Charger Users: What criteria determines which charger you bring?

[Award]

Go to the left overlook. Use your range to ink A LOT. I've noticed that even just providing speed bumps for the opposing team is helpful. Once your team takes mid with your help you can stand on your bump and snipe or take up position on the ramps to support your team.

There was an eliter last night on underpass that was really mobile. Maybe that is the key.

Yeah, that's what I've been doing, but I just feel so useless with so few splats as a sniper. It's kind of oddly fun to be a long range paintbrush but I tend to feel like I haven't done anything if I just painted with an eliter.

I wouldn't mind it so much but my problem is any time there's an enemy push, the enemy either comes up the wall into the outlook and I have to fall back - it can be hard to try to hold/take that back alone, especially if using Custom, Or they run right by me over the ramps, and if they're moving even at roller speed, at that close a range and angle with them going parallel to the outlook (perpendicular to my laser) from the outlook, it seems all but impossible to splat them as they go by. I tend to miss the shot. So they end up inside our base, and then it's very difficult routing them out. Beacons with Custom do make it easier to get back to the upper inside and snipe them as they inevitably go through the grate, but it can still be hard, alone, holding the base if they get by. It's not the usual pressuring/area control I'm used to with eliter.

Then again I've been getting teams that, if I go to the upper right first, and snipe there until it's all painted and there's no one to splat, and THEN head to the left outlook, I find that my team still hasn't even painted it (or it's painted by the enemy and the team left it that way, meaning the enemy is likely camping in there.)

LOL, maybe that was me. I was feeling kind of mobile there yesterday with Custom. I fell out from upper right once or twice, but got a shot from ground, so it lucked out, and then had to keep jumping to base to hold it from invasions. I did catch one squid off guard when he tried to base invade, and I dropped in behind in on my beacon. Resorted to uncharged shots and got a trade :p

Fighting ineither base is just such a CQC zone it's pretty dangerous as an eliter.

 

[Of Moose & Men]

@Award
Alright, so, I've since changed to the Custom ELiter 3K Scope since the last time I posted here.

Hear me out, that may not be a commonly agreed on choice, but with proper team composition it can work extremely well. I found myself constantly fitting the stereotype that everyone gives to ELiters. That being "The ELiter is just the sub weapon, the main is the Burst Bomb". So, I began to question my ability with it, I then proceeded to change over to the Custom ELiter 3K Scope. I've found myself getting EXTREMELY accurate and precise with the ELiter. I mean, not having the Burst bombs can suck when in CQC when you don't have Kraken charged up, but you'd be surprised how many quick charges I've gotten off. Beakons are also amazing, as they can be used to jump to if you ever get into a pickle you can't prevail in. I felt relying so much on Burst Bombs was rather, depressing and I wanted to prove to myself I wasn't just good with the ELiter because I had Burst Bombs to rely on, and now, I prefer the Custom over the Vanilla. It's just fulfilling. So, if you want to focus on your aiming, I'd suggest using a charger that doesn't have stuff like Burst Bombs to rely on.

Now, I'll reply to that previous post from what seems like a year ago lol.

As far as the Jump shots, there aren't really any spots that don't require you to be playing on line. The best place possible however is in Moray Towers on the sniper ramp. That's where I learned it, and where I pretty much mastered it. It takes a bit of time, but once you get the hang of it, I promise, you'll be doing it extremely often.

The Scope vs No scope thing is something I have been having trouble with myself. I love the field of view, but the range is always amazing. The best part I've noticed about the Scoped variants is that at specific points during the zoom, you can know when you'll get the splat after enough Damage ups. The charge animation on the reticule is too hard to see with the unscoped variant. I wouldn't say the Scope variants are the more skillful of the two, as they have advantages over each other, so a skilled player can play without the scope and be more skilled than that of a scoped user. So, in the end it all comes down to personal preference, whatever you feel most comfortable with I'd stick with.

Yes, that was the custom, I explained why I began using it above lol.

As far as the Hydra goes, I'll maybe go into more explanation on that in another thread. I'm actually in the process of creating a guide for the Hydra Splatling Once I get my capture card, I'll likely go about making a video as well. It's an under appreciated weapon, and I'm hoping to maybe change that.

