First V Current Main?

[MandatoryCatalyst]

Since reading through DzNutsKong's thread on the general main weapon pool of the active members here, I'm curious as to what peoples thoughts on in terms of what they really considered their first main weapon, and how it compares to their current main weapon. Why did you choose your first main as your first main? Do you still enjoy it? Why'd you move on to a different weapon? How long did you consider your first main a main for?

I believe the first weapon I actively called my "main weapon" was N-Zap, though I have less than 100 wins total on it, so truthfully it wasn't a main for long. I honestly don't really remember what drew me to it, but I'd guess now that it was the ease of being a shooter (Especially one that doesn't have any extra mechanics on it like a Nozzlenose or Squeezer), and both fondness for Tacticooler as well as it just being another very easy special for a beginner, since Splat3s my first Splatoon game. My current main is... well I've talked about my current main plenty enough lol. I like NTri because it's very up my alley in terms of playstyle and I never really feel burnt out on it, when I am feeling burnt out it's because I'm feeling burnt out on the game itself, not really the weapon, which matters a lot to me. As opposed to my first main only having around ~70 wins, I have over 1k+ on NTri, so uh. I've used it a lot more lol

Would love to hear y'alls opinions, as well as any other musings you have on your weapons!

 

[sevenleaf]

i've probably told this story on this forum before. i'm telling it again

i started with the splatoon 3 testfire demo and tried several weapons, probably, but i clicked with tetras the most during that fest. but when splatoon 3 actually released, i didn't realize i could bribe sheldon to give me weapons i hadn't unlocked yet, so for a while i was playing vdualies as a temporary arrangement, just until i'd leveled enough to unlock tetras. when i did unlock tetras, i all but dropped vdualies in favor of my fated weapon. i five-starred the vanilla kit. i rejoiced (visibly, at work) when light tetras were revealed, and five-starred that kit, too.

at some point i started to want to try out vdualies again. maybe it had to do with competitive trends, especially as i was starting to go "okay, no more hesitation or excuses, i'm getting into comp". maybe i just needed some variety. but i started playing them again, and i realized that not only did i like the main weapon, i really, really like using crab tank. i cast it aside when vdualies were my 'you'll do for now' main, maybe out of some spite i had for crab meta (y'know, as someone who'd never touched a tournament setting in his life and still played more turf than anarchy) or just a resistance to learning how to position with it. but i gave it an honest try the second time around and... really liked it. better than reefslider that's for sure, and while zipcaster is fun it's definitely a harder, less straightforward special than crab.

so like, tetras are still my main in my heart, my first love. i still use them. i'd like to give light tetras another shot sometime and see what weird specific situation they can shine in. but objectively i play more vdualies now. and dz assigned me vdualie main over tetra main in the other thread. so here we are.

(i don't play enperries. the kit does not excite me)

 

[Vidknight]

In Splatoon 1 I picked up roller. Unfortunately for all my enemies I'm still a splat roller main.

Jokes aside I picked up krak-on roller in splatoon 1 because not only was kraken broken in that game, but roller was also incredibly strong and also real easy to play I go as far to say the easiest weapon in the game. Which is why I picked it up 9 year old me was playing stick controls and thought that tenacity was the best ability in the game. So I basically needed a weapon to hard carry me and that weapon was roller.

In splat 2 I still loved the weapon I played the curling kit alot even at this weapon lowest point due to ink armor basically just negating the whole weapon I still liked it so much it was my most played weapon in this game.

And once again roller is my most played weapon in splatoon 3. I feel confident in saying the roller is perfect weapon. I like others yea like s-blast 91 and napples (Which I'm close to 5 starring). But roller stuck with me for 3 games in a row unless the weapon gets giga nerf or there is something better (Which I highly doubt) I'm most likely staying a roller main.

 

[MandatoryCatalyst]

(i don't play enperries. the kit does not excite me)

its okay. we cant all be right all the time. jokes. goofs. simply a hyperbolic statement of which to laugh at, born from my love of enperries

 

[DzNutsKong]

I think there was a thread about this earlier and I know I've shared this with people on Discord but I'll say again for those who either are not on Discord or didn't see me mention it there...

