Custom Hydra Splatling: Analysis and Thoughts

[Award]

By the way, @PK21, I should put in a disclaimer: I don't think that Damage Up is required on every weapon. Heck, I don't even use any on my Rapid Blaster Deco set, and so many people have nagged me to do so (I just put Damage Up on the recommendations to keep people like my squad happy K? :S Please don't kill me...they're the scrubs and I know it...). But weapons that 1-shot or 2-shot I think is totally unnessecary for Damage. The only reason I would recommend it for this weapon really is for Sprinkler support (I don't recommend it for normal Hydra, unless its a crutch for inaccuracies for any Splat Bomb users out there), and I tend even not to think about it on Defense Up counters (although I do hate those savescumming Japanese people that stack so much, seriously, they're annoying as ****).

LOL, well, that and eliters for the reduced charge time. I do miss my dmg up set sometimes when I'm using custom which I load out for superjump/recovery/speed. I take shots I think should kill or even a 2 shot and of course they don't. And bomb radius for burst bombs. Crutch or no, a larger AoE never hurt anyone (except your opponents.) ;) I've never used dmg up with a blaster though. Seems counter intuitive.

And I hear you about the savescummers - the defense up scummers, and the maxed out swimspeed sploosh/tentatek scummers, and the maxed out spc charge up bombrusher scummers. It's massively irritating.

Would dmg up on sprinklers really deal useful damage? I've had a few sprinkler splats with CHydra so far, which I always find amusing (I hated myself so much a few weeks ago when I managed to get killed by someone's sprinkler....a sprinkler got me? You're joking...) But I can't imagine the sheer randomness of getting hit by a sprinkler would really increase the already slim odds of someone getting hit by it and taking enough damage to finish them off by any meaningful measure than the value of almost ANY other ability (heck even gambit has got to be more practical.)

 

[HappyBear801]

LOL, well, that and eliters for the reduced charge time. I do miss my dmg up set sometimes when I'm using custom which I load out for superjump/recovery/speed. I take shots I think should kill or even a 2 shot and of course they don't. And bomb radius for burst bombs. Crutch or no, a larger AoE never hurt anyone (except your opponents.) ;) I've never used dmg up with a blaster though. Seems counter intuitive.

And I hear you about the savescummers - the defense up scummers, and the maxed out swimspeed sploosh/tentatek scummers, and the maxed out spc charge up bombrusher scummers. It's massively irritating.

Would dmg up on sprinklers really deal useful damage? I've had a few sprinkler splats with CHydra so far, which I always find amusing (I hated myself so much a few weeks ago when I managed to get killed by someone's sprinkler....a sprinkler got me? You're joking...) But I can't imagine the sheer randomness of getting hit by a sprinkler would really increase the already slim odds of someone getting hit by it and taking enough damage to finish them off by any meaningful measure than the value of almost ANY other ability (heck even gambit has got to be more practical.)

The word "support" is key there; since this weapon is very bad at close range, extra hits from such a shot help a lot in certain situation. Keep in mind that I was playig on a WW and BBS on TC rotation, both of which are smaller maps with several key areas that can be easily anchored, plus Sprinklers are quite deadly on the spire of the Tower ;) (makes close-up invasion for the opposers difficult unless they quadruple team). So this will only be most effective in select situations (as is often the case for strategies, but better to know as many as possible just in case!).

 

[PK21]

By the way, @PK21, I should put in a disclaimer: I don't think that Damage Up is required on every weapon. Heck, I don't even use any on my Rapid Blaster Deco set, and so many people have nagged me to do so (I just put Damage Up on the recommendations to keep people like my squad happy K? :S Please don't kill me...they're the scrubs and I know it...).

I'm just saying that I've seen recommend for every weapon here, not saying any specific names because it's usually someone different every time. It gets annoying after a while seeing people that say you should put on a weapon when they don't think about other abilities or if would even help in any way.
I will say when I saw the thread asking if is useful on the Sploosh, I was surprised to see people saying no since most people just flock to it like it's the only ability you need in the game.

Also that thing. I don't feel like trying to find that but seriously who thought that was a good idea...

 

[chrisblass1]

This is Squidboards, where is required on every single weapon no matter what.
I'm pretty sure I've seen someone saying that it makes better... somehow. .-.

is useless on all Splatlings ("BUT WHAT IF SOMEONE HAS 3 MAIN ?????????" Seriously tell me of a single person you've seen with a set like that. 1. It could be anyone. Also this weapon shoots incredibly quickly so 1 extra hit won't be a huge problem most of the time) , while and/or would be of high priority.

1 out of ten matches a squid has 3 defense main

I'm just saying that I've seen recommend for every weapon here, not saying any specific names because it's usually someone different every time. It gets annoying after a while seeing people that say you should put on a weapon when they don't think about other abilities or if would even help in any way.
I will say when I saw the thread asking if is useful on the Sploosh, I was surprised to see people saying no since most people just flock to it like it's the only ability you need in the game.

