Ability Tier List

[Fightersword]

There are some abilities that will just never be seen on a structured and intentioned set, so a preliminary tier list for abilities is important, because people are still choosing death and 30 second perks.

opening gambit is good though bruh. you win the rollout.

 

[Wild Man]

So, I was going to have a write up here explaining how I thought an ability tier list might go, but when I looked at the Ability Guide in the Gear tab to make sure I wasn't missing any, I noticed that they actually are pretty close to the order that I had started to write about.

I think that the raw stat boost upgrades are the best; power, defense, run speed, swim speed. Constant, instant boosts that just make you stronger.

The second tier to me is the "ammo" abilities, increasing recharge rate, decreasing main and sub usage. I would say the increased special charge rate could probably fit here too, and the extended special active time as well in situations that you have a timed special.

The third and bottom tier to me are the conditional boosts. I understand that they are there to empower comebacks, but I just rather have those slots dedicated to things that make me stronger whether I am winning or losing.

Then comes the bottom row, which as far as I've seen, are all only available as a primary (feel free to correct me on this).

Of these, the only ones I feel are really worth giving up primary boosts on one of the top tier abilities are the last two, with Stealth Jump being the only one that really stands out as very good and worth pursuing as a slot.


Those are just my early first impressions on what abilities to look for in gear and what would be desirable rolls. If a real competitive meta game of premade teams ever does develop, I notice quite a few abilities that suddenly become much much better with communication and coordination. This is all subject to change as more info comes out on how abilities stack and interact. Even just based off the diminishing returns we do know, I would say I would still rather have diminished abilities from tier 1 than a full ability from my third tier. What are you all's thoughts on abilities so far?

I would think that quick respawn would be one of the best option's during turf war play, as it would make it so it doesn't matter if you do, you could just respawn and get right back into the action. Especially if you have a weapon with the beacons, which would also mean abilities assisting the super jump would be incredibly useful too. I haven't played much splat zones, so I couldn't know if this would be an efficient strategy during that (although I doubt it would be)

 

[WaifuRaccoonBL]

Ink resistance should be top tier since it basically gives a huge neglect to a main part of the game being enemy ink. Should have on one of your slots at all times.

Opening gambit I haven't tested myself, but I heard great things about it for Splat zone. Securing that middle area first is a huge advantage. Though, it will probably be more for offensive weapons, so Chargers might not get much use as they are more support.

I keep hearing good things about ninja squid, but I don't know about the speed decrease. Haven't tested it myself though.

Damage up and Defense up are situational.

 

[Agosta44]

Been playing with Ink resist up last night and today.

Good.

Lord.

 

[TheMH]

Ink Resistance makes a huge difference, it's one of the first ablilities I decided to put on my potential "final" setup. Got it on a pair of shoes with Inkling Speed Up, Swim Speed Up and Main Ink Saver, guess I got lucky there.
I tried Stealth Jump for a while and it felt really useful, too. But both are shoe only skills, so I will drop it for Ink resistance.

Ninja Squid is strong. In head-on-combat you can make small flicks to the right or left and your opponent won't even consider to change his direction, while you can easily get the upper hand. It slows down squid form by quite a bit, but I think it's worth it. Metagame might pick up there and find ways to deal with Ninja Squid, as you can see who equipped it in the beginning (if you know how the clothes look) or after being knocked out.

I was a big fan of Opening Gambit in the beginning, as you can easily claim the center of a map early on, but as players got better, it got harder to defend the early lead, when your teammates aren't catching up fast enough.
Special Charge Up is incredibly good with Inkstrike in Splat Zones. It probably gives you at least 1 additional strike per game which can be crucial.


On the other end, Attack Up and Defense Up are useless most of the times, because the boosts are very small and won't change the number of hits it takes to take down an enemy most of the time.

 

[Krozo]

I think I've read so far that almost every ability could be top tier. :P Kinda funny. This might come down to personal preference and which class you use, and really what role you play on a team. But it is still good to get all the data we can and discuss.

 

[SheriffCrazy]

I gotta say it depends on your play style. I think most people on here seem to be run and gun players making ink resistance really good for them, not to downplay it but yeah. I enjoy an ink saver (main), defense up, damage up, and the ink refill up.

Maybe Im just plain jane. I don't really use the others to their full potential. I think recon would be sweet though. I wanna try it.

I consider myself a defensive, cover, long range assist specialist..... i guess.

 

[SquiddiamFancyson]

Thoughts on comeback? It seems very useful for splat zone.

 

[FirestormNeos]

Most of the time in combat you only have one or a couple paths to choose from, and the opponent can ink your escape route before you make it out especially if you swim slightly slower because of the ability.

uhhh...