My first main was the .52 Gal, and I dropped it because it was a straightforward and overtuned weapon. My current main is the (Charcoal) Decavitator, which I play in spite of it being a straightforward and overtuned weapon.

I played the .52 Gal in Splatoon 1 because it was very strong. It killed people faster than any of the other Shooters I had and I loved using Seekers with Ninja Squid to get directly next to people to kill them. If faced with any half-decent opponent I would die but I didn't know that at the time. I felt like I did worse with other weapons so I played that one, plain and simple. It kinda felt like the weapon I had to play by default in Splatoon 3 for that reason, so I picked it up first thing on launch.

I didn't have Curling Bombs though so I had to make do with Splash Wall. It was kind of eye-opening for a number of reasons. For one, I hadn't played Splatoon 2 and last played when I was like 15 or something so as someone now legally old enough to drink I started to actually play to my kit. Splash Wall gave me a bit more appreciation of the idea of area denial even if it was through very simple means. If I ever didn't know what to do - go forward, Splash Wall, recharge ink, go forward, Splash Wall, repeat. My super booga aggro playstyle was something I had put on hold (for all of like a whole week before I became an Inkbrush main).

At the same time though...oh MY is .52 Gal easy. Like, I don't mind a weapon being easy, but the .52 Gal takes it to another level. It felt like I could genuinely do anything and would never be punished for it. Part of that was Splash Wall being stupid but part of that was...well, literally everything else about .52 Gal. The mobility, the ink efficiency, the range not being bad for what it was even though I never used that part of it, and so on.

I've realized recently that oddly enough, I think the Decavitator hits a lot of the notes that I liked about the .52 Gal while adding some new stuff that's great too. Similar TTKs, range values, and general flexibility. However, the Decavitator...

• Has poor ink efficiency (big weakness #1)
• Is WAY slower (big weakness #2, esp for a weapon of its range value)
• Feels like it gives the player more options to choose from (playing to uncharged shots + charged + charged and dash all have diff merits you need to think about)
• Inkjet (INKJET)

This weapon is in kind of a weird balance where some people find it really easy, some people find it really hard. I don't know or care which of the two it is. It's just not brainless to play like the .52 Gal is. It's so, so much more engaging for that, as well as everything else I've said about it over the past year.

 

[technobyte]

Looking back, I think my first main back in Splat 1 was either dual squelcher or range blaster since I remember using them a lot. Dual squelcher was in a pretty beginner friendly class, but it's main appeals were, well, pretty much everything. Its range, strafe speed, ink efficiency, fire rate, and damage all felt amazing, and I performed pretty decently with it. As for range blaster the distant AOE attacks are what appealed to me. It excelled in many situations and I remember overall just having fun with it. Come splatoon 2, these weapons pretty much fell off as my main since dual squelcher, well, is technically no longer with us (rest in peace my friend.) Dualie squelchers are awesome, but their playstyle never really clicked with me, and Nova's damage really holds it back from being the perfect combo of stats I found in the og DS. As for range, I'm not sure if something changed between Splatoon 1 and 2, but it felt a bit more cumbersome to use. It's still a fun weapon imo, but it doesn't feel the same as it used to for some reason, maybe because of my play style and preferences changing a bit throughout the series. If anything, S-Blast and, weirdly enough, explosher have generated more appeal from me as of late.

Now let's consider my current main, the heavy edit splatling. It's definitely pretty bizarre how I went from weapons like dual squelcher and RB to a weapon with more of a cadence to its play style given the charge mechanic, not to mention it having the second longest charge time in its class. However, it's main appeals to me are it's high mobility, ink efficiency, and that magnificent fire rate. It falls a bit short in scenarios where it's outranged, but it's nothing I'm not used to given how similar it's range is to something like... huh... dual(ie) squelcher. Maybe heavy edit pulls some of the same appeal that dual squelcher originally gave me. It has the perfect combination of strengths that strongly appeal to my current play style. A weapon that can really pressure and shred enemies if given the opportunity, but has powerful support options like painting or tacticooler.