I usually keep 1 main to counter one , it comes in handy most of the time

 

[JRT Koopa]

Compared to the Hydra Splatling, I find the Custom Hydra Splatling more suitable to my playstyle. When I started using Custom Hydra, I felt more comfortable playing Turf Wars compared to my early experience with the Hydra Splatling. In my opinion, I find the sprinkler as a viable complement to the weapon in terms of ink coverage and decoy tactics. Bubbler may be a situational special for the weapon but it can be useful in case the user runs out of ink, closer to teammates and for safe sprinkler setups while avoiding potential ambushes.

Here are my preferred abilities when using the Custom Hydra Splatling:

Ink Recovery Up is a must-have ability since both Hydra Splatlings use up a lot of ink at full charge.
In my opinion, Haunt is a good ability not only because the Custom Hydra Splatling doesn't come with Echolocator, but also to compensate on its range disadvantage against E-liter, Splat Charger and Splatterscope users to tag one of them in case of getting splatted. Plus, it is good for tagging an opponent that ambushes the user.
Run Speed Up is for mitigating mobility restrictions with the Custom Hydra Splatling and for faster touching of teammates with the Bubbler.

I've been comfortable using the Custom Hydra Splatling in most stages except Port Mackerel, due to parts of the stage that can easily exploit the weaknesses of the weapon and limited areas suitable for sprinkler setups.

 

[HappyBear801]

I've been comfortable using the Custom Hydra Splatling in most stages except Port Mackerel, due to parts of the stage that can easily exploit the weaknesses of the weapon and limited areas suitable for sprinkler setups.

Port Mackerel can be great when using the Bubbler to block off lanes with its invincibility however, so be sure to use that to your advantage.

 

[Award]

Compared to the Hydra Splatling, I find the Custom Hydra Splatling more suitable to my playstyle. When I started using Custom Hydra, I felt more comfortable playing Turf Wars compared to my early experience with the Hydra Splatling. In my opinion, I find the sprinkler as a viable complement to the weapon in terms of ink coverage and decoy tactics. Bubbler may be a situational special for the weapon but it can be useful in case the user runs out of ink, closer to teammates and for safe sprinkler setups while avoiding potential ambushes.

Here are my preferred abilities when using the Custom Hydra Splatling:

View attachment 2641

Ink Recovery Up is a must-have ability since both Hydra Splatlings use up a lot of ink at full charge.
In my opinion, Haunt is a good ability not only because the Custom Hydra Splatling doesn't come with Echolocator, but also to compensate on its range disadvantage against E-liter, Splat Charger and Splatterscope users to tag one of them in case of getting splatted. Plus, it is good for tagging an opponent that ambushes the user.
Run Speed Up is for mitigating mobility restrictions with the Custom Hydra Splatling and for faster touching of teammates with the Bubbler.

I've been comfortable using the Custom Hydra Splatling in most stages except Port Mackerel, due to parts of the stage that can easily exploit the weaknesses of the weapon and limited areas suitable for sprinkler setups.

I still have to go back and re-try the original Hydra, but I do have to agree with pretty much everything you've said, right down to the situational nature of the bubbler, and its dismal performance on Port Mackarel. I didn't get to test it on Ancho-V today, so I hope it's in rotation a lot starting now. I only had time for SMN and Carbon. Greaet map for those two and so far I feel it will be an excellent map for CHydra as well....but I didn't want to play a new unfamiliar map with a weapon I'm still somewhat unfamiliar with as well. But the heights and overall layout, I think play very nicely with what CHydra and its sprinklers excel in!

 

[Airi]

When the Hydra Splatling was announced, I was really excited for it since I had been maining the Heavy Splatling. I was actually really disappointed in the Hydra at first but I slowly realized that I hadn't given it a real chance. I didn't give it a real chance since I judged it so quickly by the speed of its charge. When I went back and actually gave it a chance, I found that I really liked it with some patience in learning it. It's funny how the Hydra is becoming more commonly used by me than the Heavy is.

I was equally as excited for the Custom Hydra and it definitely didn't disappoint. :) I think that I prefer the kit on the Custom Hydra because the Custom's kit gives it the ability to play both defensively and offensively. The Sprinkler is very good for the Custom. I've used it fairly often to give extra protection to myself. I've noticed that if you place it in front of you, it adds some protection because a lot of people will shoot directly at you. So they'll hit the Sprinkler first often times which gives you time to either fight back or retreat to safety. So it's really quite good for the Hydra's defense when someone does manage to sneak up on you.

The Bubbler is also good - both for yourself and your teammates. I've used the Bubbler before to help me out of a tight spot or to help me push an advance for my team. I've also used the Bubbler to protect my teammates. This is particularly helpful in Ranked matches since its not hard to get most of your team with the Bubbler and still retreat back to a safe location to keep playing.

Personally, I don't use Run Speed for the Custom or vanilla Hydra. I don't really think it's necessary because it doesn't help too much. If you're having trouble with the Hydra's movements, you need to play a little more carefully. Play smart with the Hydra. Utilize the walls and objects around you. You don't need increased speed if you know how to use your surroundings. Your surroundings - much like the E-Liter - are the biggest friend for a Hydra.

