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How to use the Charger correctly (quick do's and dont's for the demo)

nefariousshyguy

Inkling
Joined
May 7, 2015
Messages
2
NNID
NefariousShyGuy
DON'Ts:
  • DO NOT treat the Charger like a sniper rifle. It's a completely different weapon that has many uses besides killing enemies at a distance.
  • DO NOT go off on your own and do your own thing. Always be near the team by some degree and support them. If you stay away from the team, you'll die quickly. This rule is actually true for any player, but for some reason Chargers don't follow. This means no running off looking for people to snipe or camping at high points away from your teammates. Remember that the objective of the game is to spread as much ink as possible in just 3 minutes, not get kills. This is the number one reason why a team with a Charger loses.
  • DO NOT try to fight enemies at close range if you don't have a charged shot ready. Your uncharged shot is severely weak and you'll die instantly if you stand there charging. Always retreat when an enemy gets too close, then attack from a farther range. If possible, always keep your firing distance at mid range or higher.
  • DO NOT only fire until your shot is fully charged. You can still fire a pretty good range when your shot is semi-charged. Instead of standing there in the wide open waiting for your shot to fully charge, just fire when the charge meter is at least above 25%. You fire A LOT faster this way, and actually help your team progress.
DO's:
  • DO calculate your charged shot ranges. Approximately, 0-10% charged is foot-range, 10-25% is short range, 25-50% is short-mid range, 50-75% is mid-long range, and 75-100% is long range.
  • DO calculate the damage each charged shot does. 1 fully charged shot is an instant kill, so it takes 2 half charged shots to kill an ememy. This makes the Charger amazing at kill assists since a quick semi-charged shot can instantly kill enemies who have already taken damage. I also want to believe that the damage a charged shot does increases when an enemy gets hit with it at close range (you can instantly kill an enemy at just 80% charged when fired at close range, or 30% charged if that enemy has already taken damage), but this hasn't been completely proven yet.
  • DO spend most of the match painting the map with ink. Contrary to popular belief, the Charger can actually do a decent job painting. The trick is to fire semi-charged shots and to keep the range of each shot in mind, as said before. For example, you do NOT want to fire a fully charged shot on a wall that is right in front of you, that's wasting ink. For walls in front of you, fire a bunch uncharged shots. For wide areas and corners, fire short to mid range shots. For long narrow passageways, fire long range shots.
  • DO use the Charger's ink trail to your advantage. Although narrow, the ink fired by the Charger can create very useful bridges for you and your teammates, especially in a sea of enemy ink.
  • DO stick with your team and support them. A Charger who's main goal is to protect the team and paint the map whenever possible is a good Charger. Leave the ambushing to the Shooters and Rollers and watch their backs at a distance. If you're in a position where you're forced to ambush, make sure to not go alone. Nothing is worse than a lone Charger who does little to support the team.
  • DO use your subs and special weapons frequently. Make it second nature to press the R button, especially if you're about to be caught in an ambush. Make sure to plan and aim those bombs before throwing them though.
  • DO keep your ink meter above 50%. This is mostly because subs take up a lot of ink, especially the bombs from the Charger set. Keep constant watch of how much ink you're using and don't let it dip below 50%.
  • DO take advantage of high points. Shooters and Rollers have a lot of trouble firing above high points, making it a perfect place for Chargers. However, you can still get easily killed by enemy Chargers, enemy bombs, and enemies who climb up to your high point. The main purpose of a high point is to protect your teammates at a safe distance, NOT CAMP. If you're at a high point and your team isn't there, you're pretty much camping and your team will suffer for it. Do not stay in one high point for more than 15 seconds, keep moving and keep following your team.
 

Lyn

Squid Savior From the Future
Premium
Joined
Apr 23, 2015
Messages
2,277
You should definitely put this here. [link] ;)
 

Wazzup

Inkling
Joined
Jan 3, 2016
Messages
1
NNID
supermario153
Thanks, I want to get good but I'm so inaccurate. What should I do about that?
 

SupaTim

Prodigal Squid
Joined
Aug 18, 2015
Messages
681
Location
NC, USA
NNID
SupaTim101
Thanks, I want to get good but I'm so inaccurate. What should I do about that?
Keep practicing and don't give up. Try not to get discouraged. Every time you missed a shot try to think WHY you missed the shot. Did they juke? Did you not lead the shot? Did you hesitate? Did you push to far?

It can be frustrating, but if you want to get good with chargers you just have to keep practicing.

You can TRY using the jet squelcher to get some spacing techniques down, but really you just have to play with the charger until it is second nature. You will suck at first. Do not fret. Just keep at it.
 

