Buff, Nerf, Delete

[Grushi]

Buff Splat Brella Dualie squelchers!
I just think the main weapon is really cool and fun but it's just a bit undertuned to me, it doesn't need a huge buff, but maybe some slight damage or shot velocity buff would be nice

Nerf Splat Bomb
I agree with what @OnePotWonder said, I think whenever a splat bomb gets a kill it's always because it got a damage combo or it got a cheesy kill against a slow weapon that got stuck in endlag, which just feels awful for said slow weapons because it's basically outside of their control. Hell, it's not just the ultra slow weapons that struggle with this, any remotely laggy weapon can get screwed over by this, so I'd nerf the one shot radius, that way it's still good as a combat sub

Delete Splash Wall
I said it.
Every time a splash wall weapon is really good, the game just feels worse to play. I don't like how stationary the sub lets you be, the counterplay to it is essentially just: throw a bomb at the wall, which, if you don't have any, well I guess you're out of luck. It makes bombs unnecessarily more important than they already are. And then there's some weapon classes that can barely do anything against the sub, like blasters rollers or sloshers.
I get that the playstyle is unique and fun, but I just don't think it's healthy for the game in its current state, and it's a big reason why the gals and squeezer are so hated imo

 

[isaac4]

Every time a splash wall weapon is really good, the game just feels worse to play. I don't like how stationary the sub lets you be, the counterplay to it is essentially just: throw a bomb at the wall, which, if you don't have any, well I guess you're out of luck. It makes bombs unnecessarily more important than they already are. And then there's some weapon classes that can barely do anything against the sub, like blasters rollers or sloshers.
I get that the playstyle is unique and fun, but I just don't think it's healthy for the game in its current state, and it's a big reason why the gals and squeezer are so hated imo

Damn, I never heard of anyone wanting Splash Wall to be gone from the game. I can get the issue though, with the sub enabling an extremely passive playstyle that a lot of weapons can't deal with well. Wouldn't the sub be less strong if the maps allowed for more routes though? It wouldn't get rid of the issue of certain weapon classes being terrible at dealing with it or weapons without a lethal bomb not having any counterplay against it if it's set up in really closed areas but it could significantly help.

Also surprised you didn't choose Splat Brella to get buffed lol

 

[Grushi]

Wouldn't the sub be less strong if the maps allowed for more routes though? It wouldn't get rid of the issue of certain weapon classes being terrible at dealing with it or weapons without a lethal bomb not having any counterplay against it if it's set up in really closed areas but it could significantly help.

Honestly I don't think so, being able to use your wall on a flank works better since it's unlikely to get insta shredded by every enemy like it would on a chokepoint, and wall doesn't take space as well as bombs can, so being able to take alternate angles is really good for it imo. Also you could even argue bombs would be less important on more open stages, so it wouldn't have to deal with as many of them

Edit: Ohh, but I guess you mean if the maps were less... hallway inspired and had more wide open areas to go around the wall. That would probably help actually yeah I didn't consider that

Also surprised you didn't choose Splat Brella to get buffed lol

I mean I can't be that predictable haha, gotta keep you all on your toes

 

[chaotik0]

I still say that we shouldn't have so many specials and subs anyway. We don't know if we're getting 3rd kits yet but if we do, I highly doubt we'll get 3rd kits for every weapon.

that's one thing i thought about that might have been a good reason for removing stuff, but then i realized that isn't actually the problem. the problem is that they aren't adding enough kits to support having all of these specials in the game. they likely planned adding this many specials since the beginning, but the current kit system makes having that many specials a problem if they aren't making enough kits. with the amount of specials in this game we should have been starting to get 3rd kits already (same time as when splat 2 got them) and hoping for 4th kits, instead of not even having every second kit done and hoping for third kits. i don't know what their process is for making new weapon kits, but given that we have not been getting that many every season it's probably restricting them in some way, or they have just been working on so much that they don't have enough time to make a lot of good kits.

 

[chaotik0]

I felt that deleting something from the game would lead to more interesting discussion as one thing is being removed from the game. But yea generally speaking it's better to rework something into being more healthier instead of going "Welp we tried" and just tossing it into the bin we saw this with the splatoon 1 specials making a return in splatoon 3 and becoming less OP and annoying version of their previous version except for tri-zooka which is just a whole new can of worms

yeah that makes sense
i haven't seen a good argument for deleting yet, probably because theyre mostly just opinions on what people just simply dont like in this game, and im not about to jumpscare anyone who dares scroll down in the replies with an entire book about how an opinion is wrong (because that doesn't make any sense)

you know what they did just toss in the bin though, bubble blower and baller. i would have taken reworks of those over SPLASHDOWN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and screen, assuming that they aren't adding more content to this game.

