Inkbrush: Yay or Nay?

[Marraphy]

Yay

Like ZeroParadox said, it IS a support weapon. Most people are writing it off because of its abysmal killing power, but? That's not your objective with it. It's a support / inking tool. You can rack up mad amounts of inked turf with this, or quickly hop in and cover half of a full-sized splat zone. It's really fun to use imo. Albeit, a little tiring, as zero mentioned, but still fun.

 

[Tat]

The weapon itself is decent and a lot of fun to use. Since it has Sprinker and Inkstrike, I really don't think you could reasonably call it completely useless.

You're gonna want Special Charge and Ink Efficiency gear to make the most of it.

 

[Symph]

I've played a bunch of matches with this already. Most times I end up with a bunch of kills and others I just get completely out-ranged or over taken by enemy specials. It's fun in my opinion, just not viable in most areas.

Things that make this weapon work:

Peekaboo strats
Sub distraction
Fast travelling for teammates
Flanking
Corner camping with R2
Running
Support

Inkstrike and Sprinkler are also really good, but other guns can use these better.

This weapon fails in:

Ink spreading (You have to use the Sprinkler a lot if you want to cover ground)
Head-to-head combat (Low DPS, I'd like to say the worst DPS in the game excluding Chargers)
Range (Every other gun will out-range this thing, even the Rollers)
Handling pressure from enemies (You have to hide a lot)

And yeah, Sheldon completely said it: You'd use this weapon if you're looking for a different style of gameplay.
Personally, I feel the Brush should get an increase in damage and range if it wants to be better. Heck, I feel like all of the Rollers have a longer range than the Brush. I trade a bunch with this weapon too. At times it's frustrating trying to figure out how to push back the enemy, I normally just run into their spawn when they're on our side so they can chase me.

This weapon requires patience, timing, and management.

 

[RadioactiveMoth]

Well, one time I squid swam in the trail of an Inkbrush user. Man, we got to the enemy's spawn before they even started leaving.

That is a neat strategy, but then it's two against 4, and one can barely kill. You'd have to have your whole team come, which would leave your base open for the same strategy.

 

[RadioactiveMoth]

Alright. I just played a ton of matches with the inkbrush, and it isn't as bad as I thought before. It still has issues, rough. The range should be bigger. I have to just run from anyone I see. Even if they hadn't seen me, I normally will still ignore them. You really need to make good use of the sprinkler. Throw in towards areas you aren't heading to, and then continue on. I find just running to the middle, inking it up some, then avoiding enemies and getting to their spawn works best. Just avoid fighting at all times, and you should do well.

 

[Beariie]

Loving it.

 

[DracoJay]

I once got 1200 points with the brush but all i really did was use he swing attack for covering turf

 

[Tat]

I once got 1200 points with the brush but all i really did was use he swing attack for covering turf

I find myself putting the thing to the ground very rarely and just doing this.

 

[LuxLuxora]

Pros:
- Movement speed in increased when the brush is in use.
- A ink train it is left; great for leading a charge to the location of interest.
- A supportive weapon for assault teams.

Cons:
- High 'rate of fire" of swings results in lower damage per swing.
- Low ink coverage due to "seeker" like trail of ink.
- A specific, and exhausting, play style is required for decent ink coverage (Jump, splash, repeat quickly!).

Neutral:
- High 'rate of fire" swings results in lower damage per swing against shooters. Counters normal rollers (they die during their single cast).

Impression:
The brush is a tad to much of a strain to play. Your team must understand your objective to lead-the-charge more or less. If they do not, the brush is not being optimized. The best method to cover ink is not to roll, but to splash-jump quickly and repeatedly. It could be great, but the community needs to understand the "assault" style of the brush and follow their "leader" to be successful. The brush user (the "leader") needs to know where to go.

TLDR: The brush will grow to be an aggressive charge leader once the Splatoon community learns its pros and cons.

