[90% Complete] I started 3 ☆'ing every weapon! Here are my thoughts on each

[DVDo]

Hello! For my first post on this forum I decided to talk about what I've been doing in the game lately: trying to get every weapon to three stars. I figured I'd share my thoughts on some of the weapons I've tried out for the first time only just now after playing.... looks like 1005 hours lol.

For context, here's a list of the weapons I already played enough to 3 star before starting this journey:

I made a list of every other weapon and ordered it so that I'd be playing different classes with roughly even distribution throughout. For 3 starring weapons I understand that Turf War is the fastest way to get XP, but I don't want to play a ton of Turf so I'll be playing mostly Anarchy Open or Series, depending on rotation and my skill on the weapon. I've got 92 weapon kits to get through, and I've gotten 8 of them down so far! Here are my thoughts on what I played.

Spoiler: Batch 1

Splattershot Jr.
Felt really funny to go back to playing "baby's first shooter". Obviously I'd played this one before so finishing up the 3 stars was decently quick. Honestly this weapon still felt solid despite the pitiful range. I really leaned in to the bomb spam aspect and used some sub saver gear, and went "Wow, splat bombs are really neat aren't they?" I had pretty good success with this in Clams on Humpback. The hills provide a lot of cover to sneak around and be a rat, while the bubbler was great for scoring. Pretty easy one.

Blaster
Played this one before too, after getting it during a Sheldon Sampler challenge. Did well with it in the challenge, but not when I tried it after. This time it wasn't so bad, although I still wasn't the best at hitting directs. Even so, the AOE was really nice and I got a lot of sneaky kills on people behind cover (this happened a lot on Wahoo Zones). The kit ain't anything special but at least autobombs are cheap.

Slosher
I remember playing like 3 games on this when the game launched. Didn't think it was for me. This time around I understand that it's because I cannot get a good feel for the aim. Like I can hit people straight on fine enough, but it kinda feels slow. And then when I try to hit people behind cover it feels like I need to be really close to the wall. Idk, skill issue I guess. The actual act of sloshing is pretty fun at least. Also this is the first weapon I played with strikes, I died a lot using them as a panic button lol. Gotta work on that whenever that special shows up again.

Splat Roller
Once again I've played it before, very early on. This one's pretty fun. For me it feels somewhat like Painbrush, they have similar strengths and both have curling bomb as movement options. Though while Painbrush is better at painting and outputting damage over time, Roller is better at locking down an area and SPLATTING THE GUY IN FRONT OF ME RIGHT NOW. Felt good, I think I wanna get better at it later on and see if it makes sense to main as well.

Splatterscope
I've played it's non-scoped twin, but not this one. And uh, unfortunately I did not have fun. I could pretty easily tell that my aim was not up to par on this one. The scope helped visually sure, and the extra range over non-scope is really nice, but something about the zoom-in from full-view to ADS really throws me off, especially when I die while scoped and it suddenly zooms out when I don't expect it. I managed to have a few games where I did well, even got a clip where I sniped 3 people one after the other and felt really good about that. But some games my aim was just not there. This one took me the most games to 3 star (52, whereas the others have been around 30-40). I dread having to play liter eventually.

Hero Shot Replica
This one counts I guess. Slotted it in where Splattershot would be if that needed to be 3 starred. Not much to say about this one, it's the same ol' Splattershot, Nogami's precious child. Did so well on this one that I even took it into X-Rank to bump up some of my scores. Carried weapon.

Splat Dualies
I'm surprised at how much I like these, THEY'RE SO FUN! I think I even like them more than Tetras?! I played around with comparing them in the lobby afterward to see what felt so good about them, and came to the conclusion that it's the faster rolls/shots. You just get to be so nimble and your shots don't feel like foam Nerf darts, it's awesome! Also, uh, Crab Tank. It's kinda crazy how good that special is. I worried I wouldn't be great at it since I've tried it before on Vanilla Pro. But here you get it much faster and it's easier to get into position, and it Just Works. This whole kit is really good, really made me go "wow, this is what a meta weapon is like, cool". But really, this one was a lot of fun and the best time I had out of this bunch.

Heavy Splatling
The final weapon I have to write about for now! This one was great too, though I made the mistake of trying it out on Rainmaker (my worst mode) at first. Played mostly Clams and Tower after and did really well! I'm definitely not used to the long charge time since I play ZiMi all the time, but I got the hang of it alright. I really like how good this one is at holding control of a large area. I got to play some more with the new Wavebreaker buff too, found it helps more here than with Painbrush because you can act on the information more quickly. Also got a lot of matches where I was paired with other backlines for some reason, sometimes even 3 (and one time with two Tri-Stringers). Whenever this happened I switched to playing a lot more aggressively like I was a Nautilus or something, and it seemed to work out. Really versatile weapon.

And that's it for now! Let me know what you think about these weapons, or if something I said was interesting. I may make another thread once I get another 8 weapons done, if people are interested.

Update 2/11/2024
I'm back with the second round of 3 starring all weapons! I decided to just edit the main post of this thread instead of making a new one every time so I can keep it all in one place. Also, from now on I plan to do 9 weapons per set since it divides the weapons a bit nicer, so in order to make up for last time being only 8 I did 10 this time. Without further ado, the weapons!

Spoiler: Batch 2

Rapid Blaster
This one was a little hard at first. Not Splatterscope hard of course, but certainly difficult. You really need to keep your ideal spacing to enemies as much as possible, since your range is good but your AOE not as much. I had to rely on the not so stellar kit to make up for being bad on the weapon. It was my first time really using ink mines, so I got to experiment with what kind of placements make sense or are useful. They worked, but often times I'd rather have something to throw than something to drop behind me while I run away. I got better at strikes this time, especially since the weapon naturally makes me stand further back. At some point I started hitting directs more consistently and was able to go more aggro, that was fun.

Splat Brella
First brella I've ever tried in multiplayer! And I have a lot to say. This one was also pretty hard to play. I had a little luck at first, but fell into a bad losing streak. The big issue I had with this weapon was that it felt like I was less capable of having an impact on the match by myself. Brella's whole thing is survival, skirmishing, and stalling fights. That's cool and all, but why would I use Brella to distract someone when I could just pick a different weapon and kill them instead? Obviously Brella has some good matchups and team play, but that's all I could think about playing this in solo queue. It's really dependent on its teammates to help it win fights. Anyway, I knew the kit on this was bad, but yikes it's really bad. Sprinkler does nothing for a weapon that really struggles to kill and could use a bomb. I managed with it by just throwing it to hinder movement in certain areas but it's not too effective (got a few kills and assists with it tho lol). And while I got the hang of strikes at this point, they still leave you really vulnerable so they're not ideal. At the very least I had some success in Rainmaker and Zones, both Sprinkler and Tri-strikes work a bit better there.

.52 Gal
Nice change of pace after two rather difficult weapons. Still requires a good bit of aim (that shot RNG isn't great) but man is it nice to kill things, especially after Brella. The 52 damage is stupid good lol. I fumbled a bit with my Splash Wall placements, and it took me a bit to learn you can't just stand with a wall wherever for free, especially with a whole team looking at you. Started playing to angles and flanking a bit more. This weapon is good, but I didn't finish 3 stars any faster than average so I don't think it's too carried. .52 doesn't deserve the hate that it gets so often IMO.

Tri-Slosher
On paper, this is just a decent weapon, not top tier but pretty good. I ended up doing really well on this. I do play Octobrush and this is fairly similar in both hitbox size and range, so it's not too surprising. It's not as quick about moving around but it paints a bit better, and having a jetpack is a huge plus. In some games I got unlucky with bad teammates but was able to force a win anyway by going for some wild flanks. I really wanna try the other kit now (but it will take me a while to get to it lol).

