Appreciating the lesser used buffs: can we find niches?

[SquiddiamFancyson]

I want to talk about finding niches for the lesser appreciated buffs, in particular the likes of damage up and comeback.

I've been thinking about this for a bit and outside of chargers, which we know already benefit, I'm starting to think there's genuine merit for .52 users in equipping at least one damage up. My reasoning for this is that as the meta evolves I think a defense up primary/secondary will be common to prevent easy deaths to these things, and as the gal is a two shot with neutral bonuses, maintaining that quick kill is crucial.

Comeback I'm not as sure on but it apparently boosts a lot of traits (ink savers, ink recovery, both run and swim speed) for 20 seconds. In competitive games a couple of deaths are to be expected and two deaths already beats the benefits of both OG and LDE. I'm not trying to encourage dying as I know the aim is to die as little as possible, but I think the ability to get into the fray so quickly again may beat out the likes of special charge up, which has a rather minimal increase even when primary.

There are plenty of others to discuss like haunt for example. The above two are just what I've thought about the most.

Just interested about what others think. If you do think a lesser discussed ability is useful please explain the functionality and which weapon would benefit most.

 

[Kat]

Just a little comment on the meta but as the game progresses we'll probably see gradual shifts to the point where everything is common at some point. There will always be a good set of perks to counter the most commonly used loadout at the time so while some are underused at the moment I doubt any perks will occupy a permanent niche. I've had zero time to play the game so I don't know all the perks so I'm probably wrong on a couple that are aimed as more casual players but with the way metagame works I imagine we'll be having this discussion about the most popular perks occupying the current underused niche in another month.

One of the best things about comp Shooters is that the meta never tends to reach a definitive peak, especially if Nintendo roll out balance patches and new content frequently.It's likely all the perks are useful but it all depends on the current meta in terms of just how useful they are, sometimes all it takes are posts like yours to kind of make people aware of counters to certain playstyles then a new meta shift will just take off.

The way it shifts is for people to take these perks and ideas and run with them, actively changing the meta so this kind of discussion is great for doing just that. Slightly off topic in accordance to the actual perks in question so I apologise there but I anticipate this kind of discussion eagerly.

 

[RespawningJesus]

Currently, there are two main perks that everyone should bring:

On your body, Ninja Squid.
On your feet, Ink Resist.

Your head is basically whatever you want up there at the moment. But those are currently the two must haves at the moment.

 

[Boolerex]

Currently, there are two main perks that everyone should bring:

On your body, Ninja Squid.
On your feet, Ink Resist.

Your head is basically whatever you want up there at the moment. But those are currently the two must haves at the moment.

I disagree for body ; coldblooded is also very decent for the body slot ; At least for charger player.
In the feet ; bomb stiffer could work situationally ; but ink resitance is so good that you should just keep that.

As for the lesser used upgrade ; damage up could be used for basic squattershot because it allow you to kill with a direct burst bomb hit + one shot and for E-Litre (useless for squiffer and barely matter for the another charger) and ink saver sub allow you to throw 4 burst bomb instead of 3 with a full ink tank

 

[RespawningJesus]

I disagree for body ; coldblooded is also very decent for the body slot ; At least for charger player.
In the feet ; bomb stiffer could work situationally ; but ink resitance is so good that you should just keep that.

As for the lesser used upgrade ; damage up could be used for basic squattershot because it allow you to kill with a direct burst bomb hit + one shot and for E-Litre (useless for squiffer and barely matter for the another charger) and ink saver sub allow you to throw 4 burst bomb instead of 3 with a full ink tank

My problem with bomb sniffer is that it really isn't that great. It really only serves as a counter to mines, and mines aren't that great for killing to begin with. Ink Resist is just a much better perk for your feet.

However, am I the only one who finds it funny that bomb sniffer can be on your feet? You would think thatit would make more sense to put it on you head.

Cold Blooded is debateable. On one hand, it is a really solid perk, on the other hand, Ninja Squid is also a really solid perk as well.

 

[Kaliafornia]

Currently, there are two main perks that everyone should bring:

On your body, Ninja Squid.
On your feet, Ink Resist.

Your head is basically whatever you want up there at the moment. But those are currently the two must haves at the moment.

Ninja swim or ninja jump? Ninja swim is helpful but ninja jump is REQUIRED. It amazes me people dont use ninja jump automatically. I have blasted countless people as they land.

I would use ink resist but I prefer damage up with aerosprayer.

 

[RespawningJesus]

Ninja swim or ninja jump? Ninja swim is helpful but ninja jump is REQUIRED. It amazes me people dont use ninja jump automatically. I have blasted countless people as they land.

I would use ink resist but I prefer damage up with aerosprayer.

Ninja Jump isn't that great. If you pay attention to your map, you should be able to tell what a safe jump is going to be, and what a not so safe one is going to be like. If it is not so safe, then just swim to where you need to go. People need to learn that they don't have to jump. Damage up is best used on weapons such as the blaster and .52 gal. On aerospray, your weapon is still a 5 shot kill no matter what.

 

[Kaliafornia]

Ninja Jump isn't that great. If you pay attention to your map, you should be able to tell what a safe jump is going to be, and what a not so safe one is going to be like. If it is not so safe, then just swim to where you need to go.

Swimming eats up valuable time in ranked. Especially on boards like Port Mackerel when your teammates are on the enemy side. I have held/killed off 2-3 enemies on their side but if my teammates are scared to come over then pretty soon I'm going to die. Likewise if I see a lone teammate I am going to jump to them. Sure I may die, but my teammate could have killed one of them by the time I got there and now with my help the tables are turned. I have sneaked past many people with ninja jump. Only time ninja jump isn't that great is if your teammate is jumping with you and they don't have it and someone is staking out the spot and gets you by chance although thats not ninja jump's fault. While I would agree not being reckless is smart, you cannot be scared to advance. Too many times I have lost a ranked battle cause my teammates were too scared to jump in and back each other up.

 

[SquiddiamFancyson]

Glad to see there's so much discussion on this already. I admittedly am torn when it comes to shoes; I find ink resist up less situational but at the same time it's so easy to be camped without stealth jump, especially when you think you're safe. There's one shoe for each ability that have a high chance of swim speed up so that's good at least.

On the other hand, good team mates can take advantage of your obvious landing and attack the player waiting to camp you, so I think when clans start and friends can communicate over skype or something, that ink resist will remain dominant.

Cold blooded is fantastic and a massive middle finger to echolocator, which I believe will get more popular as the meta develops. However, I love ninja squid too much to give up especially as I got three ink saver main sub slots.

 

[Phobos]

There are going to be a lot of variables in play I guess - e.g., the gamemode, map, main/sub/special weapons, role in the team, and preferred playstyle, will all bear on which ability perks are most optimal for any given player. As such, I suspect there will absolutely be niches for ones that are less widely used, but at this stage it's less obvious to me what these will be, since - with the game being so new - there's not even much consensus on which perks have the most general application and deserve to widely used. It's still early days, but things will develop more quickly once organised teams arrive, and we can start formulating and applying more sophisticated strategies.

 

[Kaliafornia]

Is ink resistance only on shoes? I would use it but no way at this point in time am I giving up stealth jump, which I only have on shoes.

 

[Phobos]

Yeah they're both restricted to shoes - I've opted for ink resistance myself as I find I don't tend to make much use of the super jump (though perhaps I should) but I do often find myself wading through enemy ink. Shame though, as I like the Crazy Arrows.