My K/D tends to be so high because, well, I pick off people trying to flank. I don't usually go out in the front lines and get too close to the action until the last few seconds in the match when I have Kraken saved up. Proof of such was in the pictures of me using the Custom. I rely on the charger more than I do the burst bombs, which is unlike most other E-Liters. I'm just painfully accurate, a majority of the time.

 

[Award]

Alright, so, I've since changed to the Custom ELiter 3K Scope since the last time I posted here.

Hear me out, that may not be a commonly agreed on choice, but with proper team composition it can work extremely well. I found myself constantly fitting the stereotype that everyone gives to ELiters. That being "The ELiter is just the sub weapon, the main is the Burst Bomb". So, I began to question my ability with it, I then proceeded to change over to the Custom ELiter 3K Scope. I've found myself getting EXTREMELY accurate and precise with the ELiter. I mean, not having the Burst bombs can suck when in CQC when you don't have Kraken charged up, but you'd be surprised how many quick charges I've gotten off. Beakons are also amazing, as they can be used to jump to if you ever get into a pickle you can't prevail in. I felt relying so much on Burst Bombs was rather, depressing and I wanted to prove to myself I wasn't just good with the ELiter because I had Burst Bombs to rely on, and now, I prefer the Custom over the Vanilla. It's just fulfilling. So, if you want to focus on your aiming, I'd suggest using a charger that doesn't have stuff like Burst Bombs to rely on.

LOL, you actually finally replied! And changed weapons first. :p

Actually it's an interesting and funny change. I hadn't even BOUGHT the Custom from Sheldon's yet when I first wrote this thread. I left those expensive things sitting in the shop since they seemed so useless/situational/meant for formal squads where you know everyone's role. After you posted your screens with the custom, I figured "well why not" and bought the Custom Scope.

Well, ok, I confess, it was a combination of your screens with the Custom, and the fact that I REALLY wanted to wear the (Insert Callie's voice) TOTES ADORBS Straw Boater hat, it's SOO FRESH! And with a Fast Super Jump main ability, it's thoroughly useless in just about any context EXCEPT Custom E-Liter and vanilla Sploosh-o-Matic. So for the opportunity to wear the Straw Boater, and being able to justify it by the fact that you used Custom in your screens, I bought the Custom Scope.

At first it was terrible....0/6 was to be expected. I went back to vanilla. But I started using it more, and I have to admit, it started driving me nuts when I went back to vanilla e-liter. I'd get myself into tight spots and THEN remember I had no beacons to get back to. Since then I've found that I use my Custom MOST of the time myself.

Also, it has Go Faster Stripes. The E-Liter looks so sterile compared to all the fun Super Soaker looking weapons in the game. The pinstripes on the tank just make it a lot more fun to see myself holding. Best "Custom" paintjob in the game versus the simple sticker on all the others! ;)

Ultimately, I've found it fairly addictive to jump around between locations and that's a hard trait to give up. Burst bombs use too much ink and leave you in too many tight situations given the weapons low mobility, and they take the fun out of the main gun. I'm someone that likes focusing on the main guns and has a bad habit of under-using subs and entirely ignoring specials. So custom plays to that a bit more.

(I still get my fill of burst bomb addiction with carbon roller - with that thing the burst bombs really ARE the main weapon since the melee-flick is pretty situational when you can flank that close. With that I have some stacked Bomb Range Up, so it's kind of a free Rapid Blaster Pro with every roller. But that's such a spastic weapon in general. ;))

One thing I REALLY miss about burst bombs though is the ability to quickly get up on walls and ink my standing platform. That's something I miss often with custom. Spamming uncharged shots takes a lot longer than "tap R to ink".

And about double tap shots, yeah, I've been doing fairly well with those. I picked up the habit from Bamboozler and then splat charger, so it wasn't a big transition to doing it with eliters. I probably get at least 1/3 my kills from double quick-charge shots at closer range.

And, yes, there's that elite feeling of being one of the weird people actually using a Custom Eliter. I do like the weird stuff... :)

As far as the Jump shots, there aren't really any spots that don't require you to be playing on line. The best place possible however is in Moray Towers on the sniper ramp. That's where I learned it, and where I pretty much mastered it. It takes a bit of time, but once you get the hang of it, I promise, you'll be doing it extremely often.