L3-Nozzlenose
The first weird shooter! (When ordering the weapons in this challenge, I treated the "semi-autos" as a separate class from shooters since that did better things to weapon variety among the shooters as a whole). Imma be honest, I always forget which nozzlenose has what kit, so hopefully this challenge makes them stick. This one has Crab Tank and it gets it quick enough, which is nice, and Curling Bomb which is just ok on it. Whenever I first played the nozzlenoses in Salmon Run I immediately hated the semi-auto fire. I'm playing a shooter, I just want to hold down the funny ZR button forever. If I want to mash, that's what brushes are for. Playing L-3 now, it just plays like a decent enough shooter, especially if you get the timing down to fire somewhat continuously. It's fine... not too standout.

Tri-Stringer
Tried this one a few months ago, already had some progress, neat! The range is really nice of course. I didn't get many kills on the main weapon but I got more on Killer Wail. Honestly, even when I wasn't being super aim accurate I felt like I was getting good value anyway from pushing people around, staying alive, and being a solid backline to jump to. Mist isn't as great, by the time someone's close enough to use it you should probably back up anyway. It's only really useful to slow down choke points or maybe clutch in an up-close fight. Played this in Bluefin Zones and it was really fun there. As the poster child of this game I think this weapon holds up and is fun even if it's not super strong.

Dynamo Roller
I'm not normally a fan of big heavy type weapons/characters in games, and Dynamo is one of the most extreme weapons in that sense, but I still had a good time playing this one. It was pretty volatile at times: games that started well tended to steamroll into victory, but a bad start could also immediately doom a match. But again, my win rates where fairly normal so I wasn't doing too bad. Used a lot of Special Charge Up to get faster coolers, though sometimes I died the moment I got it lol. Ended up paired with another cooler teammate every now and then, and that seemed to work really well. Don't play Dynamo in Rainmaker, worst mistake of my squid life.

Aerospray MG
I do not understand. This is a bad weapon, but I somehow started it off with a 9-win streak on Tower Control?! The best I've played on any of these weapons so far, and it took the fewest total games to 3 star (outside of weapons that already had progress). My playstyle was mostly just get Reefslider fast and be annoying with Fizzies if I can't do anything else. Had a good bit of Quick Respawn since I figured I'd die a lot. But somehow I was having games where I was #1 Enemy Splatter? As AEROSPRAY?! I'm just shocked, and uh, .52 doesn't deserve the hate that it gets LMAO.

Luna Blaster
Okay this is gonna be a bit repetitive, but once again I did better on this weapon than any weapon before. Only 31 games to 3 star, with 16 KOs and 24 total wins! Only this time it actually makes sense. Luna is a very short range but large AOE weapon, similar to Octobrush (my main) and Tri-Slosher which I did well on. Plus it has Splat Bomb and Zipcaster, so it feels VERY similar to Octobrush's kit, to the point that I used most of the same gear on it. I never realized it but this is a good alternative to that kit (even tho I think brush is better), especially for Rainmaker where I think it's more consistent. I isn't as good at getting value out of Zip, but it's more reliable damage than Octobrush. I guess I'll have to pick up this weapon, I did really well and had a lot of fun with it.

E-liter 4K / E-liter 4K Scope
Did I say 10 weapons? I meant 11. Yeah, in addition to doing two more weapons than last time, another thing I needed to do to have 9 weapons per update is to bring the 92 weapon kits down to 90. And it just made sense to group the scoped chargers with their non-scoped versions, since they share kits anyway and at least by playing them right after another I stay warmed up.

I was not looking forward to either of these, but it turned out okay. I did much better than with Splatterscope, even on scoped liter for some reason. Maybe I just knew what to expect this time? I started on Zones in Series because I wouldn't dare try it in any other mode, but I got bad results. I figured if I was gonna be losing, may as well do it in Open, which happened to be Clam Blitz. And I did pretty well! I was able to hit some shots, and learned to set up these really funny double Ink Mine traps in the main path to the basket whenever I could. The mine setups legitimately helped win games sometimes. I kept an eye on teammates' positions and super-jumped in clams whenever I could. Basically I carried my results on liter with Clam Blitz cheese . I did the same thing for the Scope, just rely on the kit and stick to Clams. Went much better than I could have hoped, now to never play liter again (until the second kit comes out).

And there we have it! Thanks for reading about my suffering. I'll be back with the next batch of weapons sometime, though it'll probably take longer because Side Order comes out soon.

Update 2/27/2024
Apparently there's a 20000 character limit on posts, so from now on I'll just be adding updates as comments to this thread and linking them here so they are still somewhat together and accessible.
Batch #3

Update 3/19/2024: Batch #4

Update 4/25/2024: Batch #5

Update 5/22/2024: Batch #6

Update 6/12/2024: Batch #7

Update 6/28/2024: Batch #8

Update 8/21/2024: Batch #9

Update 9/11/2024: Batch #10

Update 9/22/2024: Batch #11

Update 10/2/2024: Batch #12

 

[vitellary]

i can't even be bothered to go for 1 star on every weapon, so going for 3 is super admirable and very daunting haha. i've had a similar experience with the splatterscope, was pretty good with the non-scoped version at one point but could never figure out how people used scoped chargers. reducing motion sensitivity helps a bit but only so much...

 

[Show-]

best of luck man im sure its gonna be awful

 

[DVDo]

i can't even be bothered to go for 1 star on every weapon, so going for 3 is super admirable and very daunting haha. i've had a similar experience with the splatterscope, was pretty good with the non-scoped version at one point but could never figure out how people used scoped chargers. reducing motion sensitivity helps a bit but only so much...

Yeah the sensitivity is interesting for sure. I don't ever mess with it and just play on default sens, it's been just fine so far. But going from scope to Hero Shot was the only time I ever felt like I had to adjust to different sensitivity in aim. Like I had to make much bigger movements on shot. Readjusted quickly though.

Also 1 starring is pretty quick! Takes at most 10 games if you win a few of them. Definitely a lot more achievable.

best of luck man im sure its gonna be awful

Thanks, I hope not! Though with how many shooters there are in the game it shouldn't be so bad.

 

[Shayreep]

"Also got a lot of matches where I was paired with other backlines for some reason" yeah this checks out IDK what goes on with Nintendos matchmaking. But i cannot play heavy without also having a random eliter or explosher on my team to pvp our snipe with

 

[Lemonquack]

I had the patience to go for 2* everything, but I can’t imagine the dedication for 3*. I get super bored of a weapon if I play it for too many games in a row so that didn’t bode well for me lol best of luck to you

 

[DVDo]

I wrote some stuff for the next batch of weapons, check the main post! I decided to do it this way instead of making a new thread every time to keep it all in one place.

 

[Dianacie]

Oh this is super interesting! Love the writeup on each weapon. I'm still making my way to 1 star on everything, this is nuts

 

[Aiko.Octo]

You've got some endurance; when I 1-starred everything it was quite an enlightening experience but 3 starring everything is another level. Best of luck!

 

[DVDo]

Update #3
So apparently there's a 20000 character limit on posts, so updates will now just be new comments instead of added to the main post.

Hello fellow squids and octos, I am back with another update. I hope everyone has been enjoying Side Order so far! It's been really fun to grind runs. Unfortunately I may have played too many too quickly and my switch has developed a swollen battery . No big deal, I have ordered a replacement battery and will be repairing it myself (hopefully it arrives before next season starts). I'm glad I caught it when I did, as I don't think my back panel has suffered any damage.

Seeing as I can no longer grind Side Order, I figured I'd post the incomplete batch of weapons that I got through before Side Order released. I had to redo the weapon order distribution because my previous one did not consider that new weapons would be coming out. Now it accounts for all new and unreleased 2nd kits, as well as the 4 kits for the new stringer and splatana we should be seeing in the final season, so unless content is extended I should be good for now. Anyway, here are the 7 weapons I finished.

