Predictions on New Splatana and Stringer for next season

[isaac4]

I'm guessing that they're planning on designing a heavy type weapon for both classes.
A slower, but stronger sword sounds really interesting but I have no idea how they would approach it. It's not Salmon Run after all, it still has to keep up with other weapons to be able to fight. Maybe they'll try some mode mechanic like they've done with S-Blast and Douser Dualies.
I do think the main weapon will be good though since they already did a great job with Stamper and Wiper.
A heavy bow sounds a lot more obvious in how they'll design it, probably having a bigger focus on the explosions from its shots.
A much longer charge time than Tri-Stringer but the longer you charge it, the more shots you get and the bigger the explosions are sounds like it would work. It would also have more range of course, probably not by much but I would guess that the downsides would be that it's extremely ink hungry, comparable to an Explo, and would also lose the ability to oneshot.
Also, it wouldn't get as many shots as Grizzco Stringer of course. Maybe 5 at max, I'm not sure.

For the kits though, I'm not going to try and guess the specific sub and special since we don't even know what the main weapon looks like but I will say that they'll probably mess up the stringer kit. They don't have a great track record right now with kits and already didn't do great with the other previous 2nd bow kits. Maybe it'll be different this time and it'll end up being a miracle kit like S-Blast 91 but I doubt it.
I am much more confident in them making a pretty alright kit for a heavy splatana, they seem to know what they want for the weapon class and even the weaker kits are still good (at least from how I see it).
I am wondering about the 2nd kits though since there's not another 3 seasons for them to push back a 2nd kit so unless they announce content extension, they could release both kits at once but I don't like that idea.

I haven't been paying attention to the datamines for Splatoon 3 so correct me if we already know some idea of what the new weapons are.

 

[Grushi]

I'm really intrigued by what they'll do since they're both really complex classes, there's a lot of stats you could tweak to make new ones, though it'd be insane if the new splatana also ends up being a really strong main.

I don't really have any ideas on how they'd handle a heavy splatana, would it really have more range?? stamper already has heavy splatling range, and it deals insane damage at a distance so I got no clue what they'll do
Maybe it'll get like a long range horizontal slash and short range vertical, or vice versa, that could be cool

I kind of hope that the new stringer doesn't get more range though, good stringers unironically feel really oppressive to fight with how much range the weapon has


And the codenames have been datamined, (putting them in spoiler tags just in case):
It's HeavySaber and StringerExplosion so you're not far off!

 

[DzNutsKong]

The difficulty for me from getting a slower stronger sword is that Stamper's stats are already really difficult to tweak. Like, you have your up-close one shot, a two shot with the vertical slash, and a three shot from the horizontal slash. You could make the horizontal slash a two shot, but then what do you do with the vertical slash, and how do you handle the up-close hitbox the horizontal slash has? The up-close hit still two shotting would make it feel pointless for more casual players, and that one shotting would make the up-close charge slash feel pointless in general.

Shot in the dark guess is that's probably something they could do, maybe with like 55 on the horizontals, 35 on the up-close extra hitbox so you get a 90 damage combo number for hitting someone up close and they can give the vertical slash 90 damage as well. Maybe give horizontals much worse frame data than Stamper but not much with charging it. Other than this they could end up making it more supportive - maybe all of the same stuff one/two/three shots as Stamper and the frame data is a bit slower, but it paints substantially better instead.

For a kit I think any of these would make the most sense, but there's technically nothing off the table except maybe the stuff Stamper already has. I promise you this isn't just because it would make me happy but my wild guess would be Fizzy Bomb Inkjet. There's nothing to go off of but both swords had bombs on their first kit with a more aggressive special which might not be coincidence. Otherwise I think this sub and special are by far the most distinct of the ones that fit those. Could totally see that callout being completely wrong and us just getting Point Sensor Screen instead because there's no way we get a sword with that good of a kit lmaooo

 

[isaac4]

I don't really have any ideas on how they'd handle a heavy splatana, would it really have more range?? stamper already has heavy splatling range, and it deals insane damage at a distance so I got no clue what they'll do
Maybe it'll get like a long range horizontal slash and short range vertical, or vice versa, that could be cool

I kind of hope that the new stringer doesn't get more range though, good stringers unironically feel really oppressive to fight with how much range the weapon has

Yeah, it's really hard to imagine a Splatana with even more range than regular Stamper since Stamper already does so much damage with it's midline type range. I don't think they would attempt a backline splatana either but that would be a very crazy thing to see.

I'm also thinking that the new stringer will be the E-Liter of the bow class, so it'll probably end up being very annoying to fight but I'm still very curious to what that's gonna look like.

