A serious discussion on the Clash Blaster

[jimjonjoe]

I don't want to spark an argument (bad way to start a post) and I agree that clash doesn't really aim that much for most shots, but learning about diving and manipulating fights so that you always are in the right spot to pop off is a helpful skill. A good clash player will take advantage of sharking to get easy multikills, and that's kinda on the enemy team for not catching it.

oh, for sure - clash isn't skill-less by any means, but the trouble is that it relies on the enemy team to not catch it (or at least not react to it in time) at most levels of play.

 

[takoyakispl]

It's an underrated weapon if you're serious about being the slayer of your team. Before the arrival of S-Blast, Clash had the largest explosion radius of any Blaster, ensuring something would get hit. You can say low TTS all you want, being able to guarantee damage is its own quality.

Now I never found a good build for Clash, especially not on Sendou. EVERYONE seems to think of Clash as a QR weapon, but it isn't. Simply because as a whole Clash lacks the overall abilities to work by itself. That poor ink trail between itself and its explosion means I gotta work on my mobility, and I've tried everything, including a superjump build.

I know I want Haunt, Stealth Jump and at the very least 9AP of Ink Saver Sub. I am heavily reliant on my bombs. Until now, I've been experimenting with 9AP Swim Speed, 9AP Ink Resistance (cuz I'm always standing and trading), QSJ, Special Saver and a Ink Recovery. The most reasonable change is -6ink res and -3swim speed for Comeback. I'm still not against adding more QSJ because jumping after a splat still seems like the safest option.

Anyone here SERIOUSLY into Clash?

Hi there! I play nclash and have some actual builds for it on sendou https://sendou.ink/u/takoyakifgc/builds?weapon=231 generally for clash you wanna put a lot inti swim speed, and on nclash ns can work if uou play it right. I'm a vclash hater but it still likes ssu, and is most likely to run something similar to vshot - the intensify if you don't wanna run qr. Sub saver could work as well if you want. I personally think if you wanna play clash for the clash blaster part and not the splat bomb + 170p zooka part nclash kit does a good deal for the weapon, but each piece is individually so undertuned it's fairly weak and vclash ends up being marginally better in the end lol. But clash being able to force itself into annoying spots and chip/demand attention is a big strength of it and the neo kit can help it do that.

 

[Lerno1]

In my view, the reason clash works at a low level is not because opponents can't exploit a low time-to-kill, short-range, and poor mobility. Rather, it's due to poor awareness. A clash will always lose a fight where it walks forward on flat ground holding ZR and any opponent sees it. Rather, it plays on getting in position without the enemy team noticing, as was already mentioned. Its huge indirect AOE radius in a mode like tower control, when it gets in position, starts dealing indirect damage and paints the opponent's feet, which can land them in a sticky situation when they are already distracted by fighting your teammates, who can potentially (usually unintentionally) combo off the indirects. Other AOE weapons like other blasters, sloshers, and rollers all play into this as well but with far more effectiveness, and while clash is weaker than all these options, in my view it is definitely easier due to the fire rate at which it can land indirect shots, combined with slow decision-making. If, standing on the tower, you get jumped by a clash at low level and your teammates aren't there to kill the clash, the options to exploit its weakness as a short-range shooter are not as effective, and hence why it racks up kills.

With better awareness, it's harder for the clash to get into the positions it needs to land the shots, and teammates will be in a better position to take it out if it gets lucky enough to get in position, especially considering its poor mobility and inability to fight opponents who know where it is. But that doesn't preclude it from landing indirect shots and forcing the enemy to divert their attention.

 

[roboscout]

Clash is good at stomping newer players, due to it's extremely large aoe being able to mitigate worse aim. But the better you get, the more it's molasses TTS is going to matter.

 

[SquidAbortions]

Vanilla Clash has a great kit, trizooka and splat bomb I don't know why I don't use it

 

[ThatsSo]

Complaining about Clash DPS just shows you don't know how to use map geometry, it's offensive capabilities are great, it's problem is it's irredeemable paint output

 

[kyubone]

to me, clash feels like a big "what if" in the making. what if the opposing team doesn't notice you? what if you're able to lay down serious chip while your teammates are skirmishing?

after a certain point though it becomes difficult to justify "well if it gets in and does x, y, and z then it's really good" when other weapons bring more up-front value to the table that doesn't require the opposing team to tunnel-vision on everyone else or to otherwise make serious mistakes. it's not just a dps issue or a tts issue or a ___ issue, it's all of the issues combined that hurts the weapon compared to other options

but if you're doing well on clash then sure play what makes you happy and don't let anyone sway you from your quest

 

[Reef]

after a certain point though it becomes difficult to justify "well if if gets in and does x, y, and z then it's really good" when other weapons bring more up-front value to the table that doesn't require the opposing team to tunnel-vision on everyone else or to otherwise make serious mistakes. it's not just a dps issue or a tts issue or a ___ issue, it's all of the issues combined that hurts the weapon compared to other options

as another nclash main, i agree with this - it feels like the weapon is extremely dependent on both its teammates' picks and the opponent's picks as from my experience, when clash's weaknesses are subdued by the advantages of other weapons, that's where i believe it shines as a support tool. a clash on its own may be a formidable opponent in lower skill levels, but when you see its weaknesses it becomes extremely clear how to take it out

 

[SquidHunterX]

A lot of people don't realise how long it takes to actually die to clash. It's slower than you think lol. Play shot or something vs clash and it'll feel like you're fighting someone that's shooting at you in slow motion. It's just not good enough sadly

Besides it's kit, the only reason the main weapon might "feel" like it's good is probably because of its AOE effects, which you'd get more out of with the better AOE weapons in the game...

