Splatoon 2 Gear set Poll: Research

[Mr.HawK]

Hey guys!

I wanted to try and start something new for those who are just getting used to how splatoon 2 works whether you are a new player or seasoned vet.

Everyone who plays this game runs different abilities on their gear sets especially considering the different weapons we all play. One of the things that's always been on my mind is whether or not there is a specific strategy people use depending on the weapon whether it seems practical or not. I know that some people are looking to be creative with the strategies they use or maybe they're wanting to get a better edge in terms of the competitive scene. So i want to try something out here as a little bit of a research project.

My hypothesis is that every weapon and class has at least 2 or 3 specific abilities that are used in order to bring the best out of those said weapons.

So in order to test this and to figure out what they are I've created a poll linked below:
https://goo.gl/forms/MeE5jAOKQANEHNnt

In order to use convenient resources that our community has provided I want to fully advise using the loadout.ink website here:
https://loadout.ink

The poll will ask you to put the full url of your loadout as well as your current username or in game name just so i know that the info is coming from different people.

Once enough data has been collected I will write up a final analysis. However I don't want to stop at just that, I think this would be a fantastic time to use this thread as an opportunity to do some theoretical analysis on what gear sets you would all like to test out. So in this thread I want y'all to get creative but also take the poll as well so that hopefully we can find some common understanding with weapons and abilities.

One step closer to understanding the game and it's players.

Have fun, and have a nice day.

 

[LiX]

Thank you for this thread. I already submitted my Octobrush loadout (https://loadout.ink/#030329884213aa14a526294a5).

As an Octrobrush player who's rather new to competitive play, I'd like to share my thoughts, receive advice by more experienced brush players and maybe inspire even newer players to test out this hilarious weapon.

As you see, I run comeback with triple ink saver (main), squid ninja with triple swim speed and a pure swim speed. This is the gear I am actually using at the moment. I've toyed around with gear before (had the comeback headgear replaced with pure ink saver) but I've come to the conclusion that this is the best set for my strategy. The massive amount of swim speed may seem overstacked at first, but considering that you need 5 subs of swim speed to compensate for squid ninja, it feels just right for me to have the 5-compensating subs+4 extra ones to make me even faster as I zip around unseen.

The strategy I use on this is plain simple: I play it on Splat Zones mostly. The goal is to quickly develop good ink coverage and then sneak up to enemy by enemy, carefully picking them off and disappearing again. Of course this requires a team that gives you good ground coverage to work with. Naturally, if your team happens to be locked out of the zone, it is quite difficult to gain back control due to the brushs limited range when it comes to attacking without big areas of ink to hide in. However, if it should be you in control of the zone, the things you can do with the octobrush are simply amazing. If your team quickly pushs forward towards enemy area, you can zip around, pop up and take down player by player as they try to gain back control.

In conclusion, I think the Octobrush with that specific gear set is a tough nut to crack. The combination of ninja squid, massive swim speed and ink saver seems to really pull out the maximum performance. Obviously it's not "the most used meta weapon ever" and I didn't calculate whether my gear loadout is "perfect" fit for the Brush. But this is what has given me the best experience while running it.

I may list more gear sets here for different weapons in the future, but first I'd like to give other people a chance to post more giant walls of text. Haha.

 

[Lonely_Dolphin]

Cool idea here, I'll be interested in seeing them results! I uploaded my build for Sloshing Machine Neo and Dualie Squelchers, which is this self explanatory set:

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One thing though is that the loadout site doesn't measure tracking time increase despite there being a bar for it. From my rough estimates (using Switch's record feature), the amount of sub power up I have let's markings last somewhere between 12 and 13 seconds.

 

[AllToonedUp]

Ooo this is a nice idea, I'd love to see the results later. I added my gear for the Hero Brella Replica. (https://loadout.ink/en-us/#050111884212e204211b21084)

I've been playing competitively for a long time and the Hero Brella is by far my favorite weapon to use casually and in Ranked.
As you can see from the link, I run Comeback with triple Ink Saver Main, Run Speed Up with another triple ISM, and pure Run Speed Up shoes.

Ink Saver Main is not just for shooting with the main weapon, but holding up your shield actually consumes ink and I use it to compensate the amount it takes to hold up the shield/launching the canopy. Run Speed Up is to be able to strafe shots when shooting and when you hold up the shield + shoot and rinse and repeat. While Comeback is a situational boost, but I like the abilities it gives you and all of them are useful abilities that a Brella wouldn't mind having. (Aside from Ink Saver Sub that is)

My strategy with the Brella is to play aggressive yet defensive at the same time. That might sound confusing at first, but what I try to do is pull up the shield when necessary (Rather than just ZR shield ZR shield ZR shield) and shoot when they're caught off-guard/stuck in lag. Run Speed Up is crucial for it imo because Splatoon favors mobility and when people are constantly pressuring you, sometimes you're forced to stay stuck in shield and even the tiniest boost of RSU can save your life, since it makes you much harder to hit. Not only that, but when someone runs into your shield, you both get knocked back and the opponent gets damaged, so I purposely try to bump into people and shoot them for an easy kill.

Ink Saver Main is mostly for again, holding up the shield/launching it. Launching the shield can be used a variety of ways whether its to get to another point faster (Similar to how people use Curling Bombs), escaping from tight situations (Ex. Say I'm being chased and I either: Step back and launch the Brella toward them in a narrow path such as Arowana Mall or I launch it and swim in front of the shield to protect my behind while I try to escape) or baiting people out (Ex. I launch the shield but stand still hiding in my ink to get a reaction from the enemy team).

Comeback is a niche ability and it will never activate if you don't die, however the boosts can be very helpful when you're constantly dying. (And admittedly I do love the Retro Specs look, but we're not here for aesthetic ;))

Overall, the Hero Brella Replica is a very versatile weapon and it's hard to crack down which abilities it needs the most since the weapon itself has very good stats, yet it's generally agreed upon that Run Speed Up is one of the more useful abilities for it. I can't speak for every Brella main, but I do feel like this weapon will be staple to the meta unless if they keep nerfing it. The 1.4.0 update was the biggest leap for a weapon I've ever seen in all of Splatoon because it went from being sub-par, mediocre support weapon to a deadly wall in the right hands.

I might post more weapons/loadouts in the future such as the other Brellas too, but I'm open for other ability suggestions for this weapon. :)

 

[Ansible]

How long will the initial survey time frame be? Or will the data be analyzan on a scheduled basis, e.g. seasonally?