Spoiler: Batch 3

Dapple Dualies
Another weapon enters The Hall of "I Did Great!", among the likes of Tri-Slosher, Luna Blaster, and... Aerospray. This one flew by (not surprising considering I just got done playing the liters) and I had enjoyed it so much I almost wanted to keep playing once I finished! It's definitely super supportive, but it has enough fighting ability that it feels like it has multiple different playstyles! Focus on beacons, paint for cooler, go for aggressive flanks and cause distractions, etc. The only thing it lacks is a bomb to throw, so you really need to keep your team alive and in the fight to handle the stuff you can't reach. I'm serious about it's ability to fight up close though, it's a very fast 3 shot. I found myself not even using the roll mode to fight sometimes, having the 2 cursors spread your shots into a sort of discount AOE makes them easier to hit and doesn't affect the kill time too much since it's so fast.

Mini Splatling
Finally time to give the vanilla kit a go! Apparently I've played a few games on it before but not many. I'm pretty familiar with the main weapon so I don't have first impressions, but I love it's strafe speed and fast charge. As for the kit, I got attached to the burst bombs pretty quickly when I realized you can finish off people if your last few shots miss. Hammer is the weak part of the kit, but I got good use out of it to clear out people under ledges where the main doesn't hit as easily. In the end, I definitely prefer ZiMi, but this kit has some use cases.
Side Order note: I had a bad experience on Manta Maria Zones, not sure if it was a skill issue or that map is just kinda bad for the weapon? There's a lot of cover for frontlines to work with and Mini doesn't have the same range other splatlings can abuse from high ground. Lost a lot of games on specifically that map mode lol.

Sloshing Machine
Really quick one to finish since I already had almost 2 stars on it. I like it much more than regular Slosher, its projectile arc makes more sense to me and the direct hitbox is fairly generous. It never felt OP to me, but definitely solid overall. Obviously this is one of the best kits in the game, every single piece is great so it feels pretty good to play. Funnily enough I ended up on Manta Zones again, only this time it felt like I was the one with the advantage, it's like good karma or something.

Jet Squelcher
The shooters in this game always feel so solid (guess I shouldn't be surprised). This plays like a real backline but gets all the movement benefits that the shorter shooters get anyway. I didn't find many uses for Angle Shooter but it didn't really matter since I was standing so far back. Trying to make plays with Ink Vac usually fell flat, especially in Rainmaker where I thought it would be useful. It worked best when I popped it reactively instead of trying to get teammates to play with it. Also really nice during Tower pushes, similar to what Bubble does. I had this funny thing where I would KO that way on Undertow but then immediately lose on Humpback, multiple times. This weapon does not like maps with a lot of ledges, corners, and cover to hide in. Last note on Jet: I really like its shooting sounds. There's a weight and an echoeyness to them that sounds satisfying.

Tenta Brella
This is the hardest weapon that I've enjoyed the most. Seriously, took me more games than Splatterscope, but I didn't have nearly as bad of a time. Tent is so cool and unique, it plays like nothing else in this game and it has a lot of depth to it. Yet, its insane utility is also probably the reason it's so hard to play. There's A LOT you need to know about the weapon's mechanics in order to bring out its full potential. Took me a while before something clicked and it felt like I finally "unlocked" the weapon. But by then I was almost done with 3 stars, so I didn't feel like I had much time with it in the end.

A bit of an aside here, but the reason I chose specifically 3 stars as my goal is in part because I find it is a good middle ground between something achievable for every weapon in the game, but still long enough that I get to know every weapon decently well. I think that has been mostly the case so far. Tent is the first weapon to really make me feel like I only scratched the surface with it. Mad props to anyone who mains this weapon and masters its ways. Maybe when I get around to the second kit I'll be more prepared to do it justice.

Dualie Squelchers
First off I gotta say, I love the concept of these. Turning the original Dual Squelcher from Splatoon 1 that already had two drill bits on its model into a dualies weapon, while still being able to reform the original weapon while in turret mode is genius. Anyway, these have the unique ability to walk out of dodge rolls much faster. I know you can do an advanced jump tech with these, but uh no I'm not gonna figure out how to apply that in game on my own. In terms of how it compares to the regular Jet Squelcher, it of course doesn't have the insane range, but it's still deceptively long sometimes. The slow kill time is workable, but hey it has a splat bomb! Honestly had no idea, I don't really see this kit often. Wavebreaker is ok, just as it is on other weapons. I thought I did bad on this weapon, but apparently I did about as good as Dapples and the others so I'm surprised.

Range Blaster
Was playing this one the day Side Order came out! It's unsurprisingly really fun. It has a large AOE at a good range with good damage, all around a good combination. I find it funny how consistently I ended up being highest splatter of the team. Obviously blasters don't paint as well, but this is the first time I really felt it being a drawback. I guess this is the slowest blaster in the game (tied with S-BLAST I think). Despite not having paint, I somehow ended up doing better on Zones than Tower, which I figure blasters are better at. I guess I was getting rushed down a bit too much. By the way, while playing this I ran into someone named vitellary, a name I recognize from the comments in this thread! If that was you, I'm sorry we lost those games lol.

And that's all, a good bit less weapons this time. I will report back when I've fixed my switch, played more Side Order, and finished 10 more weapons to talk about. See ya.

 

[Grushi]

This is pretty neat, I really enjoy reading what people think when trying out weapons I'm used to playing.
Good luck with your battery replacement, hope it goes well!

 

[DVDo]

Update #4

Hey everyone, I'm back with great news: my switch battery replacement went very well! It was my first time ever opening and repairing a console so I'm glad I didn't mess it up (and happy I can keep playing games on it of course). I still have to dispose of the old battery properly...

After finishing my hackless run of Side Order it was time to get back to the 3 grind! Keep in mind that whenever I talk about a 2nd kit, it's because I've already 3 'd the vanilla kit before this challenge.

Spoiler: Batch 4

New Squiffer
I would've played Squiffer before E-liter, but the 2nd kit wasn't out at the time. But once the new season dropped I knew I had to try this weapon on day one! This is a main I'm fairly familiar with, like Mini Splatling before, so I'll be mostly talking about the kit since that's what's really exciting.
In my draft writeup for this weapon that I wrote immediately after playing it I wrote A LOT about Zipcaster and how it works on various weapons. In the interest of not yapping too much, I'll do my best to summarize. It's one of the harder specials in the game, not only because you need to master the controls but also because it plays differently for every weapon it's on. They all have unique spacings in which they work best depending on their range and speed. Depending on the situation, you can get close to fight with your main, zip around to cause distractions, or get one shots with the zip arm. Each weapon does them all, but may favor one style more. New Squiffer is able to do what Stamper does, spacing for long-ranged hits, but it's fairly difficult (definitely fun tho, and great for clips of course!). But I also found that just using it to get into aggressive sniping positions was really good, since you can reach areas where people don't expect to be shot from. And of course, you can always just use the zip arm.
I noticed this kit parallels the vanilla in an interesting way. The location utility from Point Sensor is still there in the Autobomb, only now it's also lethal! And while Bubble in the original kit helps to secure an area, giving you a chance to use your main, Zipcaster allows you to reposition safely, also giving you a chance to use your main. The first kit feels a lot more defensive in style compared to the new, aggressive one, but they both revolve around you doing well on the main, which I like. I do like the new kit better though, and I think it has a lot of potential.
It took me a bit more games than Tenta Brella to finish, so it's certainly very hard, even when I already have good experience on both the main and special. But it's very fun and I love it!