Heavy edit is certainly a wonderful weapon, but I have a feeling won't be my last main. Looking back, my preferences have been pretty turbulent. I've gone from the flexible dual squelcher and capable range blaster, to the highly aggressive, close range splat roller, to the powerful ballpoint splatling, and finally to the absolute beast that is heavy edit splatling. I look forward to seeing if my feelings about any weapons change in Splatoon 4.

Thanks for this opportunity to reflect on my journey! It was nice thinking about how much I've changed.

 

[sevenleaf]

its okay. we cant all be right all the time. jokes. goofs. simply a hyperbolic statement of which to laugh at, born from my love of enperries

Well Actually my statements were objectively Right. i Do Not play enperries (fact). their kit Did Not click with me (fact). if you saw me play enperries and click with the kit that is MY EVIL SHADOW CLONE please ALERT ME TO HIS LOCATION so i know to be prepared

 

[DzNutsKong]

brb changing my ign to ~sevenleaf just to become an enperry splat dualies player for a month

 

[MandatoryCatalyst]

Well Actually my statements were objectively Right. i Do Not play enperries (fact). their kit Did Not click with me (fact). if you saw me play enperries and click with the kit that is MY EVIL SHADOW CLONE please ALERT ME TO HIS LOCATION so i know to be prepared

Sorry I couldn't hear you, I feel like there's someone saying something about playing Enperries for a month and it's distracting me.

brb changing my ign to ~sevenleaf just to become an enperry splat dualies player for a month

I trust you Enperries player ~Sevenleaf. You would never lead me astray

 

[sevenleaf]

the people of squidboards want me dead and buried and killed forever and ever and replaced by my evil shadow clone

 

[Mp3]

I used to, so far back, I hate to say it but I used the bloblobber. I was actually not bad because of how overpowering the weapon was at the time, and now I use weapons that you actually have to aim with, like octo shot and dynamo.

 

[electronvolt]

I actually used to play vdualies when i started. I had a splatana wiper phase, then a splatling phase, then eventually settled on the one true best splatoon weapon (/j), tri-stringer.
(explo is also here i guess, they both have similar arcing projectiles so it makes a good secondary)

 

[QuagSass]

I've mentioned it once or twice, but back in Splatoon 1 I was an octobrush main. Specifically vOcto with beakon/kraken.

Figuring my main out at the time was simple. I was like 14 or something, only third-person shooter I've ever played before this was PvZ: Garden Warfare 1 for the xbox 360. Besides that I was a handheld kid that mainly played Pokemon, so 3D games as a whole were new to me. Going from that kinda experience to Splatoon's gyro controls was confusing, to say the least.
Aiming was difficult. So I generally gravitated towards weapons with big hitboxes like Sloshers and the Brushes (Blasters made loud sounds and I didn't like them ;w;). But Sloshers had bombs and other throwable subs. And aiming the throws was difficult, so that made most of the Slohers difficult.
On top of just being kinda difficult for my baby brain at the time, Splatoon 1 was also scary. Chargers! Blasters! Kraken! Killer Wail! Inkzooka! These were just some of the many scary things Splatoon 1 had. For these reasons I also gravitated towards weapons with either Bubbler or Kraken. The scary things were a lot easier to handle when you had a frame-1 invincibility special to fall back on.

Enter the Vanilla Octobrush. The weapon literally ticked all the boxes for little baby me.
Forgiving hitbox
No throwable sub
Frame-1 invincibility special

Besides those things, the fact that it had a sharking playstyle was also very nice. Letting me have moments where I can just breathe. Octobrush is probably the biggest reason I stuck with S1 and eventually bought S3.
Reuniting with my first love in the S3 testfire, now with all the experience with 3D games in general, made me love it even more.

But I didn't play only Octobrush in S1. I tried out a bunch of Kraken and Bubbler weapons. So come S3 and I decided to give the other weapons I messed with another try. I remembered liking the Zink Mini Splatling a fair bit in S1, but I only had access to the Heavy at the launch of S3. I thought "eh sure, I'll try Heavy. It can't be that different from Mini". Well turns out Heavy was awesome actually. I distinctly remember taking it to Hagglefish Market Zones and dominating the match. Then I started playing Heavy in zones until I finally unlocked Hydra and thought "This weapon is just Heavy but better?????? Huh?????? Is this legal??????". While my first impressions weren't exactly true, that was basically when I dropped Octobrush completely and switched over to Splatlings.

