My Thoughts on Every Ultra Stamp Weapon

cipsbsndj

Pro Squid
Joined
Feb 3, 2024
Messages
129
Pronouns
he/they
Switch Friend Code
SW-0937-9859-6660
Ultra Stamp is one of the weakest specials in the game right now, using it feels like a 50/50 tossup between splatting half the enemy team, or getting splatted before you can even do anything, and that’s on a good day. Despite all that, however, it’s my favorite special in the game and I have gotten all 8 Ultra Stamp weapons to at least weapon freshness 4. In doing that I have developed some thoughts about all of those weapons, some deeper than others, and I’m capping off my Ultra Stamp journey with dumping my opinions about each member of the Ultra Stamp Eight.

I’m going in chronological order of when I 4-starred each weapon, starting with the Sploosh, my first love, the first weapon I’ve 4-starred, and the first I’ve 5-starred, it’s the first of three Stamp weapons to achieve such an honor. This was pretty much the only weapon I played for the last two months of Chill Season ‘22, and set the standard for what I would find appealing in a weapon: short-range, great mobility, and a quick time to kill. Unfortunately, the range on Sploosh is insanely short, and the shot-spread on this thing can make the weapon feel insanely inconsistent on certain map/modes, which isn’t great, considering it has Ultra Stamp as its special, which has consistency issues of its own. It also has Curling Bomb, which is occasionally useful and makes sense in theory, but this thing would really benefit from a Splat Bomb, something that would give it some form of long-range pressure. The curling functions primarily as a mobility tool, that Sploosh doesn’t need because of the main weapon’s inherit mobility, and it’s a lot more inconsistent when acting as a lethal bomb, especially at long distances. I do think Ultra Stamp synergizes really well with Sploosh, tho. It really leans into the up close playstyle of the main weapon, the only problem (other than Stamp needing buffs) is that it leaves very limited options for long distance pressure, as throwing the Stamp would end the special early. Other than that, however, if you just swap out Curling Bomb for Splat Bomb (and give Ultra Stamp buffs), this would be the perfect kit for Sploosh. It’s pretty alright as is, tho. It’s the first weapon I’ve ever mained, after all.

Next up is Wiper, the best weapon with Ultra Stamp, and the weapon that would benefit the most in the meta from a Stamp buff, considering how good the main weapon is. This is the second of three Stamp weapons I have 5-starred, and is probably the best weapon in the game that I am decent with. Wiper as a main weapon is one of the most mobile in the game, with some of the best range, at the cost of taking a long time to splat an opponent. However, the long time to kill can be alleviated with the Torpedo this kit comes with, and it’s the main reason to play this kit over the Deco one. Torpedo is an immensely useful sub for Wiper, as it can half the amount of shots you need to hit in order to get a splat. Ultra Stamp also synergizes well with the main weapon, as it helps it play into its aggressive, annoying the enemy team playstyle. However, even tho I think Stamp has good synergy with Wiper, it is still the weakest part of this kit, and it holds the weapon back more in competitive play, a fate that could maybe be reversed if Ultra Stamp didn’t get its user killed half the time it gets activated. Despite that, however, this kit is really fun, and if I had to play only one weapon for the rest of my Splatoon-playing life, this would be the one I’d pick.

The Luna Blaster Neo is quite a funky little weapon. It’s a short range blaster, with a wide blast radius that has a two-shot indirect, and a one-shot direct. This is the third Ultra Stamp weapon I have 5-starred, and it’s funny how the order in which I’ve 5-started these weapons matches the order in which I’ve 4-starred them. The main weapon itself is kinda weak, with it being very short-range for a blaster, and it not having anywhere near the best mobility, it being a blaster and all. Although, large blast radius does help with fighting, and it can fire a shot a bit faster than most blasters, so it still has a fair shot at fighting other weapons. The one-shot direct is also a major asset, but most of the time when I do hit a direct, it was completely on accident, I never expect to hit a one-shot when I do, probably a skill issue on my end, but still worth noting. Its subweapon is Fizzy Bomb, the best sub this thing could’ve gotten. Fizzy helps with paint, chip damage, long distance pressure, pretty everything you could want out of a subweapon besides location. Needless to say, it has amazing synergy with Luna, and the same can kinda be said for the special. Stamp has decent synergy with Luna, it’s not horrible; it can help with fighting up close and getting in to hard to reach spots, and this was one of the better blasters to give Ultra Stamp to, it makes sense why they gave this special to Luna, it’s just that neither Stamp nor Luna are in the best spot balance-wise right now, so combining the two doesn’t help either on the tier lists. That being said, however, Luna Neo is a fun kit I like using to annoy people in Tower Control with.

