DzNutsKong
Kinda Nuts
Outta nowhere we gettin 9.3.0 by the looks of it. Only in Japanese so far
Will post a translation shortly
Will post a translation shortly
New Patch??
- Thread starter DzNutsKong
- Start date
DzNutsKong
Kinda Nuts
- Sploosh-o-Matic, Splattershot Jr, Aerospray, Dapple Dualies: 3% shot velocity buff (also effects range)
- N-ZAP: 5% strafe speed buff, 5% RNG spread reduction
- Splattershot Nova: 33% jump RNG reduction
- Big Swig Roller: Increased size of vertical swing hitbox, presumably not paint output. No mention of by how much
- Painbrush: Time between shots decreased by 2 frames
- Mini Splatling: Reduced time to get to full charge by 3 frames. Time to get to first stage charge reduced by 2 frames.
- Heavy Splatling: Increased firing time regardless of how much charge you have by 11%. Reduced time to get to full charge by 3 frames. Time to get to first stage charge reduced by 2 frames.
- Splat Dualies: Shots fired outside of turret mode have a bigger hitbox. No mention of by how much
- Recycled Brella: Slight paint output increase. Shots cost 14% less ink.
- Snipewriter: Slight paint output reduction.
- Decavitator: Time spent before dashing increased by 2 frames. 12% paint output reduction on uncharged shots.
- Ultra Stamp: Damage output when thrown increased. The previous 60 damage hitbox now deals 220 damage, and the previous 30 damage hitbox now deals 60 damage.
- Triple Splashdown: Paint output from explosions increased by 11%.
- Trizooka: Some part of its previous 53-damage hitbox has been reduced to 35 damage. Duration reduced by 30 frames, but can be increased with Special Power Up.
- Octobrush: 200 -> 190
- Enperry Splat Dualies: 200 -> 190
- Douser Dualies FF: 200 -> 190
- Recycled Brella Mk. II (i think): 200 -> 190
- S-BLAST '91: 190 -> 200
- Snipewriter 5H: 210 -> 220
McSquid82
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Let's wait until the patch is actually out first before we see about its meta status. Reduced paint output and increased PFS is still a really big deal even with SCU.
Masked_Katz
Gnarly Eddy's Boyfriend
jr and nova buff 
DzNutsKong
Kinda Nuts
Thoughts!
For starters, I don't think I personally should be too impacted by this from a pure results standpoint in a more competitive setting. There'll definitely be some games where it makes a difference without me even really noticing, but if I die off of a two-frame difference then I probably deserve to be dead anyways and I'm never my team's primary painting weapon as is.
The big exception to the latter, though, is solo queue, where sometimes I need to be my team's primary painting weapon. Especially when a good friend of mine is a Carbon Roller main. You'd be surprised just how many times the two of us get matched with a Blaster or a second Roller with bad paint on our side and I have to abandon my aggressive playstyle in order to become a paintbot. Even then this is for us to only barely manage to keep up with our paint output. Nine times out of ten either our fourth doesn't think to paint more or the opponents have at least one weapon with extremely good paint. So if this nerf is successful then I'm just screwed now in those situations instead of having some kind of fighting chance.
And I'll reiterate, a big point of the Splatana class is that they're extremely flexible. It's in a way that few other weapons in the game can genuinely accomplish and all three of them have good paint outputs to support this. Wiper and Stamper have worse paint than Decav for clearing out an area, but can paint extremely far to get their special more consistently than Decav. So instead of addressing the part of the weapon that people are actually taking issue with, that being the hitbox sizes, they instead choose to attack the flexibility of a weapon in a game where flexibility is both scarce and something that the game likes having more of for the sake of diversifying comps. Like S-BLAST, it's not like Decav was suffocating other weapons out of a niche.
To top it all off, the cherry on top - they also nerfed the time spent in a charge slash from a dash. This only really changes situations where you're both out in the open and about to be under fire anyways, which is where you're most likely going to die anyways. The painting nerf, as bad of a choice as I think it is, should at least be effective at nerfing a strong weapon. This nerf only exists to mess with muscle memory and timing. A bunch of Decav players, quite possibly including me, are now going to die a good amount of times over these coming weeks because the developers decided to make a completely misplaced and unimpactful nerf. They're going to dash into someone from behind cover or after sharking for a kill, try to get another charge slash up, but sometimes mess up the timing and throw out a much slower and weaker uncharged shot. Awesome.
I'll close out this section of the post by saying the point I kept driving home in that thread I made, but all they needed to do was nerf the size of either of its charged hitboxes, whether it's the one-shot or projectile. Fun fact - the projectile hitbox is actually wider than the one-shot's! They could've easily justified making that thinner, and it wouldn't have been super difficult to justify them making the one-shot smaller either. Instead they completely avoided the problem people have with the weapon and so it'll now probably be an annoying high-tier instead of an annoying top-tier. Mission accomplished I guess. Good for you.
That aside, to me, notable omissions from this patch include Triple Inkstrike, Big Bubbler, and Reefslider. I haven't heard too many complaints for main weapons in this game as opposed to the game's specials not being in an ideal spot and these three (three?? like SPLATOON three???) are the big culprits. Triple Inkstrike in particular I was really expecting something for but I'm not super upset that any of these are missing, except for maaaaaaybe Reefslider. It's an annoying special especially in solo play but it's not been that good for very long and I'm looking forward to seeing how stuff with it develops at top level at least.
Overall, though, mostly a pretty good patch. For every change that I'm iffy about, and I'm much more iffy about that Shooter change than this post would imply, there are two other changes that I'm happy with or at the very least think meets Nintendo's intentions in a good way. I'm really happy with the Trizooka nerf and am glad that something happened with Snipewriter at least even if the game's probably going to suck for me to adjust to for the next few days with Decav's misplaced nerfs.
- Yet another day of them giving small, random buffs to Shooters that are already in a fine spot. I'll repeat what I said when this happened in the last patch - all these buffs serve to do is slowly but surely push Shooters into all becoming overtuned to no actual benefit for the game. Sploosh, Jr, and N-ZAP were all in a perfectly fine spot, with Sploosh only needing a good kit but with both it and Aerospray being obnoxious for a lot of more casual players. Nova's change is kind of cool though even if probably unimpactful since that weapon has nothing going for it let's be honest
- I could see the Big Swig change being really nice for it. I've heard that a pretty common complaint for Big Swig players is the vertical flick being difficult to find consistency with no matter how good you get at the weapon and this would improve that, even if it only ends up being a little. Still needs a kit but hey, one of those two big pieces is fixed.
- I don't know much about Painbrush as a weapon so I'm not gonna make up some nonsense about how much this change effects it. I can't imagine this being a bad thing though.
