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Gameplay review and critque thread

Fullmental

Semi-Pro Squid
Joined
Feb 3, 2017
Messages
85
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Pokeman92
@Fullmental, CONGRATULATIONS on your rank up!!

(We should squad again some time)

Here's three major things I've kept noticing. They're not necessarily bad habits outright, they can in fact become a strong part of your playstyle if properly harnessed. But currently they're untamed and get you into trouble:
  • Habitually and repeatedly going into melee range
  • When you get hit confirm but don't splat, you tunnel vision and immediately chase after your prey no matter the circumstances
  • Not always being aware of your surroundings/situation when over extending or charging into the fray
Hey Ansible, sure any time I'm online feel free to ping me on Discord or here, I'll make some time to squad.

Good points you're making, thanks for taking a look. I'm actually aware of this and trying to use it to my advantage, sort of how you mentioned. I'm not 100% sure how to "tame" my aggressive play style, but if you have suggestions I'm all ears. Right now I'm inconsistent, I think that's because even though I'm in S rank I still have a general lack of experience, and occasionally a lack of awareness.
 

Drez

Pro Squid
Joined
Jun 3, 2015
Messages
131
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neokrw
FullMental just so you know I would post a video if I had one recorded. This is a good thread.
 

Dessgeega

Egyptian Goo God
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Feb 23, 2016
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Same thing, Drez. I'll have to make time to watch the footage here and share my thoughts.
 

Ansible

Squid Savior From the Future
Community Ambassador
Joined
Feb 3, 2016
Messages
2,017
Sure sure, I'm sure to be free Tuesday (27th) starting around 7~730sih ET.

I'll go with your first two matches, both on Port Mackerel. They've got some good examples of what you can do with aggressive play while having a few mistakes in there.

After the first minute, you did great sweeping in from left with a ready bubbler. Yet before you activated it, there was the risk you took trying to melee that ambush octobrush, with much enemy ink to the left and behind you for another ambush, and the bamboolzer being who-knows-where. But your team took advantage of you taking down two and being bubbled in the splat zone, securing the zone then pushing outwards.

Then that aggressive pushing gets you into trouble about ten seconds later when you go down their corridor to fight that splash-o-matic while being fair game to the bamboozler. And you get yourself in trouble again around the 3:15ish mark when you try to fight that bamboozler head-on. Who then traps you in a niche! lol But it somehow works out in the end when your teammate tries to help you, which allows you to go right back to rushing the bamboozler head-on once more. lol Good that you pressured her, troublesome that you went face-to-face with her. Maybe jump left instead of right next time? lol

Around 3:45ish is when you're too eager to go after that trapped splash-o-matic—while there's a Killer Wail telling you to "STAHP!!". Thankfully you had a bubble ready. lol In your second match, about 7:15 is a good example of you holding back. Instead of chasing down that carbon deco you force him to go around and down the other corridor where you waited for him. Thankfully you had a bubble for that quick melee spat there.

And a risky but good aggressive play in that second match is around the seven minute mark when you rushdown the (damage up using) e-liter head-on. Thankfully it paid off, and it's always good to pressure and even splat the charger, but maybe not engage them head-on. Then from there you did well in quartering the n-zap soon after, followed by engaging then defeating the carbon deco. All of which aided your team in gaining so much momentum and control they had a 51pt lead before the other team began their successful counterattack.
 

Phlox

Senior Squid
Joined
Apr 14, 2015
Messages
64
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PhloxofBirds
So, kind of disappointed to see no one else tried to post here, but since I recently got into S rank I figured maybe I'd post another video. This one's from a stream I was doing today with the Zink Mini Splatling, so there's some commentary on it that occasionally explains my thoughts on kills/deaths, and I'm curious to hear what some other veteran players would have to say about my play. Any advice?

Aight as a Zimi player, lemme take a crack at analyzing the first game.

First thing I notice off the bat is that you're not charging bubble at the beginning of the game. Zimi charges special very quickly and it's worth it to get in the first 30 seconds so you can push into enemy territory. The spawn area of Mackerel and the first court area (where your zone is) is prime painting area to get Bubble so you can push in.

At 1:24 you kinda... ignore the guy located up top. You can easily keep him disrupted and make it difficult for him to do anything. You also probably could have splatted him, but not splatting him is generally fine as well.

At 1:34 you shouldn't have been going into that choke like that. Let the people come to you while you wait in their courtyard area, watching the four major chokepoints to make sure people aren't funneling through any of them (top left, left corridor, right corridor, top right) and pressuring them with Disruptors.

One thing that's bothering me is that you're not really moving side to side in the lanes. Using side to side movement can help you avoid shots and make you a harder target to hit, plus moving side to side helps you paint much more efficiently than being stationary.

The next death to the Grim is honestly fine. There wasn't really anything you could've done, and I would have probably died to it too. The Grim dies soon after because that was a bad position for the Grim.

