Personal opinions on buffs/nerfs that should happen

[Karonax]

as in the randoms you get paired up with online that you usually suck and usually gravitate towards easy weapons in order to compete. They're in almost every online shooter..

I generally hate online competitive games, this is the first one I've ever played and taken seriously.

 

[Teshie U]

Opening Gambit/Last Ditch Effort could use some tweaking. They are cool ideas, but aren't very reliable and not particularly viable when they are active anyway. LDE is nice to throw on for Splatfest, but in ranked mode, it obviously doesn't come into play when knockouts are possible. Would be nice if they made it activate when you the enemy is 75% of the way to victory in any mode instead. It might actually come in handy when you are pushed back to your spawn in Rainmaker and Tower Control.

As for OG, I feel like it needs to be a stronger buff so you can truly feel powerful when the match opens. Unless you are playing Rainmaker on BlackBelly matches simply don't end in 30 seconds. You only move a little faster than someone using the same slot for increased swim speed. I'd like to see this ability become high risk/high reward. When a match starts, the enemy team can see your headgear and know if you have this ability. I want it to be relevant enough that people think "Oh snap, he has opening gambit, we need to be careful the first encounter". Because its obviously a very big tradeoff to run this, get turtled and then have a main perk slot wasted when you could have had a decent buff all game. I honestly wouldn't mind this perk being a bit of a menace in the early game because it becomes a complete dud during the most important parts of a match. I wanna see reduced respawn time, sub weapon cost down enough to throw two bombs at once, increase damage and defense. It really needs to feel like an all in, as you take the risk of being disadvantaged for the other 90% of the match.

Recon : Make this work this beacons or let use mark people with our map for our teammates. This ability is almost completely useless without voice chat. You can see where everyone is, but unless they are in you base, you are way too far away to make use of this intel. Your team also won't benefit much from knowing vague enemy locations while fighting 3v4 while you stare at your gamepad the whole time. If we eventually get a TDM or CTF mode, it might be useful, but Turf War is the only gametype that currently gives any real reason to just hang out in your base.

Just want to throw something out there about perks people are calling useless/overpowered.

Bomb Sniffer:
I think this ability works well at keeping you aware of smart bomb play. Sure it doesn't help against someone that throws a bomb directly at you (basic bomb use). However, it warns of good ink mine placement which could disrupt your convoy in rainmaker or tower control. It warns of trick shots with splat bombs where they are rolled over walls and around corners to explode with little/no warning. It warns of suction bombs placed around corners. I wouldn't mind it being expanded to show players aiming bombs as well, but its a fine ability that is unfortunately competing with Ink Resistance and Stealth Jump.

Haunt:
As someone that likes to operate like a quick and sneaky assassin in the enemy base, disrupting reinforcements and inking all over so they wonder where I went, this ability definitely gets in the way of my covert operations. I think its a fine ability for a sniper as they are most often splatted by flankers and T-Shirt abilities aren't really top tier like Tenacity and Ink Resistance anyway. Snipers also don't need cold blooded because its pretty obvious where they are hanging out anyway.

Cold Blooded:
This is a main ability (sure its a T-shirt one, but still) with a very specific focus. If the enemy team isn't relying on point sensors or echolocator, you just wasted a spot that could have been a hefty bonus in mobility, efficiency or special usage. On larger maps where flanking can take more than a couple of seconds, being marked for a couple of seconds will still reveal the angle of attack you were planning. It certainly doesn't counter echolocator any more than Ninja Squid/Swim Speed Up counter Kraken or Splash wall counters inkzooka. Echolocator is the only special that automatically affects the entire enemy team. Its basically impossible to throw this out at the wrong time, aim it improperly or get no use out of it, One player partially protecting himself doesn't stop his team from being hunted down while he hides.

Comeback:
Far more viable than Opening Gambit. 20 seconds may seem short, but if you have beacons or you get splatted during an offensive push or on defense, you can be back in the fight and make great use of your buffs consistently. If you are a defensive player, more likely to retreat when things get risky, Tenacity would be your headgear as you benefit when your squadmates die first, but if you are offensive minded and willing to risk yourself first, comeback is the headgear to run in my opinion.


All in all, I think the abilities mostly do a good job at what they promise. Naturally the things with a strong effect and a broad scope of situations covered are more relied on,, but I don't think the niche abilities are somehow underpowered because of it.

