New to Splat2 and Somewhat Confused

[Jayy]

Little background:

I am an avid Overwatch player. With that being said I realize the necessity of coordination with the other members of a team and understand that I am a cog in the 6 man machine or, in the case of Splatoon, a 4 man machine. Though I never played the OG Splat I grasped quickly (at least in Turf War so far) the importance of splatting ground over player splats (not completely unlike playing the objective in OW as opposed to chasing the buzzing Tracer). I do also realize there is strategy in splatting opponents as well- obviously.

So, after fiddling around with going from sticks to motion controls and sensitivity, and then figuring out what gun I seem to do well with and enjoy, and then learning the stage followed by becoming increasingly more aware of whats going on around me and how everything is affecting my objective, I am becoming more confident in my ability to be a contributing member of my team.

I flank, I splat, I buzz around filling in gaps, I put on pressure, I retreat when necessary but continue to spread ink and keep an eye on the enemy and their ink, and try to pop in to help weak areas of the map/teammates in trouble, etc. Basically, I feel I'm capable of contribution and not being dead weight. HOWEVER- and here is the age old dilemma- I feel my teammates are regularly not of like mind when trying to win or realizing what is needed to win.

I haven't had the game too long and after reading many posts on the matter, I started stepping back and looking at my own play. I am consistently if not every game in 1st or second on my team in terms of points. never under 800p, and most often at 1000p. Is it me?

So when I get on losing streaks and my points are consistent across the board, is there anything else but to blame my team? I hate to do that to be honest. I don't really get frustrated for a loss because I know that I'm doing well when I look at my stats and how I felt playing the round. Im not an idiot and I learn from my mistakes in this game. I know weapon comp can make a huge difference as can player rank and familiarity with the game but is there really no way to beat these losing streaks and turn the tide of my ratio?

Ill have 5 game winning streaks MAX but it seems like the game realizes Im doing well only to end that streak on the 6th game and ill get crushed despite, again, doing well for my team. And then the losing streak cometh.

I don't want this thread to sound like complaining because if I am just as at fault despite my stats Id really like to be able to fix it to increase my win chance and consistence and overall fun. Constructive criticism is welcome.

 

[.Chocolate]

I mean like.... there is this thing called ELO. (google it, good read) I don't know how it is implemented in the game but that may explain what you say.

 

[BBGrenorange]

If everything you've said is true, you sir are a model player.

There are only 2 things that I can think of that'll maybe help:

1. Which weapon are you using?

2. Play ranked instead of turf. If you're as good as you say you are, then there'll be a little slog through the lower ranks, but you'll make it to thi higher ones in no time, and you'll hopefully encounter better players.

 

[Padre]

Teamplay in turf is random. Play ranked if you enjoy competitive aspect. I know, it sucks.

 

[Dessgeega]

I'm gonna be contrary to the people above and say that ranked/league isn't any better than turf in this regard. Stupid players abound in all modes, the exact flavor of stupid is all that changes. Now, if we're talking turf, there's a few things to consider.

1. How often do your allies die? Losing 2 to 3 people in the last 30 seconds of turf loses matches. There's only so much you can do to compensate for their performance, but supporting allies in fights and makes situations uneven in your favor can turn the tide.
2. Points don't matter. How much you ink is less important than WHERE you ink. A player can get 1400 points and still lose because all they did is re-paint the same areas over and over. Cover as much as you can of areas the enemy can't get to, fire over walls for a few extra points, and if all the enemy is one way, go the other way and paint like mad, particularly in the last 30 seconds.
3. Murder. To the lament of many casual players out there, turf war is as combat-focused as any other mode these days. Work on getting better at taking out foes and pressuring them to retreat without conceding ground yourself. Splats aren't the objective, but every opponent dead hurts their painting power for 8.5 seconds which is an eternity in this game.

Yes, there's a lot of bad players out there that make poor decisions, this is fact, but a skilled player can compensate for them. You're gonna have to learn how to carry in all modes to some degree in order to get far in this game. I'm a support player and there's plenty of times where I have the most kills on the team because going aggro is what it took to win. I hope that helps.