When I'm using the Hydra, I am usually using Ink Saver (Main) or Ink Recovery. I've tried using Special Duration but I don't really like it so I always go back to one of those two. Ink Resistance is also nice to have since you will probably find yourself in enemy ink a lot. People enjoy shooting at the Hydra from all angles so the added resistance to moving in ink will help you back off a little before the enemy can actually manage to kill you.

 

[Award]

So I finally got a chance to try the original hydra again, and again after trying it I was left with the feeling that "this could be cool, except that it's not." The horrid, horrid turfing and pathmaking abilities of it really manifest there, and if you can't count on your team to do much of anything, it doesn't work well. I love splat bombs, but I don't love splat bombs on hydra. They just don't mesh with the way the hydra plays for me. I'll have to give it another chance another time since the offensive abilities of splat bombs could be good, but this did confirm for me that if I'm going to add a hydra to my mains it's going to have to be Custom Hydra. It's the inverse for me. I like splat bombs on any weapon except a hydra. Conversely I dislike sprinklers on any weapon except hydra. It just works for the Hydra's mode of gameplay of "trench in and shell the field." Even if half my splats with it are close up or midrange during flank and invasion attempts. i die more than with eliter, but get aout the same kills and far more ink. The ability to quickly reclaim turf after a failed invasion really sell it.

 

[JRT Koopa]

Ink Resistance is also nice to have since you will probably find yourself in enemy ink a lot. People enjoy shooting at the Hydra from all angles so the added resistance to moving in ink will help you back off a little before the enemy can actually manage to kill you.

Oh yeah, I forgot about Ink Resistance. Thank you for the suggestion.

 

[Hawk Seow]

Interesting about min-max being a trend rather than as important as people say. You could be right

That's just my assumption. Maybe I shouldn't have said trend as I can't say for sure if it will go away. But assuming Nintendo nerfs Damage Up in future (like a cap on how much it can add so that chargers don't go stacking every slot with it) then you'll definitely see a change in the kinds of abilities being used.

Yeah, that's always the tricky question. It's an easy question for an eliter: You Know when you can't control the situation any more and the opponent is too close, you're not going to do the team any good sticking around. If your position was lost, it was lost before you jumped. And with eliter's range, if your position was compromised, the spawn jump can get you into a new position faster than swimming there. WIth Carbon I know I've jumped the gun too many times, but you don't get to wait and find out later, and carbon shouldn't be responsible for holding positions, so if the team was compromised from a harasser being splatted because the harasser was actually holding map control, the team has bigger problems. :)

Hydra's more complicated. It can really go down swinging unlike the others. It never pays to stand your ground with a charger or melee, but hydra can....and I seem more tempted to try with it. Not always to the best effect. Unlike CEliter, CHydra CAN fight point blank not much worse than a Mini. And a sprinkler can help you recover fast. And it doesn't have the range for repositioning from deeper in the base to be as effective as eliter. However normal hydra would be a lot easier to stand your ground with. It's one reason I hoard the bubbler

Have you ever considered planting a Beakon (as Custom E-Liter) on certain maps in such a way that, if you're getting rushed down, you could jump to that Beakon to quickly gain another vantage point to attempt and secure the former? Let's say you're guarding the left side on Bluefin Depot and you get rushed by a squid climbing that wall, you could have planted a Beakon somewhere near the first platform from the Spawn Point which basically puts you into position to start sniping the intruder. Quick jump would definitely be an ability to wear for this :)

I think depending on the mode and playstyle, I might experiment with using a combination of Haunt, Special Saver and Quick Respawn to stand my ground. That allows me to mark the killer, not spend too much of my special when dying and get back into action quickly. It also helps that sometimes standing your ground doesn't necessarily mean you'll lose, especially with the Hydra's good firepower.

Are you sure that wasn't me? :p

Just going by my own experience on that map with eliter, 0-1 deaths and 5-6 kills including under 400p is pretty good if holding defense. I'd say he wasn't all that affected by your distractions but he probably enjoyed having something to shoot at for the first 2min :), and his team's loss was probably down to the other 3 not pushing, or your team successfully pushing in force in the last minute. IMO a lot of players simply don't understand that map, much like Saltspray and Dome. I tend not to get tons of ink with either eliter or Hydra, sometimes over 400, sometimes not, depending on how busy the opponents keep me. I know when I got really overrun or distracted in Pit because our base will get overrun and I'll have terrible k/d. Generally if I get low ink there, I just stayed busy shooting, and didn't need my special. and someone else gets those ink points.

Speaking of Pit, CHydra is a weird beast there. The perches are too far to be all that useful for most of the action. It can defend the bump if needed, but I oddly found that that's a map I'll play carbon roller HIGHLY defensive in defending the bump, but CHydra I'll actually take offensive - using sprinklers to claim and push. It was a really weird experience, but I didn't try it much since I really wanted to try out some eliter tricks in Flounder that @Hobbes pointed me to.

