General challenge thread

[Vidknight]

Once again a thread that I'm surprised doesn't exist yet. Basically this thread is just dedicated to talking about the current or next challenge at the time. Whether it's opinions, strategies, tips/tricks, whatever.

Guess I kick this thread off by talking about the next challenge "Making It Rain... Here?" This does seems pretty fun, and I do feel that turf war is the best mode for rainmaker to be in. TC would just be hard to ride on tower, SZ is just zones cheese on crack, and CB while a mode I love isn't a mode that is all to popular with the general playerbase. So TW is the best mode for it, but the maps chosen is pretty worrying Eeltail Alley is a map that is infamous for being easy to get spawntraped in due to how the bridge gives so much power to the attackers so I'm not too sure how exactly it would work if the attackers now have a weapon that makes it easy to stall. Humpback Pumptrack is pretty good in my opinion as there is many ways to maneuver around the RM carrier and the explosion so no problems for this map.

 

[isaac4]

While I like the idea of having the Rainmaker in other modes, Turf War is probably the most boring option they could have chosen for it.
I understand that it might have been very awkward or annoying to add it in the other ranked modes but I'll take any of those problems over playing more Turf.
That applies to my feelings for all the other challenges that are stuck in that terrible mode as well but if I were to talk more about them then this would just become a Turf War rant.
Choosing Eeltail was also definitely a choice.
I think a map like Um'ami Ruins would have been a much better fit for preventing the RM carrier from easily locking out the other team.

 

[QuagSass]

I can see the logic in the map choices, even if I personally hate both. On top of not wanting the RM carrier to lock out the enemy team, you also want the map to have terrain that the RM can make use of. And I don't just mean cover and high ground to protect the RM. Rainmaker's lob shots are so cool and maps like Eeltail and especially Humpback can really make the most of them. You can lob them on the Eeltail bridge! You can deny the backlines their window spot in Humpback! Rainmaker is such a cool weapon! I love explody fish!
Humpback probably is the best turf map for the challenge in that sense. Eeltail makes sense too, but it's still stinky.

Lockout with the RM is a tad worrying on Eeltail, but if it's anything like last time this challenge was around then I don't think it's a big deal. People just kept rushing the RM the moment it pops, absolutely zero strategy. Just "ooh! shiny!" People rarely got to hold the thing for longer than 2 seconds.

 

[Vidknight]

Couple challenges coming up here so might as well go over them. The first is the monthly challenge in turf war. This might be the first, and last time I go over the monthly challenge since it's pretty much just standard splatoon with no gimmick or anything interesting to say. You played turf war before? Well you played the monthly challenge!

The next challenge is pretty interesting "Fully Charged", and I do have a good bit to say. So I recommend to listen to the guy who only experience with chargers is playing Vsquiffer poorly.

right off the bat I think both pens might be the worse weapon in this challenge. The subs/specials are fine it just that one of pen biggest strength is the chip damage that weapons like buckets, blasters, swords, etc can combo off of. The only weapon I can think of that combos off the chip is bamboo, but bamboo is already self sufficient, and have tools to combo with, so it's a very small point towards pen.

But that isn't to say that pen is completely unplayable, I feel this challenge is more about skill, than weapon choices.

Next up the map mode combination the mode is TC which no strong opinions on tbh I find the mode alright nothing to really say. As for the map the first choice is mincemeat metalworks haha... yea.. The other map is inkblot which I honestly find good backline chargers can backline pretty ok here, and frontline weapons can still do their thing. Although I'm not an backline player so I'm going need someone to confirm that for me.​

 

[QuagSass]

On the contrary, I think Pencil is actually going to be a key weapon to enable the baby chargers on mincemeat.
Mincemeat is the charger map so it makes sense to have here. But it's not a map that's easy for something like Squiffer to work with if it's only opponents are other chargers. Poor thing would just get picked off before it gets in range.
Having more paint control would help with that a lot, thus Pencil becomes super important. This does make me think that red Pencil might be the better choice tho, and that's pretty cool.

Bamboo I think might struggle the most, just because it lacks range and the one-shot ability. Though I could see it being good at bullying Squiffer and maybe Goober. Squiffer because Bamboo outranges and Goober because Bamboo is faster.
Coincidentally Bamboo would also work really nicely with red Pencil. I think you could make an all-chargers chip damage comp, it would just be weird and possibly not worth it. Pencil as your main paint guy and with Bamboo2 as your secondary paint and chip guy. Maybe add a Goober to that if you really wanna lean into the chip damage idea, but you probably shouldn't.

Inkblot I think is kinder to the short chargers. I suppose that's why the maps are what they are. You got the long charger map and the short charger map.
Long chargers I think would be at their strongest in neutral. They have the easiest time sniping people in mid, but there aren't any particularly strong perches here so the short chargers can still pick them off fairly easily. On defence and attack though? There are precious few perches that are strong, which isn't something that E-liter is gonna like. You gotta reposition fairly often if you want to continue affecting the game. And you have to reposition a lot since the tower can realistically only hold one long charger on it. If you try to squeeze in there, you're gonna start blocking shots.

Honestly these are great map choices that favour both sides of the charger class. Where was this level of consideration for the splatling challenge, waaahhh

Zekkofin I think is probably the best charger for this challenge. It has the range to work in mincemeat and it has strikes to help it deal with tower on inkblot. Plus the Splash Wall helps it be more aggressive when needed. Only fitting for the most basic charger to be able to work around both maps of the challenge :)