 

[Jayy]

Thanks for all the replies.

As for my weapon I started with the OG splattershot for its range and inking capabilities. However I switched to the Aerospray for further inking since the splats matter much less to me, especially when it felt like a lot of the time my teammates weren't pulling their weight in the ink department.

Dessgeega you make a good point about where to ink over how much and I will keep that in mind. But In my limited experience I simply feel I must ink where I can to make up for my teammates inability to keep up with it while they chase splats or get themselves splatted.

I have yet to play ranked because I was using TW as a testing ground to see if I felt ready for ranked. I guess since I am having this problem I felt like I would have no place in ranked if I am even dealing with these issues in TW but if what you say is true, the problems will follow me to any mode.

I feel like a lot of me getting splatted comes as a result of trying to pressure the other team while my team gets splatted constantly. Im not saying I don't get splatted, but it feels more and more likely that I will if my team is either A. Nowhere near to help out or B. Incapable of standing their ground before getting splatted, which then puts the focus on me. I mean I won't rush headlong into the opposing team, Im going to be smart about my approach, but I can only attempt that if I feel like my team can support, and thats where I feel like I get let down a lot.

Damn I feel like I'm complaining a lot.

 

[Dessgeega]

As for my weapon I started with the OG splattershot for its range and inking capabilities. However I switched to the Aerospray for further inking since the splats matter much less to me, especially when it felt like a lot of the time my teammates weren't pulling their weight in the ink department.

This is a common newbie trap you've fallen into here. The Splattershot is the #1 weapon in this game due to how perfectly balanced it is. It's viable on every map in every mode. The Aerospray, on the other hand, has little to offer beyond painting. Almost any other weapon will beat it in a straight fight. The Aerospray tempts new players due to it's great fire rate, but it's pretty dead in higher level play.

Splats are important and you should always seek opportunities to splat foes, because leaving them alive means they're always covering ground. I'd recommend switching back to the Splattershot or the Jr., which ironically does a better job at painting than the Aerospray these days. Alternatively, try other weapons.

 

[Sifu]

If you can't stay alive without relying on your team, that's a problem. Keep an eye on the map, and don't be afraid to kill. They can't splat you if you've already splatted them.

Speaking of which, just because you have the most points doesn't mean you are the most valuable player. You might have teammates who are doing a slightly worse job painting the map, but are absolutely rocking at keeping the enemy team from painting up. That's just as important to secure victory, in turf and ranked.

 

[Jayy]

I will definitely reconsider weapon choice.

But i think perhaps I’m not interpreting the ending scoreboard wth the right mentality, from what you guys are saying.

Idk it seems weird with this game for me attempting to figure out where we went wrong in a loss a lot of the time.

Overwatch it’s easy. There’s a payload, you stand by it to victory. If you didn’t it’s obvious as to why. Capture point, you stay on the capture point to victory. Turf war I feel like I’m wracking my brain figuring out who did what wrong, what we should have done differently individually and as a group, and what player had what impact based on their turf inked/splats.

Granted this is all simply in turf war. So I think it’s time I venture into other game modes. I just wish they weren’t locked behind ranked. I don’t like the added pressures of a “ranked mode,” even though I could simply try to ignore the rank itself.

 

[Jayy]

I appreciate all the replies too. It’s been helpful not to hear “git gud” even if it’s implied between the lines of replies :P

 

[※Zachary]

@Jayy Unfortunately being paired with low skilled players made me good. I no longer rely on my team, I play with S+ 50 skill level, I average about 21+ splats. The lack of a team made me angry at first, but now I see it's very good. I can rank run from C- to B- to A- to A+ in less than an hour.

S+ is easy to me. My competitive team and I wipe other S+'s by knockout every time. In fact so many other S+'s average around 6 to 10 splats.

