OnePotWonder
Inkling Fleet Admiral
- Joined
- Jan 31, 2024
- Messages
- 977
- Location
- Canada
- Pronouns
- He/Him
- Switch Friend Code
- SW-2068-8904-6306
I didn't originally have plans to talk about this, but it's made itself something worth talking about.
Recently, I started playing more of Ballpoint Splatling, including its Nouveau kit (due to the Ink Mines). This resulted in an Ink Vac being once again thrust into my hands, and the special has proven... interesting. Interesting enough to be worth making a thread about it.
First off, what makes Ink Vac good; why do I like it? Well, we'll need some context.
I liked Sting Ray in Splatoon 2 despite popular opinion being that it was the worst-designed special in the series. Sting Ray had a ton of potential that was wasted by all of its strengths and weaknesses making it so the best place to use the special was always the user's spawn area. It being able to shoot through walls was cool, but it doing the exact same damage when fired through walls was not. It having shockwaves to increase its area of effect was cool, but the shockwaves doing the exact same damage as the initial beam (instead of something more creative like a slowing effect) was not. The special being incredibly vulnerable up close was cool, but its global range and complete lack of mobility were not.
Sting Ray could have been a great support tool for backlines to chip and hinder enemies for teammates in fights, but it just ended up being a gigantic death laser that couldn't care less whether or not something was shooting at the same target as it, adding to the fight-averse spam-fest of endgame Splatoon 2 meta.
Then you have Ink Vac. For all intents and purposes, it's a Sting Ray that's traded its global range, wall-piercing damage beam for a mid-range absorption cone and a significantly stronger Rainmaker shot, and it can actually strafe around. And I love the way the special plays. It's difficult, requiring the user to balance risk and reward on a knife's edge to ensure the special can gain value without dying; positioning such that its vulnerable states can't be taken advantage of but its suction is still able to absorb enemy resources. Its shot is perfect in every conceivable way. It can make or break any play it's involved in.
It can also be run over with a roller the second it's popped.
There is no one thing that makes Ink Vac bad. It's a combination of many different things that make the special frustrating. The most prominent issue is that the special is almost guaranteed to lose a 2v1, with rare exception. If the special user is splatted, they lose their power shot, which accounts for half of the value of the special. Additionally, the special meter is empty by the time the shot is ready, meaning cancelling the special before it fires its shot resets the progress of the special meter to zero. Coordination does more for countering Ink Vac than playing off of it. Weapons with rush attacks can not only deal damage, but land one-shot splats even while caught in its suction, despite the whole point of the suction being to nullify all damage. Specials like Ultra Stamp and Reefslider hard counter vac with a one-sided matchup. To top it all off, the special is very vulnerable to flank attacks, meaning it always has to be popped with extreme caution if there are any enemy players that could possibly get behind you. Those are just the problems on the user side, mind you.
If you get trapped by an Ink Vac's suction, your options are reduced to trying to splat the vac user, and nothing else. Your speed is reduced so you can't swim away without the vac being able to follow you. All of your attacks will get consumed by the special's suction. The special will have been constantly building charge off of the ink it drains from you, so its explosion will be very difficult to avoid assuming you aren't hit directly by the bullet. Splatting the vac before it can fire its shot it always going to be the best option. As the vac user, I can safely say neither the vac user nor the vac target appreciates this dynamic. Enemies not trying to shoot you is always a boon when using vac, and having the ability to escape the special's suction makes it significantly easier to survive being targeted by it. As it stands currently, you will never see a 1v1 involving an Ink Vac result in no players getting splatted. This is not good.
Ink Vac's ability to render its teammates invulnerable can also make preventing pushes impossible in certain scenarios. An Ink Vac can easily escort a Power Clam to the basket or the Rainmaker to a checkpoint, it can protect the tower rider as they push through a checkpoint, and it can make inking a Splat Zone completely impossible. The only way to cancel the special's suction early in these cases is to shred it, but that only powers up its shot, which usually ends up being enough of a utility that the vac's team succeeds in the push anyway.