Edit: Forgot to address the included Sprinkler and Inkstrike, Will do so in a bit.

 

[Moko_b]

After a hand full of matches I really enjoyed the Ink brush so Yay! You really have to utilize it's secondary weapon and special to rank up tons of points. Going to high places and spamming the attack also does a great job. I love the speed when using your hold attack. I found myself ignoring enemies and just running past them most of the time. It's down side is the weak attack. Killing is not its priority for sure. I think it has potential but don't really see it becoming a top tier weapon. Would love to be wrong though cause I love using it.

 

[NintendodudeX]

From my many tries and failures with this weapon all I can say is that it is solely good for infiltration of enemy turf. Like everyone said it is fast and if you complement it with the right abilities like the Turf resist and Main saver you will never stop moving. Also I think people miss the whole going fast part. That is not you method you spreading ink it is your rapid melee attack. Use the speed to get in and the swing to spread out. Overall it needs more time to mature with proper strategy. Also best use for killing with this thing is your sprinkler. Throw it out then rush in on the poor fool who tries to destroy it (from behind them of course).

 

[OmegaDivider]

-gasp- Only two matches with it, but so far its FUN

like, FUN. Just won with a 4x Brush team too

 

[Marraphy]

I consistently get 1300p with it in turf wars (including the win bonus, about 900-1000 without) and also I JUST WAS IN A ROOM FULL OF B- RANKS (i was the only C+ rank) AND I GOT MVP WITH 12 KILLS THIS THING IS MY FAVORITE AND I LOVE IT

 

[ZeroParadox]

'kay, so I was gonna write a reaaaally long post on why this weapon is great specifically at what it does, but then I looked at it and it was too damn long, so I shortened it into tl;dr (because even I wasn't gonna read that).

This is definitely the "work behind the scenes" weapon. I have yet to use it in Splat Zones but it's ability to outpace everyone and the fact that it doesn't have to worry about painting in that mode means it runs straight to the cap point while also giving your team a free line to follow in at the same speed. In Turf War, the splatter actually covers a lot wider of a distance than a roller would. You can't cover up as much in the same time as a roller, so instead you should use the splatter to cover up enemy territory, or help your team with some big spots they missed or lost. It's not an up close and personal weapon, but if you're tricky enough, it can be super annoying, since it's got decent spread at a really good speed, meaning you're doing work while being hard to kill, coming with territory covering distractions in the form of Sprinkler/Inkstrike. Unlike the roller, you can create pathways for yourself besides the one you make by walking. A lot of situations where three people tried to kill me felt like they were locked in a room with me and not the other way around. Even when I died I had been a 15 second distraction that let my team cap a point, push, or get a special out. And the melee isn't too bad either if you can flank - getting to high ground ain't so bad with this thing, so while dealing with enemy fire is a pain, I had way more options to get closer to them than with a normal roller.

In general I rarely ever felt like I wasn't contributing to a match - almost all of my losses were really close, with a few 30% to 50ish% victories for the other team. If your team isn't doing much, neither are you, but even then this weapon has some powerful game changing potential. And it'd probably be a lot scarier with certain perks (most of what I had on, since I didn't swap, had to do with my special meter or run speed, with no stealth perks or damage buffs).

So I'm definitely a yay... I've wanted to use this weapon for a while. I actually like helping my team get work done, so this works nicely for me. It's what I wanted out of the rollers but couldn't achieve because of it's speed.Tho' as far as kill power, normal rollers still have this beat. It's not impossible to take out groups of people shooting you, but it ain't fun either...