 

[WesFX]

As many have said, Ink Mines seem in need of some changing. Remote detonation is -not- the right change to make, as it gives you the potential for a one hit splat at infinite range. Though it might promote Bomb Sniffer use ;)

As far as the Dynamo, I haven't unlocked it so I don't have it to test, but I feel like the nerf that needs to be made is its coverage from a fling. This would effect how reliable it would be to lock down a distant opponent in your ink for further flings, locking down turf in Splat Zones from a camp spot, and filling Specials. I had to look this up, but I can't believe one of the Dynamo's comes with a Sprinkler and Echolocator
I may just go unlock these things tomorrow....

 

[Shirma Akayaku]

Opening Gambit: A useless ability in my eyes. Unfortunately, its effects aren't that strong and it's not very rewarding for 30 seconds. I'd like to see it buffed, but there's an issue -- Run Speed Up and Swim Speed Up is actually programmed to cap out (like Attack / Defense Up). So the only way it could be buffed is if the time was extended to 1 whole minute instead of 30 seconds. It would actually be much more viable.

Last Ditch Effort: Same as Opening Gambit, except that Ink Recovery Rate and weapon ink efficiency doesn't cap. Since it doesn't cap, it could just have more ink recovery and efficiency, but it could also be extended to 1 minute instead.

Comeback: There's nothing wrong with this ability, but when you compare it to Opening Gambit and Last Ditch Effort, it's like both of those combined, but much better because it can activate multiple times throughout a match. If OG and LDE (abilities I mentioned up top) got extended to one minute, then those two would work very well together and can compete with Comeback.

Bomb Sniffer: It's a great ability, but when compared to Ink Resistance Up and Stealth Jump, it's probably the weakest of the three. I think this was mentioned in the OP, but if you took less damage from bombs with this ability, it would be top notch. To explain a little further, I think being right next to a timed bomb would still kill in one hit, but if your outside of the one-hit kill range, that's where you'd take less damage. --- Maybe to make it easier to program, the blast radius could be smaller for those only with Bomb Sniffer, thus giving the appearance of less damage.

Haunt: It has niche use to me. When doing Turf War, if you get killed by someone, they are very likely to be killed within a few seconds because a teammate would be nearby. This seems that Haunt is doing it's role, but is it? In reality, no. When I compare how likely someone else is to die after they've killed me, it takes about the same amount of time with or without Haunt... So Haunt is virtually useless in that scenario. Now, the only time it's beneficial is when you're on a large map, or in other ranked modes (Splat Zones & Tower Control mainly). I still think this ability could be buffed, but I'm not sure how... Maybe if the person who killed you is right next to their teammate, Haunt will affect them as well? Or maybe if two people work together to kill you (i.e both shooting at you), they both get haunted? I don't know, but it needs a buff.

Ink Saver (Sub): I thought this ability was great, until I used Ink Recovery in its place. Ink Recovery is so much better than this ability when it comes to using multiple subs, but why? Ink Saver (Sub) just doesn't save enough ink. Its been said that Ink Saver (Sub) decreases ink usage of your sub weapon up to 75% of its normal usage, but I'm very skeptical of this being true. To me, it's more like 25% of ink usage is being decreased and not 75%. I think this ability needs to be buffed in how much it decreases ink usage (i.e more percent).

Run Speed Up: For squids sake, please remove the cap on this ability. Swim Speed Up is programmed to cap like Attack Up / Defense Up, and it's slightly understandable, but I don't see the need to cap Run Speed Up when swimming in ink is a better tool to get around.

Special Duration Up: An ability that gets over-shadowed by its counterpart, Special Charge Up. After Special Charge Up got fixed via patch (it's always consistent when charging), Special Duration Up is left to crumble in the dust. This ability isn't that beneficial because the majority of specials, at most, last under 1 second longer with this ability. People may say that every second counts, especially in a shooter type game, but this ability doesn't even last more than 1 second, it barely reaches it. The main special that benefits from this is Echolocator, going from 12 to 14 seconds. Ink Strike and Killer Wail setup times also go up from 10 to 12 seconds, but that much time isn't usually needed in most scenarios. As for the other specials, well... you can forget about those since they practically don't benefit from this ability. In the end, this ability should be buffed, adding at least 3 seconds or more to those specials not mentioned.