- Both of the Splatling changes feel kind of unnecessary to me? Like they're buffs for sure but don't address anything good or bad about either of them. "This weapon's not in its best spot so let's make it better." Except...Zimi is already a very good weapon in spite of having Toxic Mist. The main weapon's already very strong you don't need to be buffing it man
- Splat Dualie change probably helps it at a more casual level, so sure. I imagine it'll make them a bit easier to be consistent with at top level but I don't know how big of an issue that was to begin with. I'm picturing what little top level Splat Dualie gameplay I've seen and not imagining a buff like this making any difference in them so I dunno. (EDIT - I forgot while posting this that they only buffed non turret mode lmao, I've never seen someone get attacked by a not turret mode Splat Dualie so this will literally only exist at low level. I don't mind that)
- I know Recycled Brella's had a big ink consumption issue before so that's pretty cool and I can't imagine a painting buff being that bad for it either even if I doubt it'll be by enough to make a huge impact. Still, the weapon needed buffs, and this approach doesn't seem too bad.
- Pencil nerfed again! I'm sure this'll be a highlight for a lot of people. Speaking personally I've been of the opinion that a nerf could be nice for the sake of futureproofing and this is basically that, although not the best way they could have approached that nerf. It was far from an omnipresent weapon as is. We don't know how much it'll be nerfed by outside of the +10 pfs. "Worst case" the thing doesn't see serious play anymore, "best case" N-ZAP + Charger and Heavy Edit comps see more play.
- I'll go into more detail on the Decav nerf at the end of this post because I'll have a LOT more to say about that than any of the rest of these.
- The first thing that comes to mind about Ultra Stamp's buff is that it should be easier to break Crab Tanks with it, which is cool. Should be a fairly honest buff to a special that needs it so I'm not going to complain about that.
- I have to imagine the most practical use for Triple Splashdown's buff is to trap slower weapons that are barely in your blast radius? Seems like kind of a weird buff but sure I guess. (EDIT - Grushi has since reminded me that zones cheese exists and could now probably be done with Splashdown now. Never change, devs)
- FINALLY a Trizooka nerf again. This isn't even the startup nerf we asked for but anything to make it that much less consistent and that much less straightforward to use is much appreciated from my perspective. I don't complain about most things with this game but I'm genuinely sick of Trizooka
- Octobrush, Dousers, and Recycled Brella all got a -10 pfs buff. All appreciated, these weapons aren't too terribly far out from being viable and they should be the kinds of targets for this one. Recycle is the worst of the three but this is alongside several other buffs so y'know. Enperries also fall under this boat although they're way stronger at a casual level and I have a personal disliking for Triple Splashdown so I'm not gonna like seeing this thing any more than I already do.
- S-BLAST pfs nerf...man, this feels so unnecessary. Yes, it's a strong weapon, but that doesn't inherently mean it should be nerfed on the spot like this. Not many people were even pushing it and it felt entirely healthy from those that were. This thing wasn't suffocating other weapons out of competitive play or spamming its special to any absurd degree. This change feels pretty misguided to say the least.
It goes without saying from this that I'm not thrilled to see that this is how Nintendo nerfs my weapon. Neither of these changes are the end of the world, and I guess for that I should be happy, but for how good of a job Nintendo's done nerfing Stamper I can't help but feel a bit disappointed with this. I still have more to say though since I didn't talk as much about the two nerfs they ended up going with.
For starters, I don't think I personally should be too impacted by this from a pure results standpoint in a more competitive setting. There'll definitely be some games where it makes a difference without me even really noticing, but if I die off of a two-frame difference then I probably deserve to be dead anyways and I'm never my team's primary painting weapon as is.
The big exception to the latter, though, is solo queue, where sometimes I need to be my team's primary painting weapon. Especially when a good friend of mine is a Carbon Roller main. You'd be surprised just how many times the two of us get matched with a Blaster or a second Roller with bad paint on our side and I have to abandon my aggressive playstyle in order to become a paintbot. Even then this is for us to only barely manage to keep up with our paint output. Nine times out of ten either our fourth doesn't think to paint more or the opponents have at least one weapon with extremely good paint. So if this nerf is successful then I'm just screwed now in those situations instead of having some kind of fighting chance.
And I'll reiterate, a big point of the Splatana class is that they're extremely flexible. It's in a way that few other weapons in the game can genuinely accomplish and all three of them have good paint outputs to support this. Wiper and Stamper have worse paint than Decav for clearing out an area, but can paint extremely far to get their special more consistently than Decav. So instead of addressing the part of the weapon that people are actually taking issue with, that being the hitbox sizes, they instead choose to attack the flexibility of a weapon in a game where flexibility is both scarce and something that the game likes having more of for the sake of diversifying comps. Like S-BLAST, it's not like Decav was suffocating other weapons out of a niche.
To top it all off, the cherry on top - they also nerfed the time spent in a charge slash from a dash. This only really changes situations where you're both out in the open and about to be under fire anyways, which is where you're most likely going to die anyways. The painting nerf, as bad of a choice as I think it is, should at least be effective at nerfing a strong weapon. This nerf only exists to mess with muscle memory and timing. A bunch of Decav players, quite possibly including me, are now going to die a good amount of times over these coming weeks because the developers decided to make a completely misplaced and unimpactful nerf. They're going to dash into someone from behind cover or after sharking for a kill, try to get another charge slash up, but sometimes mess up the timing and throw out a much slower and weaker uncharged shot. Awesome.
I'll close out this section of the post by saying the point I kept driving home in that thread I made, but all they needed to do was nerf the size of either of its charged hitboxes, whether it's the one-shot or projectile. Fun fact - the projectile hitbox is actually wider than the one-shot's! They could've easily justified making that thinner, and it wouldn't have been super difficult to justify them making the one-shot smaller either. Instead they completely avoided the problem people have with the weapon and so it'll now probably be an annoying high-tier instead of an annoying top-tier. Mission accomplished I guess. Good for you.
That aside, to me, notable omissions from this patch include Triple Inkstrike, Big Bubbler, and Reefslider. I haven't heard too many complaints for main weapons in this game as opposed to the game's specials not being in an ideal spot and these three (three?? like SPLATOON three???) are the big culprits. Triple Inkstrike in particular I was really expecting something for but I'm not super upset that any of these are missing, except for maaaaaaybe Reefslider. It's an annoying special especially in solo play but it's not been that good for very long and I'm looking forward to seeing how stuff with it develops at top level at least.
Overall, though, mostly a pretty good patch. For every change that I'm iffy about, and I'm much more iffy about that Shooter change than this post would imply, there are two other changes that I'm happy with or at the very least think meets Nintendo's intentions in a good way. I'm really happy with the Trizooka nerf and am glad that something happened with Snipewriter at least even if the game's probably going to suck for me to adjust to for the next few days with Decav's misplaced nerfs.
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Vidknight
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I couldn't sleep so I woke up, hoped on squidboards, and saw patch notes, what a blessed day, or night... whatever posting thoughts only for stuff I have something to say.