Ink Vac is a very hit-or-miss special in more ways than one. It can either be an overpowered game-winning tool of complete control, or it can fall flat and have no impact on the match at all outside of guaranteeing its user's death.
So, how would I fix it? Yeah, you must have known this was coming. Because Nintendo will only do one or two changes at a time, I'm limiting these changes to the realm of what could realistically be done in one patch.
Ink Vac
The number 1 best change for Ink Vac with no competition is a slight decrease to the duration of its suction. This change serves as both a buff and a nerf since it not only reduces the maximum uptime of the special's suction, but makes it possible for the special to access its shot sooner. To counter the nerf to the special's overall uptime, it will gain the ability to conserve more of its duration if it repositions by swimming. This change doesn't fix any of the special's problems, but it does lessen all of them.
That's all I have to say about Ink Vac. I encourage you to share your own thoughts on the special in this thread, should you have any.
Thank you for reading this through, and have a wonderful day!
Recently, I started playing more of Ballpoint Splatling, including its Nouveau kit (due to the Ink Mines). This resulted in an Ink Vac being once again thrust into my hands, and the special has proven... interesting. Interesting enough to be worth making a thread about it.
First off, what makes Ink Vac good; why do I like it? Well, we'll need some context.
I liked Sting Ray in Splatoon 2 despite popular opinion being that it was the worst-designed special in the series. Sting Ray had a ton of potential that was wasted by all of its strengths and weaknesses making it so the best place to use the special was always the user's spawn area. It being able to shoot through walls was cool, but it doing the exact same damage when fired through walls was not. It having shockwaves to increase its area of effect was cool, but the shockwaves doing the exact same damage as the initial beam (instead of something more creative like a slowing effect) was not. The special being incredibly vulnerable up close was cool, but its global range and complete lack of mobility were not.
Sting Ray could have been a great support tool for backlines to chip and hinder enemies for teammates in fights, but it just ended up being a gigantic death laser that couldn't care less whether or not something was shooting at the same target as it, adding to the fight-averse spam-fest of endgame Splatoon 2 meta.
Then you have Ink Vac. For all intents and purposes, it's a Sting Ray that's traded its global range, wall-piercing damage beam for a mid-range absorption cone and a significantly stronger Rainmaker shot, and it can actually strafe around. And I love the way the special plays. It's difficult, requiring the user to balance risk and reward on a knife's edge to ensure the special can gain value without dying; positioning such that its vulnerable states can't be taken advantage of but its suction is still able to absorb enemy resources. Its shot is perfect in every conceivable way. It can make or break any play it's involved in.
It can also be run over with a roller the second it's popped.
There is no one thing that makes Ink Vac bad. It's a combination of many different things that make the special frustrating. The most prominent issue is that the special is almost guaranteed to lose a 2v1, with rare exception. If the special user is splatted, they lose their power shot, which accounts for half of the value of the special. Additionally, the special meter is empty by the time the shot is ready, meaning cancelling the special before it fires its shot resets the progress of the special meter to zero. Coordination does more for countering Ink Vac than playing off of it. Weapons with rush attacks can not only deal damage, but land one-shot splats even while caught in its suction, despite the whole point of the suction being to nullify all damage. Specials like Ultra Stamp and Reefslider hard counter vac with a one-sided matchup. To top it all off, the special is very vulnerable to flank attacks, meaning it always has to be popped with extreme caution if there are any enemy players that could possibly get behind you. Those are just the problems on the user side, mind you.
If you get trapped by an Ink Vac's suction, your options are reduced to trying to splat the vac user, and nothing else. Your speed is reduced so you can't swim away without the vac being able to follow you. All of your attacks will get consumed by the special's suction. The special will have been constantly building charge off of the ink it drains from you, so its explosion will be very difficult to avoid assuming you aren't hit directly by the bullet. Splatting the vac before it can fire its shot it always going to be the best option. As the vac user, I can safely say neither the vac user nor the vac target appreciates this dynamic. Enemies not trying to shoot you is always a boon when using vac, and having the ability to escape the special's suction makes it significantly easier to survive being targeted by it. As it stands currently, you will never see a 1v1 involving an Ink Vac result in no players getting splatted. This is not good.