It's fairly situational though, isn't it? I mean in what situations do you really NEED to do it? Only when they're right up at the wall I'm on or if I'm just a little too far below an obstruction like the Arowanna catwalks.

The Scope vs No scope thing is something I have been having trouble with myself. I love the field of view, but the range is always amazing. The best part I've noticed about the Scoped variants is that at specific points during the zoom, you can know when you'll get the splat after enough Damage ups. The charge animation on the reticule is too hard to see with the unscoped variant. I wouldn't say the Scope variants are the more skillful of the two, as they have advantages over each other, so a skilled player can play without the scope and be more skilled than that of a scoped user. So, in the end it all comes down to personal preference, whatever you feel most comfortable with I'd stick with.

This one still confounds me. I have not decided at all which way to go here. When I started taking out Custom it was always with the scope. And I found I did great with it again (after not using it for a while on vanilla.) But there are some spots the scope helps (seeing the back ramp under the iron beam on Depot) and spots where it hurts ( seeing around railings in Kelp Dome), but rarely will a map rotation meet "the helps or hurts only" requirement. Tunnel vision is a pain if you are trying to sit charged and flick - you really almost have to charge while aiming with scope. Which is fine.But it also means your laser is visible longer. And then for the last half of Past/Future splatfest I decided to take Custom with me, and it was going badly, the scope was just always a problem. So I broke down, went to Ammo Knights and bought the scopeless. I've been using that one all week and doing well with it. But I'm betting if I take out the scope again I'll do well with it again too. It's really getting difficult/frustrating to try to decide. There are times I miss the range, mostly when going against other eiters with a scope. But most of the rest of the time, for most maps, usually you're within range with or without so it doesn't matter much.

With both, I can generally charge-flick and get the kill if I have the right damage up ratio. It's a really hard choice.

One thing about me is I'm a very evasive player. I learned it with sploosh, then carbon. I can play carbon roller and end up with eliter-like k'/ds (6/1, 7/2, 5/0) The other day I was using Custom scopeless and up against a Japanese vanilla scoped. We ended up 1v1 and we were jumping around and doging and weaving and evading and I had to evade the burst bombs too. It was in Arowanna, and we started in the upper right hall, then dodged around into the main base area, then out into the halls, then up to the ramps on the other side, both dodging around like The Matrix. Ultimately, I got the kill. I found out after, this was an S+ rank player (and is a clan member.) Granted that player had a higher kill count that me by the round, I'm certainly the inferior sniper, but it felt good to win that duel! I think we got a trade at some other point too. I'm not a true ace in aim, but I can DODGE. That's one place where scopeless has an advantage to me - the higher mobility helps with evasive play. I think I just have a "feel" for the charge time (WITH dmg up) so I don't think the zoom would help me determine that. But the scope DOES help see around certain obstacles that get in the way, and makes distant targets a little bigger and easier to hit. Those two things make me not give up on scopes. Ultimately, it's good to know you wouldn't consider one more skillful - I prefer using the more skillful of the bunch, it's just more rewarding!

As far as the Hydra goes, I'll maybe go into more explanation on that in another thread. I'm actually in the process of creating a guide for the Hydra Splatling Once I get my capture card, I'll likely go about making a video as well. It's an under appreciated weapon, and I'm hoping to maybe change that.

Since this thread, we now of course have the Custom Hydra - I know you've played around with it, what are your thoughts on it so far vs. vanilla?

I've only tried it in TW, of course, so I don't know yet how it handles ranked, but I've come to quite like Custom Hydra - and trying vanilla again, I just can't get it to do what I need it to do. The poor inking and ink consumption of splat bombs just don't feel right for the weapon to me. The sprinklers seem to play much more to the hydra's role in anchoring a location and steadily advancing as an immobile force the way artillery should. With vanilla I don't get much done, but with custom I actually rack in a good number of kills, 4-7 generally, 0-2 deaths. Rarely top ink (TW.) Hard to gauge effectiveness with that weapon though. I seriously may add Custom Hydra to my mains at this point. I always wanted to learn Hydra because it seemed like a wierd, skillful weapon, but never could like it. Custom is likable.

My K/D tends to be so high because, well, I pick off people trying to flank. I don't usually go out in the front lines and get too close to the action until the last few seconds in the match when I have Kraken saved up. Proof of such was in the pictures of me using the Custom. I rely on the charger more than I do the burst bombs, which is unlike most other E-Liters. I'm just painfully accurate, a majority of the time.