also i played splat 1 this week and trizooka is a lot stronger. inkzooka actually has startup, and while it does have a lot of shots, and shots that are pretty strong, it feels a lot more fun to fight and even a lot more fun to use still. oh wait it's actually probably because the maps in that game were a lot better too

 

[C-53]

B: Mist, N: Kraken, D: Scoped Liter

 

[youre_a_squib_now]

yeah that makes sense
i haven't seen a good argument for deleting yet, probably because theyre mostly just opinions on what people just simply dont like in this game, and im not about to jumpscare anyone who dares scroll down in the replies with an entire book about how an opinion is wrong (because that doesn't make any sense)

If you don't want to flood the thread with pages of text feel free to dm it to me lol
I'd love to be proven wrong about sprinkler

 

[chaotik0]

If you don't want to flood the thread with pages of text feel free to dm it to me lol
I'd love to be proven wrong about sprinkler

actually youre pretty much right with what you said
my only good counter argument would be "well it could be cool" but right now it isnt and it needs a bit of reworking which i have talked about before somewhere (i think you have seen it?), and even though it is better to rework something than delete it, it somewhat removes the point of the delete part

 

[OnePotWonder]

By the way, I’d like to share a rework idea for Squeezer, because while the current state of the weapon is terrible, it’s not doomed.

The idea is to reduce the maximum fire rate of its tap fire by 4 frames, both making it slower at splatting and reducing the amount of mashing required for optimal use. To compensate, its automatic fire rate will be increased by 1 frame, and the automatic firing mode’s damage will be increased to 34.

This makes Squeezer more accessible and more distinct from Splattershot Pro, while also making its automatic fire actually useful for close-quarters fighting.

 

[youre_a_squib_now]

4 frames is a huge nerf though. Machine got changed from 33 to 38 and that was big, but this literally multiplies the time to kill by 1.5.

I think for accessibility, a better change would be to make it so that it does a long range shot when you press the trigger, and another one when you let go. This means you would only have to push the button half as fast, but you would still get the same number of shots.

 

[vitellary]

so, am i crazy or is this not how kiss marry kill is usually played? normally you provide a list of three things and the person you're playing with must debate on what categories they'd put each of the three things in, even if it's a difficult choice. as-is it's not much of a game as it is a somewhat arbitrary way to state opinions about splatoon
i feel like this could have worked pretty well as a forum game where one person gives a list of 3 weapons in splatoon, and the next person to reply has to decide what they'd personally buff, nerf, and delete. but i'm not gonna derail the thread to do that though when so many people have just replied normally, so instead i'll just do a shooter-themed hot take post because i rarely talk about them and i have an Extremely hot take regarding them

buff: .96 gal. i really like this weapon but quite frankly i think rng is the worst possible way to make literally anything bad. a weapon should not be balanced around the idea that, well, it Could just miss, and then you die. that sucks. i think its accuracy should be a lot more reliable since it already has so many other weaknesses that can be taken advantage of. not by much, just a degree or two, but enough that you can't miss someone that you are aiming directly at with the very first shot you take

nerf: squeezer. i basically fully agree with onepot's take on how squeezer should be nerfed. i think gutting its firerate to make it a lot worse is completely fair because of how many other extreme advantages its long-range mode has, with its perfect jump accuracy and absurd range. it makes it more accessible because the mashing becomes way less intense, and makes it so it doesn't feel like it just wins a 1v1 with literally any other weapon in the game

delete: n-zap. i know this is crazy but here me out. this isn't because of any particularly offensive thing it does, but rather because, i genuinely don't think the weapon's existence is justified in the first place, outside of its (admittedly excellent) theming of being the Nintendo NES Zapper. it's a lightweight 4-shot, like the splash, that has ok range, like the splattershot, that paints well, like the aerospray... but there is absolutely no unique thing the n-zap has going for it. its stats are identical to the splash's aside from slightly more range and obviously not having splash's accuracy gimmick (which is relatively new anyway); if you buffed splash to have the same range as n-zap, it could accomplish the exact same job while being a more interesting shooter to fight with. it just makes the already absolutely massive shooter class feel bloated, and i think the franchise would be literally unaffected if the weapon was removed in a future installment

 

[OnePotWonder]

delete: n-zap. i know this is crazy but here me out. this isn't because of any particularly offensive thing it does, but rather because, i genuinely don't think the weapon's existence is justified in the first place, outside of its (admittedly excellent) theming of being the Nintendo NES Zapper. it's a lightweight 4-shot, like the splash, that has ok range, like the splattershot, that paints well, like the aerospray... but there is absolutely no unique thing the n-zap has going for it. its stats are identical to the splash's aside from slightly more range and obviously not having splash's accuracy gimmick (which is relatively new anyway); if you buffed splash to have the same range as n-zap, it could accomplish the exact same job while being a more interesting shooter to fight with. it just makes the already absolutely massive shooter class feel bloated, and i think the franchise would be literally unaffected if the weapon was removed in a future installment

There we go. That’s the kind of hot take I’m looking for.
I do agree that N-ZAP is probably the least distinct shooter in the class, but I wouldn’t argue it makes the class feel bloated.