Hahaha, he never got to kill me much at all (1-2x per match). For the most part I reduced him to a one-shot squid. What I thought he should have done is this: plant Beakons at strategic locations (he didn't plant a single Beakon in any match as far as I could remember), Kraken to kill me or any other high-priority target then jump back to the Beakon. We played around 10 matches so he should have realized that I was going out of my way to disrupt him whenever I could.

Personally I think Piranha Pit plays quite differently from most maps in TW. The central area is chaotic whilst the BBQ pit sides are essentially Saltspray Rig's throne room equally split into two and placed far away. The amount of turf that can be claimed on both sides is big enough to sway matches so let's say one squid managed to make it to your side's BBQ pit, your team is then tasked with solving that problem.

I feel there are two ways to claim that area without wasting too much time: sprinklers and inkstrikes. Guess which one the Custom Hydra falls under :) What I do in TW is to head in that direction early on and throw a sprinkler there to ink up the place good, it charges up specials really quick. If anything, I'm almost never there physically because the Hydra can't perform in that location at all IMO.

There's a special place in a seagull's beak for squids who do that....

It's fair play :p

That's how I look at EVERY weapon! :p I do have to take out the vanilla Hydra at some point too, but IMO the ink usage for bombs is just so not worth the reward versus the creeping zone of control the CHdyra yields (unless your team gets flanked, then you're back to square one.

My problem with vanilla Hydra is the utility and availability of its special...which is usually too damn long when compared to the Custom and it's mostly negated by Cold-Blooded which means I end up thinking of it as a temporary (3 seconds) pressure tool + ink refill which the Custom can do similarly except it risks getting knocked off a narrow perch in Bubbler state. I think it's possible that a good load of bomb range up might help the vanilla Hydra because at it's normal range you're probably not far enough from the enemy in theory...

Oh I've used the gear, and I'll never understand how the users can make it work so well. You need glass smooth surfaces. real battlefields are pockmarked with enemy mink and little ledges and hills that reveal you. However the octobrush itself, I love. I'd add it to my mains, if only it weren't so button mashy. I hate button mashy weapons, and that goes for Sloshing Machine too. Which is a shame because I'd really like the octobrush myself otherwise. I'm just sick of fighting against them. They're almost invincible when nearby. :p

Hmm, probably spend more time using it and thinking up potential strategies? But yea about the 'glass smooth surfaces', that's actually something I do a lot as Custom Splattershot Jr., which is to go about and mess up all the nice enemy turf aka making it all splotchy for them since the weapon is so efficient at spreading ink all over :D

Yea if an Octobrush gets the jump on you, you're most likely dead since they can potentially 2HKO in around 17f.

Teleporters happen allll the time. I think because I main mostly precision weapons I notice it more. WIth Hydra I dont' really seem bothered by it much. With eliter, many many times I shoot things that aren't really there, or I'm trying to aim at something that's moving unpredictably, not because a skilled player is evading me well but because they're snapping forward and backward in magic rubberbanding flashes as they move perpendicularly. I'm guessing Splatoon's netcode prediction is shared with MK8 which also has rubberbanding issues. Same with Carbon, many times I'll move in for the ambush toward an enemy only for them to be behind me, or above me after they dropped down. (one way octobrushes have an advantage - a 45 degree arc of death, where carbon has that charger like precision strike) I got 1-shot by an nzap. I heard myself being hit by the nzap's first few hits while the shooter was still behind a wall. As soon as they emerged I was splatted. Hydra, if nothing else, is good at killing lag results :D

In my own experience, I think every weapon suffers vs teleporters. I've even seen a friend's Dynamo whiff simply because the enemy carbon warped backwards -_- It ultimately depends on how big of a distance the warping was. One thing I feel that OHKO weapons have an advantage in is that, if you scored the hit on your side of the game, the enemy is basically dead unless they happened to activate one of those specials (bubbler & kraken) as usual. This doesn't always happen if you're using multi-hit weapons because sometimes the game decides you're dead before all your shots registered.

For Museum I generally stay with the rotating wall on our side of the divide. The range reaches most of the way across mid, and you're relatively safe in that area as long as you guard the mid rotary since that's the only access to you. It would be dangerous to assist in a push on the other side since you could easily get flanked and the enemy could regain mid (and you'd have to fend them off from the enemy's side.) So for me it's about keeping mid, and let your team push beyond it. The sprinklers are amazing with the rotating walls, since the wall lets your one sprinkler cover tons of territory and keeps the enemy distracted, having to pause near the mid tower often to knock them off, giving you time to keep them away from the tower. And from the height of the upper perches on your wall, you can keep hosing down most of mid and the pillar. It's almost cheating.

And unlike eliter, where if they DO make it to your tower it's hopeless for you to do anything at all about it, you fall back to spawn and hope for the best, this thing fires up close and you can keep them away. If they're stupid enough to try to race your spawn zone, you can hose the floors and box them in, letting your respawning team get easy kills.

Museum is for hydras what Moray is for eliters, IMO. Especially CHydra. *Note: You will get dizzy ridi

ng that spinning wall for too long though....Callie's right about that... :D

Haha thanks for the advice! I'll try it out and if I get dizzy then it probably means I'm doing it right :p (AND CALLIE IS ALWAYS RIGHT! BEST SQUID SISTER YO!!!)