Hydra Splatling
I wasn't sure what to expect going into this one. Would it be a difficult backline like the chargers, or would it still be similar enough to the other Splatlings I've played? In the end it went well enough, I didn't feel like I was too overwhelmed at all. I don't have a strong opinion on this weapon, other than it just feels like a really slow Heavy. The full charge takes forever and the strafe speed is still just mediocre after stacking two mains of Run Speed. At least getting the full charge does reward you with an absurdly long fire duration, that's fun. The range is nice too, it somehow feels further than it really is, and you can correct your aim unlike with chargers. More than with other weapons, I found it important to always have a painted escape route to back up with. While Hydra does have its redeeming qualities, I prefer the flexibility you get with Heavy.

Splatana Stamper
Figured this would be quick because I already had it at 2 stars, but no unfortunately I am bad on this weapon. It's actually not too hard to hit shots with even with the longer travel time, but the problem is that landing a shot isn't enough, you NEED to combo. Burst bombs are great for this, but fairly ink hungry if you rely on them too much. Hitting 3 horizontals is too slow, so your most reliable combo is charge slash into a horizontal. The charge melee hitbox is nice, it feels like it has a much bigger hitbox than wiper. Didn't go for too many spaced slashes during zipcaster, instead just using the arm more like with Squiffer. Another weapon with a high skill floor and ceiling. The kit is really fun anyway (honestly any kit with Zipcaster is fun by default).

H-3 Nozzlenose
Feels more different from L3 than I expected, especially because it has Endlag™. But at least you can kill with one burst-fire tap now, and it's really satisfying thanks to that click sound (that the bows also reused lol). If your aim is on point, this thing is a beast. It just deletes people. But if you miss, it's pretty bad at fighting up close, it's like a blaster without the AOE. It has good range and doesn't make much noise, so I had fun surprising the backlines. The kit is great at farming assists (sensor, cooler, shots from main) so I tried Opening Gambit for a bit. It didn't end up worth it since you can't get cooler before the first fight. But running Special Saver/Charge really helps, this is an underrated cooler weapon. It's more interesting than L3 so I like it better.

Explosher
Among the MANY weapons in this game, a select few stand out for having a really strong identity, and Explosher is one of them. It's aesthetics go hard, and also (like Tent) has unique gameplay that no other weapon replicates. Sloshers as a whole get fairly experimental with their projectiles, but c'mon, explosions?! They're so good too: big hitboxes, long range, good paint, decent chance to 2 shot. It's very satisfying to get faraway kills, and feels very different from charger snipes. It invalidates cover, so you can make it incredibly difficult for people to approach you. Though if someone does you're kinda helpless, the best you can do is throw a sensor to alert others and try your best to trade. But that didn't happen to me often, and I didn't really die all that much. It also doesn't bother me that this weapon is ink hungry, but it DOES bother me that the ink recovery lag is sooo long! Anyway, my final impression is that they keep this weapon a bit weak because if it was any better it would be too easy.

.96 Gal
I finally found a shooter I actively dislike to play. I didn't even do poorly on this one, I just don't like the way it feels. Sorry to be so negative right off the bat. I'll start with the positives: you get more range over .52 Gal and slightly more damage. A 2 shot at that range is insane, we're approaching Trizooka levels of unreactability. But the tradeoffs are in strafe speed, fire rate, and shot spread. The strafing being noticeably slower caught me off guard. I don't like how it feels, but it's fair given how strong the shots are and it makes the weapon feel like a turret of sorts. But compounded with the slow fire rate and awful shot RNG this can be miserable to play. It feels like the weapon just choses not to work sometimes, and missing just one shot makes your kill time much longer. I do think it's balanced fairly. A buff to any of its weaknesses would probably make this thing really annoying to play against, but probably not much better to play as.

Carbon Roller Deco
I know, it's a little weird I've 3 starred the vanilla Carbon but not this one. In my defense, most of my vcarbon playtime was before the 2nd kit released, and I did already have Deco halfway to 3 stars before now. Anyway the kit here is obviously much better. Carbon and Burst Bombs go hand in hand more than any other main and sub combo in the game, to the point that everyone considers this the "default" carbon kit over the vanilla. And those combos definitely feel good, especially when you get multiple people one after another. Though like with Stamper, if you go for nothing but burst combos you'll have to spend a lot of time recovering ink. Zooka is broken, and to have it on an already amazing main and sub combo makes this another candidate for best kit in the game.

Undercover Brella
You know, I didn't do so well on this weapon, but I didn't hate it? Like I actually enjoyed this one. It's definitely as weak as everyone says it is, but idk at least it's fairly easy to control. The shield is weaker but somehow more reliable than regular Brella. It also has a faster fire rate with longer range. A bit unintuitive that the "small" brella gets more range than the medium one, but it needs it. It has decent paint that kind of reminds me of Wiper's, and a good strafe speed that stacks really well with Run Speed. It feels easier to play to it's survivability, which you want to do because you definitely can't kill on your own as easily. The kit is... there. It's not the worst in the game anymore, but Undercover has little synergy with mines and almost none with slider. But I managed to play to each piece well enough to get by. Weirdly enough it reminds me of silver Aerospray: weak fighting capabilities but decent paint, mobility, and Reefslider zones cheese.

Rapid Blaster Pro
Wow this feels a lot like Rapid Blaster. I'm sure there are some other stat changes but it really feels likes it's just longer and slower, that's it. Admittedly the range does make Pro play much more like a true backline. It's long enough to contest other backlines fairly easily, but you have to survive being in their sight long enough to hit 2-3 shots. If you hit someone and they run for cover, the AOE is just enough to squeeze another hit or two in, which is nice. You really can't let anyone get close to you because you are helpless, but that doesn't mean you can't play aggressively. With the right vantage points you can threaten people while still being relatively safe and hard to reach. All that is easier said than done though. I once again broke the "most games to 3 star" record I just set on New Squiffer. While I think this weapon is fine, I just wish they did more to make it feel unique from Rapid. With how many blasters there are, do we really need two Rapids? One's gotta go, but I'm not sure which.

Bamboozler 14 Mk I
Wrapping things up with the goofiest charger in the game. The game design on this is pretty funny. Most of its stats are designed around its "pew pew" combo. The fast charge time, longer range than Squiffer(?!?!), fast tap shots that have the same range as full charges, and larger hit radius. It's all meant to be fairly forgiving with your aim. Also the kit is really great, it builds on the chip damage idea by letting you combo with Wail damage and Autobombs, making you really effective at flushing out an area. I ran Sub Saver to spam bombs and be generally annoying. I loved being able to throw one, pop wail, and use the ink tank refill to throw another. Realized afterwards that I could have stacked more SS and actually had 2 bombs per tank, meaning I could throw out 4 bombs with my special and recreate the Autobomb Launcher. I swear I actually hit people with this gun, I didn't just bomb spam the entire time lol. Anyway this one was fun and relaxing after having some fairly difficult (for me) weapons during this batch.

Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it! Still a lot more weapons to get through so I'll be back with another 10 later.

 

[Grushi]

A 2 shot at that range is insane, we're approaching Trizooka levels of unreactability.

Love that haha

 

[vitellary]

Splatana Stamper
Figured this would be quick because I already had it at 2 stars, but no unfortunately I am bad on this weapon.

yeah it's crazy how long it takes to feel comfortable with stamper, i kept throwing myself at it because i really liked its playstyle and felt like i barely started getting used to it at 3 stars. i've got 4 stars on it now and i Still feel kinda weak with it sometimes

 

[youre_a_squib_now]

A 2 shot at that range is insane, we're approaching Trizooka levels of unreactability.

Who's gonna tell him about chargers

 

[DVDo]

Update #5

It's been a while this time, but I'm back again with more 3 starred weapons. I'm gonna be honest, I took a break from this challenge midway through this batch to grind X battles a bit. I missed playing Octo and Painbrush too much. Anyway, let's get to it!

