Introduction
Hello and welcome to my positions guide. In this guide I will talk about the different positions for Splatoon. I also talk about some basic mindset stuff.
Credits and Contributions
Terminology
Here is a list of some terms I’ll be using for this guide. Map with example soon.
Mindsets
Your mindset is incredibly important in any game and Splatoon is no exception. Mindset goes beyond staying positive even when you are losing (even though that is always important). Mindset is your approach to the game. How do you want to play? How do you want to express yourself?
Positive
The most important one. If you go in thinking you’re going to perform well you’re going to perform well. If you think you’re going to get stomped your performance is going to drop. Getting splattered by the enemy is going to put you on tilt. Instead of dropping morale try to get in the habit of taking a second and remove yourself from the game as a player. What did you did wrong? What did the other person to right? What are you going to do different in that next situation? Most importantly, what are you going to do when you respawn to get back into the game. If every time you get splattered you get angry you’re going to play angry and it's only going to get worse. Keeping a positive mindset is the hardest thing to do, but it will help you the most in the long run.
Aggressive
To have an aggressive mindset means you want to push forward and advance. You want to apply pressure and bring the fight to your enemy. Rack of those kills, harass and push the other team back by charging forward. You want to force the opponent to react to what you do. When your team has the advantage you may want to keep the momentum rolling and try to push them back to their respawn point.
Here are some examples of aggressive play:
Defensive
There is no shame in playing defensively or passively. You want to cover territory and zone out the opponent. Let them come to you and push them back out. Become the immovable object as you defend your turf. When your team has the advantage you may want to back track and retake as much turf as you can and get back into position to keep the enemies at bay.
Applying Mindsets
Two people could play the same position, play it completely differently, and both be extremely effective. Its important to know what mindset fits you best. A great player will be able to remain positive and switch between aggressive and defensive play.
Positions
Positions are different types of roles that you can have while playing a Splatoon match. Everyone plays a certain position in Splatoon whether they know it or not. This is just putting those positions down on pen and paper.
If you’re with a full team of organized players you can go into a match and have dedicated positions the entire game. If not you can still play a certain role, but you are most likely going to have to adapt to a different position and take on new responsibilities at least once during your match.
Keep in mind, this is perfect world stuff. In reality (especially to start) you’re going to be all over the place and constantly adapting to the situation. Come August this stuff may or may not be viable.
For every positions there are two golden rules:
Onto the positions!
Turf War:
Hunter
The primary focus of the hunter is to find enemy players and kill them. Every kill gives a huge advantage to your team. If you only manage to kill one person at a time (meaning you kill someone and don’t get another kill until that person respawns) then that gives your team a 4v3 for at least 10 seconds. This is the only role that should focus purely on combat, and that makes it ok to take risks and go for unsafe kills. Go for the 1v2 if you think you can get at least one. If you can get both, even better. Apply pressure to the enemy. Make use of edges and catch enemies off guard with a flank.
Suggested weapons: Shooter, Charger (adv).
Saboteur
The saboteur goes behind enemy lines and steals territory. While you’re out back causing a huge distraction the rest of your team can excel at their positions. Worst case scenario you draw one person to go reclaim what you did. Best case scenario you draw two or more. Saboteurs force power plays (a numbers advantage) for your team in the other parts of the map.
Suggested weapons: Shooter, Roller
Watchman
The watchmen holds down the fort. Literally. Their job is to battle over and secure the ‘center’ of the map. No technical center? Whatever the big combat area is. Get high ground, and hold it down! No one on the enemy team there? Don’t worry they will be. Cover up any ground that's unpainted or cover some walls for extra mobility options during down time. Get kills, take the area back, all that jazz. When the center is locked down and safe feel free to help out the front line, back line, and edges.
Suggested weapons: Shooter, Charger (adv).
Painter
The painter is the dedicated turf coverer on the team. If you see some turf you can easily cover get over there! Don’t worry about getting kills unless the enemy is right in your way. Whenever you get your specials use them and immediately get back to painting. Don’t worry about going back to cover your back line unless it's completely taken. Normally you want secure the center and advance the front line.