Nova is a big change that I'm surprised it took this long to happen. I mean nova won't become good by any means it still got a 5 shot kill what a joke. But I can see myself playing this weapon more casually so that's a W, I'll take it
BIG SWIG, BIG WIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Swig vertical hitbox was always way to small in my opinion when I started to play more, and more. I'm not too sure what the idea was for swig thin vertical hitbox as it kind of made swig dependent on getting lucky, and hitting a one shot when rushed down. Swig is also not going to become a top tier since I feel the problem is mostly in the kit (Angle shooter, and Wall is a practical joke), but this does help the weapon. (Also the big swig discord server is popping off lmao)
Ahhhh Painbrush, my ex best friend before I dropped it, and had s-blast become my new second favorite weapon in the entire franchise. the two frames does seem incredibly helpful for the weapon as the weapon speed is the biggest detriment. The two less frames per swing can help it kill faster, paint faster, and is just overall faster. I might play the weapon again depending on how impactful these 2 frames are, ngl I have hope that this is what the weapon needs, and make it more playable
Snipewriter changes IDK how to feel about them. On one hand it does tone back pen which had been the most dominant backline in the entire game for almost 2 years now, and toning it back is great. But I also kind of fear on how big the paint nerf is because right now pen is one of the three good cooler options in the game, and without pen we are down to two strong cooler options. Like if dynamo, or n-tri was buffed than I'll be fine, but it wasn't. Granted we need to see how it plays out in game because last time slightly meant very slightly, and I don't think pen would be dying just slightly worse, but I still do fear for it a bit.
Decav got bodied, damn! the dash slash being 2 frames slower already kind of hurt, but worse paint as well! Not dead ofc, and it needed a nerf it was a bit overtuned, but it still got to sting a bit.
Ultra stamp thrown hitbox becomes a bit more annoying as you get one shot more frequently
Dear god I hope that TSD don't become another zones cheese special. If so, the mode will become even worse to play
Zooka is the big loser of the patch holy crap. Less time to fire which means you now need to spam your shots out more quickly along with less damage so now it not only combos with less weapons, but also can't two shot anymore. deserved tbh I would of went with a startup nerf, but hey I'll take what I can get.
S-blast 91
My lawyer advise me to say that the above attached image is a joke
Alright, but for real though I don't think that s-blast is going to die here it still got a lot going for it an extra 10p for special will be a bit weird, but realistically I don't see it making that big of a difference. Now if it reach 210p-220p though then we will start having some problems, but right now it's fine, and still sitting comfortably.
Edit: Oh yea one more thing I forgot to mention map changes for tricolor stages. I don't really care for it since I haven't played tricolor in god knows how long, but hey indirect confirmation that splatfests are still happening. The stages being changed are Eeltail Alley, Hammerhead Bridge, Makomart, Crableg Capital, and Bluefin Depot. Not sure what, but changes are happening (Still hoping that tricolor Eeltail becomes the regular Eeltail stage.)
Edit again: English patch notes everything said here is also the same in the english translation so you don't really need to read it, but it's still here if you want it https://en-americas-support.nintendo.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/59461/~/how-to-update-splatoon-3
Nova is a big change that I'm surprised it took this long to happen. I mean nova won't become good by any means it still got a 5 shot kill what a joke. But I can see myself playing this weapon more casually so that's a W, I'll take it
BIG SWIG, BIG WIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Swig vertical hitbox was always way to small in my opinion when I started to play more, and more. I'm not too sure what the idea was for swig thin vertical hitbox as it kind of made swig dependent on getting lucky, and hitting a one shot when rushed down. Swig is also not going to become a top tier since I feel the problem is mostly in the kit (Angle shooter, and Wall is a practical joke), but this does help the weapon. (Also the big swig discord server is popping off lmao)
Ahhhh Painbrush, my ex best friend before I dropped it, and had s-blast become my new second favorite weapon in the entire franchise. the two frames does seem incredibly helpful for the weapon as the weapon speed is the biggest detriment. The two less frames per swing can help it kill faster, paint faster, and is just overall faster. I might play the weapon again depending on how impactful these 2 frames are, ngl I have hope that this is what the weapon needs, and make it more playable
Snipewriter changes IDK how to feel about them. On one hand it does tone back pen which had been the most dominant backline in the entire game for almost 2 years now, and toning it back is great. But I also kind of fear on how big the paint nerf is because right now pen is one of the three good cooler options in the game, and without pen we are down to two strong cooler options. Like if dynamo, or n-tri was buffed than I'll be fine, but it wasn't. Granted we need to see how it plays out in game because last time slightly meant very slightly, and I don't think pen would be dying just slightly worse, but I still do fear for it a bit.
Decav got bodied, damn! the dash slash being 2 frames slower already kind of hurt, but worse paint as well! Not dead ofc, and it needed a nerf it was a bit overtuned, but it still got to sting a bit.
Ultra stamp thrown hitbox becomes a bit more annoying as you get one shot more frequently
Dear god I hope that TSD don't become another zones cheese special. If so, the mode will become even worse to play
Zooka is the big loser of the patch holy crap. Less time to fire which means you now need to spam your shots out more quickly along with less damage so now it not only combos with less weapons, but also can't two shot anymore. deserved tbh I would of went with a startup nerf, but hey I'll take what I can get.
S-blast 91
My lawyer advise me to say that the above attached image is a joke
Alright, but for real though I don't think that s-blast is going to die here it still got a lot going for it an extra 10p for special will be a bit weird, but realistically I don't see it making that big of a difference. Now if it reach 210p-220p though then we will start having some problems, but right now it's fine, and still sitting comfortably.
Edit: Oh yea one more thing I forgot to mention map changes for tricolor stages. I don't really care for it since I haven't played tricolor in god knows how long, but hey indirect confirmation that splatfests are still happening. The stages being changed are Eeltail Alley, Hammerhead Bridge, Makomart, Crableg Capital, and Bluefin Depot. Not sure what, but changes are happening (Still hoping that tricolor Eeltail becomes the regular Eeltail stage.)
Edit again: English patch notes everything said here is also the same in the english translation so you don't really need to read it, but it's still here if you want it https://en-americas-support.nintendo.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/59461/~/how-to-update-splatoon-3
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🌌☾ᏉᎬᎶᎪ☽⭐
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So, Snipewriter nerf. Yippee... Kinda scared of it particularly for the paint. 220p is fine. I kinda figured that one was gonna happen anytime soon and I think is completely reasonable but the paint could be make or break now. I know last time they did it essentially nothing happened but I think if they lessen the width to the point where all 5 shots can't connect reliably that it could lead to the weapon feeling terrible. I know the range is of hot debate but to be honest I think it's fine. Does it give less backlines reasons to be used sure but of all the backlines we could've seen become best of the best thank god it was this goofy pencil because Splat Charger and Liter while fun in their own rights still have their own issues, Liter especially since it's the one weapon in the game where I can confidently say everyone's initial plan goes out the window the minute one of these exists on the field and you just have to accept that.
Outside of that I'm really hopeful for the Recycled buff. The thing could barely paint and even with Ink Saver Main the thing felt too ink hungry so to get both of these addressed in one patch is so hype. Really wish Undercover got something as well but oh well I guess the brella players will take whatever rations we can get.
Cheers to a more hopeful Splatoon 3 and I hope these patch notes are received relatively well by everyone which was impossible the moment they laid a finger on a single shooter. I don't care though some minor tuning to them ain't the worst thing in the world and this was like the one patch where a bunch of them actually got buffed at once so I'm not too concerned about them taking over. Really appreciated that they touched Zap again even if it wasn't 190p cooler cuz getting the main in there is still a neat way to go about getting the weapon buffed methinks.
