Ink Brush: Analysis and Thoughts thread

[WaifuRaccoonBL]

Note: I have no access to a tv that connects to my wii u so I can check the details. Will be updating tomorrow unless people can provide with information.

Ink Brush

Lv Unlocked in Shop:
Lv 8

Cost:
4800

Shop Description:
"A newly developed weapon with high mobility and a sturdy brush design, its ink trail is narrow, but its inks the ground at incredible speed and delivers swift close-range attacks."

Type:
Roller

Stats:
Range: Low
Painting Speed: Max
Handling: Max

Sub:

Sprinkler

Special:

Inkstrike

General Strategies:
-WIP-

Team Strategies:
-WIP-

Success/Tournaments won:
-WIP-

Note: Won't be accepting general strategies until a week after this weapon's launch.

So, with all that out of the way, please discuss your thoughts on the Ink Brush.

 

[Amethyst Reitou]

Well, my initial thoughts on the Inkbrush so far are... you can't really use it like a normal roller. It just won't work that way. Hopefully more later.

 

[GamingWarthog]

The Inkbrush almost feels like a new weapon type, almost. The speed on it is inkredible, but you have to jump in order to get any range and running only produces a small trail. Ink consumption also feels high. It's a good anti-sniper weapon since it can quickly reach, climb, and cover sniper nests. Swing and swim is a good way of moving while spreading lots of ink, while run and spread is good for getting places.

Also close range Inkbrush versus Inkbrush (no jumping) is basically a slap fight, a pretty funny one too.

 

[Siggykewts]

Well it's certainly hilariously fun to use. Literally can have demo derbies with other Inkbrush players.

It's coverage when spamming fire is okay, at best. It has a high run speed, with a small path of inking when down (you still get affected by enemy ink when you paint over it unless you are exactly over all of the enemies ink).

In terms of battle use, it loses out to most everything so far from what I've seen. It does OKAY when you get the flank on people. Straight on, it loses to most everything (kind of like all rollers for the most part).

It's not bad on ramps. I think it will have more use in Splat Zone than Turf War; it just takes too much time to cover a decent amount of space. And it's sub and special scream for Splat Zone use.

 

[JuddTheCat]

I need to use it more before I give thoughts...
Also minor complaint in your post you said Genreal Strategies: instead of General Strategies:...Don't mean to come off rude.

 

[ILikeKirbys]

I'm not quite sure what to make of this thing.
I just spent about half an hour in ranked, and the Inkbrush feels like a weaker, faster Roller-type weapon, except you can't splat people by running into them (or at least I couldn't) and it takes several hits to splat someone (or at least it feels like it does, maybe everyone had Defense Up). Feels kind of like the Rapid Blaster like that (to me), except I can move much faster with it.
The Inkbrush feels like a close-range weapon with poor ink coverage (and barely any range on its swings, or at least it felt that way to me), so the Sprinkler seems like a good thing to have. Inkstrike... I'm okay with this, but maybe Inkzooka would be better (for when you need range), or the Bubbler (because it just feels right to give the Bubbler to a strictly close-range weapon).
I think maybe Ninja Squid would be good with this thing to sneak up on people (because it's a really-close-range weapon), Defense Up too since you'll have to get close to do any damage and the short range means you probably can't shoot back. Maybe Damage Up, because it feels really weak, Ink Saver Sub because the Sprinkler takes a lot of ink, and maybe Ink Recovery Up too because I feel like this think eats through ink really quickly. I kept turning and running into enemy ink, so maybe Ink Resistance too. And perhaps Special Charge Up and/or Special Saver, because it felt like it took forever to get the Inkstrike without them. Also Swim Speed Up, judst to get around/away faster.
But maybe I'm just using it wrong.

 

[Rhode]

It's good because you can move really fast while spreading ink, you can take your whole team to the middle super fast like at the start.

That's about it...

 

[Amethyst Reitou]

Okay, so after several more matches with it (finally breaking the 1000 point mark on my last one here), I think I am getting the idea of the Inkbrush. Not an expert just yet, and to be fair, I've averaged around 600 points a match, after removing the 300 point win bonus, with a total of 7326 points according to my in game info with the weapon. Competent so far with it, but still a long ways to go.