As for your case with the ELO and pairs with trash teams, I completely understand. I happens to us all. However, I know this, you will rise in the ranks and crush these children. You will go from 6 wins in a row to 17.

Best of luck my fellow squid, and Stay Fresh!

 

[Jayy]

@Jayy Unfortunately being paired with low skilled players made me good. I no longer rely on my team, I play with S+ 50 skill level, I average about 21+ splats. The lack of a team made me angry at first, but now I see it's very good. I can rank run from C- to B- to A- to A+ in less than an hour.

S+ is easy to me. My competitive team and I wipe other S+'s by knockout every time. In fact so many other S+'s average around 6 to 10 splats.

As for your case with the ELO and pairs with trash teams, I completely understand. I happens to us all. However, I know this, you will rise in the ranks and crush these children. You will go from 6 wins in a row to 17.

Best of luck my fellow squid, and Stay Fresh!

You sound like a god among squids. How long you been playing?

If you don't rely on your team what exactly is your method of approach to matches then if you are going at it solo?

I can't for the life of me figure out how I would up my win streaks if I am still 1 of 4 members all struggling to stay alive.

 

[Sifu]

The best rule of thumb for solo queue is to not trust your teammates. Assume that they are off doing whatever they aren't supposed to be doing, and focus on the objective as much as you can. That can mean different things for different weapons. Some weapons, I'll sit on the tower, and drive it as far as I can. Other weapons are better served by swimming near the tower, and focusing on killing anybody who gets near. But even then, I often find myself on top of the tower, just because I know I can't rely on my teammates to keep the tower moving.

For turf, if you can't rely on your allies staying alive, splatting the enemy helps protect your allies too. Turf valuable area, and always be one step ahead of the other team.

 

[Blackcurrant42]

Also consider many people don't take turf war seriously and just play for fun or to level up. I am S+ all modes and play turf war often but I don't play competitively like ranked, although I mostly have victories and good match stats. I have fun with friends or try out new weapons etc.

 

[Jayy]

Maybe another of my issues then is assuming successful teams stay together. And this could be a remnant of playing OW where pushes and defensive wins take grouping up and playing your class off of your teammates class.

Starting to look like in this game grouping is not the answer? At least in TW? Though I’m sure it’s further complicated by team weapon comp, no?

If that’s the case why do I feel like when I get splatted and my teammates are nowhere to be found, I’m being double or triple teamed, where seemingly it was a 1v1 only to be splat by crossfire from opposition I didn’t even know was with the other guy. Yet when I attempt that on my team I’m the only one in the area (not always but noticeably).

It definitely sounds like I’m running straight to the enemy but i assure I am not. It’s typically at key points on the stage where we need to reclaim it or risk getting pushed back, or surrounded.

 

[Dessgeega]

One way to describe Splatoon is that you are on a team of individuals. Any single player can kill the whole enemy team or push the objective, but teamwork is still valued. You generally don't want to cluster or hang too close to allies to prevent multi-kills, but being nearby enough to double or triple team enemies as you've encountered can turn the tide.

 

[Hero of Lime]

Tons of good advice here from other members. I can only add on to say that win streaks in turf war are very rare, even for experienced players. Like someone mentioned, the last 30 seconds of a turf match can easily determine who wins. You could have inked 1500 points, and gotten 15 splats in that match, but if your team wipes and the enemies have some decent turfing weapons, they can bring it back.

Constantly check the line of squids at the top and play accordingly. If your team is in danger (noted by the little flashing danger icon) don't try to 1v2 enemies in a desperate attempt to bring the match back. That's when you should see who on your team is around and try to help them push through the likely swarming enemies. Likewise, if the enemy team is in danger, and there's a minute left, don't assume you've won. Even losing half of your team at that point can result in a comeback by the other team.

Adding onto this, sometimes you get dealt a bad hand by the game. Maybe a teammate DC'd from the match, making a near unwinnable 3v4. Maybe the matchmaker gave you a really bad team weapon composition, or put all the really good players on the other team. The randomness in turf war is endearing, but sometimes it feels like you got lucky or unlucky based on how the game played out. So I would not stress about loss streaks in turf too much, unless you feel you really are the problem, which as your play style suggests, you seem to have a good grasp on the game already.