Spraylan

Inkling Cadet
Joined
Aug 20, 2015
Messages
152
NNID
JonasOrtega
  • DO spend most of the match painting the map with ink. Contrary to popular belief, the Charger can actually do a decent job painting. The trick is to fire semi-charged shots and to keep the range of each shot in mind, as said before. For example, you do NOT want to fire a fully charged shot on a wall that is right in front of you, that's wasting ink. For walls in front of you, fire a bunch uncharged shots. For wide areas and corners, fire short to mid range shots. For long narrow passageways, fire long range shots.
I agree with so much of the lists, but this in particular I want to go and shout from the top of Inkopolis Tower. There are far too many summer guides out there telling potential Chargers that "you can't ink very well, so it's not your job." WRONG! While Chargers have a slightly less intuitive method of inking turf, the gun is as fast or faster than many of the other classes.
 

Award

Squid Savior From the Future
Joined
Dec 18, 2015
Messages
1,661
Thanks, I want to get good but I'm so inaccurate. What should I do about that?
I found it helpful to start with Squiffer. It plays different and puts you more in harms way more, but the longer the range the wider the angle. The wider the angle the more a small rotation makes a large change in end point. By keeping the range shorter on squiffer, and charge times down to be able to try again, it will help learn the aiming. You will get splatted, a lot this way. That has to be accepted since there's no moving dummy target practice in the game, the only way to practice aim against moving targets is shooting live squids. Even if they're dangerous live squids. thus the same small rotation of the gamepad will yield a bigger movement on splat charger than squiffer, and bigger yet on eliter. If you're unsteady in your aim, it might be eaiser to work your way to your intended range. Also, reducing sensitivity can help. I keep it lower for scopes than non-scopes, and lower for all chargers than for shooters and rollers (which I max.)
 

NaomiTao

Inkling
Joined
Feb 15, 2016
Messages
10
Thank you
Im about to get this game and i was thinking about either a charger or a splatling (since i don't like up close combat amd both have some range to them)
This guide will help me soo much.. Anyway
I was always wondering why people only use it as sniper when thats not the point
Of the game its self.
 

BlackZero

Inkling Commander
Joined
Nov 3, 2015
Messages
350
DO NOT go off on your own and do your own thing. Always be near the team by some degree and support them. If you stay away from the team, you'll die quickly. This rule is actually true for any player, but for some reason Chargers don't follow. This means no running off looking for people to snipe or camping at high points away from your teammates. Remember that the objective of the game is to spread as much ink as possible in just 3 minutes, not get kills. This is the number one reason why a team with a Charger loses.
I think this is very situational. Sometimes you should focus on inking. Other times, you can help your team out a lot by controlling enemy traffic through a certain area. Camp Triggerfish is a great map for this sort of thing. It can really slow the other team's inking down a lot if you harass them from the catwalks and keep the other team from flanking you and inking your base. Pushing forward to the center turntable on Museo is also pretty risky for chargers since rollers and brushes can very easily climb up and splat you without any warning. On the other hand, Squiffs and Bambis do really well with more aggressive players provided you can pop up, aim, and shoot before your target can react. In that case, closer ranges aren't as dangerous since those chargers charge and shoot pretty quick.

I do feel that chargers shouldn't be afraid to cover turf, but I also think it's better for people to play to their weapon's strengths. There are far better coverage weapons out there. If you've got a couple of rollers, aeros, or TTKs, I think a charger would be more useful to the team by slowing the enemy team with zone denial, flank prevention, and base defense. I do this just about every time I play Camp Trigger and it really pays off. If you get up on top of the fence, you can snipe anyone running past AND reach across the central gap to ink their side of the map. Why not kill two birds with one stone?

DO spend most of the match painting the map with ink. Contrary to popular belief, the Charger can actually do a decent job painting. The trick is to fire semi-charged shots and to keep the range of each shot in mind, as said before. For example, you do NOT want to fire a fully charged shot on a wall that is right in front of you, that's wasting ink. For walls in front of you, fire a bunch uncharged shots. For wide areas and corners, fire short to mid range shots. For long narrow passageways, fire long range shots.
If coverage is your goal, go with the Bambi. It can fire to maximum range with no charge, so you can literally spam uncharged shots to cover the ground pretty quick. I met a few Bambis in TW that did this in Port Mackerel and it was pure misery. They could ambush kill you in no time, then spam shots to cover ground really fast. All those narrow straightaways made them pretty much untouchable.

Thanks, I want to get good but I'm so inaccurate. What should I do about that?
It might help if you turn your Gyro sensitivity down. That will stabilize your reticle some, even if you aren't keeping your hands perfectly still.
 

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