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Splatoon 2 Aggression vs recklessness

J'Wiz

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In this game, I know it's best to be as aggressive. However, there's sometimes a fine line between being aggressive and being reckless. When does delightfully brutish turn into woefully stupid? Is it when someone with a weapon with a longer range notices you, and you just rush the fella down? Is it when you don't notice the enemies, and you're about to go into a large area full of their ink? Is it when you decide to take on a Splattershot toe-to-toe, and you're using anything else that doesn't out-range it? I use dualies a lot, so I think accurate judgement of this is helpful.

Here's a situation I was in for an example: I was playing Rainmaker in Kelp Dome. I went to the choke point between the middle and the enemy spawn to scout for enemies. The Rainmaker was behind me, and my allies were dealing with that, and one enemy. Behind the choke point was three enemies that just re-spawned. Two Splatlings and a Rapid Blaster Pro, and I was using Splat Dualies. Unfortunately, they noticed me, so they were cautious about progressing (especially since I just splatted a couple of them). What would be the best course of action? There's a few approaches:

1. Go Rambo and rush 'em down!

2. Stay at the choke point and hope to take one or more out when they go around the corner.

3. Run away!

4. Go a little further back and attempt to ambush them from a different location, since the corner is kinda obvious.

5. Regroup with my allies and hope to take them out when they get to us.

I ended up choosing 1, and I defeated them all like a boss! Actually I chose 2, and one of the Splatlings got me before I could splat him (jerk).

I know it all depends on the situation, but if you're in a situation where you know you're likely to get splatted, would it more often than not be better to just push forward and hope to overcome, hang back and put some pressure on the enemies, or get the heck out of there?
 

Dessgeega

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Aggressiveness can be rewarded. Death isn't. Considering how much can happen in 8 seconds, and the fact that you can't always tell what might be a critical moment. If your death results in trading with 2 or 3 opponents, that's an excellent move, but it's all too easy to make a mistake and die a meaningless death... kinda like real life :P

Generally speaking, Splatoon 2 values staying alive more than the first game. Team wipes are way more likely with these stage layouts. I'm of the opinion that unless the enemy is horribly outclassed (Hi Goolloom, frontline fighting that poor 1700 power team with your heavy splatling you maniac), it's not worth it to be a hero.
 

Spaceswitchmars

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It's really tough, too, because sometimes I'll be a little too passive in an effort to stay alive, and I end up not pressuring the enemy enough. It can go both ways. Everything is situational, and it's hard to give a catch-all for when you're being too aggressive or not aggressive enough. Maybe, in the example you gave, you didn't kill any of them but you stalled them long enough for your team to push the RM into its winning position. In retrospect, that was a good play.

Every situation is so unique. I try to start a match at a certain level of aggression based on both teams' weapon compositions. And I adjust as the match goes based on my team's skill/play style and their team's skill/play style. I'm not always perfect at it, but that's kind of the only thing any of us can do, right? Each match is unique.
 

Vitezen

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In this situation I would've stayed in position and hoped for an ambush. Announcing your position to an enemy with a longer range weapon and then attempting to ambush them is suicide. If my ambush position wasn't optimal, I would consider moving to a better one though. Sometimes you have to open the trap for the enemy to enter it.
However, you brought up the point that you believed you were likely to be splatted. That throws all this previous talk out the window. What's the purpose of an ambush? To kill the enemy. If you believe that your ambush isn't going to work, why do it? Ultimately this is going to come down to practice and reference experiences.
 

Ansible

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I think I need to work on my aggression. ¬¬;

I immediately chose option 3, running away, but make sure they know I'm running away. And probably the best way to do that is by recklessly running away through their base. If this is solo queue, the general disorganization means that at least one or two of them will probably give chase. Especially if they wing me or see me struggling through their ink.

Whether I manage to splat any of them or not the end goal is divide their attention between three or four different concerns: a rainmaker gaining points, rainmaker explosions, the rainmaker's two escorts, and a would-be flanker on the loose. A utter mess they hopefully can't pull out of.

Twin and full squads? My plan is a bust the moment one of them says, "What is that dumb@$$ doing?" Then one of them chases me down, teams up with their respawning teammate, and the other two just chill near the chokepoint.
 

Lyn

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Getting splatted is inevitable in any shooter, but doing something you know has a higher risk than reward will never benefit your team. Coordination is just as important.
 