It is, for the most part, an ambush type weapon. You really don't want to go head on with ANYTHING with this weapon. Its "roller" attack only does 20 damage (the basic Splat Roller does 140 for comparison), and the ink it flings does less than that. This is without any damage up on a test dummy with no defense up. Obviously, you attack anyone head on, and without any kind of damage modifying abilities, chances are you're going to just lose out right, if not just trade splats at best.

Its biggest advantages are its speed and the fact you can cover a fairly decent area in about 2 or 3 swings. Nothing amazing, mind you, but it can reach out beyond the second line in the test area from where you start.

Spoiler: Visual Aid Of Inkbrush Splash Range

As for its speed itself... "Rolling" around with it is actually faster than just normal running. From the start point in the Test Zone to the farthest dummy is about 6 or 7 seconds with no Run Speed, and "Rolling" is closer to 4 or 5. Not much over a short distance, but over a longer one, it certainly amounts to something. It can get you to the enemy quickly, but without the ink coverage that other Rollers provide while going in, you won't really have anywhere you can safely hide.

And I'd have to test it, but I think the Inkbrush's ink trail is about as wide as the Kraken's, if not a bit smaller. Just some food for thought I guess.

Ultimately, I think the best use of the Inkbrush, for now, is to focus more on inking up large areas, harassing the enemy where possible with the Sprinkler, and just trying to flank and ambush so that you can slap out some really fast swings.

 

[Marraphy]

It's weird how the rapid fire doesn't take that much ink, but if you hold the fire button and run you'll run out ink when your special meter is only around 50% charged. Kind of the opposite of a regular roller. This thing is REALLY fun to use; I'm especially privy to the SLAPSLAPSLAPSLAPSLAPSLAP SPLAT! generally though you do NOT want to engage in combat whatsoever; always run, unless you're certain you can sneak up on someone from behind. In some cases you might be able to assist a teammate with a kill. The Sprinkler should pretty much always be used. Put it in the middle of somewhere to ink one place while you go to ink somewhere else (turf war) or put it in a really high place that's inconspicuous on your side of the field where it can spread ink on the splat zone.

Also, the trail it leaves behind while "rolling" is very thin - I have a tricky time staying in it ! Hopefully your teammates can use it

 

[SylemG]

So... i don't want to write this weapon off entirely, because nobody knew how to use blaster, but ever since splat zone opened up, i've been dominating with it- so you really can't judge a book by it's cover... or a weapon by it's ink splatter... or something... But this weapon just doesn't appeal to me at all. And I thought i'd really like the "melee" weapon. It's trail of ink is minuscule, useful only for leading the way into an area... but then not for covering the area along the way, like the roller can do. I found it usually takes 3 hits with the brush strokes to do a foe in...but from that close range, there are guns that can splatter a foe faster. The Sprinker and Ink Strike feel like saving graces for this weapon's balancing, where it's sub and special are better because it itself isn't that powerful.

Maybe people can find uses for it eventually, but other than it's blinding speed, it really doesn't seem like much of a threat offensively, or from a support point of view. A Resounding "Meh..." for now, in my own honest opinion.

 

[Rhode]

Should make note that rolling with the brush is equal in speed if not faster than in squid form.

 

[bluecrow]

nice to see another roller that is once again completely different then the standard roller will be neat to see the last one the carbon roller (hopefully not a dynamo clone). the spread on the swing is wide and shoots very little ink, so it's incredibly close range for the swing to be effective at racking damage and running people over will actually take multiple attempts so killing with it will obviously be more difficult, but it's movement is so crazy you can't kill it in return.

I personally see it being viable in matches where you can't lock it down, but we'll see

 

[praline]

Right now it's fun but kinda awful. I'll have to use it more.

 

[ILikeKirbys]

Should make note that rolling with the brush is equal in speed if not faster than in squid form.

Wait, seriously? I knew it felt faster than swimming (not like the rollers at all), but I thought that was just Ninja Squid slowing me down.
Still, that makes sense with what I saw from other Inkbrush players, and leads into a question:
Does Run Speed Up increase your running speed when you're painting the ground with the brush? I don't think it makes you move faster with rollers, and the brush is already pretty fast as is, I just want to be sure. If it does, you could get some Sonic The Hedgehog-esque speeds if you're running around inking the ground with a bunch of Run Speed Ups. Probably not viable (even if it does work, you'd run out of ink crazy fast)), but fun to imagine.
Just a thought.

