink the more time it spends in the air. The vflick however sees very little fading and is the recommended form of turfing if you are on higher up.
that is the turf spread of the hflick if you were at ground level by the rainmaker spot
this is the turf spread when standing from up here. very disappointing.
Aiming to Maximize Range
Covered before- aiming with the apex or aiming with the shortest travel time to the target will deal the most damage. However, when delving into the 3hko range (40~49 dmg)- there is a huge threshold from which damage remains at 40. So at that point- you want to zone yourself properly and maintain a maximized range if possible.
showing that the apex aim results in shorter distance
showing that the 40 dmg threshold is almost an entire line-to-line distance in the testing room.
Mucking
Intentionally laying ink over an enemy to slow them down and deal chip damage and make them visible on the map. Very common trick for chargers when an enemy is hiding behind a corner. However, unlike most weapons, the dynamo (as with all rollers) can lay down ink behind an enemy while still damaging the enemy. Just aim slightly above as to allow the hit box to arc over and continue to turf. By opting out of an apex aim you of course sacrifice damage. When an enemy is mucked- they are forced out of squid form which costs them about half a second. That - combined with the slowed run-speed and surprise factor of being mucked- can lead to a kill.
showing the clear difference of turfing right behind and under an enemy. The slosher, while able to damage and turf behind- is not able to turf under.
This technique is applicable against every weapon. Most weapons will be able to escape due to rate of fire or because of good foot-turf. Foot-turf refers to the weapons ability to drop turf at its feet, hence the name. The H3 Nozzlenose was buffed to have amazing foot-turf. Most shooters foot-turf at about every 5 shots. The H3 foot-turfs on every 3 shot burst.
Best way to make use of this is when an opponents path is predictable. I.e: Blaster/Chargers shoot a line of ink then swim through it, swimming through curling bomb trails, jumping/midair - muck them as they land.
With these aspects in mind- the following list compiles a mucking tier. Tier 1 being highly susceptible and Tier 2 being less susceptible. Factors taken into account: rate of fire, foot-turf per shot, BCT range, burst/curling bomb, weight class.
Tier 1
- Heavy Splatling - charge time and poor foot-turf. You can outrange it
- Splattershot Pro - foot-turf on every 8th shot and you outrange it in Threaten tier
- 96 Gal - foot-turf on every 5th shot, outranged in Threaten tier
- Dynamo Roller - hflick doesnt foot-turf, slow.
- Rainmaker - superheavyweight class, charge time.
- Range Blaster - Slow rate of fire- predictable pattern of shoot then swim. Can run curling bomb for escape
- Blaster - Same as above.
- Mid Curling Bomb - 52 Gal, Splat Roller, Bamboozler, Mini Splatling, Range Blaster. If mucked while swimming in a curling bomb trail, highly susceptible. Typically wont have enough ink to use another curling bomb for escape.
- Mid Special - Stingray, Tentamissile, Bubble Blower. obvious reasons.
- 52 Gal - foot-turf on every 5th shot, but higher rate of fire and possibility to run curling bomb can allow for escape.
- Jet Squelcher - foot-turf on every 8th shot, but is in Challenge tier making it difficult to really take advantage of a muck. Can run Burst Bombs for an easy escape
- Splat Roller - hFlick doesnt foot-turf but higher mobility can allow it to escape. Can run Curling Bombs for an easy escape.
- Hydra Splatling - while it outranges you- its charge time and overall mobility make it less of a threat if you manage to muck
- L3 Nozzlenose - foot-turfs in a pattern of every 2 bursts, then every 3 bursts (repeat). Can run burst bomb for escape
- Tap shot Squeezer - tapping foot-turf every 4th shot, but rapid fire mode can alleviate.
- Tap shot Bamboozler - rapid shots foot-turf on a cycle of 1st out of 3 shots. (first rapid shot foot-turfs, the next 2 don't- then it foot-turfs again). Rapid shots are pretty common for Bamboozler unlike most chargers. Can run curling bomb for escape.