At 2:03 I would be painting over the bombs and the zone instantly, so the other team wouldn't be able to get a penalty on you and so you can get another Bubble for another push in. The inefficiency painting comes in here as well. One charge should be able to cap the whole zone, or most of it, if you went from left to right or right to left instead of starting in the middle of the zone.

At 2:13 I'm... not quite sure why you're charging up in preparation for a guy to be hiding there? The middle and left lanes were completely in your colour, so you didn't really have to do that as you could have deduced that there was nobody there based on the ink on the ground.

At 2:20 you really don't need to be painting over those small patches of enemy ink. They're really not worth painting over. If you had a throwable bomb then yes, but not with your main weapon. Also, I would have thrown a Disruptor to check that area for a person instead of painting there. Throwing Disruptors at corners can easily help you figure out if someone's sharking there.

At 2:30 you can see at the top there is only one alive on the other team, so you could have went straight into the enemy court and gotten map control instead of painting over insignificant spots on the ground.

At 2:47 you started doing this next point, but my main focus would be painting over the zone and the enemy fire going onto it from the same position you're doing it from. I would have immediately came from left lane to contest the zone because there would be people coming from the right straight to their zone, to stall the timer.

The death immediately after could have been avoided, as the Inkzooka activation sound was there. If you hear that sound, your first task is to get behind cover (just to your left) and then locate where the Inkzooka is.

At 3:12 you didn't need to stay there to splat the jumper. There were already two other people there and you could have instead did something else. Wasting your time doing something that someone else is already doing and doesn't need help doing is often bad, as the other team can spend their resources more efficiently and put you in a disadvantageous state.

At 3:19 you're staying in the lane too much (and in general, honestly). You need to dip and dive between lanes efficiently or else you're gonna get sniped or a long-range weapon will splat you. You also... didn't need to jump when swimming over that tiny puddle of ink. Swimming through tiny puddles like that will slow you down much, much less than jumping over them. Plus, jumping only makes you an easy target for Chargers.

At 3:33, you could have died so easily. Other Bamboozlers (especially Mark III) would have thrown a Burst Bomb instantly once they hit you once, or spammed tap shots. A better option would to either paint over the Bamboozler's shots safely, or to approach from the centre/left lane instead of the right.

Tiny thing at 3:35, but don't turn your back on those chokepoints/any area where enemies are very likely to come from. You not keeping your field of vision on those chokes could have cost you your life if someone was coming from them.

Nice Disruptor throw at 3:39. You could have probably kept him immobile if you kept throwing Disruptors at him instead of backing off, though.

Didn't need to waste your bubble at 3:50. Instead, you could have swam into their lane and waited out the wail before retreating, or potentially sharked in the little alcove and sharked there.

You died at 3:58 because you were indecisive. You either should have kept your focus on the alley to catch people coming from there or completely swam out of the alley entirely and back into their court. Furthermore, if you kept your Bubble from that earlier exchange, you could have survived this.

Good plays at 4:39 as your team was entirely dead and the best thing you could've done in that situation is exactly what you did, but you lost track of the Bamboozler you saw earlier. That caused you to die. If you kept track of that Bamboozler in your mind, you probably could have come out with a triple and recapped both zones with help from your team. (You could have told that you didn't splat the Bamboozler because the first person you splatted activated a Suction Bomb Rush and the second person tried to pachink you with a Blaster that had a Burst Bomb as a sub).

You lost the fight at 4:55 simply because you went too far forwards. You could have seen him coming, so what I would've done is kept my range (as Zimi outranges the Splash-o-matic) and let him swim into my bullets instead of using the Zimi close-range. A Disruptor would have also sufficed.

Around 5:18, you're once again painting over blue ink that really doesn't matter and should be ignored.

At the very end, I instead would have went straight to the Zone to contest it so they couldn't wind down the timer even more than they would have.

Anyways that's it for tonight, might do more, might not. I don't know.
 

Maave

Inkling Commander
Joined
Jun 7, 2016
Messages
351
So, kind of disappointed to see no one else tried to post here, but since I recently got into S rank I figured maybe I'd post another video. This one's from a stream I was doing today with the Zink Mini Splatling, so there's some commentary on it that occasionally explains my thoughts on kills/deaths, and I'm curious to hear what some other veteran players would have to say about my play. Any advice?

Phlox already has an awesome write-up, I'll add some for the rest of the footage:

in general
- right-side peek! It's so beneficial to chargers
- favor strafing right with splatlings so that you ink the ground as you move. Strafing left causes you to walk on enemy ink
- use sub weapons on enemy-inked corners where there might be hidden enemies
- if it looks dangerous, go around rather than going forward. Fight them on your terms, not theirs

this part is really long so I'll spoiler it

3:17 - the sniper will win a head-on battle with his faster time to kill. Instead of going forward I'd go to the middle lane, move forward to the next box, then charge up and right-side peek him.