 

[knubie]

Burst bombs could use a buff in terms of area of effect and splash damage. Sometimes it takes 4-5 hits or more to splat someone.
Rollers need to not be able to one-hit splat when you are perpendicular to them.
Bubbler / Kraken should not be poppable on reaction. Make them take a half second or so before they activate. Currently most people use them as a get out of jail free card.
Ink resistance up should go back to they way it was before, and enemy ink in general should not be as crippling as it is, something along the lines of how IRU is now.

All abilities in general should be buffed to make for more interesting combination and play styles, or at least have a separate mode where abilities are more dramatic. I'm thinking MMO style classes like tanks with defense up, etc.

 

[Elecmaw]

I'm going to make a indirect reply to some of these posts:

: Neither of these are really bad, if you ask me. Opening Gambit is fine (especially in Rainmaker/Tower Control and some of the maps with bottlenecks like Triggerfish), giving you a head start allowing you to intercept or slip past the opposing team. Last-Ditch is not very good in ranked where Comeback is far more desirable. (And yeah, i've warmed up to comeback)

: It might still be not very good but that's mostly CB's fault. Not everyone plays in squads so for those who don't play with voice-chat this will do, in theory.

: Same reasons with haunt. When i think about it it's way better than stealth jump since you can see if there are any hostiles in the area before jumping from spawn and you don't jump slower for it. I don't entirely consider it bad but again, CB.

: Some people consider this one useless and i honestly don't know why. If you have a N-Zap you'll practically zip around the place making you that much harder to hit. Less mobile shooters (Or stuff like blasters which rely on jump and shoot) will get much less mileage out of it, though. It's also useful for stages with lots of walkways(Kelp Dome). It really depends on the weapon you'll pick if this is going to be useful or not.

 

[LMG]

: Some people consider this one useless and i honestly don't know why. If you have a N-Zap you'll practically zip around the place making you that much harder to hit. Less mobile shooters (Or stuff like blasters which rely on jump and shoot) will get much less mileage out of it, though. It's also useful for stages with lots of walkways(Kelp Dome). It really depends on the weapon you'll pick if this is going to be useful or not.

I'd say it's mostly since people prefer swimming over running. However, it does help some weapons, like the Heavy Splatling and the L-3 Nozzlenose (maybe the Squiffer too?)

 

[SquiliamTentacles]

As with weapons, I think there needs to be more buffs than nerfs.

Give Sploosh-O-Matic better fire rate and ink efficiency to compensate for poor range.

Rapid Blaster deserves slightly more power across the board, it's kill power is too low.

Squiffer deserves more mobility while charging, as it fights in the heat of combat.

Brushes don't need much, but would like more speed or ink efficiency when "rolling"

Only weapon I would nerf is the Dynamo, by slightly reducing it's kill range. Tenatek is fine, Inkzooka was nerfed and I personally find it slightly overrated.

I'd say it's mostly since people prefer swimming over running. However, it does help some weapons, like the Heavy Splatling and the L-3 Nozzlenose (maybe the Squiffer too?)

I think part of it is I heard (not 100% sure if it is true) that if a weapon is being shot, it does not gain any speed boosts. Since running on your own ink is pointless when you can just swim for more speed and recharge, it would only serve purpose on glass and grate surfaces, or on some weapons like the Nozzlenoze, which can alternate from firing to standard running efficiently.

 

[MrL1193]

I think part of it is I heard (not 100% sure if it is true) that if a weapon is being shot, it does not gain any speed boosts. Since running on your own ink is pointless when you can just swim for more speed and recharge, it would only serve purpose on glass and grate surfaces, or on some weapons like the Nozzlenoze, which can alternate from firing to standard running efficiently.

That idea most likely stems from a misunderstanding. While it is true that Run Speed Up does not allow you to move faster while holding a roller or brush to the ground, it does speed you up while you're firing other types of weapons. The reason it's most commonly used with the Nozzlenose is simply that the Nozzlenose's semi-automatic nature means that you spend less time in the slower firing stance, so you can use Run Speed Up to further augment its high strafing speed.