LOL, yeah, I tend to anchor in a defensive position and pick off flankers etc as well. Sometimes I WILL get on the ground and roam around though, especially with Custom since i can jump back any time. (I HATE HATE HATE when my team uses my beacons up on me though! :p ) But yeah, I try to avoid getting too close to conflict. A lot of people tend to try to charge up krakens and use them as much as possible, but that's not how I tend to play, I'm not a huge fan of specials at all, I prefer the main weapons. So I'm much like you, I'll venture out at the end and clean up the floor as a kraken (which is handy as they're usually trying a last minute push.) I WILL sometimes hit the kraken in the middle of the match if they're gathered together and making too strong a push. But I tend to save it for the end or "in case of emergency" and not as a panic button escape as I would other weapons without beacons.


What gear are you using for Custom? I've tried a few things. I tried a trio of Super Jump mains - fun for lightening jumps, but maybe overkill. I tried 2 super jump mains, one swim speed main (and a quintet of ink recovery subs and a few armor subs) Pretty good, and swim speed is good for deploying beacons fast, but ultimately I found I was missing too many shots that I DID hit dead-on but were not charged enough without dmg up so it didn't kill them. So I'm deciding between getting rid of swim speed and keeping dmg up main shirt with two quick super jump mains, or going dmg up on shoes and shirt, or going with dmg up shoes and swim speed shirt (with quick jump hat.)

Overall, it's just so funny that you ended up going the same route I seem to be going on since I started this topic - your advocacy of burst bombs as the bestest was one of the things making me more reluctant to switch as though it was a disadvantage to do so :D

gear

 

[varl]

Good input here for a newer inkling like myself. It's been interesting to read. I'm still only a couple months into the game (bought the Wii U Splatoon bundle on Black Friday) but for chargers I've typically found myself bouncing between the Squiffers and the Splat Chargers. Map and mode dictate whether I want more range or more mobility. The tighter spaces I tend to favor the Squiffer and the more open areas I tend to do better with the Splat Charger. Similar with modes. Tower Control I usually like the Squiffer and stay closer to the tower, identifying enemy inklings with the sub, picking them off, and protecting the team with Bubbler. Splat Zones I tend to like the range of a Splat Charger (and the Sprinkler sub the Kelp variant offers) to stay farther out of the zone and pick people off. Rainmaker I tend to decide based on the map. Like others have mentioned, I find these two to be pretty similar as a main weapon is concerned and don't have too much of an issue switching back and forth. Kits are obviously pretty different and can also influence my decision on which to use for a given map/mode.

I have a tough time with the E-liters, though. I respect them and think they have their place on the bigger and more open maps with clear sight lines but I find them too clunky and slow. This probably comes from me really learning chargers on the Squiffer first but the charge time is just painful to me. Maybe I just haven't used them enough but I feel way too vulnerable. The kits on the E-liters are great, though, so I'll probably try coming back to these again at some point. Especially after reading some of the insights here.

On scope vs no scope... No scope all the way for me. I tend to play the the Splat Charger like a slower Squiffer and try not to stay camped in one spot for too long. When I'm on the move and start to charge up a shot, the last thing I want is someone ambushing me from the side as my view starts to narrow. I love the extra visibility and the slight drop in range is mitigated by the fact that I'm moving around and can get closer to targets, anyway.

 

[Award]

Good input here for a newer inkling like myself. It's been interesting to read. I'm still only a couple months into the game (bought the Wii U Splatoon bundle on Black Friday) but for chargers I've typically found myself bouncing between the Squiffers and the Splat Chargers. Map and mode dictate whether I want more range or more mobility. The tighter spaces I tend to favor the Squiffer and the more open areas I tend to do better with the Splat Charger. Similar with modes. Tower Control I usually like the Squiffer and stay closer to the tower, identifying enemy inklings with the sub, picking them off, and protecting the team with Bubbler. Splat Zones I tend to like the range of a Splat Charger (and the Sprinkler sub the Kelp variant offers) to stay farther out of the zone and pick people off. Rainmaker I tend to decide based on the map. Like others have mentioned, I find these two to be pretty similar as a main weapon is concerned and don't have too much of an issue switching back and forth. Kits are obviously pretty different and can also influence my decision on which to use for a given map/mode.