- Slosher - has a narrow foot-turf trail. Most susceptible when strafing
- Explosher - narrow foot-turf trail, slow rate of fire. but its ink can explode on contact with the ground (unlike a blaster) and create easy escape turf
- Ballpoint Splatling - poor foot-turf but can outrange you- and switch to burst mode to alleviate.
- Mini Splatling - poor foot-turf (amongst the worst for any splatling) but charge time and run speed make it less susceptible along with possibility to run Burst Bombs or Curling Bombs
- Splat/scope Charger - typical pattern of shoot then swim. When mucked, most chargers will tap shot to escape- but some greedy players will try to charge up.
- E-Liter 4k/scope - same as above.
Any weapon thats not in this tier list is not worth trying to muck. Keyword to muck is intentional.
*Note: While mucking is possible with hflick, it is not worthwhile. Short-ranged weapons have good fire rate and can escape easily, and long ranged weapons can kill you from hflick range anyway. The only exception being Luna Blaster which has poor fire rate for its range.
Drip
When you are out of ink, you are a sitting duck. Youre frozen in time for 1 second initiating a swing that wont do **** to anyone- not to mention that giant roller is obvious with its polka-dot pattern and people will try to capitalize on that visual indicator. There are 3 things you can do if in that situation. 1) Use your special- ink armor is perfect for this but stingray can work with awareness. 2) Superjump- now we previously talked about flick cancels and this is an overlapping concept. 3) Drip and roll
What is drip? Its when your ink is low and there isn't enough for a full splash of ink, and weak- short ranged ink comes out. Hdrip and Vdrip. Just like flicks. Hdrip produces 3 tiny splotches of ink that do 45 dmg each (scales down dramatically). These are very short ranged. Comparable to a Luna OHKO or a sploosh range.
Vdrip produces 2 tiny splotches of ink, only one has a hitbox that does 90 dmg (scales down dramatically). If you remember how dmg is calculated from above- you know that the vflick consists of two layers. the vdrip is just one half of a vflick. The range of the vdrip is that of the 85 BCT but of course with half the damage.
- Slosher (42)
- Mini Splatling (42)
- Glooga Dualies (42)
- L3 Nozzlenose (42)
- Blaster (46) [with forward momentum]
- Clash Blaster (47) [with forward momentum]
- Tetra Dualies (48)
- Splattershot (50)
- Undercover Brella (50)
- Splash o matic (60)
- Splat Dualies (60)
- Splat Brella (60)
- Aerospray RG (72)
- Dapple Dualies (85)
- Carbon Roller Hflick (90)
- Inkbrush (90)
- Octobrush (90)
- Splattershot Jr (90)
- Sploosh o matic (90)
- Luna Blaster (90)
Note- a drip uses half as much ink as a flick. the more ISM you run, the better.
What is the application here, you ask? Every drop of ink counts. especially on a hungry weapon like the DR. There are ways to make use of this.
70~80 dmg is enough to scare off most people- especially if they think they have the upperhand in this situation. Great way to bait shorter ranged enemies.
Drip Combo.
Splat bomb splash damage (30 dmg) into drip combo
You might be thinking - "well thats situational but cool and useful- how will i know when to use it?" Using subs is an easy way to mark your tank. It depends on your gear abilities- how many Ink Saver Mains, Ink Saver Sub, and Ink recovery slots you run- so keep that in mind. I typically just listen for the squeal that indicates enough ink for a sub- or the flash of light that also indicates the same thing.
Simply just counting flicks also works. For example, with no Ink efficiency abilities, the DR can do:
5 flicks and 1 drip
1 splat bomb, 1 flick and 1 drip
Like all forms of User Interface- the minimap, the inkling display at the top, the rainmaker timer, etc. your Ink Tank is one you should always pay attention to. Pay attention to sub indicator and purging.
in this clip, i am waiting for the purge before i drip. When the gray disappears and the orange starts to glow.
Remember, always have a Plan B, as the drip range/damage is limited and leaves you with no ink. Superjump away, use a special..
*Fun Fact: The DR slow flick actually allows for a brief moment on ink recovery in between.
You will always have enough ink to at least make a small line of turf. This also means you can always steamroll for 125 dmg.