J'Wiz

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@Vitezen
I mentioned that I was likely going to be splatted, because if all 3 of them went past the choke-point and fired at me, I definitely would be splatted. Admittedly when they tried to ink past the choke-point, I would re-ink the path. I still attempted it, because I thought I could splat one or two of them once they went past the choke-point. I had a rapid-fire weapon, and they had two weapons that require a charge and one that kills slowly. I THOUGHT I had an advantage, because they would be forced in close quarters with me. What I didn't account for was one of the Splatlings charging his weapon before heading past the choke point and spraying me before I could splat him.

@Ansible
Retreating inside the enemy base would be the same as rushing the three enemies, since they were between me and enemy base. I do get what you're saying, though, and I've seen enemies try it. I've been meaning to try to distract someone like that.

I'm mostly asking, because I used to have a real problem with aggression. Getting crushed in Ranked when I first started the game, and often reading the advice "You're useless to your team if you're dead.", made me run away from any little threat. I just lobbed bombs, and only attacked if an enemy was distracted. I was useless for a different reason. I've mostly gotten over that, but now I feel I sometimes jump in too carelessly. Actually most enemies who go against me when I have a range advantage rush me down. It doesn't often turn out well for the enemy unless I mess up. It's clearly a gamble, but is it worth it? I don't think more skilled opponents would mess up aiming very often....

I'll give another scenario, but I consider this almost a catch-all, since unless everyone in the round uses the same weapon, a situation like it should happen every Ranked match.

Say I'm using a N-Zap, and this is Port Mackerel. This can be any Ranked mode. The round starts, and I'm rushing toward the middle, but I decide to take a side route to flank the enemies. Unfortunately, there is a Splattershot Pro greeting me from a distance. How do I handle this situation?

1. Rush him down

2. Take a different route and try to flank him.

3. Lob a bomb at him and regroup with my allies fighting for whatever the ranked mode happens to be

4. RUN AWAY!

I would normally choose 3. The problem with this is Splattershot Pro guy is still alive, and he's going to cause some troubles. Spending too much time trying to flank him just distracts from the objective, and another enemy might be waiting to flank me. Rushing him is suicide unless his aim is bad.
 
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Vitezen

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@J'Wiz That just comes down to proper sharking. You probably got killed there because you gave away your position too much by trying to continuously re-ink. He could safely walk in and fire at your assumed position, and he won because he guessed correctly. Don't give him that information! Make him guess, and punish him when he gets it wrong. Hide in your ink, wait for them to charge to start clearing a path, then pop out from elsewhere else and get some kills.

For your second situation, my first response would be to pop ink armor if I had it. With ink armor, you can charge up to the enemy. Even if you trade in this situation, you still walk out a winner, because you've deprived one enemy of their special, and it's now a 3v3 with your team having ink armor.
If I didn't have ink armor, I would rejoin my team. Once you've committed to that side path in mackerel, if it's the start of the game and a mid fight is occurring, you can't really try to flank from a different angle. If you run straight through mid you're probably going to die, and if you pull further back to loop around you're wasting a lot of time. As soon as I see the pro standing there, and I don't have a way to deal with him, I'm gonna turn and jump into mid and try to flank them instead, maybe leave a suction bomb at the intersection as a deterrent. This situation just shows the strength of a long-range weapon. You can't approach from a neutral position because you're outranged, and you can't flank because you can't guarantee an alternate route is safe. Your best bet is to take the flank you can possibly get instead of the one you know is difficult.
 

Protege

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If I'm reading this right, you were nearby where Tree used to be in Splat 1, right? Near the catwalks?

In that situation, with the Splat Dualies, it's a good idea to back away from the corner and put yourself at an angle to allow yourself to potential spam burst bombs over the wall to keep continuous pressure. If you can do this long enough for your team to gather up with you, a push can be staged with all 4 of you that could lead to a victory.

If you had the Enperry's, you could have done this even better by throwing the curling bombs so they bounce around the corner.

Additionally, if you were near your special, either the Splat or the Enperry's would have served you well during this. The Splat would let you missle the defense the opposing team had set, and the Enperry would allow you to jet the enemies over the wall to apply pressure.

When it comes to aggressive plays in risky situations, you have to account for a lot. How far away is your team? What subs do you have to keep up the pressure? What specials do you have? Could you go another way?

I would consider myself an aggressive player, but there are times when you need to hit the switch, back up a little, and see what you have to work with. For example, in this situation, I think you should have thrown your bombs over the wall to try and build while your team grouped with you, then you could have used your special to force a scatter while your team pushes in and splats the foe.
 

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