Do Kills = Skill in Splat Zones?

[UnnecessaryTodd]

I've seen this bandied around a fair bit and I was wondering what the opinions are on whether getting lots of kills in Splat Zones means you're a better player (as seems to be indicated by the end of round team rankings)

Personally, I don't like going for kills. I spend most of my time trying to cut off ports of entry to the area, or trying to stop an oncoming ink onslaught to the middle by shooting from afar to delay their control of the zone while my team respawns and jumps to me safely.

I am much more of a support player than a leader in kills and I try to help my team be a team by giving them safe places to Super Jump and delaying zone control by the opponents, but having <4 kills tends to leave me at the bottom of the team rankings. What's the general consensus regarding this?

 

[Pusha]

The objective is to control the hill. If you aren't killing the other team then it's tougher to control the hill, so getting kills is very important. Although, if you don't get many kills in a particular game it does necessarily mean you didn't play well. But if you are never going for kills then maybe you need to adjust your play-style a bit. You should be looking to gain control of the hill and kill the enemy team off. Once you have control you should be setting up around the hill in such a way to stop the other team from re-entering the splat zone and capturing it.

From my couple days of playing ranked battle, my impression is that there should always be 1 player on your team staying a bit further back out of direct fire (probably with a charger or other long range weapon) so that you have super jump options out of spawn. Ideally this player doesn't die and waits for players to respawn before trying to contest the hill. As for the other 3 players, they should be playing to capture the hill, kill off the enemies and control the map.

 

[UnnecessaryTodd]

The thing is that we're winning! I went from C- to B- in a couple of hours, and my strategy was doing fine.

I would win most ranked matches. So that's why I bring up whether kills equate to skill because I don't think it does. You're solving a problem I didn't have :P

I'm aware of the objective, and the methods to get there. My issue is that I can imagine players being like "ugh, this guy is holding us back, he only got 4 kills" when I was the reason that the opponents had to funnel down a specific path so that my team mates got the kills.

 

[PerfektNerD]

The fighting around splat zones is pretty intense...intense enough that kills matter a lot more. You can't just go somewhere else if you die repeatedly in a certain spot. It's not everything, but it certainly factors a lot more into the gameplay than it does in turf wars. It's just a different meta overall.

 

[PhoenixRiku]

Actually deaths are a better indicator. Kills are beneficial sure, but the key is actually maintaining control, which being alive obviously helps with that. Kills just mean you are winning your 1v1's when they arise. Less deaths means you are either A) not really being useful and hiding or B) Being smart and backing out at appropriate times and not being the average "I'm gonna charge the splatzone until I die". Losing control for a few seconds isn't bad if it means you stay alive to prevent them from taking control.

It is pretty easy to tell who is doing A and who is doing B.

 

[PerfektNerD]

Actually deaths are a better indicator. Kills are beneficial sure, but the key is actually maintaining control, which being alive obviously helps with that. Kills just mean you are winning your 1v1's when they arise. Less deaths means you are either A) not really being useful and hiding or B) Being smart and backing out at appropriate times and not being the average "I'm gonna charge the splatzone until I die". Losing control for a few seconds isn't bad if it means you stay alive to prevent them from taking control.

It is pretty easy to tell who is doing A and who is doing B.

I change my answer to this. This is far more accurate haha.

 

[Lyn]

No, I don't think so. A lot of times you simply aren't able to get kills, or don't have the weapon to do so. Supporting your team in winning should always come first, whether that means getting kills or not.

 

[Fightersword]

there are other things to do than just killing everyone in sight. if you know your role and can watch chokes and stuff effectively and force people to back off, then that's just as good as straight up killing. There are plenty of ways to lockdown an area without just going for kills, but you will need to kill in splat zones often enough and, more importantly, you will need to avoid dying in Splat Zones. There's just plenty of other stuff to do on top of that, too.

 

[ChivalRuse]

If you are getting a lot of kills, then you are helping your team control the map. Kills are not the primary mission of splat zones, but they are almost directly correlated with the goal.

 

[PhoenixRiku]

And also it will become more apparent in actual competitive play that there are different roles based on what class you are using. For example someone using a .52 deco probably will get more kills than someone running splatter shot jr. Although I cannot be 100% I would wager like every other competitive shooter that has pretty much ever existed that there will be roles... Some that are more ink spreaders, and others more kill oriented.

 

[JuddTheCat]

Apparently the game seems to put the people who get the kills, and also not dying as much, on top of the team at the end. However killing isn't the main thing you should be doing, using different tactics to get to the zone and inking it should good enough.
This is my thought process on who to kill...


1. The people in the zone. Most of the time if they're in the zone, they look for people who are walking near the zone, they hide in their ink and then surprise attack anyone who is close to the zone. It's not bad to run away, get to a high point and kill. This will help your team if your team likes entering the zone and not shooting afar.
2. The higher ground squids. These people will hurt your team if you don't deal with them. Saltspray Rig is an example of having a lot of squids who like shooting from higher ground. If you have a long range weapon you should be able to kill them if they don't see you, if they see you, running is a valid tactic. It's better to run from a unwinnable battle than getting grilled. Sneaking from behind where they got to that spot and killing them before they even see you is really useful.
3. Sidelines. These guys will be beside the zone, most of the time they will be sneaky and hide in their ink. It's good to ink around the zone to limit their movement, then hunt them down. If they are in a spot where its hard to go towards them, use sub weapons and specials from afar and slowly go to them.

 

[LuxLuxora]

The most potent kills are those from a map's chokepoint. You can, and need to, kill enemies who are within the perimeter of the Splat Zone (how else will you claim it if they keep re-painting over your ink?). However, if your team does not seek to prevent access to the choke point then the kills within the zone lose value since the enemy can easily run back in to contest.

 

[Albatross]

I don't think there's really any score screen that can determine whether or not a player was playing skillfully during a match. I've had matches where I may get one or two kills because I sit on the zone while my team goes into their base. Those one or two kills I get is someone that slipped past my team and could have potentially changed the match had I not been there to stop them. There's a lot of things that determine the effectiveness of the player and the score screen just isn't a good indicator.

 

[ChivalRuse]

^ True, but the higher your KD, the greater is the likelihood that you were present at those critical moments, since you emerged victorious in so many exchanges.

 

[Indy Wolfy]

But at the same time you could be at one of those crucial areas and spreading the ink to control the zone or play decoy while someone else takes the enemy out

 

[ChivalRuse]

Let's face it though: it doesn't take much time to paint the zone. And when you're in the process of "splatting" the opposition, a good amount of ink lands in the zone inadvertently.

 

[Power]

I believe kills matter to an extent, especially in splat zones. In turf wars not so much, I remember having a crazy high kill count but my team still barely won. It was after that I realized that map control is more of my focus, whether it be stalling the opponent, painting unoccupied large areas, hiding etc. In my exp. if you do those, kills come naturally.

Less deaths are more important to me as i get more time to stop the enemy and go for the objective. Just my 2 cents

 

[WaifuRaccoonBL]

Kills are way more important in Splat zones, but obviously not the main important thing since it is still about inking a certain area. The area to ink is now much smaller causing more fights having to break out.

Killing is important, but going too out of your way to kill someone just means you aren't helping out with the zone(s). So you need to strike a healthy balance.

 

[Metal Slug]

Kills come with protecting the zone, so sometimes yes sometimes no. Its a weird balance.

 

[DaisyFan]

The important thing in Splat Zone is to control the middle, if you can take off 2 guy of the other when you're team is full is always a good advantage. think wisely for your next move.