 

[missingno]

There are two kinds of low tiers in competitive games.

One requires too much effort for too little reward, their weaknesses are apparent even from the start. They're just weak because they're undertuned.

Then you have low tiers that don't require much effort, and actually seem quite rewarding at first glance. A beginner can pick them up and do quite well against other beginners... but will eventually hit a wall when higher-level opponents learn to shut down their weaknesses. The reward dissipates once the gimmick stops working, and more effort doesn't pay off to make them competitive again.

The latter type of low tier is often cursed to stay that way, because they present a dilemma for the game developer. If it does appear to be strong at lower levels of play, should you frustrate beginners by buffing it? Ideally you would want a rework that can increase the skill ceiling for stronger players without making it any better at low level, possible even nerf some attributes at the same time you're buffing others, but it's not always obvious how to do so. I feel like there are at least a few different weapons in the game Nintendo has simply given up on because they designed themselves into a corner, and Clash is one of them.

 

[DzNutsKong]

You could say a lot of negatives about Clash Blaster as a main weapon and I feel most of it has been covered in this thread pretty well, but one thing that hasn't been mentioned (unless I missed it) is this - why would I pick Clash over other aoe options? A lot of people say the blast radius but there's just a lot of things I can say have similarly good aoe without having to sacrifice so much.

Like, just for a few examples. The vanilla Slosher probably can't hit as well around certain raised walls but has very good vertical aoe, can paint and get special much more reliably, and fights way better when it's out in the open. S-Blast '91 has similar aoe range and kill time while also being able to threaten a long-range one shot and hold its own much better when caught in the open. Range Blaster trades a smaller aoe range for the ability to poke way further past ledges, not requiring nearly as tight of positioning, and once again holding its own better when caught in the open. I could argue that just comparing it to Burst Bombs make it tougher to justify because those are very difficult to react to and can threaten strong chip damage from a longer range while also being attached to several other weapons with what in my opinion are more realizable strengths.

While chip damage is never a bad thing, far from it, you're sacrificing so much from your comp for this. You can't really call this a frontline because it can't at all play like how one needs to and it has pretty bad painting so the rest of your comp will need to make up for that too. And there are a lot of situations where I've been hit by a Clash Blaster indirect and been able to swim out of the way before it could kill me with three more. Way more lenient to fight against than a bucket or Range for example that needs to vaguely guess where you're gonna go exactly one time if it wants to kill you.

I wouldn't really call the Clash Blaster underrated. Even if it had less competition it would still have a lot of things holding it back from being a good weapon. But I really hope this doesn't convince any people who currently play the Clash Blaster to drop it though. You all have definitely had your moments of success and your own reasons to not want to play other weapons instead. You should just be playing what you want since everyone's goal to some degree should be to have fun with Splatoon at the end of the day. If there's anything I said here that you weren't super thrilled to see, that just shows that you really love the weapon and have a strong reason to want to keep playing it.

@ Buffing it, I think giving it a Burst Bomb kit could be great. It's not a subweapon that a lot of lower-level players would be able to make the most of but it would help fix a bunch of its issues for more experienced players.

 

[SolarSpinner]

Would Ninja squid not be good for clash? As ninja let's you close the gap more easily which is something clash struggles with, clash does rely on getting first blood on basically all of it's fights so it would be strong I'd think
I've also seen ppl genuinely use rsu on it which I can see a line of reason for, the slow tts means you'll almost certainly have to dip in and out of your ink at some point during a fight, which means you have the "readying" or whatever call it frames you'd have to go thru again before you can shoot again, not having to dip in ink effectively shaves tts off and run maayyy help with that?

 

[Sorcerer]

@DzNutsKong
Nope, I think this is where I disagree. Clash has both AoE and a great rate of fire. These two qualities are necessary when the default tactic of most units is to hide until an opportunity to splat appears. My Clash has helped others push forwards and play more offensively knowing if anyone on the other team wants to counterplay, I'll be first to attack and they'll have to deal with me over my teammates. I'm the #1 Popular Target.

And if you can escape the Clash, good for you. But you can't outshoot a Clash unless the engagement is out in the open, which we kinda know to avoid. If I were to resume the Clash in a sentence, it'd be that it beats enemy offense by playing more offensively. Because stealth is the shooters best tool to get the first hit in and win a battle, but Clash doesn't need to know where the enemy is to pepper shots and hope to clip. At which point, all strategy gets thrown out the window.