My dissactifaction with the supports in splatoon

[Vidknight]

So recently I played a bit of brawl stars (And stopped playing within 2 weeks) and there was something that got me thinking. My favorite character in the whole game is Poco a support character. This might not sound like anything until we compare it to other games as well. Paladins I don't play that game anymore, but my favorite character is once again a support Pip. TF2 haven't played in a while, but I'm a medic main a support character.

You see there is a pattern I noticed my favorite role to play in all of these games was a support character. So in splatoon support should also be my favorite role right? But the majority of the weapons I play are not support at all and the support weapons I do play is played like a slayer. So naturally this got me thinking what's with splatoon supports that it's not fun for me somebody who usually play a supportive role enabling my team. I thought about it for a bit and I came to two conclusions for why I have such a dissatisfaction with supports,

before we get into that quick disclaimer this is my opinion and if you enjoy supports in this game you're more than free to do so this is just for me.

Lets get the more obvious one out the way lack of options in the support role

When it comes to support weapons it need to have one big strength which is paint, make sense can't enable your team without paint. But this is where a big problem comes in not a lot of weapons can sustain their entire team with paint. Lets take decav for example it can paint for itself sure, but there is no way it can paint for its entire team same with tenta brella its shield can paint a trail, but there is no you can sustain a roller and range blaster of that paint.

So that means that the majority of the weapons in the support role are shooters and while I have no problem with shooters at all. When that is the only support option it can get kind of bland. BUT WAIT splatoon 3 fixed this problem by adding some weapons in the other classes that can slot into the support role. That's something I got to give the game credit for the splatoon 3 newcomers in previous classes are more support oriented except for s-blast, painbrush, recycle. But there is a slight problem

There kit is holding them back lets take swig and dread for example two great weapons that can paint a lot and be the team support. Swig is sitting in the corner with a freaking wall and marker the worse subs it can possibly get aside from mist. While dread either use a special that doesn't do anything except slightly annoy sharks and dualies or a kamikaze button that force you to stop supporting your team to go die.

So once again we circle back to a majority of the weapons in the support role being short range shooters which leads to the role being incredible bland and not to fun for me.

Now of course I can just end the post here, but I never felt truly satisfied with this answer. Yea it's a big part of the reason, but I always thought it was something more since in other games including this one I never really had a problem playing more bad weapons it its fun. Heck I don't even play comp so this shouldn't really affect me.

So after thinking about it some more I think I figured out another reason. The specials doesn't make me feel like I'm doing much

This is going to be hard to explain so I decided to draw comparison from paladins. Every support character ultimate ability feels impactful. it makes me feel that popping it have a giant impact on the game. It feels satisfying when everything work falls into place due to your ult. This can also be said with brawlstars and Medic from tf2 popping a special ability feels satisfying and rewarding.

But in splatoon case I don't get this feeling. Let say I'm playing a cooler weapon I pop cooler toss it in a place where my team can get it. I don't get the same satisfaction, obviously I'm doing something and helping the team out, but I don't feel like I'm doing anything much except tossing a fridge into a spot for my slayer weapons. Same thing with tristrike I pop it toss 3 strikes and once again I dont feel like I'm doing anything impactful.

There is also this thing where I don't feel like I have to think with my special. Lets once again compare this to paladins and zone in to a single character pip. he has this ultimate where he turns enemy players into defenseless chickens and lower their health. When playing him I always have to think when to use this ultimate "should I use it on one guy?" "Use it on multiple people"? "use it on a flanker trying to kill me?" There is this sense of strategy of when I have to use this ultimate ability.

Than there is splatoon just toss cooler at place where everyone can reach and your team is alive or tristrike toss it when your team is about to go in. There is less depth in how to think when using supportive specials.

Of course It be dishonest of me to not talk about a support special I feel done right and fits into both of these boxes. I know some people don't like this special, but I have to mention ink vac. This special is honestly in my top 3 specials in the entire franchise and it fits into both of the things I like about supportive special abilities. There is this sense of satisfaction when using it. Even though its not too good right now it feels impactful to use I get this feeling like I'm helping my team out big. It especially feels fun to use when using it on a teammate who is taking a fight (Side note This song always play in my head when I use vac that way). It also feel like I have to think when using the special. "Do I use it on my teammate?" "Should I pop it on the rainmaker/clam carrier to help them move in?" "Do I pop vac now to suck up the enemy player booyah bomb?".