 

[Award]

That's just my assumption. Maybe I shouldn't have said trend as I can't say for sure if it will go away. But assuming Nintendo nerfs Damage Up in future (like a cap on how much it can add so that chargers don't go stacking every slot with it) then you'll definitely see a change in the kinds of abilities being used.

I can't imagine them nerfing dmg up at this point. Waay too late for that kind of change. And this is the last week they'd even implement a change like that if they ever did. IMO chargers NEED some dmg up, but not nearly as much as most are stacking. There's too many other useful abilities to want to waste it all on getting the charge a LITTLE bit faster.

Have you ever considered planting a Beakon (as Custom E-Liter) on certain maps in such a way that, if you're getting rushed down, you could jump to that Beakon to quickly gain another vantage point to attempt and secure the former? Let's say you're guarding the left side on Bluefin Depot and you get rushed by a squid climbing that wall, you could have planted a Beakon somewhere near the first platform from the Spawn Point which basically puts you into position to start sniping the intruder. Quick jump would definitely be an ability to wear for this :)

I think depending on the mode and playstyle, I might experiment with using a combination of Haunt, Special Saver and Quick Respawn to stand my ground. That allows me to mark the killer, not spend too much of my special when dying and get back into action quickly. It also helps that sometimes standing your ground doesn't necessarily mean you'll lose, especially with the Hydra's good firepower.

Yep, that's exactly how I've been using Custom Eliter - though there's no need to keep a beacon up near spawn in Depot since you can just jump to spawn, but I do keep them on either end. And I've been wearing between 1 and 3 main quick superjumps! ;)

Yeah, CHydra might benefit from amping up the bubble. I still have mixed feelings on quick respan with it. I load up on quick respawn with luna, weapons that are hard to get out of a tight spot, are high risk, and it's advantageous to just get right back where you were when it goes wrong. Hydra doesn't always need that IMO. It has the ability, usually, to fall back to buy the second or so it needs to be ready for the attacker, sort of camping in plain sight. It would be powerful to respawn fast. I've been focusing on run speed, ink recovery, ink resistance. I'm a very mobile player who tries to be evasive, despite taking perches if I can. I don't know yet how much run speed helps or not but I end up having to move and dodge and weave a lot.

My two best moments with CHydra were both in the top right hall in Arowanna: One, a charger came up the wall, I slipped behind the corner and charged, he knew I was there and charged....we just wasted there for 20 seconds like a showdown at sunset. Then I remembered I had a bubbler. I hit that and down went the charger! Second was the same spot. 3 enemies foolishly decided to come up the wall and bum rush me. I saw them coming and ducked behind the corner and charged. I popped out and got 3 splats almost instantly.

Hahaha, he never got to kill me much at all (1-2x per match). For the most part I reduced him to a one-shot squid. What I thought he should have done is this: plant Beakons at strategic locations (he didn't plant a single Beakon in any match as far as I could remember), Kraken to kill me or any other high-priority target then jump back to the Beakon. We played around 10 matches so he should have realized that I was going out of my way to disrupt him whenever I could.

Personally I think Piranha Pit plays quite differently from most maps in TW. The central area is chaotic whilst the BBQ pit sides are essentially Saltspray Rig's throne room equally split into two and placed far away. The amount of turf that can be claimed on both sides is big enough to sway matches so let's say one squid managed to make it to your side's BBQ pit, your team is then tasked with solving that problem.

I feel there are two ways to claim that area without wasting too much time: sprinklers and inkstrikes. Guess which one the Custom Hydra falls under :) What I do in TW is to head in that direction early on and throw a sprinkler there to ink up the place good, it charges up specials really quick. If anything, I'm almost never there physically because the Hydra can't perform in that location at all IMO.

I dunno...many times as a charger, I'm happy keeping the enemy ace occupied and effectively out of the game. You didn't get him much, he didn't get you much, but he kept you occupied, and you possibly kept him occupied. Sounds like a good round. :D Charging the kraken is hard, even in Piranha sometimes., not without taking your eyes off the field and maybe missing a break-in. Most of the time when I miss an important shot/attack it's because I turned my attention to inking. There are a few maps I tend not to plant beacons. Skatepark is one of them. There's not often a strategic place to put them and when I do I find the enemy takes them out repeatedly and/or that location becomes compromised if I had to move at all and I can't jump back to it anyway. I do plant them in piranha though!

Personally I don't use my sprinklers down there. I either harass the enemy with them or I let them help set up a defensive line inside mid. That usually keeps me busy. If I put it in the bbq pits, my little buccaneers will consider those areas sufficiently inked and not finish the job, and my utility is greater defending up top. :p

In my own experience, I think every weapon suffers vs teleporters. I've even seen a friend's Dynamo whiff simply because the enemy carbon warped backwards -_- It ultimately depends on how big of a distance the warping was. One thing I feel that OHKO weapons have an advantage in is that, if you scored the hit on your side of the game, the enemy is basically dead unless they happened to activate one of those specials (bubbler & kraken) as usual. This doesn't always happen if you're using multi-hit weapons because sometimes the game decides you're dead before all your shots registered.