 

[Amethyst Reitou]

Wait, seriously? I knew it felt faster than swimming (not like the rollers at all), but I thought that was just Ninja Squid slowing me down.
Still, that makes sense with what I saw from other Inkbrush players, and leads into a question:
Does Run Speed Up increase your running speed when you're painting the ground with the brush? I don't think it makes you move faster with rollers, and the brush is already pretty fast as is, I just want to be sure. If it does, you could get some Sonic The Hedgehog-esque speeds if you're running around inking the ground with a bunch of Run Speed Ups. Probably not viable (even if it does work, you'd run out of ink crazy fast)), but fun to imagine.
Just a thought.

Run Speed Up does not affect any of the Roller's speeds while running with them out.

 

[Holder of the Heel]

Played with it in Turf War and did awfully every single time, I struggle to know what precisely I need to do. Rollers aren't as fast but they cover so much; the thin trail you make barely contributes to your percentage and also is easily covered up by anything. Relying on Sprinkler is incredibly inefficient because you have to run with the brush to get value out of using it and to get to key areas reliably, but that takes paint, so you end up having to charge before and after you toss the Sprinkler, which takes a lot of time of you not doing much of anything and leaving yourself vulnerable. With guns you alternate seemlessly between recharging and painting, and rollers accomplish so much with their advancement that it's worth some downtime. Suspect that I didn't incorporate the ink splash for coverage as much as I should've, which I guess is kind of obvious now that I think about it. It's definitely silly in combat though.

I too was beginning to realize that it's more of a Splat Zone weapon with its sub, special, and its incredible speed. Either way, I'll try not to give up on it entirely, but definitely felt like I was missing my standard go-to weapons. Agreed with the idea that this is an entirely different class of a weapon in the way you use it, it'll take more adjustment and finesse than a Charger for most people, including myself. The question is whether it'll be worth that effort like the Charger definitely can be. Was hyped for the idea though, so I'd like to learn to love it. My first game with it was so funny, but it just progressively got sad and I was holding everyone back when I usually earn my place.

 

[ILikeKirbys]

Run Speed Up does not affect any of the Roller's speeds while running with them out.

Ah. Oh well, it was a nice thing to imagine.
After thinking on it some more (and reading some other people's thoughts), this thing is probably pretty bad for combat. Even if you snuck up on someone, I feel like this thing takes long enough to splat enemies that anything short of a Dynamo Roller or another Inkbrush could probably turn around and splat you, if not with their main weapon, then with their sub weapon (or the Inkzooka, or a non-Suction-Bomb Bomb Rush), or they could pop a Bubbler or Kraken and at the very least ink a path out of the fight, or at most splat you. The Sprinkler-and-Inkstrike loadout doesn't help here either. Maybe it's just personal preference, but I would prefer a different loadout, perhaps something like Burst Bomb-Inkzooka/Bomb Rush/Bubbler (Burst Bombs could be useful for damaging enemies to put them in range to splat them within 2 or 3 swings, and they don't cost much ink; Inkzooka would give you a way to fight enemies who are shooting you from outside your seing range, Bomb Rush would just let you get the benefits of Burst Bombs with sort-of-rapid-fire, which seems like it would be pretty neat, and Bubbler would let you survive fights if things don't go as planned or allow you to attack enemies with high-power weapons like rollers or .52/.96 Gals).
But I'm not sure about its potential for inking turf, either. True, it goes fast, and its swing has pretty wide range, and Sprinkler lets you ink an area and then go ink somewhere else (do wish it didn't go away when you died though), and Inkstrike lets you just claim an area whenever you feel like it, but I don't like how weak it is. What's the point of inking all that turf if you'll have to run away, hide or fight till you get splatted (and in my experience, you WILL get splatted if you fight with the brush) the second anyone with a roller, or a .52/.96 Gal shows up. Also, it eats through your ink really quickly, and Sprinkler doesn't help much with how much ink it eats per toss (I'm just glad it lasts forever unless you get splatted or toss another one).
Maybe if you can rely on your teammates to keep areas while you go around inking their stuff, or something like that, I could see this being a quality support/harassment/turf-claiming (is there a word for that?) weapon. Though then if they get overrun, you're probably not capable of assisting them very well in reclaiming turf (like I was saying earlier, someone with a weak weapon with short range seems like they're gonna get splatted when they try to attack).
For now, I'll hope for an Inkbrush Custom/Deco with a different loadout (hopefully, it's a bit more combat-capable, or at least has Bubbler).
But that's just my ponderings on the matter. I could be wrong.
Reading this over, I think I'm thinking mostly of Splat Zones right now; not entirely sure about its Turf War usefulness, but I think most of what I've said here applies there too.

