This guide will focus on one of the least appreciated weapons in the game: the Soda Slosher. Over the course of this guide you can expect to see useful tips such as what abilities are useful, how to take advantage of the main weapon and exactly why this set is so good. Keep in mind that this is a work in progress and more will be added in due course.
1: The Weapon Set
The Soda Slosher comes with the Splat Bomb for its sub and the Inkzooka for its special. There are currently only 3 weapons with this set: Octobrush Nouveau, Soda Slosher and the Sploosh-o-Matic 7. It's a set that really opens up the Slosher's potential, as the Inkzooka allows it to splat people who are outside of its range and the Splat Bomb can be rolled along the floor to attack people hiding behind corners and above on ledges and platforms where the Soda can't reach.
2: Ability Choices
One of the most obvious choices for this weapon is Swim Speed Up. Swim strafing is the best and easiest way for the Slosher to quickly navigate around the map without much hassle or fuss. Since the main weapon doesn't have much of a strafe speed, Run Speed has no uses for us. Ink Saver Main seems good on paper, but in practical purposes it does not add many additional sloshes and isn't very useful. The Slosher is fairly flexible for what can and can't be used, but the one ability that really helps is Ink Resistance Up. As the Slosher plays so aggressively (it's the nature of the weapon and it has to get the first hit in), you'll find yourself in enemy ink more often than not. Even when you're not engaging in combat, the Slosher doesn't paint a huge amount of ink at your feet, so not getting stuck in the other team's ink is crucial. Every second counts in Splatoon, not to mention that you are a much bigger target when stuck in enemy ink.
Overall, the main target abilities to use are Ink Recovery and Ink Saver Sub (if you use a lot of bombs), Swim Speed (good for any build and playstyle), Ink Resistance and Last Ditch Effort. Last Ditch Effort got buffed in 2.6.0 for those of you unaware, and this buff made it so good in Ranked. This ability boosts your Ink Recovery, Ink Efficiency (Saver Main and Saver Sub), and respawn rate (to 3 seconds on the splat cam). This gives you 2 of the 3 abilities that help ink efficiency (ignoring Saver Main as it isn't as useful), and you get a faster respawn. On top of this, it kicks in as soon as the enemy team's score/distance hits 30 and stays in effect for the rest of the match (even in Extra Time/Overtime). So if the enemy team get an early push in Rainmaker or Tower, but you stop it once it hits 30, you benefit from those perks for the rest of the match, and believe me when I say it, you're going to really appreciate those perks given from LDE. Like I said, this weapon is fairly flexible for abilities, so you can always experiment with other ability perks to find something that suits your playstyle.
3: Weapon Strengths and Weaknesses
A crucial part of being successful with the Soda Slosher (or the Slosher in general), is to be completely aware of what weapons the Slosher can beat easily, and the ones it struggles with (that can be beaten with clever movement and playstyles). Weapons with relatively fast TTKs that have a similar or greater range than the Slosher can destroy you before you can even fire off a second slosh. These weapons are ones you should expect them to be: the Splattershot, .52 Gal, N-ZAP (only 3 frames slower than the Splattershot) and other similar weapons. As I mentioned earlier, the Slosher thrives off of an aggressive playstyle, but being aggressive is not the same as being reckless. You should be moving around, pushing forward where gaps are, and attacking those who haven't noticed you (especially if you're hiding in your ink). It's crucial to get the first hit in against these weapons, since you can get the 2nd slosh off by the time they can turn around to attack you.
The Soda can easily beat weapons with a lesser range than it, so things like the Aerospray, Sploosh, Splattershot Jr. won't stand a chance if you keep them at your effective range. Just be aware of the Neo Sploosh, Splattershot Jr. and the Aerospray PG (among other weapons of this range), as they can always Kraken or Bubble to protect themselves and will approach you without fear. The one main exception to this rule is the Luna Blaster, which has short range but a huge AoE and a ridiculously fast TTK, that weapon won't be afraid to approach and can splat you faster if you aren't careful.
Of course, Sloshers have their unique properties, and these are a blessing and a curse. The best part is the ability to fling ink over walls, as long as it isn't taller than the arc can reach. This enables you to pull off Blaster style shots, but over walls rather than around corners. A neat trick that can be used in many areas, such as the Bluefin criss-cross low wall, the Walleye grate (where snipers usually sit) and other similar areas. But be aware that whilst aiming up like that you won't be able to see around you so you can get attacked if you focus for too much and too long on attacking above like that. The curse comes in the form of ink spread, if you hit someone with the closer, thinner ink, you'll deal less damage than if you hit them with the big glob at the end of the slosh. Of course, a direct hit will always deal the max damage (70.0 with no damage up) so it isn't all doom and gloom. It also suffers from falloff damage, which is more apparent when flinging ink high onto perches like the aforementioned Walleye one, which can lead to 3 or 4 sloshes to splat. Damage up can negate it if you wish to use it, but no more than 1 or 2 mains worth, it really isn't worth more than that. When it comes to facing other Sloshers, be wary of the Vanilla that can Burst-Cancel to splat faster and the Deco which comes equipped with a Splash Wall to hide behind.