 

[Bolt]

In my opinion, the Killer Wail really needs a buff. It's easily avoidable and is almost useless in a game mode that isn't Tower Control. Sure, it has it's moments in splat zones, but it's a "meh" at best. Just increasing the duration or or range wouldn't really fix this, so I suggest we make it so opponent's shots won't be able to go through the beam of the Killer Wail, kind of like the splash wall. It doesn't need to spread ink, it just needs to prevent opponents from doing so. This way, you also wouldn't be able to get splatted while in the beam (if you are on the team of the Wail user, of course)/

 

[Elecmaw]

In my opinion, the Killer Wail really needs a buff. It's easily avoidable and is almost useless in a game mode that isn't Tower Control. Sure, it has it's moments in splat zones, but it's a "meh" at best. Just increasing the duration or or range wouldn't really fix this, so I suggest we make it so opponent's shots won't be able to go through the beam of the Killer Wail, kind of like the splash wall. It doesn't need to spread ink, it just needs to prevent opponents from doing so. This way, you also wouldn't be able to get splatted while in the beam (if you are on the team of the Wail user, of course)/

Recently it got buffed, however- It now takes 160 points to fully charge making it more spam-happy and an easy ink refill. It's less based about splatting foes and more about getting the enemy to move somewhere else. There's a reason why the inkzooka now takes 220 to charge.
I still think Special Duration Up needs to affect it by just having it active for slightly longer. I can understand why it doesn't affect Inkstrike, but Wail doesn't make much sense to me.

 

[Bolt]

Recently it got buffed, however- It now takes 160 points to fully charge making it more spam-happy and an easy ink refill. It's less based about splatting foes and more about getting the enemy to move somewhere else. There's a reason why the inkzooka now takes 220 to charge.
I still think Special Duration Up needs to affect it by just having it active for slightly longer. I can understand why it doesn't affect Inkstrike, but Wail doesn't make much sense to me.

Wait it doesn't affect the Wail? That's, very weird! I did not know that!

 

[TacoOfDestruction]

I think the haunt ability should be changed so when you get killed the enemy gets the effect of the disruptor, maybe not as long as the disruptor though, because then it would become over powered.

 

[Misery]

Okay, as for the attack/defense up abilities: How do these even work? So far, from what I've seen of these.... they dont do all that much. Either you're being blasted with the force of a thousand stars with a one-hit-obliterate weapon, or you're being hit a billion times per second with something that hits not hard at all per shot but sprays tons of them. Either way, the time taken to kill/die never seems different, at least not to my perception. Hell, what I've heard in explanation videos (that go into great detail about all of the different gear abilities, including what happens when many of the same is used at once) is that the math used in these basically means that the attack one does one, and ONLY one, thing: counters the defense up. According to these, against a target not using defense-up, it has no effect at all on the number of hits to kill. Defense-up, though, just doesnt seem to do much at all. I've always avoided these, after messing them around for awhile and getting that impression of them.

So, are they worth using at all? If so, why? What might I be missing?

I'll point out that math isnt exactly my strong point here... ask me to add/subtract, and I can do it, slowly. Ask me to multiply, and I'll do it VERY slowly, and probably make mistakes. Ask me to divide, and you'll get a blank stare. Anything beyond that and I'll just throw a chair at you. Far as I'm concerned, that's what computers and such are for, to do the calculating FOR me. So I aint good at understanding stuff like this without a very detailed explanation that preferrably doesnt throw a bazillion complicated numbers at me.

 

[Agosta44]

Only weapon I would nerf is the Dynamo, by slightly reducing it's kill range. Tenatek is fine, Inkzooka was nerfed and I personally find it slightly overrated.

Even if they reduced its effective range you would never notice because highly skilled Dynamos would still kill you. You're not being killed because it has a high kill range. You're being killed because they're making smart use of Splatoon's movement mechanics.

 

[LMG]

Okay, as for the attack/defense up abilities: How do these even work? So far, from what I've seen of these.... they dont do all that much. Either you're being blasted with the force of a thousand stars with a one-hit-obliterate weapon, or you're being hit a billion times per second with something that hits not hard at all per shot but sprays tons of them. Either way, the time taken to kill/die never seems different, at least not to my perception. Hell, what I've heard in explanation videos (that go into great detail about all of the different gear abilities, including what happens when many of the same is used at once) is that the math used in these basically means that the attack one does one, and ONLY one, thing: counters the defense up. According to these, against a target not using defense-up, it has no effect at all on the number of hits to kill. Defense-up, though, just doesnt seem to do much at all. I've always avoided these, after messing them around for awhile and getting that impression of them.

So, are they worth using at all? If so, why? What might I be missing?