Someone true. But the one shot weapons are slow and much more vulnerable when the magic bubble/kraken happens. And it ALWAYS happens. Several times I even hear the "clang" of the kill only for it to not happen and hear the bubbler/kraken go off. I also see the kill marker show up several seconds after I got the kill (after the enemy was still moving/fighting and I retreated, and often I'll see it show up somewhere else other than where I killed them. And of course the many times they kill me AFTER I killed them. CHydra's probably the most lag friendly weapon in the game! It hasn't messed me up too much (or if it has, I can't tell due to CHydra's crazy spray anyway!)

Haha thanks for the advice! I'll try it out and if I get dizzy then it probably means I'm doing it right :p (AND CALLIE IS ALWAYS RIGHT! BEST SQUID SISTER YO!!!)

LOL, I have to agree. I always assumed Callie would be most popular - I still don't understand Marie's apparent popularity in contrast! :)

 

[Hawk Seow]

I can't imagine them nerfing dmg up at this point. Waay too late for that kind of change. And this is the last week they'd even implement a change like that if they ever did. IMO chargers NEED some dmg up, but not nearly as much as most are stacking. There's too many other useful abilities to want to waste it all on getting the charge a LITTLE bit faster.

My example was that they have a cap on how much damage up can be stacked, meaning past a certain point you no longer gain any additional damage regardless of how many damage up mains & subs you can wear. And no, it's not too late for balancing when the game is still being played heavily. It would be negligent to realize imbalances exist and yet do nothing about it in this day and age of digital distribution for patches.

From http://nintendoeverything.com/splat...on-stages-talk-about-the-end-of-updates-more/ I quote:

"In November’s Nintendo Direct it was mentioned that Splatoon updates would continue only until January. To further elaborate on this, updates that add rules, stages, weapons, gear, etc. will have the last batch in January 2016. But after January they still will adjust weapons for balance if needed. Events like Splatfests will also continue to be held for the foreseeable future." (Emphasis mine)

About chargers needing damage up, I can't deny the utility of being able to net a kill earlier but I've found success using the Kelp Splatterscope recently with only 1 damage up sub (not even intentional, it happened to be on treasure hat which I like at the moment :D). I do think damage ups are generally more useful on Bamboozlers (fast charge 99.9dmg) and E-Liters (longer charge time than chargers).

Yep, that's exactly how I've been using Custom Eliter - though there's no need to keep a beacon up near spawn in Depot since you can just jump to spawn, but I do keep them on either end. And I've been wearing between 1 and 3 main quick superjumps! ;)

I think it'd be useful if you put it near the edge of the first platform since you still need a few seconds from spawn point before you reach the spot to start shooting at where you'd normally be. That said, there's no right and wrong here, it depends entirely on the situation. Also, I think maybe 2 SJ mains would be good enough? I don't think a 3rd main shaves that much time off to be beneficial considering you could probably put either ink ability on that main.

Yeah, CHydra might benefit from amping up the bubble. I still have mixed feelings on quick respan with it. I load up on quick respawn with luna, weapons that are hard to get out of a tight spot, are high risk, and it's advantageous to just get right back where you were when it goes wrong. Hydra doesn't always need that IMO. It has the ability, usually, to fall back to buy the second or so it needs to be ready for the attacker, sort of camping in plain sight. It would be powerful to respawn fast. I've been focusing on run speed, ink recovery, ink resistance. I'm a very mobile player who tries to be evasive, despite taking perches if I can. I don't know yet how much run speed helps or not but I end up having to move and dodge and weave a lot.

Personally I use QR when I intend to get into a lot of scrambles and expect to trade or die cause like I said, I'm an aggressive player haha. I don't really have the habit of using it though since the longer respawn time gives me time to observe the enemy, map and plan.

I think a wide range of the abilities are useful for the CHydra depending on what kind of playstyle you want to adopt, the obvious exception being bomb range up :D.

• Run speed allows you to start firing outside of range and walking forward faster to get within range.
• Swim speed allows you to get to important locations faster in general.
• Ink saver allows you to charge more right after deploying sprinkler.
• Haunt lets you sit more on the backlines and mark the one that got the jump on you and so on...

My two best moments with CHydra were both in the top right hall in Arowanna: One, a charger came up the wall, I slipped behind the corner and charged, he knew I was there and charged....we just wasted there for 20 seconds like a showdown at sunset. Then I remembered I had a bubbler. I hit that and down went the charger! Second was the same spot. 3 enemies foolishly decided to come up the wall and bum rush me. I saw them coming and ducked behind the corner and charged. I popped out and got 3 splats almost instantly.

Oh man, I can already picture how dominating the CHydra is in that particular position, especially if you place a sprinkler deviously in that area. The downside is that, the particular corridor isn't a lot of turf. The upside is that you basically force them to have to take the middle path to your side which is the only path left.