Dynamo Sharking aka Double Tapping
This has nothing to do with the term of the same name, to mean "ambush playstyle". The DR is not capable of sharking in that manner. This is completely different; a simple, yet advanced concept. This require knowledge of how to gauge your range and damage. Previous combat concepts revolved around reducing exposure time and essentially knowing how to zone out enemies- sharking however is much more aggressive. Its a mindset really.
the vflick is the dorsal fin cutting the surface, define your presence. the hflick is the JAWS-esque lunge that takes lives, assert your dominance!
might seem pretty insignificant - and straight forward but allow me to go into depth.
The above clip shows the quickest way to kill someone from the furthest possible distance. Maximized TTK x Range ratio. This relies on one of two things from your opponent upon seeing the dorsal fin (landing the vflick): fear and greed
fear: when hit, they know to run. prevent running with mucking. always try to muck.
greed: don't care if hit. they underestimate the amount of damage they take, or simply think they can take you on. this is what you want
in either situation. a mucked enemy trying to run or a greedy player trying to secure a kill- they are dead.
The downside? You must be willing to take damage when going for the followup hflick. By relying on the hflick- you sacrifice safety in distance for damage.
Splat Roller showing greed. I took damage but got the kill!
splat charger displaying fear. mucked too, lol. but beware of a good charger and their snaps.
This is definitely the way to go about killing weapons in the Challenge tier (BCT). Jet Squelcher, Rapid Blaster (Pro), Heavy Splatling especially- instead of opting for a 3HKO shark their lil ***** ***. Jet Squelcher has terrible TTK, rapid blasters usually kill in 3 shots anyway, and heavy splatling has charge time so its fairly safe. (except for jet squelcher with burst bomb, but nobody runs that set.) But nonetheless this works on any weapon given they are greedy.
When dealing with upper mid-range weapons like dualie squelchers, splattershot pro, 96 gals, squeezer, etc. try to tease their range. (when attempting to shark) Do not engage from a range that is obviously out their reach. You want to instill the sense of greed. Hitting them from too far out will only increase the likelihood of them running away. When it comes to these upper mid-range weapons in the Threaten tier, you don't need to swim up so close when following up with the hflick.
Just make sure your ink path from the initial vflick doesn't get covered up.
Let me put it in a simpler way- you know how a Blaster is a guaranteed 2HKO most times? Everyone knows that. But the Dynamo? It can be a 3HKO- but with Sharking you essentially guarantee a 2HKO scenario- and the enemy doesn't know it. They're disrespecting you! Or in fighting game terminology- the first hit is a kill confirm. Just capitalize on that and swoop in for the kill!
double sharked the same guy twice in a single 30 second clip.
Right Handedness
What? Isn't that like a charger thing. Yes- in fact its an every weapon thing. How does it affect the DR? Very insignificantly, really. But look at the following pieces to understand how and why.
You can see that the player is holding the DR on the right side.
If someone is in front of you- you can extend your hitbox by turning to the left.
Further proving the point that the outer end has a longer hitbox (in relation to the player)
Applications? Not much at all. If you are rolling and the enemy is front of you- try to turn counter clockwise slightly, keeping the outer end extended. Conversely, if the enemy is behind you- turn clockwise, but in most cases this small hitbox difference wont add up to much. Unless you play that mini-game in private battles where you try to roll each other over.
Dry Roll
Lol pretty dumb trick but it objectively does have application. You should know by now that rolling at max speed is faster than running. On an inkproof surface like a grate walkway, plastic wrap, metal or whatever- you can't swim so youre forced to run. But with the 10% heavyweight class speed decrease is it optimal? For speed you can roll along those, but at the cost of ink. Well.... if it wasn't obvious - this is about rolling while not using any ink at all- in fact, you'd be recovering ink.
Important to remember that the squid/octos are right-handed. This can only be done on right-handed edges.
Blindspotting
Ever be close to someone and you wonder how they completely dodged your hflick? I am going to explain why that happens and how to alleviate that problem.
the infamous blindspot effect
the blindspot zone. its a danger zone for yourself. its essentially the eye of the storm.