It mostly depends on the weapon you're using. Basically, Damage Ups will never make a gun splat faster, but it will keep certain weapons from splatting slower against enemies with Damage Ups (like the .52 Gal, the Splattershot and, to a lesser degree, the Splash-o-matic). Aside of those weapons, it can help make Blaster explosions more deadly (often increasing the odds of splatting in two undirect hits around corners and the like) as well as making sub weapons hit harder.

Another thing to note is that some weapons that require 4 shots to splat cap at 33.3 damage, so with 3 shots it'll deal 99.9 damage. If at any point during the struggle the enemy takes at least 0.1 damage from any other source (standing on hostile ink, random bomb, etc.) then your weapon will require one less shot to splat them

 

[Misery]

It mostly depends on the weapon you're using. Basically, Damage Ups will never make a gun splat faster, but it will keep certain weapons from splatting slower against enemies with Damage Ups (like the .52 Gal, the Splattershot and, to a lesser degree, the Splash-o-matic). Aside of those weapons, it can help make Blaster explosions more deadly (often increasing the odds of splatting in two undirect hits around corners and the like) as well as making sub weapons hit harder.

Another thing to note is that some weapons that require 4 shots to splat cap at 33.3 damage, so with 3 shots it'll deal 99.9 damage. If at any point during the struggle the enemy takes at least 0.1 damage from any other source (standing on hostile ink, random bomb, etc.) then your weapon will require one less shot to splat them

If I'm understanding that right, which I may not be.... it doesnt actually sound like these are useful whatsoever. Fortunately most of the gear I currently have (which isnt all that much yet) doesnt really have these things right now (though a few of them certainly do), so that works out well enough.

 

[Elecmaw]

Okay, as for the attack/defense up abilities: How do these even work? So far, from what I've seen of these.... they dont do all that much. Either you're being blasted with the force of a thousand stars with a one-hit-obliterate weapon, or you're being hit a billion times per second with something that hits not hard at all per shot but sprays tons of them. Either way, the time taken to kill/die never seems different, at least not to my perception. Hell, what I've heard in explanation videos (that go into great detail about all of the different gear abilities, including what happens when many of the same is used at once) is that the math used in these basically means that the attack one does one, and ONLY one, thing: counters the defense up. According to these, against a target not using defense-up, it has no effect at all on the number of hits to kill. Defense-up, though, just doesnt seem to do much at all. I've always avoided these, after messing them around for awhile and getting that impression of them.

So, are they worth using at all? If so, why? What might I be missing?

I'll point out that math isnt exactly my strong point here... ask me to add/subtract, and I can do it, slowly. Ask me to multiply, and I'll do it VERY slowly, and probably make mistakes. Ask me to divide, and you'll get a blank stare. Anything beyond that and I'll just throw a chair at you. Far as I'm concerned, that's what computers and such are for, to do the calculating FOR me. So I aint good at understanding stuff like this without a very detailed explanation that preferrably doesnt throw a bazillion complicated numbers at me.

While Damage-Up doesn't decrease the number of hits to splat in most cases, it does however make chargers have to charge less for an uncharged shot to splat someone(Most notably used by E-Liter users). Additionally, Blaster's OHK radius is also increased slightly by the damage-up. If you stack 3 damage mains and 2 damage subs, uncharged charger shots will splat someone in 2 hits instead of 3.

Defense-Up can increase the amounts of hits it takes to get splatted, the .52 Gal notably will now take 3 shots instead of 2 shots with one main defense up. While it doesn't give a huge difference, keep in mind it's not often to be at absolute full health in combat.

 

[TheMH]

Don't forget about max range damage, too. Damage Up increases these values. For example the .96 gal deals something around 30 damage at max range or with dropping ink shots. With Damage Up you can increase it over 33.3 to make it 3-shot instead of 4-shot.

Defense Up counters Damage Up an can give you an edge to survive 1on1 battles which would have been trades without the buff. It's less valuable than Damage Up, though, imo.

 

[SquiliamTentacles]

Even if they reduced its effective range you would never notice because highly skilled Dynamos would still kill you. You're not being killed because it has a high kill range. You're being killed because they're making smart use of Splatoon's movement mechanics.

Oh, I understand. The nerf is less trying to make Dynamo's weaker, but harder to use. Unskilled dynamo rollers often sit at one spot flinging ink everywhere, but a worse splat range would make this strategy foolish. Skilled players are already taking advantage of movement, so the nerf would be minor for them. I still love the Dynamo, I just think sometimes it's too easy to use.