 

[Amethyst Reitou]

Dear god... the amount of harassment I've done with this thing... and man, I'm starting to work on making it an art to just lockdown the lower area of Saltspray Rig for my team. I get there, toss a Sprinkler onto the crates without going down, and just start flinging ink. It can reach the lower walkway there between the two upper "safe zones", and lately I haven't seen any of the longer ranged weapons that could at least push me back. Its rather silly when they've got two or three of their team trying to ink the area up and I'm just up there harassing them the entire time.

I did notice in one of my matches that I was able to splat a Roller with the Inkbrush by using the same kind of tactics any of the Splat guns would. My backpedal speed was just fast enough to keep them from rolling me over while I rapidly flung ink at them. If they tried a different tactic, such as flinging their own ink back, I could have lost, but its good to know you can still pull off stuff like that with this weapon.

 

[swifT]

Alright. After playing several games with the inkbrush I've come to write my initial thoughts on this weapon.

First of all this weapon has a huge learning curve. You cant just pick this weapon up and immediately be successful with it. Personally I feel like rollers in general have a nice learning curve to use them in the most successful manner at least, but the inkbrush is on an entirely new level. It has very specific purposes, and if you cant meet them for any one reason it can jeopordize your entire game.

I feel like atm the inkbrushes uses are miniscule but something I feel like it will excel at as people continue to play with it is defending your own turf. Especially in game modes like Splat Zones.

The first good purpose I see for the Paintbrush is the simple line ahead that it provides for your team. It is so quick that you could easily get 1 or two of your teammates to a specific area within the first few seconds of the game. That alone makes it an interesting weapon in its own right.

I feel like as a brush player the most important part is going to be knowing where you can get the drop on your opponent the fastest and easiest. You also need to make it a point to not remain in the same place. Keep yourself moving as much as possible to keep the enemies offence guessing as to where you might me.

Best friends to the inkbush are easily the echolocater since you can get the drop on your opponents even faster and of course ninja squid.

I feel like with party chat this weapon will be able to become much better. With your teammates additional eyes on the map you'll be able to keep tabs on enemy movements easier.

That's about all I have to say on it right now, but I plan to continue experimenting as I really enjoy this weapon.

Edit: Also people are being too quick on the trigger to rule this weapon out as bad imo. People have just yet to learn how to properly use it.
Other Edits: Grammar and spelling errors

 

[knarkse]

i've been playing with the inkbrush for a while and here are my initial thoughts:

• it probably uses the amount of ink that it does due to how fast it is. it's at least as fast if not faster than squid form
• the swing (pressing ZR once) actually uses less ink than just rolling with it, which is kind of odd. you can keep spamming the swing a few times to splat opponents or just spread some ink. i'm not sure if you should be using this instead of rolling with the brush for ink coverage, but you could. splatterhopping (jumping and swinging and going back into ink) could be viable, i guess.
• sprinklers and inkstrikes should become your friends, since you're going to end up using them a lot. considering how fast i'm able to fill the special meter with the brush, launching strikes every now and again shouldn't be too hard
• curving too much while rolling is kind of bad - since the ink trail is so small, you might end up walking on enemy ink, which will slow you down. don't do that
• slap fights are hilarious
• a few ranked matches in port mackerel showed me that you can really easily rush to your opponents sniper position (right above the splat zone) and go in for the kill. as people smarten up i'm not sure how viable this will be
• speaking of snipers, it's pretty easy to run out of their sights with the roll. again, i'm not sure if this'll stay this way as people find out what to do
• i FEEL that you need to have some sort of team synergy with this thing. i've found that when my opponents are distracted with an ally roller or shooter it's very easy for me to swoop in and give them the good ol' one two with the brush, since they perceive them as bigger threats.
• on that note, ambush kills seem to the brush's best bet in a fight. spreading ink with it is usually not the best idea unless you want someone to shut you down while you slap them with your brush just one stroke away from death. does that mean the weapon will do better in splat zones? who knows. no one knows. this thing has been out for 4 hours.

there has to be some way to be good with this. i've seen enemy inkbrushes online that look like they know exactly what they're doing, because they're getting great scores. we'll figure it out soon, it'd be terrible if this weapon is just bad.