Suggested weapon: Roller (Recommended), Shooter
Escort
The ultimate support role. This role is the most composition dependant. If your team’s Painter is using a Roller then you may want consider escorting them if the other two teammates are very strong players. Whoever is the escort follows around and babysits the painter, covering ground with him and keeping enemies away. If your painter goes down and you survive, consider holding the area down (cleaning up missed spots, and taking over what you can) until the painter can respawn and super jump to you. Note: Just because you have a painter doesn’t mean you need an escort!
Suggested weapon: Shooter
Stopper
A simple role. Notice someone on the enemy team in your back line? Its your job to go back and stop them and reclaim the lost turf. During general play, stick near the center and the edges and reclaim territory on those fronts. When you notice a teammate die, try and make a safe, yet advantageous super jump location so they can get back into the action quicker. This is a secondary task of course.
Suggested Weapons: Shooter, Roller
Small Forward
Do everything.
Ever watch Lebron James play basketball? No? Go do that I’ll wait here. Back? Ok cool do that in Splatoon now.
Even though the Lebron thing is kind of a joke, I’m being serious. The SF is a jack of all trades. Having someone on the team that can adapt and cover any role well is incredibly important. You need to have constant awareness of map control and positioning, and you need to know when to move up, fall back, go on the attack, or play defensive and zone it out. Help out the areas that you think need the most help and rotate constantly.
Suggested weapons: Whatever you need to get it done (Shooter probably).
Ranked:
Get good. There aren’t really any roles here. None that I could think of. Just carry your team.
Personal favorite:
I have two favorite positions to play: Watchmen and Saboteur. With Watchmen I use the Splattershot Pro, Blaster, or E-liter 3k.. When I play saboteur I use an Aerospray
Hello and welcome to my positions guide. In this guide I will talk about the different positions for Splatoon. I also talk about some basic mindset stuff.
Credits and Contributions
- Dannah573 for pointing out how strange my choice of vocab was and suggested to stay consistent. Added Mindset section for future
- Scott from university. My right hand squid.
Terminology
Here is a list of some terms I’ll be using for this guide. Map with example soon.
- Center - The focal point of the action for the map. It may or may not be the actual center of the map.
- Edges - The parts around the center. The hallways that can flank the center.
- Front line - The area of the map you control between the center and the enemy’s spawn.
- Back line - The area of the map you control from your spawn point to the center.
- Enemy line - The area of the map your enemy controls
Mindsets
Your mindset is incredibly important in any game and Splatoon is no exception. Mindset goes beyond staying positive even when you are losing (even though that is always important). Mindset is your approach to the game. How do you want to play? How do you want to express yourself?
Positive
The most important one. If you go in thinking you’re going to perform well you’re going to perform well. If you think you’re going to get stomped your performance is going to drop. Getting splattered by the enemy is going to put you on tilt. Instead of dropping morale try to get in the habit of taking a second and remove yourself from the game as a player. What did you did wrong? What did the other person to right? What are you going to do different in that next situation? Most importantly, what are you going to do when you respawn to get back into the game. If every time you get splattered you get angry you’re going to play angry and it's only going to get worse. Keeping a positive mindset is the hardest thing to do, but it will help you the most in the long run.
Aggressive
To have an aggressive mindset means you want to push forward and advance. You want to apply pressure and bring the fight to your enemy. Rack of those kills, harass and push the other team back by charging forward. You want to force the opponent to react to what you do. When your team has the advantage you may want to keep the momentum rolling and try to push them back to their respawn point.
Here are some examples of aggressive play:
Defensive
There is no shame in playing defensively or passively. You want to cover territory and zone out the opponent. Let them come to you and push them back out. Become the immovable object as you defend your turf. When your team has the advantage you may want to back track and retake as much turf as you can and get back into position to keep the enemies at bay.
Applying Mindsets
Two people could play the same position, play it completely differently, and both be extremely effective. Its important to know what mindset fits you best. A great player will be able to remain positive and switch between aggressive and defensive play.
Positions
Positions are different types of roles that you can have while playing a Splatoon match. Everyone plays a certain position in Splatoon whether they know it or not. This is just putting those positions down on pen and paper.