In the clip i am aiming slightly upwards. The blindspot effect usually happens when aiming at an elevated target and they move downwards/towards you ie) someone on the Tower.
There are three ways to mitigate this flaw.
- Generator Aim
- Shower
- Rely on Vflicks for situations where elevation comes into play
Generator Aim is using the the generator piece on the DR model as a guide to aim. In case you didn't know- the term "Dynamo" comes from generators.
This results in aiming with the most shallow part of the hflick arc. Recommended form of aiming in the blindspot range when elevation is NOT at play. Its much more consistent but not guaranteed
Showering is simply aiming straight up with the intent to turf directly in front of you to cover your blindspot. This a complementary technique to Crashing and similar to Volley. Crashing is for decreasing blindspot zone when aiming downwards, while Volleying is to aim upwards to delay the delivery of ink and/or hit enemies behind objects.
take note of its range.
showering covers your blindspot perfectly (turf-wise). Its like 2 halves of a whole
You can also wall out enemies who like to rush in close in between your flicks like blasters and short range boys like splattershot, dapples.
Lastly , your third option is to rely on vflicks when the enemy is at higher elevation then you. Less room for error but completely removes the problem of the blindspot effect.
Hitbox Spread Effectiveness
Lets take look into how the spread for hflicks work. As you should already know- the spread comes out in a sort of triangular/fan shape
The further away- the safer it is , unless you are sure of the enemies attack pattern try to stay at a 2HKO distance.
In the above clip I demonstrate just how much spread is at from certain distances. From between 2 and 3 lines away from a target is the ideal distance.
In this clip I am showing the vflick equivalent of the wall test. As you can see the vret does a great job of showing the projected spread as it fans downwards from the apex.
What this does show us however, is good visualization of just how much leeway a muck aim / non-apex aim provides for vflick spread.
Splatter (Instant wall turf)
This is a quick way to turf a wall- albeit you dont build special this way- its useful for mobility, for escape or objective pushing etc.
Here I show splatter vs regular wall turf. As you can see it is way faster ; no waiting for the ink to drip down.
very common wall to turf.
How to do it: You need to be about a blindspot distance (1 test area Line) away from the wall. Then aim under and behind the wall. Sort of aim through and beyond it.
How does it work? Not quite sure, but the game seems to think you are aiming at the ground and translates the turf spread to the wall. There are in-game parameters which dictate how ink should act as it hits a wall. For the case of the DR its supposed to make globs then slowly drip down when hitting a wall. However, the game thinks you are aiming at the floor (im guessing based on your coordinates and the angle youre aiming at) and sets the flag for FLOOR Turf.
Update: Only works on walls that have NO floor beneath them. Walls like the middle piece on Inkblot or the basketball hoops on Goby- will NOT splatter because the floor beneath those object still exists. Its hard to tell which walls dont have floors behind them, though usually the different layouts in ranked mode give it away.
*do not JUMP as you do it, it will make the splatter smaller
Distance x Angle to reticle Conversion
Somewhere in the first half of this guide I wrote something about how you can gauge the angle you want to aim downwards and convert it to an overhead. This is similar but instead uses the squid hret or map to allow for an adjusted aim with the arc. Lets start off with how to divide the screen into 5 different sections.
We will be focusing on top edge, mid top, and center.
Here I show three basic ranges.
Center = 3 lines
Mid Top = 2 lines
Top Edge = 1 line
Application for this is simple- this is for you to gauge positioning and aim for trying to arc over an edge.
Starfish is a good example of where you want to opt for a 2 line arc. Going closer to the edge for 1 line arc is too risky.
Simply showing that the squid hret is 1:1 with the map reticle. Use either or to gauge screen sections.
Rule of Ear: A good rule of thumb, is the rule of ear. With a neutral camera- if the edge of a platform is about lined up with your player's ear- then a top edge angled arc will land just past and down below.
For a 2 liner distance, just do a short hop and line your ear up again.
Different gear like helmets will make this harder to utilize-- also, having a special ready will cause the player to do a different standing animation.