Ink Vac's ability to render its teammates invulnerable can also make preventing pushes impossible in certain scenarios. An Ink Vac can easily escort a Power Clam to the basket or the Rainmaker to a checkpoint, it can protect the tower rider as they push through a checkpoint, and it can make inking a Splat Zone completely impossible. The only way to cancel the special's suction early in these cases is to shred it, but that only powers up its shot, which usually ends up being enough of a utility that the vac's team succeeds in the push anyway.
Ink Vac is a very hit-or-miss special in more ways than one. It can either be an overpowered game-winning tool of complete control, or it can fall flat and have no impact on the match at all outside of guaranteeing its user's death.
So, how would I fix it? Yeah, you must have known this was coming. Because Nintendo will only do one or two changes at a time, I'm limiting these changes to the realm of what could realistically be done in one patch.
Ink Vac
Suction duration reduced from 6 to 5 seconds
Duration drains at 1/3 of the normal speed while the special's suction cone is not active
The number 1 best change for Ink Vac with no competition is a slight decrease to the duration of its suction. This change serves as both a buff and a nerf since it not only reduces the maximum uptime of the special's suction, but makes it possible for the special to access its shot sooner. To counter the nerf to the special's overall uptime, it will gain the ability to conserve more of its duration if it repositions by swimming. This change doesn't fix any of the special's problems, but it does lessen all of them.
If we assume Ink Vac will be returning in a later game, it will need significantly more than a duration decrease. Along with the above changes, I'd want to see the following reworks to the special to make its weaknesses less debilitating and its strengths less... also debilitating.
Ink Vac (Extended Changes)
The removal of the slow effect makes escaping the vac's suction infinitely easier, which is especially important given its newly added armor. Said armor fixes the issue of the special's value getting completely obliterated if the user gets splatted; the special would still create an explosion, but it wouldn't give the user the option to aim it at a distance. The added startup is simply an anti-panic measure ensuring the armor won't turn the special into a get-out-of-jail-free button.
With these reworks, Ink Vac would still keep its preexisting risk-reward paradigm; its optimal play in most scenarios would be no different. What would change is the effectiveness of the special's existing counterplay, with escaping its suction being significantly easier but shooting the vac user being slightly riskier; lingering in the blast radius to finish off the vac could result in the explosion making it a trade. Rush attacks can still damage the vac, but at their own peril, since the resulting explosion would be very likely to splat the rush attacker.
This version of Ink Vac, as far as I see it, is better in every way. It offers the user a degree of defense that the existing special sorely lacks at the cost of its most annoying sources of power.
Ink Vac (Extended Changes)
Slow effect removed
The vac now comes with 100 HP of armor
If the vac armor is destroyed, the special's suction ends (if it's active) and it explodes on the spot, stunning the vac user for 1 second
Startup increased by 20 frames
The removal of the slow effect makes escaping the vac's suction infinitely easier, which is especially important given its newly added armor. Said armor fixes the issue of the special's value getting completely obliterated if the user gets splatted; the special would still create an explosion, but it wouldn't give the user the option to aim it at a distance. The added startup is simply an anti-panic measure ensuring the armor won't turn the special into a get-out-of-jail-free button.
With these reworks, Ink Vac would still keep its preexisting risk-reward paradigm; its optimal play in most scenarios would be no different. What would change is the effectiveness of the special's existing counterplay, with escaping its suction being significantly easier but shooting the vac user being slightly riskier; lingering in the blast radius to finish off the vac could result in the explosion making it a trade. Rush attacks can still damage the vac, but at their own peril, since the resulting explosion would be very likely to splat the rush attacker.
This version of Ink Vac, as far as I see it, is better in every way. It offers the user a degree of defense that the existing special sorely lacks at the cost of its most annoying sources of power.
That's all I have to say about Ink Vac. I encourage you to share your own thoughts on the special in this thread, should you have any.
Thank you for reading this through, and have a wonderful day!