Think that's all I really got to say for now. Overall good patch I like everything that was adjusted even if I think the double whammy of less paint/220p cooler Snipewriter is a bit overkill imo lol
Outside of that I'm really hopeful for the Recycled buff. The thing could barely paint and even with Ink Saver Main the thing felt too ink hungry so to get both of these addressed in one patch is so hype. Really wish Undercover got something as well but oh well I guess the brella players will take whatever rations we can get.
Cheers to a more hopeful Splatoon 3 and I hope these patch notes are received relatively well by everyone which was impossible the moment they laid a finger on a single shooter. I don't care though some minor tuning to them ain't the worst thing in the world and this was like the one patch where a bunch of them actually got buffed at once so I'm not too concerned about them taking over. Really appreciated that they touched Zap again even if it wasn't 190p cooler cuz getting the main in there is still a neat way to go about getting the weapon buffed methinks.
Think that's all I really got to say for now. Overall good patch I like everything that was adjusted even if I think the double whammy of less paint/220p cooler Snipewriter is a bit overkill imo lol
DzNutsKong
Kinda Nuts
Okay, I PROMISE this is the last post I'll make to this thread. Probably. Unless they shadowbuff something. Or if someone replies to one of my messages and I feel the need to respond. Or some third thing I'm currently unaware of.
English patch notes are officially here! There's a liiiittle bit more even if not too much more to discuss.
In Bluefin Depot, moved the lamp that was on the bridge in the center of the stage to the top of the elevator. I don't really know what this means to be honest, especially since there are multiple elevators on this stage, but I'll at least copy paste it here.
Plus, some Tricolor map changes I guess. Implies they plan on using all of these maps for something in the future which means plenty of more Splatfests from here on out + probably no Splatoon 4 any time soon. Cool but little to discuss.
The meat and potatoes for me anyways is going to be the reasonings they give for some of these changes. They might be very vague, but I like getting a glimpse into their thought processes anyways, big or small. Wil go over everything one-by-one.
The way for shorter-ranged weapons to "counter" these options was not lessened because they got outpainted by them. Snipewriter's issue was its mobility and range even compared to other backlines and Decav's issue was, again, the size of its hitboxes. Matter of a fact it has much worse painting than plenty of the weapons it outranges. I'm not upset at Nintendo for making the wrong decision like the Shooter change as much as I am confused at how they reached this conclusion to begin with.
Like, if a Decav player sees someone who's trying to get close and they need to play defensively, they don't paint the area with uncharged shots. That's going to get you rushed down and killed. Instead they're going to try and set up charged shots, often without dashing. If they want to use a dash to retreat then they've either probably overextended as is or the ground underneath them is painted and it's better for them to swim away.
I guess I shouldn't be surprised that such a confusing change has such backwards logic behind it although this is a bit disappointing to me. They seemed to understand the ideas I would've wanted them to target with both of these weapons almost to an exact tee, i.e. making them less oppressive into some of the weapons they outrange, but because it's impossible for a company like this to be fully in-line with their competitive audience they made a misstep for both. I still think a range nerf would've been better for Pencil since how it fares against other backlines is a problem that can be pretty handily solved while keeping much of its other upsides, and I don't think I need to speak more on Decav.
English patch notes are officially here! There's a liiiittle bit more even if not too much more to discuss.
In Bluefin Depot, moved the lamp that was on the bridge in the center of the stage to the top of the elevator. I don't really know what this means to be honest, especially since there are multiple elevators on this stage, but I'll at least copy paste it here.
Plus, some Tricolor map changes I guess. Implies they plan on using all of these maps for something in the future which means plenty of more Splatfests from here on out + probably no Splatoon 4 any time soon. Cool but little to discuss.
The meat and potatoes for me anyways is going to be the reasonings they give for some of these changes. They might be very vague, but I like getting a glimpse into their thought processes anyways, big or small. Wil go over everything one-by-one.
So...they buffed two Shooters last time, one of which was incredibly strong then and still is now, for the sake of buffing other Shooters now, none of which needed it except for Splattershot Pro. Unless they plan on expanding upon this even more then the changes both last patch and this time around were largely useless. Great.
I...what????
The way for shorter-ranged weapons to "counter" these options was not lessened because they got outpainted by them. Snipewriter's issue was its mobility and range even compared to other backlines and Decav's issue was, again, the size of its hitboxes. Matter of a fact it has much worse painting than plenty of the weapons it outranges. I'm not upset at Nintendo for making the wrong decision like the Shooter change as much as I am confused at how they reached this conclusion to begin with.
Like, if a Decav player sees someone who's trying to get close and they need to play defensively, they don't paint the area with uncharged shots. That's going to get you rushed down and killed. Instead they're going to try and set up charged shots, often without dashing. If they want to use a dash to retreat then they've either probably overextended as is or the ground underneath them is painted and it's better for them to swim away.
I guess I shouldn't be surprised that such a confusing change has such backwards logic behind it although this is a bit disappointing to me. They seemed to understand the ideas I would've wanted them to target with both of these weapons almost to an exact tee, i.e. making them less oppressive into some of the weapons they outrange, but because it's impossible for a company like this to be fully in-line with their competitive audience they made a misstep for both. I still think a range nerf would've been better for Pencil since how it fares against other backlines is a problem that can be pretty handily solved while keeping much of its other upsides, and I don't think I need to speak more on Decav.
The first part is a bit concerning at a glance. Gives the idea that their intention for the special is to completely ignore opposing counterplay if the Trizooka user "uses it well." However, I can't imagine this to completely be the case. They did give us that small startup nerf a while ago and you could argue the damage reduction back to 35 has a similar effect too in making counterplay a bit more effective. Otherwise...yeah, that's a reasonable thing to want to nerf about Trizooka since I can't imagine that dynamic for it is healthy. It's not the community's biggest problem with the special but their logic is pretty sound here.
isaac4
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Main Weapon Changes
However, I don't agree with the direction they're taking the top tier options in the game like Pencil and their continuous bias towards shooters feels like it could become a problem in the future.
These are just my early thoughts though and maybe I won't feel as negatively about these changes once the patch comes out.
- The random unnecessary shooter buffs are as predictable as ever so I don't have much I really want to add here. Jr. has especially been treated well in S3 so I was hoping they were at least done buffing that specific main weapon but I underestimated the devs love for shooters. At least Dapples got to share some of that love even if I don't particularly like the weapon.
- I know I said I didn't have much to add for the shooter buffs but buffing Zap AGAIN?? Could they make their bias any more obvious?
- The Nova, Swig, and Painbrush changes seem nice. I don't really care for those weapons though but I am at least a bit curious to see how Nova feels after the patch is out.
- I didn't expect Mini or Heavy to get any changes but that's nice. Again, it's not something I'll have a lot to say on until I get to test it out myself.
- I like the Splat Dualies shot size buff but I'm not sure how relevant it'll end up being since the weapon is still mostly going to rely on turret mode but perhaps the increased size of the shots will make their hitbox bigger than expected.