I dunno...many times as a charger, I'm happy keeping the enemy ace occupied and effectively out of the game. You didn't get him much, he didn't get you much, but he kept you occupied, and you possibly kept him occupied. Sounds like a good round. :D Charging the kraken is hard, even in Piranha sometimes., not without taking your eyes off the field and maybe missing a break-in. Most of the time when I miss an important shot/attack it's because I turned my attention to inking. There are a few maps I tend not to plant beacons. Skatepark is one of them. There's not often a strategic place to put them and when I do I find the enemy takes them out repeatedly and/or that location becomes compromised if I had to move at all and I can't jump back to it anyway. I do plant them in piranha though!

Well, don't forget that my team always won when he was on the other side, that's how disruptive I was! Not just to him but almost every other enemy in there. Usually went like 6/7 in K/D because that's how Custom SSJ is.

There are always strategic places to plant beakons on every map, the only thing is whether the enemy has inkstrikes or killer wails to easily wipe them out if they want to. Even then it almost always pays to use beakons. On skatepark it doesn't necessarily have to be for you, but for a teammate who doesn't have stealth jump equipped. That's the scary thing about beakons, you never know if an enemy will just jump in loaded with a kraken or bubbler ready. Of course, whether or not your team mates are savvy enough to use them is another story... :P

Personally I don't use my sprinklers down there. I either harass the enemy with them or I let them help set up a defensive line inside mid. That usually keeps me busy. If I put it in the bbq pits, my little buccaneers will consider those areas sufficiently inked and not finish the job, and my utility is greater defending up top. :p

Both ways (inking that side or harassing enemies) work, but an early sprinkler there is basically half a bubbler for free while you take care of the middle area. It's even better if your team mates consider it inked, return to throw another sprinkler to ink the other half of it when there's a break (like after 2 or 3 of the enemies have been splatted). It means even more free meter for you! It also means your team mates can spend more time actually defending the mid.

The thing about those two sides in Piranha Pit is that, they're basically huge distractions which matter a lot in Turf Wars. Kinda like when someone manages to invade to the upper layers in Moray Towers, your team is forced to go get rid of them. Inkstrikes are best sent there too, along with sprinklers early on. Squids being there physically to ink is generally a wasted resource.

Also, an enemy beakon or two in your BBQ pit is a huge cause for concern too...

Someone true. But the one shot weapons are slow and much more vulnerable when the magic bubble/kraken happens. And it ALWAYS happens. Several times I even hear the "clang" of the kill only for it to not happen and hear the bubbler/kraken go off. I also see the kill marker show up several seconds after I got the kill (after the enemy was still moving/fighting and I retreated, and often I'll see it show up somewhere else other than where I killed them. And of course the many times they kill me AFTER I killed them. CHydra's probably the most lag friendly weapon in the game! It hasn't messed me up too much (or if it has, I can't tell due to CHydra's crazy spray anyway!)

Well that's the thing, you still got the kill. Oftentimes when I use multi-hit weapons to kill, the lag bubbler/kraken basically gets me killed despite me hearing all my shots hit; they don't die afterwards. Which is why I still don't agree with CHydra being lag friendly haha.

 

[Award]

I feel like a total jerk taking this thing to Triggerfish and just spamming sprinklers at the enemy base from the grates. Am I a bad squid? :D I was top of the team's ink though, and shared bubblers more than ever!

Also, we need a snappy catchphrase for Custom Hydra wielders. Vanilla hydra users get "Hail Hydra" any ideas for Custom Hydra? :)

My example was that they have a cap on how much damage up can be stacked, meaning past a certain point you no longer gain any additional damage regardless of how many damage up mains & subs you can wear. And no, it's not too late for balancing when the game is still being played heavily. It would be negligent to realize imbalances exist and yet do nothing about it in this day and age of digital distribution for patches.

From http://nintendoeverything.com/splat...on-stages-talk-about-the-end-of-updates-more/ I quote:

"In November’s Nintendo Direct it was mentioned that Splatoon updates would continue only until January. To further elaborate on this, updates that add rules, stages, weapons, gear, etc. will have the last batch in January 2016. But after January they still will adjust weapons for balance if needed. Events like Splatfests will also continue to be held for the foreseeable future." (Emphasis mine)

Yeah, I know they intend to fix balance and map issues, but I still think dmg up limits counts as a rule change. They already limit you, as judd says, that stacked bonuses reduce effectiveness the more you stack. So if you're using your slots on maxing it, you're already giving up total bonus.

About chargers needing damage up, I can't deny the utility of being able to net a kill earlier but I've found success using the Kelp Splatterscope recently with only 1 damage up sub (not even intentional, it happened to be on treasure hat which I like at the moment :D). I do think damage ups are generally more useful on Bamboozlers (fast charge 99.9dmg) and E-Liters (longer charge time than chargers).

Yeah, eliter really just needs it. Too many missed shots without it where I do hit them but it's insufficient damage. I'm an impatient squiffer, too. It doesn't charge fast enough for me and I tend to release the shot too soon without it. Bamboozler, it needs the double shot no matter how much damage up you have, so there's no real advantage. I think Squiffer needs it more!

