Main Weapon Three-Stat Systems

[Algae]

The stat bars for weapon descriptions can seem be a little odd. First, here's what they are officially:

Shooter: Range, Damage, Fire Rate
Roller, Brush: Range, Ink Speed, Handling
Charger, Splatling, Stringer: Range, Charge Speed, Mobility
Blaster: Range, Impact, Fire Rate
Slosher, Splatana: Range, Damage, Handling
Dualies: Range, Damage, Mobility
Brella: Range, Damage, Durability

Traditional weapons of each class strike a trade-off between range and kill speed; this is most obvious with Shooters. But apart from shot precision affecting effective range, shooters with a higher fire rate can zip back-and-forth at a higher rate. (Apart from H-3 being given the same fire rate stat as Pro and Jet?) This extends to the nature of Dualies' dodge-rolls, too. Brushes' kill times are this intuitive to gauge, so I considered giving these stats to them. However, their main draw is rushing through terrain outside your ink, and the clunky Painbrush slides slightly faster than the basic Octobrush, so they keep the Rollers' original stats.

Rollers are quite off-the-mark competitively, compared to the authorial intent of turfing on the go. Their stats are how little time that sweet finishing swing takes, and how good they are for painting (largely by both turfing speed and width). Their long-range-positioning counterparts (Chargers) and similar classes are unified in use of non-negligible charge-ups, and varied fluidity of movement. I thought about how Stringers' explosive darts would be gauged, but I decided the classes' measurements were fine as is.

For the firepower of Blasters, damage per shot has an impact (no pun intended); the Rapid Blasters are too long-range of traditional blasters for a balanced one-shot, but they should have some backup for open fights. I'd keep the Impact stat name, and I'd reason that only Clash lends to substantial agility. I prefer fire rate for Sloshers since that better dictates both handling and kill speed (around 2 sloshes are expected, even though Tri-Slosher does less damage than a Slosher direct). Both these classes attack around cover (a basic Blaster direct or Tri-Slosher kill time aren't reasons to eschew a Splattershot). I chose blast size and fling height as third stats (Bloblobber disproportionately has the fire rate and height of the basic Slosher; I knew it was weird!).

Brellas are known for having outrageously different styles of handling. Tenta Brella's canopy is a longer-term, moving Splash Wall; while Undercover is lightweight and auto-fired with the canopy up. Stalling fights is central to the class, so canopy HP is still used, though ReBrella's fast recovery plays a part. Last are Splatanas: slash speed (mainly uncharged and thus less committal) always plays into handling. The third stat for Splatanas is based on both damage dealt (Stamper comboes better by itself than Wiper) and the optional dash (the typically longer-range Stamper is a better diving slayer than the basic Wiper).

Thus, many united categories of my choice coincide with the styles of map control I found in the different weapon classes:

Shooter, Dualies (breakneck): Range, Firepower, Agility
Roller (sneaky): Range, Fling Speed, Inking
Charger, Splatling, Stringer (positioning): Range, Charge Speed, Mobility
Blaster (trickshot): Range, Impact, Blast Size
Slosher (trickshot): Range, Fire Rate, Fling Height
Brella (defensive): Range, Resistance, Mobility
Brush (flanking): Range, Slide Speed, Handling
Splatana (moveset): Range, Fire Rate, Charge Power

Sometimes, additional gimmicks would do well as simple notes (as well as the complicated dual-range weapons), but I think these changes mitigate the absence of such. Currently, the filled-up stat bars makes it seem like Bamboozler outclasses Squiffer and Goo Tuber, if you didn't know it can't one-shot or store a charge. (Or charge well airborne, anyway, though it is the lightweight charger.) Sure, Tenta Brella's the most complex brella in a competitive setting, but it doesn't outclass the other ones just because it has the longest two-shot range and is a mighty glacier. Alternatively, stating more "raw" stats would be compensated for by quick caveats like "+burst fire", "-ranged shot combo", "-launch-oriented canopy", or "+quick shield recovery".

Do tell me if you have any prying thoughts yourself. (I loved writing this even though putting out my thoughts takes so long)

 

[solz]

I agree with This and I think it would be helpful. If there was something you could do where you could just open up like a manual or some thing, and look at each of the weapons stats and gimmicks. (Kind a like the Grizco manual)

 

[isaac4]

I've personally never considered how the weapon stat list might affect how a new player judges a weapon since I stopped paying attention to it a long time ago but your suggestions make a lot more sense than what we currently have.
Splatoon in general needs to be a lot better at communicating the mechanics and differences between weapons so I would want a lot more than just a revamped stat list but this would be a good starting point.