how did you choose your main(s)?

[kyubone]

splatoon 3... is a game... that has weapons. a lot of them.

let's talk about the ones we love!

what made you pick up your main weapon(s)? was it love at first splat, or did you take some time to come around to using it? did you mess around and find something you enjoyed by accident? was it the feel, the damage, the audiovisual feedback, the kit, something else, all of the above, none of the above?

my first main: heavy splatling
i'll start off by saying that i adore heavy splatling. always have, always will. i wanted to play it in splatoon 2, but since i picked up the game 6 months from spl3's release and didn't have a ton of time to practice, i never ended up playing it in 2. i thought i was going to play vpro, vsplash, and vroller at the start of 3's lifespan, but by the time the gear/grub/fun fest rolled around i was already feeling something new. i distinctly remember hopping in a voice call with some smash friends of mine when hammerhead bridge was in the open fest rotation and saying "i think it's time to learn heavy." after a few games of holding mid and hosing down the entire bridge with paint from a single vantage point, i was hooked and proceeded to play mostly heavy for the next 9 months.

my second (real) main: range blaster
it wasn't until this past summer that i committed to branching out more and started playing zap 85 again (for the sake of my one true love, tacticooler). i enjoyed ballpoint's time in the spotlight earlier that year, but nothing had really been gelling with me the same way heavy did - and by last september i was playing on a low-level team, which made it difficult for me to flex into different roles and kits since i wanted to accommodate my teammates. zap was working really well, but after the luti season wrapped up and two of our members had to step away to focus on irl, i was in a period of weapon crisis and throwing EVERYTHING at the wall to see what stuck.

after a lot of experimentation, i got into rapid blaster deco in a big way - the kit is insanely synergistic and the main is very fun to use, so i enjoyed my time with it a lot. i just didn't feel like i was having the biggest impact in games, and part of that was not fully meshing with the playstyle yet; i still had to deprogram a lot of habits that playing almost nothing but backlines had drilled into me. then The Breakthrough happened.

i had first tried range blaster last summer and bounced off it real quick. something about the fire rate and aim just went over my head, so i wrote it off as a curiosity to 1-star and nothing more. for some reason, though, i decided to revisit it after playing rapid deco for a while, and even though it still wasn't working great, enough time had passed and i had developed my mentality as a player enough to recognize that i just needed to keep an open mind and see if that initial discomfort would fade on its own... and then, while playing range in scrims one day a few weeks ago, it finally started to make sense. i started thinking about my movement and positioning more and going with what felt right for the weapon, and it was a joy to behold.

one might even say that i've been having a blast.

 

[MandatoryCatalyst]

I honestly swapped between what I called my "main" at first pretty wildly, from just Splattershot (Though, I prefer to use the Hero Shot Replica over the base Splattershot. Just like the look more!), vN-zap for a while, and probably a handful more I'm forgetting that didn't last too long

My first main that I feel I really started to actually understand a bit was vDapple Dualies, which I believe I picked up after some friends of mine were talking about the different Dualies. Dapples really seemed just... fun! So I picked them up and tried them out. While Dapples aren't that good of a weapon, there was definitely a moment for me where they just clicked, and I started to actually play them in a way more suited for them specifically. They're not a good weapon but they're MY not good weapon!

Second main was, albeit for a very brief period of time, Hydra Splatling. I'd gotten burnt out on Dapples and needed something as opposite to them as possible, and what's more opposite to quick short range than slow long range? While Hydra didn't last me long, as even when burnt out, I really DO just prefer rush in and get splatted weapons over slow backlines, but Hydra is the weapon that got me to S+ for the first time, so I still appreciate her!