Rest in pieces Octobrush, you served me well.

 

[Catloafman]

Back in S1 I played Nzap 89 (sprinkler and inkstrike) why? well because I really enjoyed inkstrike in Splatoon 1 and this was the best way to get a lot of them and have a functional weapon (heres looking at you gold aero)
However after Red zap my main history changed quite a lot, I eventually started to like Bamboo mkIII (burst bomb Inkstrike) because I thought the weapon was unique, fun and had inkstrike (how I played this weapon when I used stick controls I have no idea)

Going into Splatoon 2 I was dead set on maining the Dark Tetra dualies because I thought the weapon looked awesome both design wise and gameplay wise and I liked them quite a lot

However eventually I tried out the Splat brella in Splatoon 2 and I fell in LOVE
I felt like brella if played correctly could win pretty much every fight (I was wrong about this but it was good for me to think because it forced me to improve a ton) and well the rest is history... almost

Splatoon 3 on launch was very mean to brellas so I dropped brella in favor for more functional weapons being Range blaster and Splatana stamper but eventually I got back into Brella and I have 5 stars on Sorella brella

 

[Mili]

When I first played Splatoon 2, I picked the inkbrush, and it's a very fun weapon, being close to the only one I used.
Getting into Splatoon 3, I was still a bit unfamiliar with Splatoon, so I stuck with inkbrush, and is still to this day a weapon I hold dearly, being able to run fast, and not having to aim as much helped at that time too, however, eventually I wanted to play more aim intensive weapons, so I started using the tri stringer up to 4 stars, and despite being a weapon I don't use much anymore, that just opened all other weapons for me.

Currently, I would consider splat dualies my mains, with Sloshing machine being my favorite weapon, and having other weapons I'm interested in pouring more time into, I'm still really good with inkbrush, and until machine and dualies I considered it my best weapon.

I think a big part of why I wanted to use other weapons besides expanding my options was how low the range of the inkbrush is, I had to struggle to fight close range weapons like shooters or rollers that outranged me or outdamaged me, but as I come back to the weapon, that's just something I have to play around that makes this weapon fun...

Also, I guess I could tell how I started using my two mains so to speak.
With Machine, I wanted to try the weapon because at the time I was thinking really hard about washing machines in videogames, and Sloching machine was one of my favorite depictions of them, as a weapon!
Funnily enough, I started using machine the month before the big nerf, so most of my machine experience is using the nerfed version... But I still remember you pre nerfed machine...
From gameplay, I think I really liked hitting directs, the speed while sloshing, and the ability to deny space so effectively, with fizzy for pain and paint hehheh, and booyah bomb as a very useful special, being able to hit behind walls and around cover is also one of the reasons I enjoyed it so much.

As for dualies, it just came into my radar when one time I decided to try the weapon and it became the weapon that reached 4 stars the fastest, winning and winning, though even after that it was on the back burner for me as a weapon I would use often but not consider my main.
Eventually though, I decided to start trying to get good with a good weapon, so I decided to stick with splat dualies, at times I struggled, but I became more comfortable with it as time went on, and now is my second 5 stars weapon, and has become the weapon I use when I wanna do my best...

 

[Hokuto]

I mentioned my first main, Splat Dualies, on the thread that inspired this one. Burst Bomb works nicely on anyone I can't reach and splat right away and Splatoon 2 Tenta Missiles are infamous for being busted. While Splatoon 3 Splat Dualies has TWO good kits(!), each rewarding a different playstyle(!!!), I used my first Gold License on Tri-Slosher Nouveau after watching someone achieve really funny results in a Splatoon tournament with it—BEFORE the rise of Tacticooler meta. I basically dropped Splat Dualies after that except in the next season of the same Splatoon tournament in favor of nTri and N-ZAP '85, both of which conveniently had Tacticooler as the special. Tacticooler tickles my brain the same way Splatlings tickle QuagSass's. Tri-Slosher just happens to be the main weapon that complements my playstyle the most.
I also mentioned sometime between one and four months ago that I got burnt out on nTri. My N-ZAP and Dapples usage rose, but neither filled the void that my abysmal 210p to Special gauge left behind. Enter Dread Wringer, a weapon I regret not using a Gold License on. I bounced off hard when I first got it, as I didn't know how to play to my range or swing sloshes and Reefslider still sucked at everything. My aggro Dread game works surprisingly well when I can get it to work, especially in my previously beloathed Splat Zones. It's still not my favorite mode by any means (all hail Tower Control!), but at least I don't have to weigh down my team with a weapon that literally can't paint to save its life. Speaking of, I should work on my Reef Cheese build after I finish my regular build.