Moving away from the weapons I play on a regular basis, we’re now heading towards the weapons I got to weapon freshness 4, and then dropped forever afterwards, starting with the Mini Splatling, the weapon I completely forgot has Ultra Stamp, and the one I have very little memory of 4-starring. I only really remember playing it during a Splatfest battle on Eeltail Alley, a Rainmaker match on Scorch Gorge, and the rest is a blur. However, I can still make out some stuff from that blur, and most of it is centered around Burst Bombs. I would play really aggressively with this weapon, scrapping against weapons that did not need to charge their shots, partially because Ultra Stamp is supposed to be used somewhat aggressively, and Vimi has it for some reason. So, what I would do is I would charge the Mini for a very short period of time, and if I didn’t splat an opponent before my charge went out, I would throw a Burst Bomb to hopefully finish them off. I don’t know if that’s the best Vimi strategy, but it’s the one that apparently got me to weapon freshness 4 with this thing. It’s been a while since I last played this weapon.

The Wellstring V was not the weapon I was the most excited for leading up to Sizzle Season ‘24, that honor went to the Mint Decavitator. However, I fell out of love with the Decav pretty quickly after the season launched, and my new love was the Wellstring V, the vanilla kit with AutoBomb and Ultra Stamp, of course. This weapon still holds the record for fastest time for me getting a weapon from freshness 0 to freshness 4, taking just over a week. I really liked how it was a heavyweight powerhouse that could still hold its own up close, through how charging its shots works. During a charge weapon’s projectiles will start out far apart from each other, then will come closer together in the middle of the charge (allowing for the user to one-shot kill an opponent, meaning you don’t have to wait until the weapon is fully charge to splat someone), and then the shots will spread out even further towards the end of the charge, which allows a user to cover a large area from a safe distance. The main weapon is really solid overall, and the kit certainly has Ultra Stamp. AutoBomb is useful for location and being a cheap lethal bomb, just all around a good sub for it, not much to say other than that it’s solid. The special is a lot more interesting, however, because Ultra Stamp was quite a choice for it, but not necessarily a bad choice. I did say the weapon can be played more up-front than other heavyweights, and Stamp does play into that, giving a little bit of insurance when fighting on more even ground to the more fast-paced weapons. It does function, and I do find Ultra Stamp to be fun, but I can’t deny that it is not the best special for Wellstring, as it’s pretty weak balance-wise, and Well might prefer something more universally useful. Still tho, I found Wellstring to be extremely fun during the week that I played it, but I haven’t played it much since June, tho, which is kinda odd.

The L-3 Nozzlenose is one of weirdest weapons in Splatoon history, as it’s like the H-3, but with less damage, more shot spread, and more mobility, but not nearly on the same level of other high mobility weapons. Its kits are also weird, with the vanilla kit having one of the best specials in the game, but then getting stuck with a subweapon that doesn’t do much for it, and then the second kit has the best supweapon it could have possibly gotten, but then getting a special that doesn’t do much for it. The L-3 is a weapon I dabbled in from time to time, before committing to getting it to 4-star freshness, finding it to be a novelty, and not much more, and after getting it to weapon freshness 4, my opinion of it has not changed. The L-3 D has the same sub/special combo as the vMini Splatling, and I played this weapon largely the same way I played the Vimi; fire the weapon at the opponent for a bit, and if that fails to splat them, chuck a Burst Bomb at ‘em. It wasn’t a foolproof strategy, considering my K/As were not the most flattering, but it got the job done. Ultra Stamp was a weird pick for this weapon, considering L-3 isn’t a weapon that likes to be on the frontlines, and would like more to play support, especially with Burst Bombs. If they wanted to give the second kit a more aggressive special, a much better option would’ve been Inkjet, considering how that special can recall you to a spot L-3 would rather be in, and the only other shooter with Inkjet is Nova. The L-3 D became the sixth Ultra Stamp weapon I got to freshness 4, and that got me thinking that I could potentially get every other Stamp weapon to 4-stars, as I only had two to go at that point.