What about using a vflick? Well- for OHKO, the 1 line and 2 line angles should be your go-to. And those can be done with the hflick which is faster. However, a 2 liner hflick angle can be kind of inconsistent damage-wise and not always OHKO and sometimes you want to aim over an object as well- like the spire on the Tower Control platform. So here is a 2 liner vflick angle.
Its not quite top edge on the screen but just slightly lower. Be careful on stages with ceiling obstructions like Humpback, Mako, Goby, etc.
Over time you'll learn to position and aim accordingly without needing to use map/reticles/ears.
Vflick Overhead Angles (Shower Time)
Okay fine. To complement the above concept- here are the angles for vflick 3 liner and 4 liner. Ya know- just in case some guy is hiding behind an object or something
4 liner - in between center and mid top
3 liner - in between top edge and mid top
2 liner - just below top edge
1 liner - vflick blindspots on a 1 liner; use hflick
4 liner is a 3HKO, while 3 liner is a 2HKO.
the further away- the shorter the object (if any) needs to be. Cutting off too much of the arc might result in the damaging blob not landing on the opponent. Not sure if I MSPainted a picture explaining that. Oh well.
Mapping Range
Yadda yadda yadda this is pretty useful but in a real battle there are no lines on the ground- so seems kinda tedious to learn amirite?
Using the map's triangular display is a great way to correlate lines into any map.
*DO NOT use the testing room to try this out. Testing room is weird and disproportional to the actual maps; use recon mode.
Runoff HFlick
Oh I'm sure you've done this but in case you haven't heres an explanation. When running off a ledge- you keep your forward momentum much more than if you did a HFlick jump~ and also reach the bottom quicker which can be used to vary your approach or even turf better to reduce the fading effect.
EASY
Airtime Law
When doing runoffs, its important to remember this law- being midair for half a second or longer will force you to perform VFlicks only.
Wall Popping
Fairly simple trick but...once you incorporate it into your playstyle- you'll find yourself playing in a much more mobile, and map-aware fashion.
When on a wall, you can press ZR to pop out and do an hflick. With strategic ink placement this means we can do hflicks at locations and from angles that would otherwise only be reached with a vflick.
it carries your momentum forward- much more than jumping or run off hflick.
allows you to approach from unsuspecting angles and locations.
extend by landing on a wall- you would otherwise end up with a vflick.
Miscellaneous Wall Shenanigans
Here are some useful mini tricks to help with overall wall related mobility and approaches.
Pop Up
When you pop from a wall your momentum stays intact- use this to your advantage and pop up while cutting a few frames off of winding up a flick.
When you are about this close to the edge you can input a flick and you should land on the platform. This was the opponent doesnt see your swimming splash and you reduce exposure time and wind up time.
Pop Drop
I covered drops above as means to cover your *** while retreating or to be sneak boy. Anyway heres a happy medium between cutting exposure- and utilizing most of your flick arc.
For VFlick:
While on the edge, do a full hop VFlick, land and walk off
For HFlick:
While on the edge, do HFlick short hop, land and walk/hop off
Rail Pop
You can do some **** on Ink Rails too. Limited to select stages, and restricted to the (usually) single point of entry, but nonetheless useful! You can do HFlicks from new heights~!
Youve probably done this before. Its pretty fun.
Do note, however, you are subject to Airtime Law!
Easy fix. By letting go of ZL- you reset the timer for Airtime Law, and can HFlick at any point.
Object Shredder
Is it useful? Well...yes but actually no.
Tested on Rainmaker Shield
Close Range HFlick/VFlick (180 dmg)
- w/ OJS = 3 flicks
- none = 4 flicks
- w/ OJS = 11 flicks
- none = 12 flicks
- w/ OJS = 13 flicks
- none = 14 flicks
In each of the tests Object shredder saves only 1 flick. In the grand scheme of things though- that is a full 1 ~ 1.2 second time saver as well as a huge 1/6th ~ 1/8th of your tank saved too.
But in a real battle, DPS wins. Hydras and Dapple Dualies will over take the shield in between flicks. So do not bother with Object Shredder.
