Z+F Splat Charger / Z+F Splatterscope
I actually had a really good time on these! My aim honestly felt pretty good for the most part, and I did well even though I was only playing Clams and Rainmaker, my weaker modes. And the kit is almost like the definitional backline kit. Wall really helps holding your ground on an open snipe, and it can cover teammates' jumps which synergizes with the charger's responsibility as an anchor. And it's the perfect sub for Strikes since it protects you during what is normally a very vulnerable special. And the positions you want to play from as charger work really well for strike too! All around this kit feels very natural to play, everything synergizes and it's very satisfying to do well on, especially since sniping people is always fun. Scoped variant felt good enough to me too, I only had a slightly worse winrate. I don't feel the scope visual really helps much. The extra range does, but it's not worth missing out on charge holds and peripheral vision, so I personally prefer non-scoped.
Enperry Splat Dualies
I was like "ah yeah I get to play dualies again. Time for peak!" And then lost several games immediately. It's still fun but it's clear to me that the vanilla kit enables the main much better. This one's not bad, there is a certain flow to curling in and then roll to fight, but I think it just made me feed more than I should've. Same goes for curling into Splashdown, it feels really easy to go for sometimes but it doesn't always work out. You kind of have to play with this wreckless playstyle because otherwise you don't have any tools for just playing it safe.
Krak-On Splat Roller
Beakons felt a bit weird to me here, like I would rather be pushing in with the weapon than running around placing them. Plus they don't really synergize with Kraken since it can't superjump. They're not bad and are useful, but they leave the roller with only Kraken to get in. Might as well make this a Kraken review, given that's the kit's main identity. I really don't have a feel for controlling it well, it's surprisingly hard to get kills since everyone knows to run away. But at least it is also hard to die while in the special, so it feels good for stabilizing fights / stalling / saving yourself, even if you don't get kills from it. I do like that being good at the special requires getting reads on people's movement, there's a good dynamic there from players on both sides. The Kraken does work well with the Roller ambush playstyle so in that sense the kit is still really fun, even if the vanilla kit is likely stronger.
Tentatek Splattershot
One of the most stylish alt kit designs in the game, I must say. Gameplay wise it feels very standard, just like vshot. Splat Bomb feels better, Tristrike feels worse. But the Shot itself feels as good as ever. IDK there isn't ever anything interesting to say about Shot and it's variants, they're like the white bread of Splatoon weapons. They're good but boring. (I love white bread just to be clear, just as I do actually like these weapons)
Rapid Blaster Deco
Had this half done since I tried it out during the Inkjet challenge. Took me a bit to get warmed up again, but wow this is such an improvement over the vanilla kit which felt awkward to use. Torp is perfect here, it has the exact kinds of utility Rapid wants: location, paint, and combo damage. It's really good at pressuring people behind cover in a way that makes up for the small AOE of the main. And Inkjet is nice as a get-off-me tool when people get too close. Funnily enough the main itself also counters Inkjets pretty well too.
Splatana Stamper Nouveau
Still kinda tricky, but the kit does a lot to make it more accessible. Crab is much safer to use than Zip, and easier to get value from while still feeling fun to use. Mist isn't amazing, but it's better here than an other weapons since it slows down weapons that can be too fast to handle. The sub being non-lethal means you are forced to practice the main weapon itself, similarly to Wiper Deco's kit. I like that, it's an easier to pick option that trains you so you can pick the better one later. Stamper is fun, but at this point I've already tasted the forbidden fruit of the Decavitator, so it's not the same anymore.
Tri-Slosher Nouveau
Hehe funni big hitbox. I really liked Tri when I first tried it out, so no surprise that I like it now too. It's a cooler weapon, but feels different to most in that it is the most aggressive / frontline one. Zap is similar, but it paints for cooler faster so it would rather stay back and farm it safely. It's a lot of work to get cooler early on Tri, so it felt more worth it to me to go and get kills first, then use the cooler once we gained control to help lockout the other team. Fizzy is good entry, good paint, and good damage so it really supports the aggressive first, supportive later style. 210p really holds the kit back, I know the overall paint output of the kit is high but even with charge up getting cooler early was unreliable. And the aggressive playstyle is risky of course, since dying early means your team misses out on cooler (though the same can be said for Zap). But when it pays off it's really easy to steamroll the other team. Definitely want to play this more, it's probably my best pick if I want to play cooler.
Inkline Tri-Stringer
From one Tri to another! If only there was a third Tri weapon to complete the trifecta. I had a surprising amount of success with this on Rainmaker. It deals good damage to the Rainmaker shield, so it's good at stalling pushes, and the kit of Sprinkler/Chumps has so much paint coverage and damage sources that make it hard for the enemy Rainmaker to move through. I didn't expect to be such a fan of the kit, but the Chumps really do put in the work. The bow itself can paint a lot with the right combination of partial/full charges and tap shots, so it's also great at Zones of course. This time around I felt improved on the bow, I even managed to get a few oneshots by shooting over cover. It's wishful thinking but I really hope that playing all these weapons is finally paying off in terms of general skill lol.
Heavy Splatling Deco
Okay I had too much fun this batch so there had to be a stinker. It's not really the kit's fault tho, I'm just bad at Kraken. Again, people are really good at avoiding it, so it's hard to get value unless you pop it very close to someone who doesn't have time to get away. This was fine for me on Roller since it plays up close and personal anyway, but on Heavy it gave me a bit of a positioning crisis. I wanted to play forward for Kraken, but then I was too forward for Heavy and died more often than I should as a backline. Got to the point that I just ignored the special when I had it unless I really needed to use it, which certainly isn't ideal.
