How to rank up in Splatoon/Splatoon 2

Ranked mode is the more difficult part of Splatoon/Splatoon 2 and often results in us raging and hurling the controller across the room. If you think you're not good enough to rank up then this thread is perfect for you :p

1) Weapons: There are so many weapons to choose from, when looking at a weapon make sure you read the stats: range, damage, durability etc. Each weapon consists of a Main weapon, a sub weapon and a Special weapon. Try using weapons that have subs like burst bombs, splat bombs and auto bombs. Specials that are beneficial to the team are the Ink amor, Tenta Missiles. and the Splashdown.

1. The Splattershot; might be one of the best choices, there are no drawbacks to the weapon so it's easy to customise your play style.
2. The Octobrush; my favourite weapon not because of the way you swing it but because of speed. It's a good weapon for escaping many other players. You might argue that the Inkbrush is faster but the Octobrush/Herobrush has more range and stronger.
3. The E-litre 4k Scope, not the best weapon but for stages like Starfish MainStage and Inkbolt art academy this weapon is amazing. There's so many places to snipe and you also have advantage over a Splatterscope.
4. Dualie Squelchers, this weapon has a very decent range and mobility, the damage is an average 3 shot kill so it's not really that bad or anything..
5. The N Zap, what could be more better than this. It's got great range, fire rate. The suction bomb is the sub which is great (even better with sub power up) and it comes with the beautiful ink armor.

2) Your Gear; one of the most important parts of Splatoon not just because of looks but also because of the abilities. There are many abilities to chose from but there are many categories. Some abilities are exclusive to certain clothing: Headgear, Clothing, and footwear.

The best abilities for any weapon and any mode are:

1. Ink Saver main, reduces the amount of ink consumed by your weapon
2. Ink recovery up, increases the amount of time refilling your ink tank for main and sub.
3. Run speed and Swim speed, increases the speed rate of your inkling (run speed) and Squid form (swim speed)
4. Special Charge up, chargers your weapons faster to get the special ready, really useful especially for a tentatek with the crazy 230 points required.
5. Ink resistance up, improves the mobility of walking through enemy ink.

There are some other really good abilities but it depends on your weapon of choice and the mode.

1. Quick respawn, reduces the amount of time after getting splatted.
2. Quick Super jump, reduces time for super jumping.
3. Special power up and Sub power up, improves the effectiveness of your special weapon.
4. Special saver, reduces special gauge cost after respawing.
5. Bomb defense up, it's like ink resistance up but reduces damage after getting hit by any sub or special (bombs only).
6. Ink saver sub, reduces the amount of ink consumed by your sub weapon, if it doesn't work why not run 12 ink recovery ups?

Cold blooded is a unique ability (not exclusive) that reduces time of items revealing your location, it may be useful for Splatoon against the echo later but not useful in Splatoon 2. I don't see many people using weapons with point sensors but if it's annoying you then run cold blooded.

There also other unique abilities only attached to certain gear

1. Opening Gabinet, this increases Swim speed and run speed rate for the first 30 seconds of each battle
2. Last ditch effort, improves Ink recovery rate and weapon efficiency for the last 30 seconds of each battle
3. Tenacity, when your team has less players than the enemy it will automatically fill your special gauge fully ready to use your special.
4. Comeback, boots SOME of your abilities for a short time after respawning

1. Ninja squid, leaves no trace when swimming through ink but slightly reduces swim speed.
2. Haunt, after you respawn the map will reveal the location of the player who splatted you.
3. Thermal ink, if you've shotted someone with your main weapon but aren't splatted then it will reveal their location.
4. Respawn punisher, my opinion is DON'T USE THIS ABILITY.Ability doubler, doubles other abilities attached to your gear but only exclusive to your Splatfest tee only.
5. Ability doubler is only exclusive to your splatfest tee but doubles other abilities attached to your gear

1. Hides your super jumping location from nearby players in Splatoon 1, or distance players in Splatoon 2.
2. Object shredder, this lets you place more squid beakons, Splash walls or other objects.
3. Drop roller, if you tilt your stick whilst super jumping you can perform a forward/sideways roll. It's not very effective in my opinion.

Similar to Spyke in Splatoon 1 he can reroll abilities and add more slots but he can scrub slots for 20000 coins. While expensive, the splatfest tee comes in. Because Murch will scrub all your abilities for only 2000 which is like 90% off or something. So keep playing before the splatfest and keep scrubbing, you'll turn those into ability chunks that lets you add specific abillites to your gear.

1. Rainmaker, get the rainmaker to goal or as far as you can
2. Take control of the Splat Zone(s) by inking the zone
3. Tower Control, ride the tower to the goal.

1) Rainmaker, while the goal is pretty simple; carry the rainmaker to the goal sounds simple and fair enough easy, there's a lot going on behind the scenes. When it comes to gear in Rainmaker Swim speed and run speed is beneficial to you and the team (even if you don't have the rainmaker) because it helps you escape the enemies on high boundaries. On stages like Humpback Pump track don't just use the inkrail and get the rainmaker for many reasons. First, even if you break the shield with your ink the enemies will still try to get you out. Second of all, it's just an easy spot where you're asking to lose because of the probability here. So make sure to find alternate positions where you can splat; especially with a long ranged weapon.

2) Splat Zones

It's called "Splat" Zones for a reason, you'll get splatted if you charge ahead straight away. Especially with a short ranged weapon or a slow sniper (E-litre series) so just keep your distance from the other team. The Splashdown definitely helps a lot because if your teammate is surrounded by a bunch of opponents then super jump then in midair press the R Stick to unleash a huge attack. When it comes to Splat Zones, bombs are going to be a friend of yours because while consuming a lot of ink is gives you a lot of defence and distance.

3) Tower Control, this is a very fun but also stressful mode where you have to guard the tower without getting Splatted; just like Rainmaker it has a goal point that you need to reach to get a knockout. Just like every other mode don't charge straight ahead; consume all of your ink as you will most likely get splatted. Find alternate positions to throw bombs, shoot people or even use a special. Covering Ink around the area is key because you can escape your opponents without wasting much time. Whilst riding the tower. Try to be more defensive on it.

Good luck everyone! And whether your a kid or squid, hope you make it to A+, S or S+! :D



Thanks for bearing with me in this long guide, it took very long to make so liking it would really be appreciated. Peace out :)