Spoiler: Batch 5

Glooga Dualies
Every time I play a dualies weapon I leave with the impression that I should just be playing more dualies. I've heard comparisons of Gloogas to .52 Gal, and that's warranted. Similar fire rate and range, both have walls and use them pretty well. The damage isn't as broken (it's "only" a 3 shot), but the really cool thing is that you can roll to get more range and get 52.5 damage! It turns you into a better 52 Gal for a moment, which is terrifying. The tradeoff is that the rolls are slow and committal, which I don't like the feeling of as much. Especially how long it takes to start firing, it feels vulnerable for a decent chunk of time. That's why the wall is there I suppose, and together with Booyah Bomb it has a solid kit. It works out to be a very healthy alternative version of 52 Gal.

N'ZAP '85
Feels kind of funny to go back to such a simple shooter after playing all those weirder long range ones. It's fire rate is very fast by comparison, even more than Splattershot. It's lower damage (4 shot), but still has similar range. It paints quickly and gets cooler from it which is incredibly valuable. Y'all already know that though, this weapon has been meta relevant for nearly the entire game's lifespan. I'll just say it's fun due to being flexible between fighting and playing support.

Ballpoint Splatling
Time to finally try out Ballpoint! I kind of miss seeing it everywhere. There's definitely a bit of a learning curve with the two firing modes. You have to get a feel for how long the short range mode lasts before it switches to long range, and how recharging mid-fire affects that. But once I got the hang of it, it played pretty nice. You have more survivability up close but can still do backline stuff just fine. Felt similar enough to Heavy that I actually thought "wait, what's the downside supposed to be?" I guess it's just that you have to wait a bit for your long range mode to start? Or maybe the fire rate's a tad slower? The kit is really good too (though Fizzy/Jet would be good on pretty much any weapon).

REEF-LUX 450 Deco
Flux is satisfying to play in the same way Squiffer is, mostly due to having quick-charging one shots at similar ranges. But Flux also has a lot of variation with how it does damage with its horizontal and vertical shots and different charge levels, so it feels pretty distinct. After balance changes it's ok at fighting now and still the best painter in the game. But uh, this kit is laughably bad lol, a contender for worst in the game, no synergy at all. I got lucky enough to find the perfect rotation to play it in: Zones on Hammerhead and ROM-en. Wall is great for closing off chokepoints like the main entry to the zone on Romen (and like the entire width of Hammerhead). Slider similarly works well when people have nowhere to run. This meant that it was much easier to lockout the other team if we ever took control, though I couldn't help much if we lost control and needed to retake. Still had fun here since I like the main already, but man the vanilla kit is much better. Maybe this kit should've just gotten a normal Splat Bomb, that'd help it have aggressive power alongside it's slider and in contrast to the main weapon's requirement for precision.

Bloblobber
This one was oddly relaxing to play? It's more laidback than other weapons due to how its unusual shots work. The trail of bubbles is good for painting and chipping at people from a distance. It rewards you for finding good angles to attack from. You can't fight people directly as much because the bubbles are slow moving and you need to hit all 4, but you can make it hell for people to exist by swarming them with bubbles that paint over and weaken them. Sprinkler/Rain solidify this weapon as paint support, and honestly the main weapon has ok ink efficiency so you can easily contest the zone yourself if you have a safe spot to do so from. It's a great support but really lacks in fighting power, though I suppose dedicated Blob mains could get really good at leading their shots and bouncing off of walls to make up for it.

Clash Blaster
I expected to like this one despite it being pretty bad, especially considering I'm such a short range AOE fan. It's fine I guess, but it definitely struggles with its long kill times. It's ok if you manage to hit 2 directs, but that's still much slower than just hitting a direct with Luna for example. The large hitbox does mean you'll always at least hit indirects, and it makes it hard for people to run behind cover. So as long as people forget to look at you for 4 seconds, they will die. The main weapon is mid, but it got a cracked kit of Splat Bomb/Zooka. This is THE stupidly large hitbox kit. Both tools help with poking at range, which Clash desperately needs. I ran a main of Sub Power Up and was surprised with just how far you can actually chuck that thing. The kit nearly saves this weapon, but I'd still rather play Luna.

Splash-o-matic
The last of the really vanilla shooters. Feels a lot like N-ZAP (3 shots again, but shorter range, still good paint). Main difference is that it has insane accuracy and it doesn't get worse when you jump. Makes the gun feel very reliable, and being able to jump freely both helps with its range and feels unique to other shooters. The kit is also godlike of course. Burst can combo with 2-3 shots and gives that extra bit of range. It has good shooter movement that you can use to get into position and suddenly you're a Crab Tank on the Eeltail bridge looking into the enemy spawn. The kit does it all, can't really go wrong with picking it.

Flingza Roller
I think it's funny that Flingza is supposed to be this "multipurpose" weapon when in reality it's kind of just a vertical-flick bot. The vertical is just so much better than the horizontal that you really want to be using it as much as possible. It paints a lot and has good range with ok damage to fight safely from some distances. The only reason to use horizontal is for quick up close kills, where it does its job. Considering the kit's focus on outputting tons of Tenta Missiles, it ended up being a bit of a training exercise on getting the most value out of every special use, especially since the time you spend painting for it takes you away from team fights. I tried to target whoever was giving the other team the most value: an oppressive backline, a skilled slayer, or anyone who was just in a really annoying position. Targeting fewer, more important players instead of the whole team in order to not spread out the missiles too much made them a lot more effective (who'da thunk?). I think I had fun? I don't care for the playstyle as much but it was kind of satisfying when it worked.

Goo Tuber
Wasn't expecting it but this one is surprisingly fun to use. The reticle tells you when a partial charge can kill, and that really helps you get a sense of what you can pull off. Killing with partials doesn't do the usual loud charger pierce sound and instead sounds like an MLG hitmarker which I think is really funny. The slow charge time is a bit annoying but not intrusive at all, and it's nice not to have to worry about charge holds running out. If you love charge holds this is the weapon for you, it even has tech that works like sub strafing for even more movement flexibility. The range isn't great in terms of being a backline but it is serviceable. The paint is good, at least up close. The amount of tapshot painting you do makes Goo Tuber the most button-mashy charger weirdly enough. Oh and the kit is really good, both Torpedo and Missiles help locate people, deal with blind spots you can't hit with the main, and are very spammable. It's funny to come off of the first missiles weapon in this challenge and get another one right away. It'll be the last one too, unless they add it to a future weapon.

Light Tetra Dualies
Wrapping up with a quick one, since I've already played and loved Dark Tetras and had a smidge of progress on this one. If you recall, when I tried out Splat Dualies for the first time I thought I might like them more. I'm not sure about which I like more now, because trying out this kit reminded me that Tetras are still very fun and play differently. Tetras get to fight and slide around constantly. Even if the kill time is slower, you are a lot harder to hit so you can survive longer. Being able to shoot during the rolls also makes certain kills look very flashy. Sprinkler is a shame here, but you can just chuck it in annoying spots to add pressure. It helps charge the special too, and kind of frees up your gear dependency a good bit. But Zipcaster is really good here. Unlike most Zip weapons you don't want to fight in the air much. Instead it's better to use it to get onto enemy platforms and fight with the main directly. I really like playing both Tetras kits, it just sucks that half of each kit is weak.

That does it for now, thankfully this round didn't have many difficult to play weapons. Next batch should wrap up most of the main weapons, and then we start returning to weapons for their 2nd kits after that. See ya then!

 

[DVDo]

Update #6

Alright, one last batch of weapons before Sizzle season starts!