Here’s a hot take in return: I think Splattershot should get a hefty paint nerf to make N-ZAP’s paint more of a distinct trait. Also because I don’t think a weapon that splats out of ink in 20 frames should be able to farm its long-range special so quickly.

And, on the matter of making this more game-like, here’s a set of three options for the next commenter:
Splattershot, Splash-o-Matic, and Jet Squelcher.

 

[Grushi]

Okayyy I could see this being a fun game!

And, on the matter of making this more game-like, here’s a set of three options for the next commenter:
Splattershot, Splash-o-Matic, and Jet Squelcher.

This is so difficult :')

Nerf: Jet
I think jet's a really underrated main, it's quite strong even outside of special spam, but I also really like it, so a slight long range painting nerf or ink efficiency nerf could be fine I guess, or make its kits 190p

Buff: Splash
Ooh boy. I just really love splash as a main, I think it's so cool, so fluid, so fun, its kit is cool, but it's already top tier soooo... very light object damage buff lmao
But uhhhh... ummm... that means... THAT MEANS-

DELETE SPLATTERSHOT
I'M DOING IT
I'M PRESSING THE BUTTON
SCREW IT IT'S TOO LATE
NINTENDO'S MARKETING WILL JUST HAVE TO IMPROVIZE IDC


How about triple splashdown, reefslider and ultra stamp next! The ultra aggressive-except-they're-not-great specials, I could see this going either way, so show me some hot takes

 

[Vidknight]

i feel like this could have worked pretty well as a forum game where one person gives a list of 3 weapons in splatoon, and the next person to reply has to decide what they'd personally buff, nerf, and delete.

This thread took a different turn but honestly I welcome it more fun and stills allow for unique discussions about weapon balances

Might as well bite this was a though one but…

Buff: Reefslider
Fun fact at the start of this post I thought about deleting reefslider but then I thought about it some more and realized that reefslider deserve to get buffed than to be deleted. I get into that later but As for buffing it decreasing the end lag would help it a ton and also make it start moving when used in the air as opposed to staying stationary until hitting the ground

Nerf: Ultra Stamp
It’s a fine special not to OP or horrible but out of the 3 I chose stamp because it would not be the end of the world with a slight nerf. I think that a slight hitbox nerf would be ok won’t kill the weapon or anything just make it slightly worse.

Delete: TSD
Ok to be fair to the special it does look cool. But it has this problem that was also present in 2 which was that it would be incredibly useless against players that are more competitive/hardcore meanwhile players that plays more casually struggle against it.

There also the fact that buffing it would make it an unfun panic button but nerfing it would just make the special worse.

The last thing that help with my decision was reefslider and how it was meant to be a splashdown replacement except in my eyes reefslider works because you can buff it but it wouldn’t be an absolute terror on lower level of play.

Not sure why it was brought back as we already had reefslider but it is what it is

alright for the next person you got a triple backline bonza with Hydra Splatling, Tri-Stringer, and E-liter

 

[chaotik0]

This thread took a different turn but honestly I welcome it more fun and stills allow for unique discussions about weapon balances

Might as well bite this was a though one but…

Buff: Reefslider
Fun fact at the start of this post I thought about deleting reefslider but then I thought about it some more and realized that reefslider deserve to get buffed than to be deleted. I get into that later but As for buffing it decreasing the end lag would help it a ton and also make it start moving when used in the air as opposed to staying stationary until hitting the ground

Nerf: Ultra Stamp
It’s a fine special not to OP or horrible but out of the 3 I chose stamp because it would not be the end of the world with a slight nerf. I think that a slight hitbox nerf would be ok won’t kill the weapon or anything just make it slightly worse.

Delete: TSD
Ok to be fair to the special it does look cool. But it has this problem that was also present in 2 which was that it would be incredibly useless against players that are more competitive/hardcore meanwhile players that plays more casually struggle against it.

There also the fact that buffing it would make it an unfun panic button but nerfing it would just make the special worse.

The last thing that help with my decision was reefslider and how it was meant to be a splashdown replacement except in my eyes reefslider works because you can buff it but it wouldn’t be an absolute terror on lower level of play.

Not sure why it was brought back as we already had reefslider but it is what it is

alright for the next person you got a triple backline bonza with Hydra Splatling, Tri-Stringer, and E-liter

i would have said the same thing but i was yapping too much to get it out quick enough

anyway, Buff Tri-Stringer, Nerf E-liter, Delete Hydra

Tri-Stringer is such a cool weapon, it just gets outclassed by both splatlings and chargers because they are better at painting and getting splats, and also because Tri-Stringer has not too good kits. If Tri-Stringer painted a lot more, it would be a lot easier to enable its team and combo with other chip damage weapons like blasters.

