Is .52 Gal "Broken" in Tower Control?

[Egregore]

Firstly, let's look at the .52 Gal and what it's capable of.

Sub Weapon:

Special:

We have a relatively long ranged weapon with high damage and lower rate of fire (but faster than the Blasters). Typically, the .52 Gal kills in 2 hits, granted your opponents don't have Defense Up. That means less time having to focus enemies on a tower.

It is also equipped with the Killer Wail. Unlike in Splat Zones, the Killer Wail is a pretty incredible special this time around. It can extend a push by a few seconds since the tower is on a rail, and considering most of your enemies are attacking from in front of you it normally leads into a kill or two.

Okay, so, it's a high damage weapon with good range, and a special that works well in Tower Control, but how is it broken, exactly?

I actually refrained from posting this for a while to avoid an influx of this weapon (and to take advantage of how underused it appears to be), but I really don't plan on playing much ranked since I'm maxed out anyways.

Well, the only thing left to discuss is the Splash Wall. It occurred to me being that Splash Wall negates all enemy fire, and has a hitbox, that it is perfectly suited for this game type.

The tower is on a rail, so obviously you already know its course. Placing a Splash Wall in front or behind of the tower, depending if it is under enemy control or your own, will do three things: 1.) force opponents off the tower, 2.) kill opponents on the tower, 3.) negate incoming ink (including Inkzooka).

This is. . .pretty significant. I can't tell you how many times my team has pulled a lead, and with Splash Wall behind the tower, that it became impossible for the enemy team to make any progress because of this.

It's crazy because the .52 Gal is both offensively and defensively powerful in the game type.

Feel free to give it a shot. You won't be disappointed!

Discuss?

 

[Shalnark]

How do you get the splash wall on the tower, and can you do it consistently?

 

[Ictoan]

Wait, does placing a Splash Wall in the tower's path allow it to splat people on the tower? Otherwise, I don't see how 1) and 2) come into play. As for 3), the Wall only blocks one side. I agree that the .52 Gal is quite good, but it doesn't seem to be especially broken.

I've mostly been using Tentatek Splattershot on Tower Control, so I admit this is just speculation on my part. I'll see if I can get some gameplay in with the .52 Gal to test these strategies.

 

[Ryuji]

Blasters are way more broken than Gals on Tower Control.

 

[Egregore]

How do you get the splash wall on the tower, and can you do it consistently?

No idea. Not sure if that's what you got from this post, but I don't mean that the Splash Wall will ever be on the tower specifically.

If it were that you could consistently throw it on there then that'd make the weapon even more silly.

Wait, does placing a Splash Wall in the tower's path allow it to splat people on the tower? Otherwise, I don't see how 1) and 2) come into play. As for 3), the Wall only blocks one side. I agree that the .52 Gal is quite good, but it doesn't seem to be especially broken.

Yes.

 

[[EJ]_Locke]

Hell no it isn't. If any weapon is broken its the blasters or the rollers.

 

[Shalnark]

I misread the op.

I watched FLC's stream last night and he found a way to get the splash wall positioned perfectly on the tower, but I forgot how he did it, and he could not do it consistently.

 

[flc]

short answer: yes

long answer:
jump off the tower and when your feet are level with it throw your ink wall and make it not hit the pole
ink wall placed in front of enemy tower will kill people on it
ink wall placed in any choke point gives your team invulnerability for quite some time
wail gets quad kills routinely
two shot kills on the flank is basically unbeatable
dynamos and blasters can't do **** when they're fighting into an ink wall

 

[Egregore]

Blasters are way more broken than Gals on Tower Control.

Hell no it isn't. If any weapon is broken its the blasters or the rollers.

Please avoid posts like these. This thread is intended to be a discussion, so I'd like to see some more meaningful responses as to "why" or "why not".

The appeal of Blasters is apparent, but does their damage ultimately make up for the fact that they're outranged and every option they have is negated by the .52? I don't see it.

 

[flc]

also blasters are only good at killing people on the tower, which is only strong because people don't realise that getting off the tower to defend the tower is a much smarter idea than sitting there doing nothing and dying to the five million bullets coming at them

once people stop turning the tower into a clown car, blasters will go back to sucking pretty quick

 

[ZainreFang]

Blasters are way more broken. In Tower Control, the Rapid Blaster is actually viable!

