Explo players; let's plan how to abuse this new kit.

[Hitzel]

Explo players,

Yes, the news sucks. Yes, this kit isn't the kind you were hoping for. But also, it's what you have, and a few months from now you will be better at it than you thoght you'd be.

So, this new kit invites you to go in and be aggressive. Cover overcommitments with Wall, get into abusive forward positions, make plays with Splashdown during pushes, etc.

We were forced to do it with Reeflux, and now Atobaru's Reef Deco is the highest ranked Stringer class weapon in solo queue and lots of western players are starting to consider it the better Reeflux for solo queue.

Custom Explosher's kit is similar, and it appears to be bad for similar reasons. It can be done with the stupid little bow. How are you envisioning doing it with Explo?

 

[WaffleUser]

Reef deco only really works because of slider cheese I assume which makes the kit overall actually a solid zones pick (I'm assuming Atobaru's reef deco got that high in zones). Wall and Reefslider looked like an awful combination at first, wall just being underrated by a majority including me at the time, and Reefslider while being an awful special is actually slightly redeemable still because Reeflux actually has a really fast 90 if you hit your shots meaning it has a bit of combo potential, and lets not forget cheese.

Now I don't want to be so pessimistic but... I think all hope's lost for Custom Explo. Sure, wall is fine I suppose especially considering it will make difficult backline matchups more bearable but I see absolutely 0 use for Triple Splashdown on Custom Explo. Explo simply has an insanely slow windup and endlag, meaning pushing with explo is basically a death wish and even if you were to get a succesful Splashdown off, how would explo properly play off one? I think the best case scenario for Explo will usually be a trade because the main weapon is too slow to play off the special, unlike Reeflux, and if we're talking about other Splashdown weapons I think Enperries is just simply better because the dodge rolls make it easier to play off the special.

I think it will just serve as a panic button + ink refill which honestly might work as a really selfish Explo kit to punish greedy frontlines and to provide cover against bad backline matchups. Maybe something for an ambitious soloq Explo but probably not seeing the daylight in competitive ever. And even if this kit helps Explo fight its bad matchups, I'm not sure you'd want a selfish Explo kit in a meta where everything beats the main weapon... I honestly feel bad for Explo mains, but perhaps it makes for a fun Anarchy Open weapon.

 

[Hitzel]

As of this morning Atobaru has the highest Stringer rank in Zones and Rainmaker. A lot of his Reefslider use is to finish off double kills and stuff, not just objective cheese (although it's obviously useful for it). I am envisioning a cExplo getting in and making a play with the special to finish an engagement as opposed to starting it, and using the wall to make "being in" less of a risk than would normally be with the main weapon, allowing you to line up those specials in the first place. It's not like you're gonna get value out of it by just sitting back and using it as a panic button. The kit seems to be there for the times you're shifting to aggro.

Not optimal, but if you're playing solo queue and have to be aggressive because solo, it seems like the custom's kit gives you tools to work with.

 

[ThestralZ]

Y'all out here wearing your lab coats while C-Liter players are relaxing on their Alaskan Money Beds

 

[WaffleUser]

I can definitely see the Splashdown being used to finish engagements rather than starting them, but considering how easy it is to shoot a Splashdown out of the air, I feel like that strategy starts to lose potential the moment a second opponents comes into play.
That being said, I don't main any Splashdown weapons nor do I have a lot of time on Explo so maybe I'm wrong, but I'll admit this thread has made me very curious about cExplo.

I am envisioning a cExplo getting in and making a play with the special to finish an engagement as opposed to starting it,

 

[kyubone]

i've already decided that the correct move here is not force myself to play a subpar kit that doesn't enable the main weapon to do what it wants or needs to do! explo has too much downtime, too many white ink frames, and too slow of a fire rate to take advantage of positioning with wall (i'm not convinced reeflux does this well either, so i'm going to avoid comparing the two just because they share a sub weapon).

instead, we explo players should devote ourselves to training with the vanilla kit until nothing can threaten us anymore. we will become too powerful for the game to handle. we don't NEED a second kit, we ball for life.

 

[OnePotWonder]

Hate to break it to you, OP, but the reason REEF-LUX Deco has SoloQ potential and Custom Explo will not is because REEF-LUX is a frontline weapon and Explo is the opposite of a frontline weapon.

I somehow managed to predict Splashdown on Explo.
I am now reflectively wondering what the hell I was thinking.
To be fair, I also predicted it'd get Beakon so it could set up Splashdown Beakon Bait Combos™.
That would still be practically useless on the weapon, though...

 

[isaac4]

Yeah I don't see this kit working anywhere even in solo
I'm still gonna try it anyway because I love playing sloshers but I can only see this being okay in Rainmaker maybe (there's no point using it in zones when the vanilla kit exists) but any other backline or slosher would do better with way less work

I do have some ideas for gear builds though
Definitely using LDE plus sub saver so I can use Wall without wasting most of my ink tank and most likely using a main of QSJ since I'll be engaging in a lot more fights with new Wall positions

 

[Shayreep]

Definitely a contender for bunches of qsj lol like youre dead if you dont have a way of escape after splashdown (assuming they dont just... kill you in splashdown 🫠)

 

[Shayreep]

Hate to break it to you, OP, but the reason REEF-LUX Deco has SoloQ potential and Custom Explo will not is because REEF-LUX is a frontline weapon and Explo is the opposite of a frontline weapon.

I somehow managed to predict Splashdown on Explo.
I am now reflectively wondering what the hell I was thinking.
To be fair, I also predicted it'd get Beakon so it could set up Splashdown Beakon Bait Combos™.
That would still be practically useless on the weapon, though...

Bruh i wanted beakons on explosh so bad. Museum zones couldve been lit

 

[Necrowmancy]

this weapon is the exact opposite of what we need, wall is too ink hungry and splashdown is a worse ink tank refill than storm (and thats all splashdown really is on backliners)