- Recycled Brella with improved paint output would have probably ended up being a very impactful change on its own but the improved ink efficiency by 14%?? Absolutely ridiculous and also completely justified for this weapon. It needs as much help as it can get.
- Of course Pencil gets nerfed again in the patch after I've started regularly practicing it. Besides that, I actually don't like this change since the previous paint nerf did more than enough to properly address its passive special spam playstyle. If they really wanted to reduce the amount of Cooler that Pencil could get as well as the paint output from the main weapon then they could have just nerfed the range which would have also helped other backlines deal with it.
- I expected Decav to get nerfed but making it even slower than it already is feels like the wrong direction to go. I'm also not sure about the paint nerf but I guess we'll see how impactful it ends up being tomorrow. I still wish they just nerfed the hitbox size on its direct but they clearly want it to stay as part of the weapons identity.
- I guess if the devs didn't want to go back on their previous Stamp indirect buffs then focusing on buffing its throw makes the most sense but I have a personal bias against Hammer so giving it a larger kill radius on its throw sounds annoying. At the very least it's a more interesting change than just increasing the indirect radius again but I doubt the special will be much better anyway. It'll also make it stronger against HP specials so that'll be nice to have on my team comp. Shout-out to @LemonBoy.
- Why did they buff the paint output from TSD? The fact that it wasn't as good at painting compared to Slider was one of the differences I liked about it and it's not like it was terrible at painting either. Unfortunately, X Rank Zones is only going to get worse after this change.
- Giving Zooka a 35 dmg hitbox is a HARSH nerf. It already had plenty of problems with inconsistency and the previous damage nerf didn't do it any favors so this is probably going to be an extremely impactful change for it but if that wasn't enough they also slightly reduced the duration of the special which would technically give the user less time to hold their Zooka shots for another player moving in. I genuinely can't believe they prioritized nerfing the damage over the most annoying aspect of the special, the extremely quick startup.
However, I don't agree with the direction they're taking the top tier options in the game like Pencil and their continuous bias towards shooters feels like it could become a problem in the future.
These are just my early thoughts though and maybe I won't feel as negatively about these changes once the patch comes out.
QuagSass
Inkling Commander
SPLATLINGS BUFFED RAAAAHHHH!!!!!
Neither of these buffs are going to change anything for Mini and Heavy lol.
The problem with them was never the mains, but rather their kits.
Heavy doesn't get played because it's hard countered by Pencil and it has Wavebreaker and Kraken instead of a relevant special. Vanilla Mini Splatling doesn't get played because it has Hammer. Zink Mini sees play just because it's a weapon that can farm Bubbler and fight. If Bubbler is not relevant, the Zimi doesn't see play.
Simple as that really.
But! vHeavy getting buffed is still super nice to me, since that's one third of my holy trinity of mains UwU
The worst part of playing both Heavy and Hydra was always adjusting to the lack of fire duration on the former between games. This'll make that less of an issue. Though crEdit will still give me problems there, weh.
Pencil getting nerfed does warm my heart. Although, giving it both a painting nerf and a pfs was a bit much. We do still want Pencil to be a good weapon, it has an important place in the meta. It's just that it's so dominant in the backline role. With how Pencil is now, I would've rather have a Cooler nerf or maybe nerf some other part of Pencil so that other backlines can counter it more easily.
Well it'll probably still be good, it's role is just so strong and can't be replicated by any other weapon. This might slow down Pencil comps tho, which would probably mean Edit will see even more use. Appreciated.
Neither of these buffs are going to change anything for Mini and Heavy lol.
The problem with them was never the mains, but rather their kits.
Heavy doesn't get played because it's hard countered by Pencil and it has Wavebreaker and Kraken instead of a relevant special. Vanilla Mini Splatling doesn't get played because it has Hammer. Zink Mini sees play just because it's a weapon that can farm Bubbler and fight. If Bubbler is not relevant, the Zimi doesn't see play.
Simple as that really.
But! vHeavy getting buffed is still super nice to me, since that's one third of my holy trinity of mains UwU
The worst part of playing both Heavy and Hydra was always adjusting to the lack of fire duration on the former between games. This'll make that less of an issue. Though crEdit will still give me problems there, weh.
Pencil getting nerfed does warm my heart. Although, giving it both a painting nerf and a pfs was a bit much. We do still want Pencil to be a good weapon, it has an important place in the meta. It's just that it's so dominant in the backline role. With how Pencil is now, I would've rather have a Cooler nerf or maybe nerf some other part of Pencil so that other backlines can counter it more easily.
Well it'll probably still be good, it's role is just so strong and can't be replicated by any other weapon. This might slow down Pencil comps tho, which would probably mean Edit will see even more use. Appreciated.
technobyte
Senior Squid
Funny how I've started using nova a bit more recently. So now I won't have to run an unnecessary amount of intensify to even think about jumping while shooting? We won't know for sure until it's out but at least nova gets something.
I guess that was my main highlight in terms of buffs, though the splatling and big swig buffs are also pretty interesting. I feel like charge time buffs aim to try helping a weapon keep up with the faster pace of the game and make it a bit easier to defend yourself, but I'm not sure if this change will be very impactful for heavy and mini since they didn't really suffer from these issues. Having a larger vertical swing hitbox on big swig is nice though. It's precise nature never really felt that great, especially when facing opponents that move around a lot. The difference will probably be pretty small, but it's better than nothing.
As for pencil, a paint nerf and pfs nerf back to back is pretty wild.
Decav gets a paint nerf and lunge duration nerf. As I've said before, I've never really had problems going against decav personally (I do main a midline weapon after all.) Having a way for short range weapons to go against the weapon more easily would be nice, but it does hurt to see any weapon that depends on learning the timings (blasters, sloshers, and especially splatanas) get any sort of end lag nerf. Sure it can give more time to react in certain situations, but I feel like it should be more of a last resort. Also decav really doesn't have enough range for its paint to be that much of a problem, so the paint nerf also feels unneeded imo especially since it's power in fights or while defending is more of a problem people are having in the first place.
Also pfs nerf on S-Blast 91 of all weapons? Booyah spam from them was never a problem what did they do wrong :(
Not much to say on tricolor changes, but good to know there will be even more splatfests! Maybe even private tricolor battles in the future?
Bluefin lamp. No clue what this means but it's a change ig.
Anyway that's about it for my thoughts. I look forward to trying out the nova change for a bit before I go back to grinding crab wins!
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electronvolt
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Nova buffs? BIG SWIG BUFFS??? best patch ever
(also what are they doing to nzap. is that a nerf? you have less paint but you also strafe faster so not sure what the overall affect would be)
(also what are they doing to nzap. is that a nerf? you have less paint but you also strafe faster so not sure what the overall affect would be)
youre_a_squib_now
Inkling Fleet Admiral
...you don't have less paint? your shots are more accurate, that's entirely different. I'm not sure where you're getting this from.
electronvolt
Senior Squid
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I thought lower scatter meant you would paint less because your shots aren't over as wide of an area
youre_a_squib_now
Inkling Fleet Admiral
If you're firing straight forward, sure. but if you're trying to paint you're not going to be doing that, you're going to be spreading your shots out as much as you can so they don't overlap. I could see it affecting the paint slightly in some situations, but really it's just a fighting buff.