I have a tough time with the E-liters, though. I respect them and think they have their place on the bigger and more open maps with clear sight lines but I find them too clunky and slow. This probably comes from me really learning chargers on the Squiffer first but the charge time is just painful to me. Maybe I just haven't used them enough but I feel way too vulnerable. The kits on the E-liters are great, though, so I'll probably try coming back to these again at some point. Especially after reading some of the insights here.

On scope vs no scope... No scope all the way for me. I tend to play the the Splat Charger like a slower Squiffer and try not to stay camped in one spot for too long. When I'm on the move and start to charge up a shot, the last thing I want is someone ambushing me from the side as my view starts to narrow. I love the extra visibility and the slight drop in range is mitigated by the fact that I'm moving around and can get closer to targets, anyway.

I actually got my start in chargers with the Squiffer. Originally I couldn't get a handle on chargers, tried squiffer and started getting better, and then moved into the whole line of them! Actually I took it out again yesterday after a conversation in another thread with someone that uses the New (inkmine) version of Squiffer. I still can't get a handle on inkmines! :( I was doing terrible with it since I was focusing so much on the mines (and the map was Mackerel, my most hated map), but it's definitely a fun weapon!

It sounds like you use splat charger the same way I do, like a big Squiffer! I tend not to camp with it much either. Especially once I got used to eliter, the loss in range on the splat charger is felt severely if you try camping it. I like it when I want to be more mobile and offensive (and when I need the splat bombs.) I can't find many ways to be effective on Port Mackerel with a charger, so I tend to like splat charger so I can throw the bombs around corners there.

I'm kind of weird and prefer weapons with a high skill floor. It's rewarding when I can get a handle on it :D E-Liters are tricky to get a feel for, it took me a while of playing splat charger to really get confident enough to give eliter a try. They're slow, they move slow, and aiming at moving targets at that range takes a lot of practice! I still miss more shots than I'd like. I can do pretty well sometimes, other times not as well when I'm against really fast/unpredictable opponents. And when there's multiple eliters in the lobby, sometimes I'm the best of them, and sometimes I'm just amazed how well they did when I had a really bad round on the same team in the same match. I think the biggest thing that makes eliter difficult beyond the difficulty in aiming is you effectively become the battlefield commander. You need to spend a lot more time than most other weapons looking at your gamepad map, watching where ink is appearing/disappearing and figuring out what must be going on where, or if you have a good vantage point observing every tiny ripple in the ink, and playing interferance. Some of my shots are meant to kill. Some are meant to cover turf. Most are meant to create disruptions in the transit routes of the enemy or create paths/detection alarms for me or my team.

But there's still always something new to learn with it. Just yesterday I was playing Custom Eliter Scope (scope!) on Mahi in TW. And my team consisted of all chargers: 2 Custom eliters, 1 vanilla eliter, and 1 kelp splatterscope. (and an eliter on the other team too!0 Ordinarily that's a recipe for overwhelming loss. But we won! And won big! Not thanks to me :p I did ok, but one of the other eliters was an absolute ace. Of course he had the good perch so I had to roam around on the ground. Later in the same lobby he was on the other team on Depot, and I noticed when his team rushed our base, he joined and was attacking from our own sniper perch! That made me think about the mobility of eliter as a close range weapon. So for a few more rounds, Mahi and Depot, there was another charger on my team that took the perch, so I roamed around and went offensive, shooting mostly at close range aiming for 2-hit kills with quick charges, and it was actually going fairly well. That surprised me. I'm used to that for being defensive, and I'm used to offensively moving in to snipe from the ground, but going much more close range offensive with eliter was different. I didn't think it possible to use an eliter like a big squiffer, but with some dmg up and dual shots, it might work as a big bamboozler! I haven't seen too many ace snipers do that, but I figured I can go 1v1 with some S+ eliters and win - this guy bested me every time, so he's got to be doing something right! If I can master that, then the only time I'd need anything but eliter is when I want splat bombs for Mackerel (and Hammerhead splat zones!)

 

[Mystrite]

It would be:

Stage ( Moray = 3k Scope , Port Mackerel kelp/bento Scope)
And Game mode , though stage msty determines it.