So in conclusion Support is usually my favorite role, but splatoon support doesn't feel all to fun for me in my honest opinion. Side note does this mean I legally have to change my name to Vidcleric? I hope not

 

[Algae]

Vidcleric... that'd be a nice name.
Both Ink Armor and Ink Vac have been compared to the only special in Team Fortress 2, but in any case, the farming isn't as pleasuring as the brawling...

 

[Catloafman]

I think one of my main problems with supports is you get very little feedback for helping your team sure painting the floor lets my blaster or roller friend play the game but I don't really feel that in game

When I want to help someone in a video game I want to know that my teammate couldn't do what I did as easily without me and I guess painting the map and chucking out coolers is that but it just feels so empty

I much prefer the more unconventional support options in this game such as chip supports who help in fights (Rapid pro Explo Fizzy bomb etc) or shields for blocking my teammates from dying (Brellas Splashwall and Inkvac) because I can actually feel my contribution

 

[youre_a_squib_now]

I think the common theme here is that supporting doesn't have to be as passive as it often is in Splatoon. because that's not really fun.
This is part of why I really wish dread was good; it paints so much that it doesn't have to focus on that, so it can focus on getting chip damage for its team to play off of.

 

[Vidknight]

Both of yall basically summed up what I was saying perfectly. Support right now doesn't feel all that interactive it feels like your job is just to paint and sometime help out on objectives. To bring up another game again TF2 medic.

Yes all you do is heal, but the way you heal feels more interactive you have to not only learn how to dodge shots, but also watch out for spy and snipers, watch out for everybody health bar, learn to hit crossbow shots, and manage your ubercharge. This leads to playing medic feeling incredibly interactive you always feel like you are doing a lot.

This is also the reason why I like cdousers over neosplash you have a lot to do. You have to chip damage people with burst, paint for your team, combo with other main weapons, learn to defend yourself. While the weapon is harder and weaker than neosplash and it has tristrike a special I talked about in my post cdousers is a much MUCH interesting support to watch and play for these reasons.

 

[Masked_Katz]

I usually main support-based classes in games (whether it be healing, tanking, or debuffing) and I really sympathize with this. The thing is that "support" doesn't really have many unique strengths compared to other weapons - the Splattershot can paint AND kill easily, for example - so sometimes it feels like the title moreso acts as a label for weapons that dont excel in any other role.

However... I feel like people make the mistake of playing/believing they should be played by solely painting for special; I think sitting on your *** the whole game just throwing coolers to the people actually fighting is really boring and is much less useful than people realize. As the others have mentioned, I think support weapons shine best when you see them as "helpers" who watch over the battlefield, both to jump in to help teammates who are being overwhelmed and clean up after them, only painting and building special when you find the time to do so.

 

[OnePotWonder]

This pretty much sums up my feelings on Flingza vs. Big Swig.

Flingza Roller is obviously the better option right now, but the only thing the weapon is really good at and picked for is inking a ton of turf at a distance. It can deal chip damage for teammates, but it's extremely slow to do so and it eats up the flicks' paint. The horizontal flick's paint is terrible and its overall range to splat with one flick makes trying to up and fight with the weapon a death sentence unless you have Screen active on the Foil kit.
The weapon relies on its vertical for paint and chip damage, and its horizontal for self-defense.

Compare that to Big Swig, which does the opposite and is much better because of it. Its horizontal flick hitbox is massive and therefore very consistently deals its 40 damage, even at a decent distance. Its horizontal flick also paints a lot, matching Flingza's PPS but having less range (and therefore less encouragement to spam it at a distance). Most importantly, it has a fast vertical flick with range to match Flingza's, designed for dealing chip damage and being an instant splat for self-defense. Most importantly, because of the speed and range of its two flicks, Big Swig can actually fight decently well.
The weapon relies on its horizontal for paint, and its vertical for self-defense. Both flicks can chip damage.

Despite it having signficantly worse kits than Flingza, Big Swig is easily the more fun support roller due to how it's designed to play actively and do more than just paint the entire game. Weapons like Swig and similar weapons like Dread are what should be the best options for support, over things like Flingza and short-range shooters.

 

[solz]

Unpopular opinion

Spoiler

I Personally, like to play attacking rules in other games besides Splatoon, so I'm basically the opposite of people here. I also love to play support in Splatoon even if it just means painting the entire match because once I'm done with my job, we will be in the lead, and I can go fight, this may Be because I use the sploosh, so I can paint fast But I personally enjoy it. Another thing is that spamming cooler isn't that fun I agree. But what about his family other specials like Booyah bomb or support specials like bubbler sometimes these can be helpful.