 

[Ryuji]

also blasters are only good at killing people on the tower, which is only strong because people don't realise that getting off the tower to defend the tower is a much smarter idea than sitting there doing nothing and dying to the five million bullets coming at them

once people stop turning the tower into a clown car, blasters will go back to sucking pretty quick

o_O

 

[Egregore]

Blasters are way more broken. In Tower Control, the Rapid Blaster is actually viable!

Do I really need to post "looking forward to meaningful responses" or something along those lines in the OP? Uguu.

@flc just detailed why Blasters are actually not as good as everyone is making them out to be, and I for one agree for those reasons exactly. They're basically a one trick pony right now.

 

[Kaliafornia]

.52 gal is definitely useful. Killer wail is probably the best special besides Inkzooka for Tower imo, although personally I am partial to my echolocator on .96 gal.

Splash wall is only helpful if used correctly in the right scenario. Most of the time its too easy to go around it. Have only seen it be truly effective in Skatepark. I have had enemies throw them up before, then you just stop, jump off, splat them and by the time they get themselves together again you are well on your way. If you are going to stop a team from progressing you better be able to take them all out 1-1. It hasn't worked on my teams yet.

Not that I am knocking the weapon but I don't think its that OP.

 

[ZainreFang]

Do I really need to post "looking forward to meaningful responses" or something along those lines in the OP? Uguu.

@flc just detailed why Blasters are actually not as good as everyone is making them out to be, and I for one agree for those reasons exactly. They're basically a one trick pony right now.

I mean, if you get killed in one shot then you don't really have a chance to get off the Tower and shoot a Blaster. Especially if that Blaster is hopping around (which 90% of them do) and there are parts where the Tower is over water so jumping off isn't always a good technique. Blasters can just jump under the Tower and shoot you from an impossible angle rather than a 52 Gal where you need a straight line of fire. Tower Control is full of utter chaos and Blasters/Rollers are very good at taking advantage of that chaos to wipe out entire teams repeatedly.

 

[Egregore]

I mean, if you get killed in one shot then you don't really have a chance to get off the Tower and shoot a Blaster. Especially if that Blaster is hopping around (which 90% of them do) and there are parts where the Tower is over water so jumping off isn't always a good technique. Blasters can just jump under the Tower and shoot you from an impossible angle rather than a 52 Gal where you need a straight line of fire. Tower Control is full of utter chaos and Blasters/Rollers are very good at taking advantage of that chaos to wipe out entire teams repeatedly.

There's no reason for a .52 to be on the tower, though. Blasters and Rollers also don't have the range to fight a .52.

Even though the .52 has a very linear shot, the Splash Wall more than makes up for that fact since it can cover the entirety of the tower.

 

[Kaliafornia]

There's no reason for a .52 to be on the tower, though. Blasters and Rollers also don't have the range to fight a .52.

Even though the .52 has a very linear shot, the Splash Wall more than makes up for that fact since it can cover the entirety of the tower.

Agreed. As a fellow gal user I also would rather not be on the tower (although definitely have wiped out an entire team while on it), I like defending it and have a better spread of K/D ratio when I'm not forced to be on it. From my experience against .52 gals they are more effective when not on the tower (however I've been on teams who have been scared to ride the tower so barring that).

 

[Twinkie]

Agreed. As a fellow gal user I also would rather not be on the tower (although definitely have wiped out an entire team while on it), I like defending it and have a better spread of K/D ratio when I'm not forced to be on it. From my experience against .52 gals they are more effective when not on the tower (however I've been on teams who have been scared to ride the tower so barring that).

I do the same thing. I only get on the tower if is absolutely necessary. Once you step on that thing, you feel completely powerless and just wait to get killed at that point.

 

[Ur2Slow]

I mean, only if you're supporting, not actually getting the tower. That's their main flaw, only being able to support rather than being aggressive on the tower

 

[ZainreFang]

There's no reason for a .52 to be on the tower, though. Blasters and Rollers also don't have the range to fight a .52.

Even though the .52 has a very linear shot, the Splash Wall more than makes up for that fact since it can cover the entirety of the tower.

All they need to do is hop out of the ink and kill you in less than a second, then pop back into the ink. The hiding mechanic is the main reason Rollers and Blasters are so powerful.