Next was Dapples Nouveau, which... so I do really enjoy Torpedo, probably my favorite sub (Or at least tied for favorite with Fizzy), but man. I genuinely question how I managed to play Dapples Nouveau for so long. I managed to 5 star them, and had them as my ONLY 5 star prior to last week, but man. The final bit of grind for the 5 star was the most agonizing and unfun slog I've ever done. I genuinely don't even understand what made me play them for so long, even vdapples has more enjoyment for me gameplay wise, because Beakon/Cooler is really fun, but ndapples just... I can't enjoy them anymore!

Finally, my current main is Tri-slosher Nouveau. I'd been dabbling a bit with vTri-slosher a bit beforehand, during a Splatfest where I'd gotten burned out on ndapples I'd started experimenting and trying new weapons, and Tri-slosher felt good to me, but ntri literally got my dream kit with Fizzy/Cooler, so naturally it was what I was most excited for, and has absolutely paid off in terms of enjoyment. Ndapples were basically ALWAYS in a state of burnout for me, I was either burnt out or on the verge of it, but ntri? Ntri has literally ALWAYS felt good to play for me. I'll still occasionally play other weapons just for fun (I really like Heavy Splatling during Tricolor, and I'm trying to 4 star Enperries), but ntri just feels like a reliably good time for me. Now that I've 5 starred it, I DO feel a little conflicted on whether or not I should try switching it up and maining something else, as I love knowing I'm chipping away at badge progress, but honestly with how much I find ntri just enjoyable to play, I don't see myself changing anytime soon

 

[reelrollsweat]

my first main back in s1 was octobrush nouveau. the kit felt really well rounded and i also played sticks back then so it was easy to aim LOL

a bit after s2 launch i picked up slosher. not really sure why, i think i was messing around in hero mode trying weapon classes i hadn’t played before and decided it was really fun? same with heavy and vcharger. i used to be really awful at chargers but by end of my interest in s2 i was able to play them decently at a casual level (still on sticks LMAO). and i basically co-mained heavy and slosher

by s3 heavy was pretty much solidified as my main. i still had a pocket slosher tho and was trying to branch out to other backlines. i also finally switched to motion so that really helped expand my weapon pool. i learned the other backline splatlings hydra and ballpoint as well as a decent amount of eliter (which ive since dropped in favor of zfscope) and i also picked up tristringer which is super fun

overall im not super sure what led me to pick up vheavy back in s2 but im really glad i did bc ive built my whole weapon pool off of it d:

 

[Catloafman]

My first mains all the way back in S1 was the Nzap 89 and the Bamboo mkIII (I played sticks do not ask how sticks bamboo worked but it did) I loved Inkstrike but I knew even back then that aerospray was bad I still miss how much joy I got from spamming Inkstrike in Turf war

My second main when I got S2 (which I got about half a year before S3 came out)
Was the tetra dualies, the reason? they look cool and I watched quite a bit of Chase247 back then

I didn't stick to tetras for to long tho because I fell in love with the Brella the concept the look it amazed me and even tho I was trash at it I stuck with it and I still main it today

My next weapon I got into was the range blaster the Youtuber Prochara made the weapon look really fun and even though I was terrible at it I was in love

Now when Splatoon 3 rolled around I tried brella and dropped it instantly because it was awful on launch (I only picked it back up somewhat recently) but Range blaster felt so much better then it did in S2 so I was a range main for a LONG while

I also played quite a lot of Splatana stamper the burst bomb + 70 damage weapon really intrigued me and so I played it quite a lot
it actually was my first (and currently only) 5 star weapon
But despite how much I have played stamper I never really got good at it I still am really really bad with it in spite of my 5 star badge so I don't really know if I want to call it a main

Nowadays I play a whole lot of Sorella brella and Splat roller I have always wanted to play a jetpack weapon plus I love brella and
I am not quite sure why I enjoy roller so much maybe just because im not terrible at it

Anyways I didn't mean to write such a long thread oops

 

[SquidAbortions]

I was originally drawn to Splat Brella in S2 when I was a little timmy playing turfwar and I got stomped by a Splat Brella who seemingly never had to put down their shield (probably due to great timing, ink management, spacing). I also loved Kensa L3 in S2, the wall and the ultra stamp served me well enough in timmy turfwar with my friends.