Shoutout to DzNutsKong (dzkong?) (dznuts?) for banging out a wall of text like an hour and half after notes drop that is some commitment to the posting.
Ok so these patch notes definitely exist. It's on the whole positive but it does feel like a lot of extremely minor adjustments and nerfs that are needed but not correctly applied. I'll only bring up the changes that I think actually matter kinda.
Splattershot Nova:
Nova can jump now whoooooooooo, This is a pretty big buff to particularly ANova which I feel becomes noticably better with this change. In a weird convoluted way an accuracy buff while jumping is actually a minor range buff in practice. Nova couldn't hit things at all at max range so now it might be able to? The weapon still has some gaping flaws like the fact it still can't fight, but between this and the pen nerfs I imagine ANova is finally able to carve out a reasonable niche as an inkjet bot that plays in the same team slot as splash/shot. Maybe that's hopeful thinking since RPD meta might come slamming into us at mach 10.
Big Swig Roller:
I don't know the severity of this buff since the notes are very vague but uh. This is supposedly a fix to one of big swigs main weaknesses. Big Swig is a very dumb main weapon but it's always been held back by just being really hard. If you can consistently hit verticals it can do combos at the same range as stamper, on a weapon with nearly double the paint output. Express kit is definitely better with this change since dart gives the "gun" some much needed mobility + long range combo potential. I just need to see how drastic the change is but i'm very interested to see.
Painbrush:
Frame buffs have always been the most impactful type of buff in the history of the series, Tri slosher got this exact same buff in S2 and shot up from mid to top tier overnight, Painbrush is obviously different because it has the enormous elephant in the room with the wind up, but it's also a weapon that is so painfully similar in playstyle and funtion to tri that I can't help but be a little alarmed by this.
Mini Splatling:
Minor buff to a weapon that doesn't need a buff at all. Mini has one of the most busto overtuned main weapons in the game but is held back by competing with both another very broken bubble weapon in decav and a bunch of shooters that aren't cursed with mist. Decav being nerfed is unironically a bigger buff to mini than whatever this change is supposed to do.
Also VMini might be crazy now because of hammer buffs but it also has the issue of wiper/l-3D existing and doing very similar things without being as clunky. Vmini's kit is insane on paper but it's not a great match with mini since burst is hard to use without dropping charge at a bad time. and hammer is weird on a weapon that is definitely supposed to crossfire and paint for teammates.
Heavy Splatling:
Cool buff but fundamentally doesn't fix the cooler problem. Edit is not a better main it's just easier to fit onto comps because cooler in the anchor slot offers so much role compression. Zap is not a good weapon and you really should strive not to play with it on a comp if you can. It's why ZF/RPD are dead in the water despite honestly being very solid individually. It doesn't help that both of heavies kits are mediocre. Like why did they even give it two defensive specials it's literally one of the best weapons in the game at stopping people from running at it already.
Recycled Brella 24:
Ink efficency change is nice. VRecycle Is a potential player now that decav is nerfed. but the fact that stamper horizontal still one shots shield is still crippling. I could imagine a future where this weapon starts being played a few patches from now if they keep steadly buffing it.
Snipewriter 5H/B:
Severe nerfs, Blue Pen already had tangibly worse cooler output compared to edit/zap, especially in the mid/late game when spawn gets painted. I don't imagine this completely kills pen but it'll be more about leveraging the main weapon as a pick weapon instead of doing a splatoon 2 jet cosplay. Cooler is such a hot commodity that I can't think of a world where this weapon ceases to exist. It'll just be worse at supporting low paint weapons like squeeze/sblast/range now. What matters more is the metagame shift that happens when pen isn't top dog. Inkjet/RPD/Tetra all become noticably better with these changes. All the cooler weapons get a major buff from this, Bubble becomes less centralizing since it just isn't as important anymore. (especially with zooka nerfs.) The changes are so massive and sweeping that I can't imagine what the game looks like after this. Maybe some coolerless comps start popping up?
Decavitator:
Not as bad as I thought. Probably still reasonable. It's hard to quantify how signifcant these changes are. but if "vertical" paint is unchanged I can't see this becoming bad. I think zooka and pen nerfs are much more impactful overall towards decav's presence since bubble is presumably less needed now. just have to wait and see I guess.
Ultra Stamp:
very funny patch note. basically the thrown oneshot hitbox has lethal splash now. There is a lot of weapons that get hammer extremely quickly so uh. have fun solo queuers. This change probably doesn't make hammer the best special in the game but it would hilarious if it did. Notable buffed weapons from this are. uh. every hammer weapon. all of them get hammer very fast. L-3D/Wiper are the standouts to me as weapons that get a little dumb with the 30 to 60 damage radius change. since both have chip subs and combo with the damage dealt.
Triple Down:
great it's better at zone cheese now. have fun marlin zones enjoyers. (it's me, I'm the cexplo player.)
Trizooka:
Doesn't actually fix the problem with the special and instead hurts the long range chip? It's a meaningful nerf but I don't understand what they are doing. Zooka is still fine I think, the change is a lot scarier on paper than it actually will be in practice.
PFS changes:
octobrush probably the biggest winner here. but also the biggest loser since pen will be less common for octobrush to harass with zip. Zip is so much worse against splatlings than chargers so if edit meta happens, octobrush is gonna be flipping burgers sorry to say.
WHERE IS THE SLIDER NERF DELETE THAT SPECIAL PLEASE. I AM SO TIRED OF DREADWRINGER SLIDER BOT PLAYERS INFESTING EVERY ZONES SOLO Q GAME PLEASE.
Ok so these patch notes definitely exist. It's on the whole positive but it does feel like a lot of extremely minor adjustments and nerfs that are needed but not correctly applied. I'll only bring up the changes that I think actually matter kinda.
Splattershot Nova:
Nova can jump now whoooooooooo, This is a pretty big buff to particularly ANova which I feel becomes noticably better with this change. In a weird convoluted way an accuracy buff while jumping is actually a minor range buff in practice. Nova couldn't hit things at all at max range so now it might be able to? The weapon still has some gaping flaws like the fact it still can't fight, but between this and the pen nerfs I imagine ANova is finally able to carve out a reasonable niche as an inkjet bot that plays in the same team slot as splash/shot. Maybe that's hopeful thinking since RPD meta might come slamming into us at mach 10.
Big Swig Roller:
I don't know the severity of this buff since the notes are very vague but uh. This is supposedly a fix to one of big swigs main weaknesses. Big Swig is a very dumb main weapon but it's always been held back by just being really hard. If you can consistently hit verticals it can do combos at the same range as stamper, on a weapon with nearly double the paint output. Express kit is definitely better with this change since dart gives the "gun" some much needed mobility + long range combo potential. I just need to see how drastic the change is but i'm very interested to see.