We’re at the homestretch, almost done, and only two left I did back-to-back in the same month (August of this year), and leading us off is the Inkbrush Nouveau. I was very hesitant to pick up this weapon, considering I am not good at mashing, and I don’t wanna develop arthritis, but when I did play it, I didn’t find it that bad. That being said tho, I still found playing this weapon to be more difficult than any of the other weapons on this list, so I opted to play Turf War for most part while playing this weapon, with a few exceptions in Anarchy Open (shoutout to DzNutzKong for that one game on Eeltail Rainmaker). Ink Mine on this weapon honestly felt kinda right, setting mines up in annoying spots for the enemy team and using them to chip away at the opponent’s health was fun. Despite that, this kinda has the same problem as Sploosh in that there’s not any real long distance pressure with this kit, and the problem is kinda worse on this one because at least an uncharged Curling Bomb can sometimes get a lucky kill from far away. Ultra Stamp on this weapon also feels pretty good, it’s kinda like like how it is on Wiper, with the main weapon sneaking behind the enemy, and then using the Stamp to secure its spot. Inkbrush Nouveau was pretty fun, even if I’m never gonna play it again.

It’s the goober. The goofy goober, if you will. Goo Tuber, as a main weapon, is probably the weirdest in the game. It has three gimmicks, it can store its charge while swimming in ink for a long time (something that’s very situational and also shared with the Nautilus), it can begin its charge-hold without having to finish its charge (also shared with the Nautilus), and it can splat an opponent with having to fully charge its shot, something no other charger can do. Despite all of that, the main weapon is still considered weak due to its relatively long charge time, and its relatively short range. While Goober’s vanilla kit helps with that (a Torpedo to help with damage and Missiles to help with long-rang pressure), it’s second kit decided to take a page out of L-3 Nozzlenose’s book and made half the kit actually synergistic, and the other half Ultra Stamp. The fizzy is good on Goober for the same reasons it’s good on Luna, not much to say relative to Goo Tuber, outside of the charge hold mechanic working well with the paint trail left behind by the fizzy. The main star of the show however, is Ultra Stamp in a town it don’t belong in. I’m not going to say Ultra Stamp is bad on Goo Tuber, but there were so many other options for specials on the Custom Goo, I’m surprised they went with this one. My experience with Custom Goober is very similar to my experience with most chargers, I’m bad at aiming with them, and getting too up close to opponents is not recommended, which clashes with my Sploosh upbringing. I did have some fun with the Goober, tho. I found the ability to splat someone without reaching a full charge to be second most fun mechanic for a charger, behind only the Squiffer’s jumping, and the amount of paint from tap shots made playing Turf War a lot easier, considering going into Anarchy Battles was a no-go. But with that, I have completed my goal in 4-starring every weapon with Ultra Stamp. Yippee

Ultra Stamp one of the specials of all time, it makes sense on about 5 or 6 of these weapons, and only 1 of these weapons is actually good. This is probably the special that needs buffs the most, considering how, for a lot of these weapons, the main thing holding them back is the special. But, I still think the special is fun, and silly, and frustrating to no end. Bleh

Important update: the connection improvements in the 9.0.0 update has apparently fixed the main issue I’ve had with Ultra Stamp, that being the fact that the stamp user could be shot down through the front while in rush mode. I’ve been taking a bit of a break from Splatoon, so I haven’t been able to check this out for myself, but if the news is true (which is likely due to the multiple sources confirming it is), then omg the special is now far more reliable. It’d still be able to be cancelled from the sides and back, but that’s fine and fair, the special actually working like it’s intended to is all I’ve ever wanted and now I got it, finally.
 
Last edited:

OCTöHEAD

Pro Squid
Joined
Jun 27, 2024
Messages
105
Location
eu
Pronouns
any
Thanks for the insights!


I was very hesitant to pick up this weapon, considering I am not good at mashing, and I don’t wanna develop arthritis
You are so real for this. Inkbrush Nouvea is surprisingly fun. I never did get used to how short the range is though.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Top Bottom