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Opening Gambit and Recon uses?

KannaMango93

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I don't want to knock Opening Gambit and Recon as useless abilities, but I've been having trouble finding the long-run usefulness of them. Opening Gambit is only useful for the first 30 seconds but my friends and I have found it not as useful since most Turf Wars are decided by the last 30 seconds of battle (and thus Last-Ditch Effort would shine more in this case), and Recon isn't in effect unless I'm at spawn or 3 seconds after I step off. I'm sure some of you out there like using these abilities and have been able to use them more effectively than how I described just now, so can you guys out there tell me how I can use these abilities more effectively?
 

Ansible

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Have yet to use either in a squad. Rarely in private battles. Mostly in solo queue.

Overall, Opening Gambit can be used to capture then lockdown the objective or central portion of a map. This can give your team a strong lead, bottleneck the other team as their movements are restricted, stall their momentum, and leave your opponents struggling uphill to gain the initiative from you. And if you're the type ro carry the Rainmaker, well you can gain a heavy lead and even end some matches in under 30 seconds.

Meanwhile Recon is useful for peeking and keeping tabs on what the other team or certain player types are up to, as well as figuring out where you or your special is needed, e.g. where is the sneaky carbon hiding, oh they're making a full squad push in this direction, I'll aim my Killer Wail down this lane instead of uselessly at the Splat Zone.

But that's just me.
 

Spiderface

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I mean....... I've never done this but if I played with a quad squad perhaps I'd see if everyone wanted to try stacking opening gambit in order to hopefully get a huge upper hand. I don't play turf unless I'm levelling up gear that's terrible for the current ranked mode.

But I don't really think either are particularly useful. In my opinion, abilities that work the entire match are more useful.
 

swamphox

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Depending on ones style of play comeback is better than opening gambit. Samething for less time but after each respawn
 

Dessgeega

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What Ansible said. Opening Gambit with a little run/swim speed and good tactics can end rainmaker matches before they start.

As for Recon, that shines in squads with voice chat. Outside of that, not worth it, but there's a distinct (if situational) benefit to having one guy on your team that can spy on the foe for you. Ultra777's idea is a good one, an E-liter with recon and quick super jump would be unconventional but potentially deadly in their ability to monitor the other team.
 

Green Waffles

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I'd be curious to see what would make it to middle first; an inkbrush or and opening gambit aeropray / some fast shooter.
 

Elecmaw

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Opening Gambit can be useful, if only for the 3x swim speed up. You need to make good use of that time however, because you're going to dash ahead of your team who likely won't have it equipped and you just end up looking like a fool if you end up getting shot by their charger before you can do anything.
Remember that the map is still unpained at this point, so the enemy team can see exactly where you're going by your inktrail. But so can you.

Recon is only useful if you have methods of communicating with your team, otherwise it's not that great. It really doesn't help that it uses the shirt slot which host a lot of other strong abilities.
 

Maave

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Opening Gambit can be useful, if only for the 3x swim speed up. You need to make good use of that time however, because you're going to dash ahead of your team who likely won't have it equipped and you just end up looking like a fool if you end up getting shot by their charger before you can do anything.
Remember that the map is still unpained at this point, so the enemy team can see exactly where you're going by your inktrail. But so can you.
Yeah getting ahead of your team is definitely an issue. I'm really fast on the initial start, usually ahead of my teammates. If I move too far ahead I get myself into a 1v2 against the quickest moving opponents instead of a 4v4 with the team. Best option is to ink your own side, not mid, so that when you're teammates arrive a couple seconds later they have ink to work in.
 

Ansible

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Yeah getting ahead of your team is definitely an issue. I'm really fast on the initial start, usually ahead of my teammates. If I move too far ahead I get myself into a 1v2 against the quickest moving opponents instead of a 4v4 with the team. Best option is to ink your own side, not mid, so that when you're teammates arrive a couple seconds later they have ink to work in.
Yep yep. And if you have any long range users on your team, you can quickly setup their perches for them, and maybe harass the perches of the enemy long rangers after that.
 

ThatOneGuy

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I'd say that Opening Gambit is probably the most useful in splatzones. As in that mode, you have to gain map control as fast as you possibly can, and if you win your opening gunfights with increased speed, you can just defend from there, which shouldn't be too hard. Other than that, it has limited use tbh.

But for Recon, I'd say it's got nothing if anything in solo queue. But, it can be used in a competitive callout team rather effectively. Pointing out the locations of the enemy rather effectively. A good strategy for this would probably be recon+quick respawn on a luna. It's a very offensive luna that goes for trades, and helps reveal enemy locations every time the luna trades.
 

KannaMango93

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Are there any specific weapons that work best with these abilities? Like high-fire rate weapons like the Aerosprays? Or long-range shooters like the Squelchers?
 

Dessgeega

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Are there any specific weapons that work best with these abilities? Like high-fire rate weapons like the Aerosprays? Or long-range shooters like the Squelchers?
Considering a guy I know has successfully, and repeatedly, used Opening Gambit to slam dunk in Rainmaker with the Hydra, I'd have to say no. It comes down more to you and your playstyle.
 

Elecmaw

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Are there any specific weapons that work best with these abilities? Like high-fire rate weapons like the Aerosprays? Or long-range shooters like the Squelchers?
Heavies, Dual Squelchers and Bamboozlers work the best with the 3x Run Speed Up it provides, but you're better off just picking Run Speed Up for consistency. The only thing I'd consider truly useful with OG would be the Beakon sub, but that sub is rare enough as is.
 

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