Painbrush:
Frame buffs have always been the most impactful type of buff in the history of the series, Tri slosher got this exact same buff in S2 and shot up from mid to top tier overnight, Painbrush is obviously different because it has the enormous elephant in the room with the wind up, but it's also a weapon that is so painfully similar in playstyle and funtion to tri that I can't help but be a little alarmed by this.
Mini Splatling:
Minor buff to a weapon that doesn't need a buff at all. Mini has one of the most busto overtuned main weapons in the game but is held back by competing with both another very broken bubble weapon in decav and a bunch of shooters that aren't cursed with mist. Decav being nerfed is unironically a bigger buff to mini than whatever this change is supposed to do.
Also VMini might be crazy now because of hammer buffs but it also has the issue of wiper/l-3D existing and doing very similar things without being as clunky. Vmini's kit is insane on paper but it's not a great match with mini since burst is hard to use without dropping charge at a bad time. and hammer is weird on a weapon that is definitely supposed to crossfire and paint for teammates.
Heavy Splatling:
Cool buff but fundamentally doesn't fix the cooler problem. Edit is not a better main it's just easier to fit onto comps because cooler in the anchor slot offers so much role compression. Zap is not a good weapon and you really should strive not to play with it on a comp if you can. It's why ZF/RPD are dead in the water despite honestly being very solid individually. It doesn't help that both of heavies kits are mediocre. Like why did they even give it two defensive specials it's literally one of the best weapons in the game at stopping people from running at it already.
Recycled Brella 24:
Ink efficency change is nice. VRecycle Is a potential player now that decav is nerfed. but the fact that stamper horizontal still one shots shield is still crippling. I could imagine a future where this weapon starts being played a few patches from now if they keep steadly buffing it.
Snipewriter 5H/B:
Severe nerfs, Blue Pen already had tangibly worse cooler output compared to edit/zap, especially in the mid/late game when spawn gets painted. I don't imagine this completely kills pen but it'll be more about leveraging the main weapon as a pick weapon instead of doing a splatoon 2 jet cosplay. Cooler is such a hot commodity that I can't think of a world where this weapon ceases to exist. It'll just be worse at supporting low paint weapons like squeeze/sblast/range now. What matters more is the metagame shift that happens when pen isn't top dog. Inkjet/RPD/Tetra all become noticably better with these changes. All the cooler weapons get a major buff from this, Bubble becomes less centralizing since it just isn't as important anymore. (especially with zooka nerfs.) The changes are so massive and sweeping that I can't imagine what the game looks like after this. Maybe some coolerless comps start popping up?
Decavitator:
Not as bad as I thought. Probably still reasonable. It's hard to quantify how signifcant these changes are. but if "vertical" paint is unchanged I can't see this becoming bad. I think zooka and pen nerfs are much more impactful overall towards decav's presence since bubble is presumably less needed now. just have to wait and see I guess.
Ultra Stamp:
very funny patch note. basically the thrown oneshot hitbox has lethal splash now. There is a lot of weapons that get hammer extremely quickly so uh. have fun solo queuers. This change probably doesn't make hammer the best special in the game but it would hilarious if it did. Notable buffed weapons from this are. uh. every hammer weapon. all of them get hammer very fast. L-3D/Wiper are the standouts to me as weapons that get a little dumb with the 30 to 60 damage radius change. since both have chip subs and combo with the damage dealt.
Triple Down:
great it's better at zone cheese now. have fun marlin zones enjoyers. (it's me, I'm the cexplo player.)
Trizooka:
Doesn't actually fix the problem with the special and instead hurts the long range chip? It's a meaningful nerf but I don't understand what they are doing. Zooka is still fine I think, the change is a lot scarier on paper than it actually will be in practice.
PFS changes:
octobrush probably the biggest winner here. but also the biggest loser since pen will be less common for octobrush to harass with zip. Zip is so much worse against splatlings than chargers so if edit meta happens, octobrush is gonna be flipping burgers sorry to say.
WHERE IS THE SLIDER NERF DELETE THAT SPECIAL PLEASE. I AM SO TIRED OF DREADWRINGER SLIDER BOT PLAYERS INFESTING EVERY ZONES SOLO Q GAME PLEASE.
youre_a_squib_now
Inkling Fleet Admiral
Don't have a ton to say that hasn't already been said but the zooka nerf fixes exactly the problem i have with it. they have to actually hit you for you to die.
reminder that adding the 60/53 damage hitbox in the first place is what shot it up into the meta.
reminder that adding the 60/53 damage hitbox in the first place is what shot it up into the meta.
OnePotWonder
Inkling Fleet Admiral
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I have a lot to say on everything that has happened.
First of all, the spray shooter/Dapples range buffs. I don't like them. Same can be said for the vDualie bullet size buff, and the two buffs that N-ZAP got. Dualie and ZAP are already strong main weapons and if they need any form of buff, its to the PFS of their stronger kits. These main weapon buffs are nothing but unnecessary powercreep that probably won't even put a dent in their competitive viability.
Now, the range-buffed weapons. These changes are only slightly more acceptable since all four main weapons are relatively weak at fighting (with Sploosh and Dapple being more tuned for dives than fights), and the changes are very minimal at 3% increases. Shot's buff was definitely worse than these ones. That being said, I still think that these changes weren't really necessary and just make zoning out these weapons more difficult for more aim-intensive, skill-expressive weapons.
Nova's buff is basically not worth talking about. The weapon's mid-air RNG is not its problem. I would almost find this buff insulting if not for the fact that I still think the balance team doesn't know that Nova's grounded RNG doesn't work the way they originally advertised it.
Big Swig's buff is good. I personally would have preferred them buffing the power of its vertical flicks over their consistency, but that's more of a nitpick than an actual complaint. The weapon is officially in the camp of "only held back by the kits" with Mini and Heavy.
Speaking of which.
Mini and Heavy's main weapon buffs are both nice, but no Toxic Mist or Wave Breaker changes means that said buffs won't make much of an impact on how viable the weapons are. Vanilla Mini may be saved by the new Ultra Stamp buffs, though.
Painbrush was definitely addressed in the patch notes. I don't really like Painbrush or its buff, but I'll say I don't think it'll become any more annoying to fight than it already is, so good for it for becoming a little more powerful. Key word, powerful.
Recycled Brella's buff I almost find funny, because there is a very long list of buffs that could make Recycled Brella a stronger option, and better paint is near the very bottom. I have long wanted this change for Splat Brella, not Recycled. Now, the fact that they're buffing brellas' paint in any form is a good thing, but it happening to Recycled first is what's funny. I like the buff, but I can think of a number of other reasonable buffs that I would have liked better.
Snipewriter's nerf is expected and tolerable. I can safely say now that the weapon does not need any more changes (outside of its damage being reduced to 65 for the sake of round numbers). I don't think Snipewriter's nerf was super necessary considering it doesn't affect its matchups into other backlines and its Cooler output was already at a reasonable level (plus it's better designed than most of the other backlines its nerfing enables). Nonetheless, having Edit be the main option for Cooler isn't exactly a bad thing.
Decavitator's nerfs are significantly more interesting. The good news is that the weapon's dash melee attacks will be easier to counter. The bad news is that its giant hitbox remains untouched. I'll be frank, I don't like this.