If you’re with a full team of organized players you can go into a match and have dedicated positions the entire game. If not you can still play a certain role, but you are most likely going to have to adapt to a different position and take on new responsibilities at least once during your match.
Keep in mind, this is perfect world stuff. In reality (especially to start) you’re going to be all over the place and constantly adapting to the situation. Come August this stuff may or may not be viable.
For every positions there are two golden rules:
- Always cover the ground. Even if you’re dedicated role is to be hunting down the enemy team, that doesn’t matter on the scoreboard. Cover that floor!
- If you can get a safe kill, ALWAYS go for it, even if your dedicated job is to just cover the floor. What do I mean by safe? Something safe in game terms means not punishable. So if you can get a kill without dieing to another enemy go for it!
Onto the positions!
Turf War:
Hunter
The primary focus of the hunter is to find enemy players and kill them. Every kill gives a huge advantage to your team. If you only manage to kill one person at a time (meaning you kill someone and don’t get another kill until that person respawns) then that gives your team a 4v3 for at least 10 seconds. This is the only role that should focus purely on combat, and that makes it ok to take risks and go for unsafe kills. Go for the 1v2 if you think you can get at least one. If you can get both, even better. Apply pressure to the enemy. Make use of edges and catch enemies off guard with a flank.
Suggested weapons: Shooter, Charger (adv).
Saboteur
The saboteur goes behind enemy lines and steals territory. While you’re out back causing a huge distraction the rest of your team can excel at their positions. Worst case scenario you draw one person to go reclaim what you did. Best case scenario you draw two or more. Saboteurs force power plays (a numbers advantage) for your team in the other parts of the map.
Suggested weapons: Shooter, Roller
Watchman
The watchmen holds down the fort. Literally. Their job is to battle over and secure the ‘center’ of the map. No technical center? Whatever the big combat area is. Get high ground, and hold it down! No one on the enemy team there? Don’t worry they will be. Cover up any ground that's unpainted or cover some walls for extra mobility options during down time. Get kills, take the area back, all that jazz. When the center is locked down and safe feel free to help out the front line, back line, and edges.
Suggested weapons: Shooter, Charger (adv).
Painter
The painter is the dedicated turf coverer on the team. If you see some turf you can easily cover get over there! Don’t worry about getting kills unless the enemy is right in your way. Whenever you get your specials use them and immediately get back to painting. Don’t worry about going back to cover your back line unless it's completely taken. Normally you want secure the center and advance the front line.
Suggested weapon: Roller (Recommended), Shooter
Escort
The ultimate support role. This role is the most composition dependant. If your team’s Painter is using a Roller then you may want consider escorting them if the other two teammates are very strong players. Whoever is the escort follows around and babysits the painter, covering ground with him and keeping enemies away. If your painter goes down and you survive, consider holding the area down (cleaning up missed spots, and taking over what you can) until the painter can respawn and super jump to you. Note: Just because you have a painter doesn’t mean you need an escort!
Suggested weapon: Shooter
Stopper
A simple role. Notice someone on the enemy team in your back line? Its your job to go back and stop them and reclaim the lost turf. During general play, stick near the center and the edges and reclaim territory on those fronts. When you notice a teammate die, try and make a safe, yet advantageous super jump location so they can get back into the action quicker. This is a secondary task of course.
Suggested Weapons: Shooter, Roller
Small Forward
Do everything.
Ever watch Lebron James play basketball? No? Go do that I’ll wait here. Back? Ok cool do that in Splatoon now.
Even though the Lebron thing is kind of a joke, I’m being serious. The SF is a jack of all trades. Having someone on the team that can adapt and cover any role well is incredibly important. You need to have constant awareness of map control and positioning, and you need to know when to move up, fall back, go on the attack, or play defensive and zone it out. Help out the areas that you think need the most help and rotate constantly.
Suggested weapons: Whatever you need to get it done (Shooter probably).
Ranked:
Get good. There aren’t really any roles here. None that I could think of. Just carry your team.
Personal favorite:
I have two favorite positions to play: Watchmen and Saboteur. With Watchmen I use the Splattershot Pro, Blaster, or E-liter 3k.. When I play saboteur I use an Aerospray
