How good is Zipcaster competitively?

[XBQV]

Just a bit curious. Zipcaster has always felt underwhelming and and just worse than Trizooka for me in solo queue.

I wonder if competitive/high-skill players think differently.

 

[FlipperFlopper]

I feel that most people know how to deal with zipcaster. Can be good for singling out enemies away from others or the objective. It can go well when used at the same time as other specials or when you're all pushing the enemy base too

 

[Alphine_Agnitio]

High skill floor, high skill ceiling

IMO its a very good special but you already need to be pretty decent at the game to use it and locked in hard to use it effectively, not using it well might as well be the same as not using your special at all.

 

[zyf_]

Just a bit curious. Zipcaster has always felt underwhelming and and just worse than Trizooka for me in solo queue.

I wonder if competitive/high-skill players think differently.

well if you've ever watched norishio use zipcaster it becomes pretty clear that its skill ceiling is insane
it's an excellent distraction tool and very flexible, but honestly only when your weapon fits it well
so rn basically just vStamper
it's strong in that it can actually outright threaten kills now but also lets you play at long distance (if ur weapon allows it) while ignoring map geometry cuz u can hop up ledges
i'm not super qualified to talk about it but basically: zip is definitely strong on weapons that can threaten real killing power from range (AKA stamper) because that means if you ignore it you get chipped to death but if you try and challenge it the zip itself can always 1shot you
so if your team can capitalize on the distraction it's a good special bc u can pretty much always get value off it (move your team up the map a lot or get someone on the enemy team killed, either bc you're distracting them or bc you killed them yourself)

that being said: you're comparing it to zooka which is just very very very strong right now so it's kind of an unfair comparison

zipcaster is NOT bad, by any means, but zooka is strong as hell and probably an upgrade in most situations for solo until you start taking full weapons/kits into account

 

[Shenorox]

ever since it got its 1 shot combo, it has been very, VERY strong. however most people don't use it because its a very very very difficult special that just isn't consistent rn even at the highest of top level

 

[Norilla]

Zipcaster is viable. It's a little on the weaker side, but it can be very useful is used right. The thing is, compare it to something like Zooka, which is low risk that can get you high reward with Zip, which is high risk and takes more work for a higher reward, it can feel pretty underwhelming.

 

[Madman46i]

Zip is good but not the best, and is EXTREMELY difficult, you'd have to main a weapon its on to ever get used to it even slightly, but that being said, it is good in the right hands. With zip you can take angles that are normally not possible and be a kill threat that the enemy cannot ignore, it can stay up because it regens health with every time it uses its arm. Zip is not good when used up close, so weapons like luna fail to fully utilize its potential, octobrush and tetras are close range but have traits like falloff and dodge rolls that work well with zip. Zip being able to be a threat coming from different angles really quickly is really strong, but can be punished very easily if used wrong. It works best on stamper and squiffer with their good range and threat to kill if not payed attention to, but due to how hard it is, don't expect to see them that often. Zip can just attack every angle, even ones that normally would be able to be used, and just threaten anyone at any time. Zip cannot be ignored, but can be punished easily which is why it takes so much skill to use.