I think a wide range of the abilities are useful for the CHydra depending on what kind of playstyle you want to adopt, the obvious exception being bomb range up :D.

• Run speed allows you to start firing outside of range and walking forward faster to get within range.
• Swim speed allows you to get to important locations faster in general.
• Ink saver allows you to charge more right after deploying sprinkler.
• Haunt lets you sit more on the backlines and mark the one that got the jump on you and so on...

Ink saver seems wasted for me, I'd almost always rather use the slot for ink recovery. With saver, for a shooter, you can keep a sustained barrage longer, so it's useful. But with charged weapons (chargers & splatlings like CHydra, I tend to swim after every 2 shots or so out of habit to stay topped off for the sub, so I don't gain much. If the enemy is so close I need "one more shot" without refelling, I'm probably doomed with a hydra anyway. :) Right now I have my moto boots (2x run, 1x armor, ink resist main), Bicycle helmet (ink refill main, ink-saver-main sub, spc chrg up, ink svr sub sub), can't pick a shirt, right now I have the red anchor layered LS (run speed main, 2x armor, 1x refill.)

Haunt doesn't really seem great to me outside squads. My team will ignore it anyway, so there's no real value and I'm not likely to get picked off by stealth players so much as a full on assault. If my team didn't see the enemy it means they're so far away they're not going to care about haunt. I'm more likely to get picked off by an octobrush or something with a shooter (or when I'm going stealthy with my own roller. Hydra, especially CHydra should NOT be anywhere near enough to enemy ink to get ambushed by a stealth ninja. Sprinklers leave it no excuse. And I KNOW where the snipers are - they won't get me twice. Once I know they're there, I focus mostly on taking them out so the team can advance. Hydras are pretty good at that. ;)

Stealth jump seems kind of wasted too. Beacons are always stealth, and jumping to a teammate is suicide normally, and twice with a hydra. Yeah you can bubble drop, but then you don't need to be stealthy! ;)

Both ways (inking that side or harassing enemies) work, but an early sprinkler there is basically half a bubbler for free while you take care of the middle area. It's even better if your team mates consider it inked, return to throw another sprinkler to ink the other half of it when there's a break (like after 2 or 3 of the enemies have been splatted). It means even more free meter for you! It also means your team mates can spend more time actually defending the mid.

The thing about those two sides in Piranha Pit is that, they're basically huge distractions which matter a lot in Turf Wars. Kinda like when someone manages to invade to the upper layers in Moray Towers, your team is forced to go get rid of them. Inkstrikes are best sent there too, along with sprinklers early on. Squids being there physically to ink is generally a wasted resource.

LOL, your team mates defend mid? Mine don't, they rush into the enemy meat grinder again and again trying to push while I hold mid alone from wave after wave of attack like a Tower Defense game. I don't have time to ink the pits! Not even to drop a sprinkler! :p Actually I find with Hydra I'm more likely to try to actually push somewhat since my team will ultimately keep getting chewed up if I don't back them as they push - but I only take them to the enemy conveyor, then they're on their own. I have to get back to hold the fort. The extra harassment of sprinklers is helpful!

Also, an enemy beakon or two in your BBQ pit is a huge cause for concern too...

Not for my team, they'll watch it and take pictures of it instead. :D

LOL, I do plant them in the enemy base sometimes, but mostly only when I play sploosh. CEliter is just a little too hard to get behind enemy lines.

Well that's the thing, you still got the kill. Oftentimes when I use multi-hit weapons to kill, the lag bubbler/kraken basically gets me killed despite me hearing all my shots hit; they don't die afterwards. Which is why I still don't agree with CHydra being lag friendly haha.

I get far too many shots where I hear the hit, and then nothing happens, but somehow, knock wood, I haven't had too much issue with CHydra. It fires such a fast barrage, but fires them in such a wide pattern around the crosshair, that it's impossible to tell if it's lag or RNG spread that made the miss, so you just keep pelting till it hits!

 

[Essence]

I'm Using the normal Hydra, what level to you unlock the Custom

 

[Of Moose & Men]

I'm Using the normal Hydra, what level to you unlock the Custom

20

 

[Smychavo]

Has anyone created any threads discussing map strategies for custom or vanilla hydra?

 

[HappyBear801]

Has anyone created any threads discussing map strategies for custom or vanilla hydra?

For soecific weapons, map strategies are usually discussed here in the analysis threads.

 

[Of Moose & Men]

I am planning on making an all around Hydra guide, for both Custom and Vanilla, but that's a little ways down the road. Not sure if that really suffices though.

 

[Award]

Map: All
Mode: Splat Zones
Stand in front of zone, maintaining control.
Then get splatted as your team hides behind you, or conversely get splatted from behind as your team moves just in FRONT of the zone and gets splatted (on it.)

Seems to be the most frequent strategy I've been using lately both with vanilla and custom Hydra. It's met with mixed success. :D

I'm having a hard time separating which hydra should be used which way as a result :(