Spoiler: Batch 6

Recycled Brella 24 Mk I
I was very interested in trying this one out since it seemed designed around the shotgun itself rather than the brella shield. The shield is flimsy and easily destroyed, but it travels fast, paints well, and regenerates quickly. The gun has a whopping 90 max damage, and the pellet spread is more focused so you will likely hit at least 60 damage every time, making it a reliable 2 shot. The problem is that since the shield is so weak, you are more vulnerable during the time it takes the 2nd shot to come out. At least with its 90 damage it will combo with nearly anything, like your brella shield, line marker, or stray hits from teammates. Line marker is good (enough) here, it gives you your fastest kill time, but going for it often drains your ink tank. The funny thing with the fast-regenerating shield is that it almost works like a 2nd sub weapon: you can use it like a curling bomb to set up a bubbler, or like a tiny splash wall to tank bombs and charger shots. This is probably my favorite brella to play since it's the least like a brella.

Nautilus 79
This one was a breeze. Naut is definitely the easiest splatling to play since you get flexible charging mechanics, good midline range, and a fast fire rate. Its vanilla kit is good because Ink Storm is good and Sensor works well with it. This kit trades utility for explosions. Having a suction bomb is always good, it does more to pressure people than sensor does. And people are hyping up Triple Splashdown lately since it got its buff. I've never played it pre-buff so I don't know what that felt like but I can confirm it feels good to use now. I never died during it which I suppose means either I was using it well, or the buff just makes it much harder to counter now. Either way this kit feels as good as or better than the vanilla one.

Neo Sploosh-o-matic
Sploosh is funny, it's just this little rat gun with pitiful range that sneaks around and deletes people when they don't expect it. I enjoy playing it because I'm used to sneaking in with Octobrush. In terms of the ambush playstyle this is much stronger since it kills so fast, but the tradeoff is that it can't fight normally since everything outranges it. The vanilla kit makes this more bearable because it has curling bomb to compliment its already great mobility, and Stamp can help it force its way in. Meanwhile this kit is boring. You don't have a sub weapon you can fight with, and while Wail has range it does nothing to protect you. The kit incentives you to avoid fights, set up beacons in the corners of the map, and spam Wail at the other team from far away. You can play up close if you want to, but you don't have the tools to help you do that. Sooooo this kit sucks imo.

Dread Wringer
Weeee this one is fun. I like how simple this one is on paper, it's just a normal slosher but with an extra, delayed slosh. Makes it feel like it could've been in Splatoon 1, especially compared to all the other funky bucket projectiles. I'm also surprised I like it when I didn't care for normal Slosher much. It feels like you get more bang for your slosh I guess. The paint output is very good, and it's okay at fighting. You need to hit 3 sloshes but should only need to slosh twice, which doesn't take too long, and the damage numbers are high too. Overall it's well rounded and feels like it can handle a variety of matchups. The only real problem with the kit is Reefslider, but it's not too bad if you play exclusively Zones like I did here.

S-BLAST '92
Another really cool weapon concept, I love that there's another Nintendo branded weapon in the game. I'm not sure why they looked at the Super Scope and decided "this should be a blaster." My first thought would be to make it a scoped charger, but maybe this is the better timeline anyway. It still has two firing modes like it does in Smash Bros., but it's a bit different here. The standard long range mode is good, but the blast is so tiny that it doesn't count as AOE anymore, you're just sniping people essentially. The large short range hitbox is the standout part of the weapon, it's hard to miss with it. It plays a lot like Luna so I felt right at home. But having access to both modes at any given moment is nice for versatility. The kit of Sprinkler/Slider is a shame, but it works on Zones pretty well (sounds familiar...). It's ok tho, this one got a really good 2nd kit that I'll get to try later, and I still had fun playing this anyway.

Squeezer
The final, uh, semi-auto(???) weapon? It's not burst fire like the nozzles, and it DOES have a fully automatic painting mode... but you DO need to fire repeatedly for fighting mode so half of it IS a semi-auto... so it's a semi-semi-auto? A hybrid semi-auto? Specific wording aside, you have to mash with this one, and the speed you have to mash is pretty fast (feels faster than Octobrush but slower than Inkbrush to me?). I find mashing while playing a shooter weapon annoying as I've said before, but the reward is really good here, since the long range mode is broken. 3 shots to kill and they travel fast. You also have a Wall to help hold your ground in annoying spots, and Squeezer is efficient enough that it doesn't hurt your ink tank too bad if you use it. Zooka good. As powerful as the kit is, I really felt the main drawback of it being the paint. The long range shots barely paint, and while it sure is nice to have the painting mode, it's only short range paint, and even then it doesn't compare to the speed of Zap or Splash. So it can't reliably paint forward for its team like other backlines will do, and has to rely on getting picks to get its team in (which to be fair it is very good at doing).

Big Swig Roller
Like a funhouse version of a Roller lol. The paint trail is super wide, the horizontal flick is super huge and actually paints thoroughly, the vertical flick gives you the ink path of a discount curling bomb, it's all very silly. The damage is weak, so you aren't likely to be fighting much. This plays primarily as a support weapon and not much else. You can technically shark in and get ambush kills, but if you're gonna play that way there's no reason not to pick something better at that playstyle like Roller or Carbon. The Splash Wall is horrible here, all it helps you do is stand in place and paint, you don't have much kill power so you will have to move anyway. Ink Vac is okay, you can cover for your team and get a huge paint burst that compliments your already amazing paint. Not ideal but it works. This kit is a mess tho, which is a shame because I do think the main weapon is funny and would be fun to play around with casually.

Snipewriter 5H
Already 2 starred it, but it still took me a bit to finish. At first I thought my aim was just off, but I realized later that my controller was actually developing drift in the right stick. So I had a harder time than what I remembered from first trying this weapon. I think the concept is really cool, getting multiple shots per charge makes it more forgiving than other backline chargers (with the tradeoff that you need 2 hits to kill) and its design being inspired by those "stacking point" pencils is pretty nostalgic. I know this weapon gets hate for being a strong meta option for so long, so calling this weapon "cool" can feel cringe right now unfortunately. It's definitely overtuned but I stand behind it being cool! I see most people saying it should get a paint nerf, but I'd rather see a range nerf to force it to play a bit more forward. It already got a points for special nerf for Cooler but it could maybe get another lol.

Splattershot Nova
Tried running Opening Gambit the whole time as this is the weapon to do it with. As I was playing I constantly had the whole enemy team marked which was actually pretty useful for defense especially from sharks and flanks. This kit really is designed to just be annoying to fight, since aside from being marked there's also Wail that locates and pushes you around. The speed from Gambit does help with survival and fighting up close which helps Nova a lot. It's not very accurate and takes 5(!) shots to kill. It feels like Splattershot Pro but tuned more for painting instead of damage. It was while playing this weapon that I realized my controller was 100% drifting, pulling my aim to the left every now and then. Switched to a set of fat joycons I have to finish up the weapon, but I was kind of upset that I was being held back for basically the entirety of these last two weapons. Anyway this gun is fine and I guess a little fun.

Douser Dualies FF
Took apart my Pro Controller to clean it out and got the sticks working like new again, so I was able to play Dousers with no issue. I like that they are related to Hydra Splatling in theme, but instead of a fire hydrant these are tiny fire extinguishers! The normal fire reminds me of Jet Squelcher, except the range is a bit shorter and you have 2 reticles of course. The kill time isn't great and it's worsened by the fact you need to line up both reticles. But that's where the singular dodge roll comes in. It moves much further than other dualies, and the turret fire changes completely. It's a very fast fire rate (reminiscent of Hydra) but with shorter range and high ink cost. Despite those downsides it's a great option for fighting with. Initially I didn't do so well because I was trying to play this like a backline (given its Jet/Hydra similarities) but really this is more of a midline fighting weapon with extra range (like Splatana Stamper). It likes to play forward to take advantage of its turret fire, but it also happens to be decent at backlining if it has to at any point. The kit it has now (Mine/Wail) is mostly a backline kit and that's fine. It's kit next season looks like it will be more aggressive, and if it gets Burst bomb will probably be really good!