The difficulty for me from getting a slower stronger sword is that Stamper's stats are already really difficult to tweak. Like, you have your up-close one shot, a two shot with the vertical slash, and a three shot from the horizontal slash. You could make the horizontal slash a two shot, but then what do you do with the vertical slash, and how do you handle the up-close hitbox the horizontal slash has? The up-close hit still two shotting would make it feel pointless for more casual players, and that one shotting would make the up-close charge slash feel pointless in general.

Shot in the dark guess is that's probably something they could do, maybe with like 55 on the horizontals, 35 on the up-close extra hitbox so you get a 90 damage combo number for hitting someone up close and they can give the vertical slash 90 damage as well. Maybe give horizontals much worse frame data than Stamper but not much with charging it. Other than this they could end up making it more supportive - maybe all of the same stuff one/two/three shots as Stamper and the frame data is a bit slower, but it paints substantially better instead.

The devs really focus on giving the new weapons of a class a unique trait to make it stand out like Dread working similar to a slow vSlosher but instead of one slosh, it has two.
I think that they'll end up doing something to the vertical slash, maybe letting it one shot without being up close but like you said, that would make the up close one shot feel pointless.
I'm also thinking they could take something from Grizzco Splatana and let the charge slash go even further than the other swords.
There's just a lot of things to consider with Stamper already being such a strong main weapon with good range and good damage.
The least likely idea I have is that they take away the vertical slash from the heavy Splatana and greatly increase the horizontal slash damage, around 90 like you said. On top of that they could have the slashes go even further than the other Splatana's.

 

[a hot mess]

well stringer will still have 3 shots (its a gimmick)
splatana maybe could be short range? no bc long range is its gimmick just like charger.
im thinking a heavy splatana but stamper takes that role.
medium splatana? i think.

 

[vitellary]

my thoughts for the splatana are that it will be a backline/anchor sort of weapon, with really slow fire rate and charge time, but with a one-shot vertical slash that travels Extremely slowly, basically blob speed if not slower. i think projectile speed is a variable that makes sense to tweak a lot with splatanas (stamper's vertical slash is already observably pretty slow, and they could push it a lot further i think), and making a very slow but very threatening projectile would be an interesting role for an achor to have. kinda like if they made the vertical flick of dynamo good
i also think it'll be a greatsword of some kind, because that would go hard and would line up with internal name

no clue for the stringer tho tbh, i've always thought it might be a midrange kind of stringer that pokes with explosions similar to a rapid blaster pro? but i'm way less confident i'm even close with that guess

 

[isaac4]

i also think it'll be a greatsword of some kind, because that would go hard and would line up with internal name

I didn't even think about that as a design for it, it sounds sick.
Hope you're right about it cause I'd really want to see that.
Vertical slash becoming a slow but dangerous projectile sounds cool too but I'd imagine they would shorten the range of how far it goes.

 

[OnePotWonder]

One idea I recall hearing a while back was a stringer that never fully reduced its shot spread, meaning it would never hit with more than a single string/arrow/shot at a time. Seems like it would make a good pairing with a focus on explosions.

And I do want to put this other related theory out there despite it being a lot more outlandish and only relative to Splatoon 4: Goo Tuber being reworked as a stringer that fires a single string of ink. The change wouldn't even be that radical; it already has two charge rings.
I even have a name for it; the Line Streamer.

 

[isaac4]

One idea I recall hearing a while back was a stringer that never fully reduced its shot spread, meaning it would never hit with more than a single string/arrow/shot at a time. Seems like it would make a good pairing with a focus on explosions.

Didn't even think about the possibility of only having one shot that counts as the explosion.
Sounds interesting and it would make me wonder how far they're willing to increase the size of regular Tri-Stringer shot explosions.
Maybe something similar to how Explo works would make sense to me.

And I do want to put this other related theory out there despite it being a lot more outlandish and only relative to Splatoon 4: Goo Tuber being reworked as a stringer that fires a single string of ink. The change wouldn't even be that radical; it already has two charge rings.
I even have a name for it; the Line Streamer.

Gootuber really needs something to help it stand out so I wouldn't mind if they just completely reworked it.
I tend to forget it exists a lot of the time.
Also it just sounds cooler as a quick bow with a single fast string shot than what it is right now; a shorter ranged charger that can hold its charge for longer and kill right before a full charge.

 

[OnePotWonder]

Didn't even think about the possibility of only having one shot that counts as the explosion.
Sounds interesting and it would make me wonder how far they're willing to increase the size of regular Tri-Stringer shot explosions.
Maybe something similar to how Explo works would make sense to me.

Not what I was going for but this also sounds interesting... Maybe. At first glance. The flank shots would end up kind of useless.
My idea was that the new stringer would have explosions for all three strings/arrows (what are their bullets called??) to consistently cover a wide area and allow for the devs to balance it with higher damage on a given projectile/explosion.

 

[a hot mess]

stringers are triple shots, strictly.