.....Now in s3? I don't think I have developed enough skill in any weapon to consider anything a main

 

[Masked_Katz]

I have played every weapon to 2 stars, and Jr. is simply the only weapon in the game that I feel has the perfect kit. Nothing feels as natural to me as playing it, and as much as I desperately try to force other weapons to grow on me, I am always awaiting new updates in hopes that there will be another weapon and kit that just "clicks" with me.

 

[RubberCF]

well when i started playing splatoon 2, i wanted to use chargers bc being a sniper seemed cool, so i spent like probably 50-100 hours getting a couple kills per game like that. then i realized splatlings seemed pretty cool bc miniguns, and bounced between them for a while, i think i "mained" all of them at some point except naut. at some point during that time i looked at bamboo and realized it wasnt a total meme, and started to use it, mainly attracted by the idea of it being like super mechanically difficult. i also ended on mini being my favorite splatling after realizing how much it outranged ballpoint short range mode, also it felt pretty similar to bamboo. I really got into bamboo when mpu was added to the game. then some other game caught my interest and i stopped playing splatoon for roughtly 1.5 years
i started again near the end of my senior year, wanted to make sure i expanded my horizons and not play bamboo and mini right off the bat. then as soon as i played either for like 1 game i remembered how cool they were and stuck to them. I got into the bamboo community, and ended up deciding mk2 was my favorite, tho i still used mk1 often (before my long break i didnt rlly main any bamboo in particular). I also realized mpu was LAME and for BABIES. i never got very consistent aim with bamboo which was frustrating but it was worth it to me. I used mini as an "easy" option since it was more consistent.
When splatoon 3 released I was pretty excited for bamboos kit and PISSED about mini getting stamp. but after pushing bamboo for a while, it became evident that the kit just wasnt as fun to me, and mini having stamp actually reminded me of mk2 having a cheap, aggressive transformation special, so mini became my more used weapon.
Snipewriter released chill season and looked really interesting, and i immediately hated using it bc my bamboo muscle memory caused me to miss-time my shots. But then i checked sendou and realized everyone was using special spam builds on it, so i used it just to prove it was a splatling and should use run speed. i decided to use it just for tower at first since my other weapons kinda struggled on it and i kinda sucked at tower anyways. anyways turns out snipewriter is EPIC and i started spending more time on it. kinda cut into how much i used bamboo but whatever. then way later hedit released, had identical mobility to mini splatling and an interesting gimmick so naturally i started using it immediately. and now that i had a new midline to use, i dropped bamboo entirely (you can cry now)
and ig last thing is cooler is like super lame so when red pencil released i dropped blue pencil for it. and those are my mains, first vmini, then 5b, then hedit

 

[nineball]

i was gonna try to acquire sheldon licenses during the frostyfest, starting with the ballpoint splatling.

i proceeded to never put it down for the entire fest lol

 

[DChachouke]

Flingza was definitely love at first splat. When I started, I settled on using rollers since they're what I enjoyed playing the most, so I decided to give them all a try. I got flingza, got in a match with it. Then decided to play another. And another. And another... And now I have golden missiles.
As for stringer, I'd say it was more like messing around since I likely would've never gotten to play it for several matches in a row if it weren't for the S3 testfire that didn't have any of my mains in the weapon selection.
I love them both to death. I used to love dcarb but my flame of passion for it, while still burning, has diminished since.

 

[KrisSplatoon]

I kinda went on and off on several weapons over the years, but the first weapon I really mained was the N-Zap '85. It was a pretty good soloq and won me a ton of games. Then I switched over to Grim Range Blaster because I enjoyed that weapons play style, I started playing Range in Splatoon 2 and used a golden Sheldon's ticket to get the Range kit for Splatoon 3 and got 4 stars on that so far. Now with the buff to Wiper, I am now officially a Splatana main!