9:16 - spam your sub weapon on the corners. Or take the high ground. That center area is painted with enemy ink so it's a danger zone.

10:35 - don't go dowwwnnn. All that enemy ink is dangerous and potentially occupied. Shoot from the ledge or over the box (depends on weapon range), and spam subs over the box. Orrr take the right path, then turn left so that you have a buffer between you and the enemy ink.

16:22 - semi acceptable death. I would only suggest don't walk in front of the teammate, try to corner peek more.

17:30 - circle right, more corner peeking

18:00 - use subs on the corners so that you don't have to expose yourself

19:38 - you've been point sensored so the sniper has an advantage. I'd back off

20:33 - disrupter this roller. Short range weapons haaaaate disrupters. You splatted him anyway though so it was fine

21:40 - with all the enemies here I'd probably back off and wait for teammates. You bubbled and pushed through which also worked.

25:15 - here the enemies were pushing to that choke point, I recommend using high path, then spam subs over the boxes to force them to move and assist teammates on the low path.

26:30 - disrupter all those chumps up top. If you're lucky a teammate will start throwing bombs as well.

nice friggin overtime win btw

28:25 - sub weapon around the corner, especially against a roller
28:29 - sniper has appear and it's 2v1, abort abort abort
 

Phlox

Senior Squid
Joined
Apr 14, 2015
Messages
64
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PhloxofBirds
Phlox already has an awesome write-up, I'll add some for the rest of the footage:

in general
- right-side peek! It's so beneficial to chargers
- favor strafing right with splatlings so that you ink the ground as you move. Strafing left causes you to walk on enemy ink
- use sub weapons on enemy-inked corners where there might be hidden enemies
- if it looks dangerous, go around rather than going forward. Fight them on your terms, not theirs

this part is really long so I'll spoiler it

3:17 - the sniper will win a head-on battle with his faster time to kill. Instead of going forward I'd go to the middle lane, move forward to the next box, then charge up and right-side peek him.

9:16 - spam your sub weapon on the corners. Or take the high ground. That center area is painted with enemy ink so it's a danger zone.

10:35 - don't go dowwwnnn. All that enemy ink is dangerous and potentially occupied. Shoot from the ledge or over the box (depends on weapon range), and spam subs over the box. Orrr take the right path, then turn left so that you have a buffer between you and the enemy ink.

16:22 - semi acceptable death. I would only suggest don't walk in front of the teammate, try to corner peek more.

17:30 - circle right, more corner peeking

18:00 - use subs on the corners so that you don't have to expose yourself

19:38 - you've been point sensored so the sniper has an advantage. I'd back off

20:33 - disrupter this roller. Short range weapons haaaaate disrupters. You splatted him anyway though so it was fine

21:40 - with all the enemies here I'd probably back off and wait for teammates. You bubbled and pushed through which also worked.

25:15 - here the enemies were pushing to that choke point, I recommend using high path, then spam subs over the boxes to force them to move and assist teammates on the low path.

26:30 - disrupter all those chumps up top. If you're lucky a teammate will start throwing bombs as well.

nice friggin overtime win btw

28:25 - sub weapon around the corner, especially against a roller
28:29 - sniper has appear and it's 2v1, abort abort abort
I'd like to add that right-side peeking may be beneficial to Chargers (didn't watch further into the video so I'm not sure if he used a proper Charger or just the Zimi) but it's not really the be-all end-all, as you can often use left-side peeks to hide your laser to get a surprise shot that may land (if it doesn't, then back off). As a Zimi though, and almost all other weapons, right-side peeking really isn't as significant as some people make it out to be. So many people make it out to be this "amazing trick that will help you a lot" when in reality it's only beneficial maybe once out of every fifty situations. Getting really good at right-side peeking won't help you as much as getting really good at aim (mainly prediction), mobility, and positioning (FLC has a pretty good blog on fundamentals here, here, and here.

Using corners to your advantage for ambushing is completely fine instead of abusing right-side peeks though, as with corners the enemy has to approach you (except if it's a corner of a small container, then the enemy can simply land falloff shots onto you with proper practice with the arc) and while they are approaching you you can come out of the corner firing and killing them. Furthermore, strafing with the Zimi with 3-4 RSU mains worth of abilities (plus Ink Res) helps a lot, as it makes sure that your paint doesn't land on the previous area you've painted from the spray (spreading your paint out, making your painting more effective) and for yourself to be able to be mobile while in a firefight. Learning those two tricks will help much more than learning to right-side peek more.
 

RelicRaider

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Feb 11, 2017
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RelicRaiderULTD
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I'll probably record something tonight. I went back to splatoon because I fancied rank last night and I lost my S but I had no trouble gettin got it back again and could comfortably win in A+. I just wasn't sure what to do when I hit S again. I feel like I'm not confident or aggressive enough yet, but I'm not entirely sure what plays to make. It won't be massive quality, most likely iPhone pointed at TV screen quality.
 

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