 

[2Ws2Ls]

I don't really have any ideas on how they'd handle a heavy splatana, would it really have more range?? stamper already has heavy splatling range, and it deals insane damage at a distance so I got no clue what they'll do
Maybe it'll get like a long range horizontal slash and short range vertical, or vice versa, that could be cool

One idea I quite like is having the sweet spot be at range rather than melee. i would imagine that it would be ~sploosh range for horizontal sweet spot and ~octobrush range for vertical sweet spot. This would make for an interesting spacer weapon, as it would want to be a specific range rather than further than the opponents or right in the opponent face. with this it would allow for a splatana weak to being rushed down, so we could safely increase its range/shot velocity for the projectile without making it overpowered.

 

[chaotik0]

an idea i had for a new splatana was a splatana that had no horizontal projectile, but it painted its feet with a big area of ink when doing horizontals, and the horizontal slash speed was very fast, almost brush level but weak damage
the vertical slash charge speed would also be very fast, and there would be a projectile. the projectile moves fast and has a lot of range, but it has low damage
the dash from the vertical slash would go pretty far, and have basically no end lag
the oneshot hitbox will be longer than stamper’s as well
(this is slightly different from my idea in a post from a while ago)

i think it is pretty interesting, but they might not be looking to make the mix style weapons for splatana and stringer because they only have 2 weapons in their class

 

[GiggaPoggers]

Imo devs prob wouldnt add a new splatanna and stringer, maybe one or the other. Iirc next update is the last, right?

 

[chaotik0]

Imo devs prob wouldnt add a new splatanna and stringer, maybe one or the other. Iirc next update is the last, right?

yes next season is the last update
they been adding main weapons to basically every season in order of when they were introduced to the series, and splatana and stringer are the final 2 remaining

also every time they added main weapons, they did add 2 except when they added nova, big swig, and PENCIL AAAAA I HATE PENCIL. sorry im still recovering from the lack of a pencil nerf last patch

 

[youre_a_squib_now]

stringers are triple shots, strictly.

In 2017, every dualie had 2 dodge rolls. Then they added tetras. Just because there are patterns doesn't mean those patterns will continue. It's also worth noting that the "tri" in tri-stringer is in the weapon name, not the class name.

Actually, the fact that they named it the tri-stringer suggests to me that there would be another stringer whose number of shots is not 3. Otherwise the "tri" doesn't distinguish anything. And although it isn't a consistent pattern, numbers in weapon names often have some significance to the weapon itself. (bamboozler 14, .52 gal, etc.) Considering that three shots seems to be the "default" for stringers, this could be an exception though (compare to tetra dualies, where the 4 rolls highlighted by the name is what makes it separate from the rest of the class).

We know it's focused on explosions, and I have a hard time imagining they'd make an explosion-focused stringer with longer range than tri-stringer. Also, we already have one-shotting stringers for short range and long range. So my best guess is that the new one won't be able to one-shot, because doing that and having good explosions would be ridiculous. If it can't one-shot, then it probably either only has one shot or the shots can't get closer together. My issue with this is that the second charge ring would have much less of a reason to be used, since the only thing that would be increased would be its range. If they choose to follow the current pattern of what the two charge levels represent.

That's a lot of ifs though. We really have no good way to predict what it will be, outside of the internal name.

 

[isaac4]

One idea I quite like is having the sweet spot be at range rather than melee. i would imagine that it would be ~sploosh range for horizontal sweet spot and ~octobrush range for vertical sweet spot. This would make for an interesting spacer weapon, as it would want to be a specific range rather than further than the opponents or right in the opponent face. with this it would allow for a splatana weak to being rushed down, so we could safely increase its range/shot velocity for the projectile without making it overpowered.

A shorter ranged Splatana that needs to hit its opponent at a specific range for the sweet spot sounds sick, it reminds me of how Marth works in Smash. It does sound like the type of main weapon that could end up being very weak if it isn't done right though, or at least inconsistent but having great mobility and a good kit could make up for any issues it might have.

 

[Bennet]

I highly doubt that there will be another splatana

 

[youre_a_squib_now]

I highly doubt that there will be another splatana

I would be very surprised if there isn't. There's already one in the code, and we've gotten a new main for every class except the ones added in splatoon 3. They also added them in batches: first, the original three, then the ones added during splatoon 1, then the ones added in splatoon 2. Everything lines up for them to add a new splatana and stringer next season. It would also be very silly for them not to.

 

[chaotik0]

I highly doubt that there will be another splatana

how?
they been adding new main weapons throughout the entire game in the order of when they were added to the series, and splatana and stringer are the only 2 not given a new main, and there is 1 season left

it doesn’t make any sense for them to not add them so im curious if you have inside info and they actually aren’t giving us a splatana, just because they don’t feel like it