 

[Flakes]

Im guilty of spending my first 3 sheldon licenses on the Aerospray RG and i instantly fell in love with the Aerosprays, it actually took a loong time for me to branch our but eventually I decided to use the Tri Stringer and then the Dapple Dualies. I had a little stint of 3 starring Hydra Splatling, but I stopped that pretty quick due to not being able to aim well. Right now im maining Custom Jr. When a friend of mine sang its praises! Right now i can safely say my mains are the Aerosprays, the CJR, and the Tri Stringer. I try to dip my toes in a little bit of everything though :]

 

[Shayreep]

My first "real" main once i started comp was jr. I dont remember the reasoning, i just started playing jr one day and never stopped. This was in splat2 so i was very fortunate i picked something meta without realizing it lol......
After a bit i wanted to expand my horizons since i was still in the phase where anything other then a simple gun scared me, so i went for the extreme and started playing heavy splatling. And.... learning splatling was the hardest thing ive ever done in splatoon NGL, i remember being so frustrated losing every single game. But i also made so many HUGE breakthroughs on understanding the game with regards to awareness and positioning. I remember one particular rotation at like 2 am playing sturgeon/shellendorf TC and going from like S+5 to S+7 in one rotation because i finally understood proper positioning....... a big night for me lol
In splatoon 3 i picked up wiper for my team. I enjoyed it a lot but ultra stamp is wonky lol so recently i was given an inkbrush in salmon and i was like hm this is kinda fun. Upon closer inspection i realized it plays like a perfect combo of jr, and wiper soooo.... thats all it takes to satisfy me i guess. LOL

 

[Shayreep]

I have played every weapon to 2 stars, and Jr. is simply the only weapon in the game that I feel has the perfect kit. Nothing feels as natural to me as playing it, and as much as I desperately try to force other weapons to grow on me, I am always awaiting new updates in hopes that there will be another weapon and kit that just "clicks" with me.

Oh i feel this, i always return to jr no matter what. Bad day? Jr. Bad rotation? Jr. Jr is my comfort weapon haha

 

[Shortcake]

Splattershot pro because it had good range and was simple and let me shoot at people who would just run at mid and shoot the floor very easily -> Slosher because of the one chuggaaconroy video -> 6 years pass -> machine because it's broken and they gave bucket 2 smelly kits : ( -> sword because it feels like a balanced burst bomb slosher with some quirky stuff on top

 

[Yosi Spring]

I didn't choose Hero Shot, it chose me (it is the only weapon in the entire game I'm half decent at playing)

 

[DzNutsKong]

I never really looked at a weapon and said "yeah, that's the one" other than Inkbrush at the start of the game...but then it got to the point where it started hurting my wrists to use, and now I haven't really been able to play it since. Might sound sad but I enjoy this game's weapons enough to the point where I really don't mind at all. At this point I wouldn't say I have "mains" but when playing I'll just pick either a weapon that I either click with right away or one know I'll enjoy for a fact once I play it for a while. For the weapons I'm 5-Star on right now though...

Wiper Deco's currently my most used weapon. I liked vanilla Wiper a lot because of how mobile it was and how I had to dance around its kill time not being great, kind of similarly to Inkbrush in a sense. I literally had a dream that they had a Splatfest that let you use custom kits and I kid you not, the one my sleep brain came up with was Splat Bomb and Tenta Missiles. And sure enough...Wiper Deco comes out. I like playing more supportively as it stands so this kit was perfect for me until Missiles got their repeated nerfs. Sad!

For the Tentatek Splattershot, I really liked the kit when it initially came out. I had played the vanilla Splattershot a bit before and liked how it was easy and kind of a test of how good my fundamentals were in other areas, but didn't like Trizooka because of how inconsistent it was on launch. I had played the 52 Gal a bit beforehand and it just felt way too brainless for me to enjoy. Shooters in general are super versatile and I'll never complain about that.