I want to make something particularly clear here. The changes in this patch are particularly geared toward handling. Most of the buffs here make weapons easier to use; range buffs, attack hitboxes, strafe speed, jump RNG... Then you have Decav's nerf which targets its power rather than its handling, keeping the weapon's aim requirements generous.
It is my humbly correct opinion that the most difficult weapons should be the strongest in a competitive setting, and these changes alongside others in the past have made it so the top tier of weapons vary significantly in their difficulty, with the topmost tier containing both what is arguably the most difficult weapon in the game, Splatana Stamper, and what is arguably the least difficult weapon in the game, Splattershot. Making Jr., ZAP, and Dualie easier to use with these buffs is very far from a good thing.
That being said, I like the Ultra Stamp change.
Ultra Stamp is a bad special in every sense, being well on the weaker side of both power and design. It hinders a lot of weapons that have it as part of their kits, but its rush mode can't be buffed without making the weapon even more of an overtuned bulldozing nuisance than it already is. Buffing its thrown mode is the solution. The only critique I have of the change is the fact that the close stamp throw explosion deals 220 damage instead of something like 180 or 150 that can be parried with a squid roll.
Then you have Zooka, the worst special weapon to ever be a part of the game's meta. Zooka is inconsistent, able to gain value when it really shouldn't, and makes a lot of weapons I don't like viable in competitive play. I love the concept of making an AoE weapon's shots to kill reliant on the distance from the center of its explosion, and this is that. Zooka needing three shots to splat unless it barely misses the first two is the perfect way to add more skill expression to the special, flying in the face of the main weapon changes.
As an added bonus, this change is a well-deserved kick to the shins for Splattershot and Carbon Roller.
Triple Splashdown also paints more. Good for it. I'm glad that's the part of it that got buffed rather than something else.
My verdict is that this patch has a lot of bad main weapon changes, but a few good ones, and some very good special weapon changes. What I do find worrying is the fact that Nintendo seems intent on buffing short range weapons, which do not need buffs; I do not want them to get buffs. There is a silver lining, though, in the fact that they are at least trying to close the gap between the top and bottom tiers of weapon in the game.
I'm hoping that future patches follow in the footsteps of what this patch did well, and learn from its mistakes.
First of all, the spray shooter/Dapples range buffs. I don't like them. Same can be said for the vDualie bullet size buff, and the two buffs that N-ZAP got. Dualie and ZAP are already strong main weapons and if they need any form of buff, its to the PFS of their stronger kits. These main weapon buffs are nothing but unnecessary powercreep that probably won't even put a dent in their competitive viability.
Now, the range-buffed weapons. These changes are only slightly more acceptable since all four main weapons are relatively weak at fighting (with Sploosh and Dapple being more tuned for dives than fights), and the changes are very minimal at 3% increases. Shot's buff was definitely worse than these ones. That being said, I still think that these changes weren't really necessary and just make zoning out these weapons more difficult for more aim-intensive, skill-expressive weapons.
Nova's buff is basically not worth talking about. The weapon's mid-air RNG is not its problem. I would almost find this buff insulting if not for the fact that I still think the balance team doesn't know that Nova's grounded RNG doesn't work the way they originally advertised it.
Big Swig's buff is good. I personally would have preferred them buffing the power of its vertical flicks over their consistency, but that's more of a nitpick than an actual complaint. The weapon is officially in the camp of "only held back by the kits" with Mini and Heavy.
Speaking of which.
Mini and Heavy's main weapon buffs are both nice, but no Toxic Mist or Wave Breaker changes means that said buffs won't make much of an impact on how viable the weapons are. Vanilla Mini may be saved by the new Ultra Stamp buffs, though.
Painbrush was definitely addressed in the patch notes. I don't really like Painbrush or its buff, but I'll say I don't think it'll become any more annoying to fight than it already is, so good for it for becoming a little more powerful. Key word, powerful.
Recycled Brella's buff I almost find funny, because there is a very long list of buffs that could make Recycled Brella a stronger option, and better paint is near the very bottom. I have long wanted this change for Splat Brella, not Recycled. Now, the fact that they're buffing brellas' paint in any form is a good thing, but it happening to Recycled first is what's funny. I like the buff, but I can think of a number of other reasonable buffs that I would have liked better.
Snipewriter's nerf is expected and tolerable. I can safely say now that the weapon does not need any more changes (outside of its damage being reduced to 65 for the sake of round numbers). I don't think Snipewriter's nerf was super necessary considering it doesn't affect its matchups into other backlines and its Cooler output was already at a reasonable level (plus it's better designed than most of the other backlines its nerfing enables). Nonetheless, having Edit be the main option for Cooler isn't exactly a bad thing.
Decavitator's nerfs are significantly more interesting. The good news is that the weapon's dash melee attacks will be easier to counter. The bad news is that its giant hitbox remains untouched. I'll be frank, I don't like this.
I want to make something particularly clear here. The changes in this patch are particularly geared toward handling. Most of the buffs here make weapons easier to use; range buffs, attack hitboxes, strafe speed, jump RNG... Then you have Decav's nerf which targets its power rather than its handling, keeping the weapon's aim requirements generous.
It is my humbly correct opinion that the most difficult weapons should be the strongest in a competitive setting, and these changes alongside others in the past have made it so the top tier of weapons vary significantly in their difficulty, with the topmost tier containing both what is arguably the most difficult weapon in the game, Splatana Stamper, and what is arguably the least difficult weapon in the game, Splattershot. Making Jr., ZAP, and Dualie easier to use with these buffs is very far from a good thing.
That being said, I like the Ultra Stamp change.
Ultra Stamp is a bad special in every sense, being well on the weaker side of both power and design. It hinders a lot of weapons that have it as part of their kits, but its rush mode can't be buffed without making the weapon even more of an overtuned bulldozing nuisance than it already is. Buffing its thrown mode is the solution. The only critique I have of the change is the fact that the close stamp throw explosion deals 220 damage instead of something like 180 or 150 that can be parried with a squid roll.
Then you have Zooka, the worst special weapon to ever be a part of the game's meta. Zooka is inconsistent, able to gain value when it really shouldn't, and makes a lot of weapons I don't like viable in competitive play. I love the concept of making an AoE weapon's shots to kill reliant on the distance from the center of its explosion, and this is that. Zooka needing three shots to splat unless it barely misses the first two is the perfect way to add more skill expression to the special, flying in the face of the main weapon changes.
As an added bonus, this change is a well-deserved kick to the shins for Splattershot and Carbon Roller.
Triple Splashdown also paints more. Good for it. I'm glad that's the part of it that got buffed rather than something else.
My verdict is that this patch has a lot of bad main weapon changes, but a few good ones, and some very good special weapon changes. What I do find worrying is the fact that Nintendo seems intent on buffing short range weapons, which do not need buffs; I do not want them to get buffs. There is a silver lining, though, in the fact that they are at least trying to close the gap between the top and bottom tiers of weapon in the game.
I'm hoping that future patches follow in the footsteps of what this patch did well, and learn from its mistakes.