I had fun trying out a lot of the new S3 main weapons this time! There are only 4 main weapons left (including the new bow/sword next season) before I start revisiting weapons for their 2nd kits. I'll probably take a bit of a break to grind X rank until the season ends so I can play the new weapons in the next batch. That new sword looks so cool! That's all for now, thanks for reading.

 

[DVDo]

Update #7

Hello it is me back with the seventh set of weapons, including the new bow and sword! Time to wrap up every remaining main weapon I have yet to play.

Spoiler: Batch 7

Inkbrush Nouveau
I finally get to write about a brush for this dang series. I love brushes, but I don't play the Inkbrush as much, since I prefer Octo's slower mash speed, bigger hitbox, and better damage. But the fast roll speed on Inkbrush is very satisfying to use, no other weapon gives quite the same rush of speed. It's so easy to get behind people and be a nuisance. It's a bit hard to actually get close enough to kill, but it's also pretty easy to run away if you need to. The vanilla kit has good tools to get in, but this one does not. Mines and Stamp are very useful once you are already in on the enemy team, but they won't help you get there (stamp can, but it is unreliable). The kit is fine but the vanilla one surpasses it both strength-wise and fun-wise.

Heavy Edit Splatling
Had it at 1 star already, I tried it out before because I play Zimi and this is similarly a shorter range splatling. I like it! It charge much more slowly, but the fire rate scales with the charge time and gets you super fast shots (idk if Hydra is faster?). It feels great to handle and has pretty good sound design. Again like Dread Wringer, I like how they made a new weapon in an established class and it doesn't feel over-engineered like other newer additions. It's just the charge/firerate gimmick and it's fairly simple. I forgot to use the curling bomb, but the weapon is a great cooler support so the kit is pretty good too. (That new Nedit kit tho )

Mint Decavitator
Now this was what I was really excited to play this season. At first it didn't look "heavy" compared to Stamper, but it does have several traits, namely ink efficiency and frame data, that do contribute to it feeling heavier after playing it for a while. It also just has a completely different playstyle thanks to the removal of vertical slashes and its lengthy lunge distance. Giant hitbox that's hard to miss, but limited in range so proper positioning is key. Still a bit of a learning curve but I overcame it much faster than Stamper, this thing is SO satisfying to use and get chains of kills with. Along with nearly every other sword it is blessed with a good kit. Suction is always good, and this is clearly the next best Bubble weapon after Roller since you can charge in to set it up and you have similar hitboxes to keep people out. Gonna be playing this one a lot.

Wellstring V
The madlads did it, 5 crosshairs at once! This feels like an unusual cross between the other two bows, but also like neither of them at the same time. It has long range explosive shots like Tri-Stringer, but they can't easily one shot due to their wide spread. It instead has a short range oneshot like Flux, but it's only at the middle of its charge when the crosshairs align, so there's a timing requirement and it cannot be held ready. Tap shots paint like Flux only slower. Thanks to its 5 shots, it's best at area denial and object damage. I like that it has decent tools to fight at every range using just the main weapon itself. Autobomb is a good sub, and Stamp works ok for the range that Wellstring likes to play at I suppose. Pretty interesting weapon that I likely won't play much myself but am interested in seeing others experiment with.

That does it, every main weapon 3 starred on at least one kit! The only mains that didn't get an entry (Octobrush, Painbrush, Wiper, and Splattershot Pro) are because I already 3 starred both kits before this challenge. This victory is very short lived however, as there are still plenty of 2nd kits to get to! So time to get right back to it.

Sorella Brella
Weird one to do first, I know, but it's just where it happened to land on the list. I remember having a really bad time on the vanilla kit, but knowing that everyone agrees the vanilla kit is garbage and that the Sorella kit is perfect, I was interested in giving it another chance. The killpower still felt less than ideal, but I actually managed to get kills this time (maybe due to practice on Recycle?). I even found occasional use in launching the shield, like getting a Power Clam in or approaching a Jet Squelcher. And yeah, the kit synergizes much better, particularly being able to shield your Inkjet recall. My first few Inkjets went horribly wrong, I was rusty. There are so few Inkjet kits in this game, I 3 starred all the first kits and still hardly played it! But using Inkjet properly at least can have a noticeable impact on a match. I still don't personally like Brella much, but this kit makes it feel much better.

Custom Blaster
Got into a groove on this thing very soon after picking it up. I feel this kit has been forgotten lately, but now that Triple Splashdown is buffed this kit is pretty good actually. Sensor helps against getting rushed as easily and has much better location than Autobomb, so while you lose the bomb you get to instead do more with the main weapon. Splashdown is very reliable for cleaning up kills, clearing Tower, or getting people off of you. The kit is a killing machine, I got higher than usual KDs in the 20s. Might be an underrated weapon (even if likely not meta).

Custom Splattershot Jr.
The fake Custom weapon! I did really well on this one and got it done quickly, about as fast as Luna Blaster. This is probably the most intentionally annoying weapon to fight design wise. Having fun with Cjr means ruining everyone else's day. I ran sub saver and power up to be able to chuck torpedoes very far and very often, finding sharkers/flankers and pestering backlines. Out of ink? Pop Wavebreaker to throw another two Torps! Between paint spam, torp spam, and wave spam I got a lot of accidental kills. All that on top of what I got with the main weapon, since it's still a shooter with great movement ability and fast fire rate. Just braindead fun.

Slosher Deco
Ok so a long time ago when I was still newer to S3 I tried out this weapon and nearly 3 starred it, to the point I only needed 5 games (and only 2 wins) to finish it now. My thoughts on Slosher as a main don't change much I think, I still don't like how the sloshes feel for whatever reason. But I like this kit more anyway because Zipcaster is more fun to use (it was the reason I was interested in it before). Yeah the dart sucks, it does give you a combo but it requires line of sight which goes against how Slosher likes to hit over cover. It's just here to avoid giving it burst bomb lol. Not much else to say since I didn't play it much, but it's cool I guess.

L-3 Nozzlenose D
Ugh. My opinion on L3 as a main weapon has significantly gotten worse after playing this kit. It just doesn't have any particularly good traits that make it worth playing. You loose continuous fire but don't really gain anything in return. Neither of its kits are really that bad on paper and would be strong on other weapons, but L3 is weak so the kits fall flat. Curling/Crab is a great kit that would work on a lot of weapons (similar to 52 and Hedit kits). This kit has Stamp which is weak, but paired with Burst it is very workable. Unfortunately, burst only removes 1 shot out of the 4 required to splat, and Stamp does very little to help deal with long range threats that I feel L3 struggles with. I know L3 just got a slight damage buff, but it really needs something more because it doesn't have anything that makes it worth picking over other options.

Now that 1st kits are done and I've done a few 2nd kits, I'm halfway done with this challenge! Specifically, 52% complete! I noticed that my writing style changed throughout the challenge and seemed to drift more towards analyzing each weapon mechanically rather than giving my general opinion of my time with it. Now that I've covered every main weapon I don't have to discuss the mechanics as much, so I'll try to give shorter and more experience-based reviews going forward. I tried to do this with this batch as well, so hopefully you noticed an improvement already.

 

[DeNA/デナ NOT A TEC COMPANY]

oh this is fun! i started about 5 seasons ago. when you really sit down to look at a weapons strengths and weaknesses, you can pull of some amazing things first try >B3

 

[Lumi]

Update #7

Hello it is me back with the seventh set of weapons, including the new bow and sword! Time to wrap up every remaining main weapon I have yet to play.