1: The Weapon Set
The Soda Slosher comes with the Splat Bomb for its sub and the Inkzooka for its special. There are currently only 3 weapons with this set: Octobrush Nouveau, Soda Slosher and the Sploosh-o-Matic 7. It's a set that really opens up the Slosher's potential, as the Inkzooka allows it to splat people who are outside of its range and the Splat Bomb can be rolled along the floor to attack people hiding behind corners and above on ledges and platforms where the Soda can't reach.
2: Ability Choices
One of the most obvious choices for this weapon is Swim Speed Up. Swim strafing is the best and easiest way for the Slosher to quickly navigate around the map without much hassle or fuss. Since the main weapon doesn't have much of a strafe speed, Run Speed has no uses for us. Ink Saver Main seems good on paper, but in practical purposes it does not add many additional sloshes and isn't very useful. The Slosher is fairly flexible for what can and can't be used, but the one ability that really helps is Ink Resistance Up. As the Slosher plays so aggressively (it's the nature of the weapon and it has to get the first hit in), you'll find yourself in enemy ink more often than not. Even when you're not engaging in combat, the Slosher doesn't paint a huge amount of ink at your feet, so not getting stuck in the other team's ink is crucial. Every second counts in Splatoon, not to mention that you are a much bigger target when stuck in enemy ink.
Overall, the main target abilities to use are Ink Recovery and Ink Saver Sub (if you use a lot of bombs), Swim Speed (good for any build and playstyle), Ink Resistance and Last Ditch Effort. Last Ditch Effort got buffed in 2.6.0 for those of you unaware, and this buff made it so good in Ranked. This ability boosts your Ink Recovery, Ink Efficiency (Saver Main and Saver Sub), and respawn rate (to 3 seconds on the splat cam). This gives you 2 of the 3 abilities that help ink efficiency (ignoring Saver Main as it isn't as useful), and you get a faster respawn. On top of this, it kicks in as soon as the enemy team's score/distance hits 30 and stays in effect for the rest of the match (even in Extra Time/Overtime). So if the enemy team get an early push in Rainmaker or Tower, but you stop it once it hits 30, you benefit from those perks for the rest of the match, and believe me when I say it, you're going to really appreciate those perks given from LDE. Like I said, this weapon is fairly flexible for abilities, so you can always experiment with other ability perks to find something that suits your playstyle.
3: Weapon Strengths and Weaknesses
A crucial part of being successful with the Soda Slosher (or the Slosher in general), is to be completely aware of what weapons the Slosher can beat easily, and the ones it struggles with (that can be beaten with clever movement and playstyles). Weapons with relatively fast TTKs that have a similar or greater range than the Slosher can destroy you before you can even fire off a second slosh. These weapons are ones you should expect them to be: the Splattershot, .52 Gal, N-ZAP (only 3 frames slower than the Splattershot) and other similar weapons. As I mentioned earlier, the Slosher thrives off of an aggressive playstyle, but being aggressive is not the same as being reckless. You should be moving around, pushing forward where gaps are, and attacking those who haven't noticed you (especially if you're hiding in your ink). It's crucial to get the first hit in against these weapons, since you can get the 2nd slosh off by the time they can turn around to attack you.
The Soda can easily beat weapons with a lesser range than it, so things like the Aerospray, Sploosh, Splattershot Jr. won't stand a chance if you keep them at your effective range. Just be aware of the Neo Sploosh, Splattershot Jr. and the Aerospray PG (among other weapons of this range), as they can always Kraken or Bubble to protect themselves and will approach you without fear. The one main exception to this rule is the Luna Blaster, which has short range but a huge AoE and a ridiculously fast TTK, that weapon won't be afraid to approach and can splat you faster if you aren't careful.
Of course, Sloshers have their unique properties, and these are a blessing and a curse. The best part is the ability to fling ink over walls, as long as it isn't taller than the arc can reach. This enables you to pull off Blaster style shots, but over walls rather than around corners. A neat trick that can be used in many areas, such as the Bluefin criss-cross low wall, the Walleye grate (where snipers usually sit) and other similar areas. But be aware that whilst aiming up like that you won't be able to see around you so you can get attacked if you focus for too much and too long on attacking above like that. The curse comes in the form of ink spread, if you hit someone with the closer, thinner ink, you'll deal less damage than if you hit them with the big glob at the end of the slosh. Of course, a direct hit will always deal the max damage (70.0 with no damage up) so it isn't all doom and gloom. It also suffers from falloff damage, which is more apparent when flinging ink high onto perches like the aforementioned Walleye one, which can lead to 3 or 4 sloshes to splat. Damage up can negate it if you wish to use it, but no more than 1 or 2 mains worth, it really isn't worth more than that. When it comes to facing other Sloshers, be wary of the Vanilla that can Burst-Cancel to splat faster and the Deco which comes equipped with a Splash Wall to hide behind.