 

[ILikeKirbys]

SNIP

A behind-the-scenes weapon, yeah? That's a pretty good way of looking at this, actually. I hadn't considered that.
The swing covers more ground than a Roller swing? Wish I'd known that while I was trying to use it in ranked (and generally failing). This does seem more like a Turf War sort of weapon, from how you've described it.
Though, instead of using the swing to cover large missed areas, would throwing a Sprinkler and moving along be a good alternative? I'm just asking because if you have ink to hide in/move up along, the sprinkler eating through most of your ink when thrown doesn't seem so bad.
Also, do you think jumping and swinging would be a good idea? I hate being rooted in place when I'm swinging (at least it feels that way), so maybe this could work.
Also also, what abilities do you use for this strategy? I tried Ink Resistance (To be able to move when I inevitably land in enemy ink), Ninja Squid (to sneak around) and some Defense Ups (to not die as fast), but I've been thinking that Special Charge Up (to get Inkstrike, I just feel like I'm charging it too slowly) and Damage Up (to not take forever to splat people) and maybe replace Ninja Squid with Haunt or something, while keeping Ink Resistance and some Defense Up could be a better ability set, but I'm not sure.
Alsoalsoalso, I'm not so sure that would work in Splat Zones. I think the first thing I'd do if I saw an Inkbrush doing that would be to splat them if I could, then ink over their trail a bit or drop an Ink Mine nearby or put up a Splash Wall and try to splat anyone who tried riding that trail or something like that. But I'm probably missing something here.
You've changed my mind on this weapon. It's still a Nay for me, if only because I prefer more powerful weapons, but it's not as bad as I thought it was when I first tried it.
I'll definitely be going back tomorrow to try this thing out some more.

 

[ZeroParadox]

...

Nah, the roller splatter swing probably covers more, but you can't spam that like you can with the brush, so you can cover an area just as well as any other roller. (The actual roll/painting seems to just be a movement tool to get you from point A to B, with the splatter being your main coverage tool. It also has a hitbox, so you can still roll over people hiding in enemy ink without wasting paint on swipes, though I haven't had to do this yet, and don't even know if this works well.)

And yeah I use the sprinkler a lot to cover areas, because while you can still cover an entire point, you might be needed somewhere else, or there's too much going on for you to reliably hold down the one area.

I am never not jumping and swinging to attack, lol. The only time I'll stay on the ground is if I sneak up behind someone after chasing them down so as to not waste time and ink - if I'm fighting any amount of people looking right at me, I will start jumping and swinging around me, either to hit them or to give myself escape options. One person did wise up and shoot up, but you shouldn't get into fire fights with this thing anyway. (Also this person shot me in one of Port's corridors, so I didn't have options.)

Almost all the perks you mention I plan on using, except for Ink Resistance because I personally haven't gotten stuck yet, but then again, I literally haven't used the perk myself yet, so I should probably give it a shot. Damage Up, Ninja Squid and Special Charge Up are my priorities (gotta see what I have or what I need to re-roll.)

And yeah I haven't gone into Splat Zones with it myself yet, so that was just a thought. But I think people are doing well with it in Turf and Ranked, so I have faith in what it can do for now. Ink Mines have ended me a lot in Turf War tho'. - 3 -

But yeah, I don't expect this weapon to be everyone's cup of tea. It's very specific about what it can do, but I absolutely love this thing, and I'll probably use it almost all the time now. Until they make Aerospray ZX, which will just be an attack helicopter that renders everyone useless.

 

[jp4464]

The Inkbrush's speed is its biggest strength. While it may not have the best range or killing power, this weapon is best played when the player is constantly moving. Sure, it may not cover as much ink as its Roller counterparts. However, I feel that having an Inkbrush on your team can be great in both Turf War and Splat Zones, if played efficiently.

For example; In Turf War, the Inkbrush player can rush towards the middle or other uncontested areas in the map and quickly surprise unsuspecting enemies. Once an area's clear, a teammate or two Super Jump to the Inkbrush's location, and proceed to place ink. While the Brush user is back on the move, constantly applying pressure on opponents simply with its speed. Along with this, Brush users can use the Sprinklers to make up for the poor ink coverage, and the Inkstrike to control contested areas.

