Master Splat Brella players: How do I splat you?

[NOICE]

For real though :D. When I come up against a good brella player, it seems like they are just impossible to kill. If I shoot, they hold out their shield. If I try moving & juking around them, they kill me the moment I've stopped shooting. I know ideally I should ambush a brella who's looking a different direction, but sometimes head to head combat is just unavoidable, and I'd like to try something other than the "just run away" approach (if there even is one). It seems simple, but I just don't get it. I've attempted using the brella many times and I've tried to emulate what I've seen good players doing, but I usually end up with a lot of deaths and very few kills. What exactly are you brellas doing, and do you have any weaknesses you'd be willing to share? I am especially afraid given that the Sorella Brella is about to be released...

(PS - the weapon types I'm usually using in these situations are your average shooters; Splattershot, Pro, etc.)

 

[Mar$el]

Well just back up staying in range, strafe, etc. but keep shooting. If they caught you and you're stuck shooting at their shield, they're gonna pull it down and shoot in like .001 seconds to finish you off so you have to do what you can to try and make them only get chip damage or miss. If you just quickly ran into them then swim around and be tricky to get at them from different sides. Ideally this is what you wanna do, but sometimes you're just stuck... I struggle a bit with this too but I don't find it happening to me really all that often. I'm sure there are better solutions but this is what I know. Honestly not too sure. I mean if you have control you should just flank them but... yeah I'm not really sure so I'll just stop here...

 

[Ansible]

Hope you have fun this weekend! Sorella Brella releases! :p

But let's see if I can conjure up any half-decent ideas... ooh—stop shooting! Seriously. Sure you might be able to break the shield (500hp lel) or force it to launch (a very long couple seconds), but then how much ink did you waste in the process? Even worse is when you're so distracted by that shield you fail to notice their teammate that suddenly jumps you.

Bait them to drop guard then attack. In the time it takes them to shoot and fully redeploy the shield (stupid delay mechanic taking its sweet time registering hits! >.<+ ) they'll be splatted.

And don't get too close when fighting them. The shield alone does -30hp damage while a meaty, direct hit is a flat -90hp, but that requires them to be no more than one line away from you (training room distance).

So just like @Mar$el mentioned, back up, because the damage drop off for a brella can be severe and random with the lowest being around -15hp~-20hp. But try not to backup in straight line if possible, otherwise all they have to do is move forward and/or launch the shield directly ahead as either option they choose keeps you in trouble. If possible move a wide circle around them, forcing them to drop their shield to keep up and spot you from going behind them but leaving themselves vulnerable to attack at the same time. And if you can, while flanking them shoot at their feet to trap them and cause chip/poison damage that'll soften them up as they try to escape or fall back.

Hopefully that's good enough to get you started in countering splat brellas.

 

[AllToonedUp]

Brellas that are pressured often use the "stafe and hit" method where you hold up shield, then move a bit while shooting and rinse and repeat as it's the only way for them to play aggressively defensive. The best way to deal with a brella is to keep pressuring them until their shield is gone and/or until they run out of ink because the Brellas are really bad without the shield to protect them, they have inconsistent damage if they don't get the direct hit + their subpar firerate isn't their strong point either.

Another thing to keep in mind is that while the shield is good, it's not perfect and there are weapons that can easily go around the shield and splat them even if it's open. Clash Blaster is arguably the best brella counter due to its similar range to the Splat Brella and all the shots can go over the shield and kill them easily. Other blasters also do well against them because of the same reasons as before and they can destroy the shield without a problem. Sloshers also have similar range + fire-rate and they can hit over the shield too. Rollers can hit above the shield as well, however you need to be careful because you're vulnerable if you miss/don't kill them in time, but the matchup is still dead even. Bamboozler is also a surprisingly good brella counter too because their shots are extremely fast and hard to avoid and they can break the shield at ease.

And after reading the weapons that you use, honestly Splattershot can kill brellas without a problem because they're so fast and Splashdown can break shields and if you burst bomb right afterwards, then they're pretty much toast unless if they really know what they're doing. Another thing to note is that the best way to ambush them is to throw a Splat Bomb while they're in shield from behind since there's nothing they can do to avoid the blast and they'll still be stuck in shield lag if they try to move.

I hope I covered enough to give a better understanding towards the weapon and I wish you good luck!

 

[Dark Sage Walker]

Looks like all of the main methods for Brella counter have been mentioned already. But I can offer one more piece of advice. Bombs. It's really as simple as that. If you don't have a weapon that is good for countering the umbrella shield barrage, then use your sub weapon to make them rethink their strategy by throwing it off to their side. A good Splat Bomb, Suction Bomb, Auto-Bomb, or even Sprinkler can make them disengage or distract them long enough to by you some time to retreat or simply come up with a new approach.

 

[InklingJoe]

Above is great advise if you aren't running a blaster or slosher. When my brellas out, the time it takes to put away and retreat makes well placed bombs a major pain.

 

[NOICE]

Lots of great advice, thanks everyone! I've been playing a while this weekend in an effort to try some of these suggestions, but strangely enough, I haven't seen too many brellas yet, even with the release of the Sorella. I kinda expected to see nonstop brellas, chickens, and bomb rushes. I wonder if the standard brella will remain the stronger option.

 

[InklingJoe]

I've been playing with the Sorella pretty steadily this weekend. And I think I prefer the standard. Im reserving judgement until I stack more ink saver sub. The chicken bomb just alters playstyle enough to make low ink a problem for me.