With Machine, I wanted to try the weapon because at the time I was thinking really hard about washing machines in videogames, and Sloching machine was one of my favorite depictions of them, as a weapon!

I can think of three whole depictions of washing machines in video games: Sloshing Machine, the laundry hall next to the Persona 5 bathhouse, and (far more notable than either of those) Banjo-Kazooie You're A Washing Machine. I don't understand this logic, but go off. From what little I've played of it, Sloshing Machine IS pretty fun.

 

[Mili]

I don't understand this logic, but go off. From what little I've played of it, Sloshing Machine IS pretty fun.

To explain it a bit more, I think the boxy, circular window look of a washing machine is cool, it's pretty nice to look at for me, and seeing something that I like seeing in real life in a video game, is always pretty sweet, there's something about how polygons make something look that I find appealing, but that just boils down to I love graphics in games, especially 3D ones.

I also really like water in video games, and washing machines always have that correlation in my brain for me, the reason I tried Sloshing machine in the first place was because I was thinking about how cool washing machines look when they are in games, and sloshing machine was a weapon that I found looked very cool because of it.
Also thanks for telling me where else you can find washing machines in games for some reason I have trouble finding a consistent way of searching for which games have them

 

[isaac4]

I've already talked about this topic before in a previous thread but I'll take any excuse to talk about Machine again.

The first weapon I would classify as my main would be Octobrush in early S3. I don't remember why I specifically started playing it though, just that I did and it ended up becoming a comfortable weapon pick.
If I had to guess on the reason why I gravitated towards Octobrush it would probably be because the weapon kit is pretty nice.
A simple bomb sub, a fun "spider-man" special that would let me go to the enemy base in Turf, and a main weapon that didn't have any glaring weaknesses (that I could tell).
My goal back then was to unlock every weapon so it didn't take too long to get the opportunity to play Machine.
There wasn't an immediate switch between the two but I do remember one of the main reasons that pushed me into being a Machine main was from my experience using it in Anarchy Series.
It's the weapon that I used to get into S Rank (or maybe S+??) so I started seeing it as my main option if I wanted to perform well in a match.
I would gradually stop using Octobrush except for the few times I tried out the 2nd kit but I didn't enjoy Beakon/Inkstorm so I left the weapon alone entirely.
The Machine nerfs do make me think about a scenario where I just stayed an Octobrush main instead but I'm sure I would have moved on to another weapon anyway.

Funnily enough, I started using machine the month before the big nerf, so most of my machine experience is using the nerfed version... But I still remember you pre nerfed machine...

You really don't know what you have until it's gone.

 

[dylan01]

First main: roller, current main: nzap. Roller interested me the most in my noob days, I like one shot potential. I still play it from time to time, but nzap has been my main for a long time now and nothing comes quite close to the speed and flexibility for me. Comparing the two they’re similar range, so it’s interesting to see I didn’t stray too far. I like how with nzap I always feel like I’m able to contribute. Roller is great, but has a tough disadvantage state.

If the jump from slayer to support sounds weird, the halfway point was ttek. It was a better fit for me wanting more mobility, and really just had to train my aim (roller was too forgiving). When I’m on point, even if other weapons secure kills more easily, I like how far shooters can be pushed.

 

[Algae]

First main: S3 VSlosher. Arced hits have great feedback, but special has poor synergy. Current main: S2 Ttek. If I could only have one kit ever, this thing's kit and movement satisfy that greatly.