Splat Zones is a little more interesting. As Charger weapons like the Splat Charger and E-Liter are all great for dispersing enemies in this mode, it is incredibly difficult to Splat a moving target, ESPECIALLY if that target has ridiculous speed. Knowing this, Brush users can quickly rush to the Splat Zone and place a Sprinkler on or near the Zone. Naturally, opponents will want to destroy the sprinkler as soon as possible. With attention placed on a specific area, the Brush player can quickly rush down the enemy Charger while teammates disperse of the grouped-up enemies. From here, the Zone(s) can be captured, and the team now focuses on Defense.

The Super Jumping strategy can work great here. With the right timing and coordination, players can get right into the fray after being Splatted by simply Super Jumping to the Ink Brush (provided the coast is clear). And since the Brush user is so fast, it could distract enemy players, allowing a teammate to take advantage and Splat them back to their spawn.

A final point that I'd like to address is something that no one really thinks about. While the Rollers are terrible at Inking walls, the InkBrush is superb at this. This allows players to quickly climb to higher vantage points, and Splat enemies before they're able to react. Speaking of the Brush's attack, it has virtually no wind-up or start-up lag, when compared to the other Rollers. This allows sneaky players to overwhelm close-range enemies efficiently and effectively.

I can understand why some people may not be extremely excited about the Inkbrush's capabilities, though I hope more players begin to pick up the weapon and try playing with a different playstyle. It'll be interesting to see how the Meta develops with this weapon kept in mind.

 

[swifT]

Seeing a lot of debate about the inkbrush here so I'm gonna go ahead and post the thoughts I've already posted in two other Inkbrush threads. Since when I posted this I've thought of some thigns to add so I'll list those after the orignal thoughts. I believe this weapon has a fair amount of potential in the competitive seen

Directly copy pasted from the original thread I posted in.

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 jeopardize 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.

Now for my new thoughts

I think that people are to busy trying to think of the inkbrush as a hyper offence weapon. Just because its got speed it doesn't instantly become an offensive weapon. In fact I consider it to be quite the opposite. A hyper defense weapon. In the games I've been playing I've been keeping pace with my teammates not by aggressively pushing but laying in wait defending our areas. People don't expect you to come off of ink covered walls or run up behind them so quickly and eliminate them.

I've also found that the inkbush can take areas rather quickly simply because of its quick attacks. I have adopted a playstyle with the inkbrush that is to get to an area quickly take that area quickly, and defend that area as best I can. Map awareness for when your opponents are approaching as well as where you can hide and quickly dodge and weave are also important.

 

[tokyodown]

Fast movement speed while painting is not an advantage at all. I guess it covers ground while painting, but from a tactical standpoint it does nothing when approaching an enemy that swimming doesn't already do and it's way more dangerous. The coverage is poor which makes it terrible for TW. I see its uses it SZ, but it's range and coverage still seem to be outmatched. I don't see it being viably competively either, but idk...

 

[ZeroParadox]

Fast movement speed while painting is not an advantage at all. I guess it covers ground while painting, but from a tactical standpoint it does nothing when approaching an enemy that swimming doesn't already do and it's way more dangerous. The coverage is poor which makes it terrible for TW. I see its uses it SZ, but it's range and coverage still seem to be outmatched. I don't see it being viably competively either, but idk...

Well as stated above by swifT, the speed shouldn't be used to approach enemies. The weapon itself isn't that great at killing from the front. Conflict should be avoided, you get way more done holding down points that your team isn't touching yet. The speed of the brush lets you get to those points. The push itself helps your team, but your goal isn't to slay people, and you might not even be able to stay at the point because you can't hold the line too reliably. What you can do is make sure you use that speed to stay the hell away from conflict, hold down points that were just lost, and use your ability to move around better than other rollers to sneak up on people trying to steal your point. The other rollers can do this, but with less movement options. If someone walks right by you while you're hiding, you can just chase after them with the brush, end them, and then repaint everything.

You save your point, you have briefly eliminated a player, and now your team has less to worry about and can move forward a little better.