 

[Squidilicious]

You've gotten a lot of good advice already...I second the suggestion you try ranked once you get a handle on the game because it's much more fun IMO and you do overall get better teammates once you reach the highest ranks even if there are some bad teammates in ranked as well...also change your weapon...the aerospray sucks...if you want something easy use the nzap or the splattershot.

But i wanted to add something different which is that you dont have all the info about what your teammates are doing or facing in the heat of a battle....so it can feel like why am I the only person who is holding down mid when you dont realize that the enemy slipped into your base and is spawn camping your teammates or something...or if you look over and see your teammates dying in a firefight and think geez I cant believe he couldn't stand his ground...there may have been a second person shooting at him that you couldnt see or he may have had splash damage from nearby tenta missiles or whatever that put him at a disadvantage before the fight started - granted if this were the cash he should have retreated buf maybe he couldn't...which prob means he overextended - but the point is that it's a very well documented psychological phenomena that we overestimate the importance and difficulty of what we're doing (and our own ability) and underestimate the same regarding other people (I'm sure you have observed this in overwatch when some DPS who has few elims and is barely having an effect on the game calls out someone else as playing poorly). The reason seems to be that since we arent looking from their perspective we don't have all the info about what they're dealing with. By the way pretty much everyone does this, so I'm not being critical of you....I and I'm sure everyone on here has blamed bad teammates many times. But there's not much point to it since unless you do league with friends you're going to get random teammates and ofc the only thing you can control is you.

The above doesnt mean that there are never bad teammates by the way....just that less of them may bd bad than you realize. Plus remember the opponents are drawn from the same pool. Also think of it this way....assume you are not the worst person of the 8 in any of your TW matches...this means that you have a lower likelihood (3/7) of getting the worst person on your team than the other team does (4/7).

However at the same time thee streaks you speak of are very real. It may be that Nintendo's MMR is overly responsive to streaks (or even just overly responsive) such that it adjusts your MMR too heavily for a streak or a win (above where it should be) putting you on a path for several losses. As a side note I question whether streaks should even effect MMR at all since by random chance with millions of people playing there WILL be streaks tbat have nothing to do with skill and it seems stupid to give extra MMR for a randomly occurring event.

 

[※Zachary]

You sound like a god among squids. How long you been playing?

If you don't rely on your team what exactly is your method of approach to matches then if you are going at it solo?

I can't for the life of me figure out how I would up my win streaks if I am still 1 of 4 members all struggling to stay alive.

I've been playing since Splatoon 1. And while I do have an insane skill set, I am not super well know because my YouTube channel just recently started.

As for my method of approach, I rely on myself. My team can be off doing whatever, so I rely on splats. Because of this I rely mainly on the N-ZAP 85 and it's ink armor to give me that extra splatting push with out getting splatted myself. I also use the Suction Bombs to my advantage by throwing one at the beginning of a match to to start getting my special ready. I use a mix of special charge up and swim speed on my gear.

As for figuring out how to stay alive, you might want a weapon with long range. (Splatter shot pro) Or a weapon with a decent range and ink armor. (.52 GAL)

Best of luck my fellow squid! Stay fresh!

 

[Jayy]

Great advice people I appreciate it.

Turns out the swap out of aerospray has been a huge benefit. Went to the splattershot for it’s range and pretty accessible kit. Tho I gatta say I miss the curling bomb launcher :/ I would really like to try the nzap and it’s ink armour.

Also I began trying to expand my view a bit by surveying more. I had to consciously pull back from tunnel vision. That has made a world of difference in figuring out where I think I should be and where I’m being a benefit to my team rather than scrambling for points and assuming that that is my deciding factor in contribution.

Anyone else feel relief after a frustrating game by just reading forum advice? I do haha.