And then there's the Neo Splatana Stamper. Reason the vanilla kit ever clicked with me was because I liked how broken it felt to fight with in the rare moments where everything clicked together. Really hard, so I never got too into it, but it's still really cool. It's kind of funny how I chose all three of these weapons because I liked the main weapon, but the vanilla kits each had a special that I wasn't fond of lmao. I can't get used to Zipcaster on this thing even still. Just like Wiper, I wanted a supportive kit, saw the 60% subline and actually immediately knew we'd get Toxic Mist. It had been a long time since we had gotten Toxic Mist on a weapon and it's been given to a bunch of midlines in general. Then they gave it Crab Tank for some reason, and afterwards I promptly got 5 stars on this thing. Took two months despite it taking three for the other two. I LOVE this weapon.

that's about it uuhhhhh give luna a third kit with crab tank please okthanks

 

[Hippo555467]

What I like to call my main is splattershot novue but I switch from that to any dulies all the time

 

[Fyerluna]

I'm a roller main. I picked it up in Splatoon 1 because "ho ho ho! hee hee hee! Paint weapon shaped like paint thing funny!" and uh, it was bugged to squish squids even when the ink was empty when it was on the ground so I never let it go.

After that I kept at it because it was fun to sneak up on people and splat them with it.

Now I still play it, but for comp I play a Splattershot because I've never really played a shooter in the shooting game even all these years later and shot seemed easiest (since my wrist couldn't handle squeezer).

 

[Bluejay]

The world isn’t ready for your RB kyu >: ) I must paint more so you can swim freely and bite more ankles

Even before S3 released I was convinced I'd be a stringer main. However, after 2 days of turf war, a 3-star badge and very sore fingers, I had to admit it didn’t give me the satisfaction I was looking for picking up the weapon: it was extremely hard to land a one-shot (this was before any buffs they gave stringer) when cleanly removing enemy players with its distinct projectile is kind of why I found the weapon so cool lol.

So after that, I wanted to play something that is beginner friendly and would make me learn the game “properly”. Anything too technical or with slow fire rate were out of the question (I still remember trying vblaster in S2 turf and being so frustrated I couldn’t hit anybody nor paint turf XD), same thing with stuff like blob or clash blasters (nothing against ppl playing these for fun or seriously pushing them btw :3). Don't remember the thought process here but I ended up on nzap. It's fast, it shoots fast, meaning I can afford to miss shots and run away if I mess up. Cooler was a bit weird back then, I'd throw them on my teammates' toes and carry on with my businesses (x

After a while I got on splattershot and man, it's just great. Both kits are intuitive and I really don't know how ro elaborate more without being annoying (x Halfway through this I realized my choice basically revolved around: “which of these weapons is the least frustrating to play for someone who's bad at the game but hoping to get better eventually.” Now I'm a tiny bit sad :’ ) On a serious note, maining a good weapon/kit means when things don't go well, you have one less factor to rule out: it's probably not your weapon's fault (it might be your fault ._.) and it spared me hrs of thinking if I'm not better off playing another weapon. The downside is it's harder, at least for me, to branch out to the other cool stuff the game offers. Truth is, once I feel good on my main I'm reluctant to stick with something else through the learning curve one more time. But I've heard ppl suggest playing every single weapon in the game for at least a few matches to improve game understanding, so I'll do that next. Who knows, maybe I'll find new favourites along the way :3

 

[vitellary]

i've switched between so so many weapons over time, but right now i think the one weapon that's stuck with me the longest that i still enjoy playing a ton is light tetras. i've always loved zipcaster for the mobility of it, and tetras can take advantage of it a ton; it's the weapon that has the most synergy with zipcaster by far, in my opinion. and before, when i had tried dark tetras, the paint of the weapon always struck me as rather lackluster, so i was honestly fine with sprinkler on it. it's a weapon i think i'll never get bored of because of just how many options you have while playing it