Spoiler: Batch 7

Inkbrush Nouveau
I finally get to write about a brush for this dang series. I love brushes, but I don't play the Inkbrush as much, since I prefer Octo's slower mash speed, bigger hitbox, and better damage. But the fast roll speed on Inkbrush is very satisfying to use, no other weapon gives quite the same rush of speed. It's so easy to get behind people and be a nuisance. It's a bit hard to actually get close enough to kill, but it's also pretty easy to run away if you need to. The vanilla kit has good tools to get in, but this one does not. Mines and Stamp are very useful once you are already in on the enemy team, but they won't help you get there (stamp can, but it is unreliable). The kit is fine but the vanilla one surpasses it both strength-wise and fun-wise.

Heavy Edit Splatling
Had it at 1 star already, I tried it out before because I play Zimi and this is similarly a shorter range splatling. I like it! It charge much more slowly, but the fire rate scales with the charge time and gets you super fast shots (idk if Hydra is faster?). It feels great to handle and has pretty good sound design. Again like Dread Wringer, I like how they made a new weapon in an established class and it doesn't feel over-engineered like other newer additions. It's just the charge/firerate gimmick and it's fairly simple. I forgot to use the curling bomb, but the weapon is a great cooler support so the kit is pretty good too. (That new Nedit kit tho )

Mint Decavitator
Now this was what I was really excited to play this season. At first it didn't look "heavy" compared to Stamper, but it does have several traits, namely ink efficiency and frame data, that do contribute to it feeling heavier after playing it for a while. It also just has a completely different playstyle thanks to the removal of vertical slashes and its lengthy lunge distance. Giant hitbox that's hard to miss, but limited in range so proper positioning is key. Still a bit of a learning curve but I overcame it much faster than Stamper, this thing is SO satisfying to use and get chains of kills with. Along with nearly every other sword it is blessed with a good kit. Suction is always good, and this is clearly the next best Bubble weapon after Roller since you can charge in to set it up and you have similar hitboxes to keep people out. Gonna be playing this one a lot.

Wellstring V
The madlads did it, 5 crosshairs at once! This feels like an unusual cross between the other two bows, but also like neither of them at the same time. It has long range explosive shots like Tri-Stringer, but they can't easily one shot due to their wide spread. It instead has a short range oneshot like Flux, but it's only at the middle of its charge when the crosshairs align, so there's a timing requirement and it cannot be held ready. Tap shots paint like Flux only slower. Thanks to its 5 shots, it's best at area denial and object damage. I like that it has decent tools to fight at every range using just the main weapon itself. Autobomb is a good sub, and Stamp works ok for the range that Wellstring likes to play at I suppose. Pretty interesting weapon that I likely won't play much myself but am interested in seeing others experiment with.

That does it, every main weapon 3 starred on at least one kit! The only mains that didn't get an entry (Octobrush, Painbrush, Wiper, and Splattershot Pro) are because I already 3 starred both kits before this challenge. This victory is very short lived however, as there are still plenty of 2nd kits to get to! So time to get right back to it.

Sorella Brella
Weird one to do first, I know, but it's just where it happened to land on the list. I remember having a really bad time on the vanilla kit, but knowing that everyone agrees the vanilla kit is garbage and that the Sorella kit is perfect, I was interested in giving it another chance. The killpower still felt less than ideal, but I actually managed to get kills this time (maybe due to practice on Recycle?). I even found occasional use in launching the shield, like getting a Power Clam in or approaching a Jet Squelcher. And yeah, the kit synergizes much better, particularly being able to shield your Inkjet recall. My first few Inkjets went horribly wrong, I was rusty. There are so few Inkjet kits in this game, I 3 starred all the first kits and still hardly played it! But using Inkjet properly at least can have a noticeable impact on a match. I still don't personally like Brella much, but this kit makes it feel much better.

Custom Blaster
Got into a groove on this thing very soon after picking it up. I feel this kit has been forgotten lately, but now that Triple Splashdown is buffed this kit is pretty good actually. Sensor helps against getting rushed as easily and has much better location than Autobomb, so while you lose the bomb you get to instead do more with the main weapon. Splashdown is very reliable for cleaning up kills, clearing Tower, or getting people off of you. The kit is a killing machine, I got higher than usual KDs in the 20s. Might be an underrated weapon (even if likely not meta).

Custom Splattershot Jr.
The fake Custom weapon! I did really well on this one and got it done quickly, about as fast as Luna Blaster. This is probably the most intentionally annoying weapon to fight design wise. Having fun with Cjr means ruining everyone else's day. I ran sub saver and power up to be able to chuck torpedoes very far and very often, finding sharkers/flankers and pestering backlines. Out of ink? Pop Wavebreaker to throw another two Torps! Between paint spam, torp spam, and wave spam I got a lot of accidental kills. All that on top of what I got with the main weapon, since it's still a shooter with great movement ability and fast fire rate. Just braindead fun.

Slosher Deco
Ok so a long time ago when I was still newer to S3 I tried out this weapon and nearly 3 starred it, to the point I only needed 5 games (and only 2 wins) to finish it now. My thoughts on Slosher as a main don't change much I think, I still don't like how the sloshes feel for whatever reason. But I like this kit more anyway because Zipcaster is more fun to use (it was the reason I was interested in it before). Yeah the dart sucks, it does give you a combo but it requires line of sight which goes against how Slosher likes to hit over cover. It's just here to avoid giving it burst bomb lol. Not much else to say since I didn't play it much, but it's cool I guess.

L-3 Nozzlenose D
Ugh. My opinion on L3 as a main weapon has significantly gotten worse after playing this kit. It just doesn't have any particularly good traits that make it worth playing. You loose continuous fire but don't really gain anything in return. Neither of its kits are really that bad on paper and would be strong on other weapons, but L3 is weak so the kits fall flat. Curling/Crab is a great kit that would work on a lot of weapons (similar to 52 and Hedit kits). This kit has Stamp which is weak, but paired with Burst it is very workable. Unfortunately, burst only removes 1 shot out of the 4 required to splat, and Stamp does very little to help deal with long range threats that I feel L3 struggles with. I know L3 just got a slight damage buff, but it really needs something more because it doesn't have anything that makes it worth picking over other options.

Now that 1st kits are done and I've done a few 2nd kits, I'm halfway done with this challenge! Specifically, 52% complete! I noticed that my writing style changed throughout the challenge and seemed to drift more towards analyzing each weapon mechanically rather than giving my general opinion of my time with it. Now that I've covered every main weapon I don't have to discuss the mechanics as much, so I'll try to give shorter and more experience-based reviews going forward. I tried to do this with this batch as well, so hopefully you noticed an improvement already.

Regarding the "idk if Hydra is faster?" question under the Heavy Edit Splatling Review: It's actually not! ^^

All Splatlings actually share the exact same fire rate of having a 4-frame delay between each shot (15 shots per second). The only two exceptions to this are Heavy Edit Splatling when it is fully charged (at which point it drops to a 3-frame delay between shots, so 20 shots per second) and Ballpoint's Long Range mode which is the opposite: 5-frame delay between shots resulting in 12 shots per second. (Technically its Short Range mode is 3-frames per shot just like Edit's Full Charge but you don't want to rely on that in combat too much)

Funny enough, if you compare all the Splatlings' fire rate and damage, you'll realise that -besides Hydra's and Edit's full charge bonuses/Ballpoint's Fire Rate Reduction- everything takes the exact same time to splat someone: 4 shots with 4 frames of delay between each one, resulting in a 12-frame splat (not counting bullet travel time which fluctuates wildly between the different Splatlings). This is actually the exact same kill time as Splattershot (which requires only 3 shots to splat but has a 6-frame delay between each, resulting again in 12-frame splats without accounting for misses or bullet travel time).