E-Liter, and all long range chargers are a lot better in this game because of the maps, so nerf the charge speed so that enemy players have a bigger window of opportunity to move in and/or contest it.

I really did not want to nerf Hydra and i really wanted to talk about Tri Stringer being cool. This thing is so slow that it isn't going to be a favorable option competitively, and if it was fast enough to be, it would be so much better than all of the others. that is my only argument for deleting it

now for the next person: Tetra Dualies, Splatana Wiper, Range blaster

 

[DzNutsKong]

This is a much more interesting thread idea honestly.


Buff: Tetra Dualies
Super unique weapon, super fun, and honestly just give it a good kit to count as a buff. I don't really think it needs anything too crazy because it's super close to being strong as is. Really well-designed weapon and it's a shame it's not really been super meta yet.

Nerf: Splatana Wiper
You can't delete this one because the weapon class would just be Stamper and you can't really buff it because it's already seeing a decent amount of use at top level. This is in spite of having Ultra Stamp in a meta where having a good special is more important than having a good sub. Don't know how you'd nerf it without making me really sad so I don't want to think about it.

Delete: Range Blaster
Maybe people will hate me for this one but if you don't have a bomb this weapon is REALLY annoying to fight, one of the only I actually dislike playing against. Part of it's because latency makes it harder to move out of its threat bubble without lag killing you. And then you decide to approach it in between its shots and it decides to one-shot you anyways. Nice. The counterplay for this thing is just really vague and made all the more unreliable because of bad internet.


For the person below - Big Swig Roller, Bloblobber, and Aerospray. Have fun c:<

 

[vitellary]

For the person below - Big Swig Roller, Bloblobber, and Aerospray. Have fun c:<

omg yayyy i get to delete bloblobber

buff: aerospray. i've always thought this weapon could be pretty fun if they made it actually okay at fighting, kinda like a supportive sploosh. i've thought for a while that you could give it near-perfect accuracy for the first 8 shots or so, before having it rapidly spread out and become the paint bot it wants to be at heart. it would kind of nerf its paint but that's a good thing tbh i don't like gold aerosprays sitting in spawn doing nothing so if it encourages them to fight more then that's a win to me

nerf: big swig. this is tough because it really doesn't deserve it but i had to choose between this or aerospray to nerf and i think aerospray deserves better. and, as cool as the buff to make it shred objects is, it's always struck me as extremely arbitrary and a kinda uninspired way to make the weapon better. i'd undo that buff since it really doesn't make sense to me and i feel like there's gotta be so many other ways you could improve the weapon instead

delete: bloblobber. absolutely horrid playstyle. i never have any fun when it shows up on the enemy team or my own. sitting back and spamming paint at the zone from a safe distance is the least engaging experience in the game and i truly don't understand why anyone would choose it other than wanting to turn their brain off for a while. blob deco fixes this problem a bit because it doesn't have a sprinkler and storm to make the problem even worse, but like, it's not like blob deco is good, so it's still not a great thing to have around. my only regret with deleting blob is making it so that every single kraken weapon in the game is a pure reference kit because that's super lame, but hey, that's not blob's fault, that's the fault of the devs having too much nostalgia for splatoon 1

for the next person: booyah bomb, tri-strike, and chumps. three displacement specials that all have a pretty significant amount of overlap (chumps is admittedly a bit of an odd one out here) and probably don't all need to exist at the same time

 

[OnePotWonder]

Buff Chumps
Nerf Strikes
Delete Booyah

Controversial take, I know.
Chumps' design actually incentivizes a team to go in with the special, it'd be fantastic if it was good.
Tri-Strikes' damage is pretty ridiculous, it would be nice to have it toned down just a bit.
Booyah Bomb... I just don't like it. Its design is so bland compared to the other specials. Yeah, you get a super saiyan whatever dragon ball with cool particle effects, but all you do is gain armor, rise into the air, charge the bomb, and throw it. It's just one third of a Triple Inkstrike with annoying panic button armor.

Booyah Bomb is just a balanced version of Splashdown.

For the next person: Goo Tuber, Undercover Brella, and Splattershot Nova.

 

[Beckett.]

buff splashdown
nerf trizooka
DELETE THE GODDAMN CLASH BLASTER ALREADY

 

[ThestralZ]

Buff Wave Breaker: Make it so Special Power Up increases health or number of waves.
Nerf Splash Wall: I find it super annoying that a specific number of weapons can just negate bombs or multiple one-shots from blasters, it needs to be toned back.
Remove Splattercolor Screen: Need I say more.