 

[fenrir vii]

Going to try to tier-list out the equipment-specific perks for the Main slot...

Shoes:
1. Ink Resistance Up
2. Stealth Jump
3. Some other perk (Ink recovery, etc)
4. Bomb Sniffer
Explanation: Look, you can't control when the ground you're standing on will turn the opponent's color. This happens constantly when your teammates get killed, the other team takes the splatzone under you, a splattershot/roller takes out your escape routes, etc. For this reason, I think Ink Resistance is pretty much a must-have for anybody who pushes their team's line... I can see stealth jump in some cases (rollers and snipers) as well, but Ink Resistance is the most overall useful, imo.

Clothing:
1. Ninja Squid
2. Cold-blooded
3. Recon
4. Haunt
5. Some other perk (Ink recovery, etc)
Explanation: This category is super tough and a bit dependent on what your opponents are running. I actually think Cold-blooded is the most useful of these if the opponents are constantly locating you (as that pretty much negates ninja squid already), but if not, Ninja Squid takes it imo. Recon will be more useful later on, but I'm wondering if it can overtake 1 and 2.

Headgear:
1. Some other perk (Ink recovery, etc)
2. Tenacity
3. Comeback
4. Opening Gambit
5. Last-Ditch Effort
Explanation: This category has a lot of situationally-useful abilities. Tenacity is great for when your team is wiped out (esp if you run a weapon with a strong special). Comeback is great for when you are wiped out. Opening Gambit allows for that initial mid push, and Last-ditch effort allows for the end of game push (but isn't as useful in ranked because of knockouts). Overall, I'd probably prefer for this to be my Speed/Ink Saver (Main)/Ink Recovery slot for most situations.

 

[Trifroze]

I'll take back what I said previously about Ninja Squid, it's definitely a good special for close/mid range weapons especially when combined with Ink Resistance. Cold-blooded is almost a must with Echolocators but the problem is you don't know when there's going to be one and you have to let go of Ninja Squid for that.

 

[Nintendome]

Just did some quick research looking at the actual benefits of Opening Gambit and Run Speed Up.

It looks like Opening Gambit provides almost as much utility as 2 Run Speed Up boosts within the first 30 seconds.

 

[Bisquid]

Going to try to tier-list out the equipment-specific perks for the Main slot...

Shoes:
1. Ink Resistance Up
2. Stealth Jump
3. Some other perk (Ink recovery, etc)
4. Bomb Sniffer
Explanation: Look, you can't control when the ground you're standing on will turn the opponent's color. This happens constantly when your teammates get killed, the other team takes the splatzone under you, a splattershot/roller takes out your escape routes, etc. For this reason, I think Ink Resistance is pretty much a must-have for anybody who pushes their team's line... I can see stealth jump in some cases (rollers and snipers) as well, but Ink Resistance is the most overall useful, imo.

Clothing:
1. Ninja Squid
2. Cold-blooded
3. Recon
4. Haunt
5. Some other perk (Ink recovery, etc)
Explanation: This category is super tough and a bit dependent on what your opponents are running. I actually think Cold-blooded is the most useful of these if the opponents are constantly locating you (as that pretty much negates ninja squid already), but if not, Ninja Squid takes it imo. Recon will be more useful later on, but I'm wondering if it can overtake 1 and 2.

Headgear:
1. Some other perk (Ink recovery, etc)
2. Tenacity
3. Comeback
4. Opening Gambit
5. Last-Ditch Effort
Explanation: This category has a lot of situationally-useful abilities. Tenacity is great for when your team is wiped out (esp if you run a weapon with a strong special). Comeback is great for when you are wiped out. Opening Gambit allows for that initial mid push, and Last-ditch effort allows for the end of game push (but isn't as useful in ranked because of knockouts). Overall, I'd probably prefer for this to be my Speed/Ink Saver (Main)/Ink Recovery slot for most situations.

I 100% agree with this list and explanations.
On the topic of ninja squid vs cold blooded: Cold blooded I can see being important once competitive teams are a thing. Right now with randoms I feel like it's too situational, altough you start seeing echolocators a lot more in the A ranks. Ninja squid is great to get the drop on people for clean kills, without the element of surprise a lot of fights just end in double splats (for me anyway). I especially like it on maps like warehouse or kelp dome when your team has control of the zone to just circle around the area and look for potential targets. Echolocator is a very powerful special (the only thing I'm more scared of is a well played inkzooka), but I personally can't play without ninja squid anymore. It just suits my playstyle perfectly. And yeah, bundled with ink resistance so you don't get stopped by every pixel of enemy ink on the ground.