Ranked Battle (Splat Zones, Tower Control and Rainmaker) Discussion

[TheGreatGateway]

Please help! This is my 6th go at trying to climb out of the C ranks, but every time I get to C+, I suddenly can't stop losing, regardless of the map or where the players come from..!

I use the Splattershot and occasionally the Ink Brush, and I place at the top of my team a lot; thankfully I almost never end up in last place. I capture the points, try to co-ordinate the team, support allies in fights, make lots of alternative squid-routes and push the front-lines, but we still lose every time.

Am I just not cut out for ranked? I keep hearing how people reached A+ "easily." Meanwhile I can consistently win Turf Wars and enjoy speed running the story, but Ranked battles never go well for me. I don't want to blame the team either like most others, so it must be me at fault right?

 

[obscurica]

If you're using weapons that get you good kill scores, but still end up losing, it's probably because your loadout is too centered on PVP and not enough on area control. Try reworking your strategy towards map control over combat--Splat Walls are good for this, as are sprinklers and ink mines. Focus more on denying approaches and less on pushing out, if that makes sense. Use Inkstrikes and Killer Wails to flush out sniper's nests instead of splat zones, and manually fill the zones in.

For the most part, it's more of a matter of priorities than actual changes in gameplay. But when you have an option to chase kills or control zones, choose control.

...meanwhile, I'm stuck at B-, and not even because of outright losses. T_T Every time I approach 90pts so far, I hit multiple disconnects and lose 10 at a time...

 

[karamazovapy]

Anybody else having trouble winning late at night? I'll win by a pretty significant margin consistently during the day and into the early evening, but if I play past midnight it seems like my teams start to tank - hard!

 

[Ace.]

Please help! This is my 6th go at trying to climb out of the C ranks, but every time I get to C+, I suddenly can't stop losing, regardless of the map or where the players come from..!

I use the Splattershot and occasionally the Ink Brush, and I place at the top of my team a lot; thankfully I almost never end up in last place. I capture the points, try to co-ordinate the team, support allies in fights, make lots of alternative squid-routes and push the front-lines, but we still lose every time.

Am I just not cut out for ranked? I keep hearing how people reached A+ "easily." Meanwhile I can consistently win Turf Wars and enjoy speed running the story, but Ranked battles never go well for me. I don't want to blame the team either like most others, so it must be me at fault right?

You may be just a C+ player or you're just getting unlucky and facing good gun comps when your team comp isn't as good. Try switching up to a gun like the Gal 96. as you can use sprinklers to your advantage on most maps as well as the special will help the team a lot. It's a lot easier to carry with a gal than it is with a Splattershot.

 

[CyberHyperPhoenix]

Anybody else having trouble winning late at night? I'll win by a pretty significant margin consistently during the day and into the early evening, but if I play past midnight it seems like my teams start to tank - hard!

Real talk....

It is probably because the Japanese are awake during that time.

And they have some really wonky internet lol XD :P

 

[missingno]

And they have some really wonky internet lol XD :p

It's not that their internet is bad, they have it pretty great over there. Especially compared to the US, which is way behind the rest of the world due to greedy ISPs not wanting to invest in better infrastructure. The problem is simply distance. There's a hard limit on how fast a packet can travel all the way around the globe. Laws of physics are a pesky thing like that.

 

[CyberHyperPhoenix]

It's not that their internet is bad, they have it pretty great over there. Especially compared to the US, which is way behind the rest of the world due to greedy ISPs not wanting to invest in better infrastructure. The problem is simply distance. There's a hard limit on how fast a packet can travel all the way around the globe. Laws of physics are a pesky thing like that.

Yeah the connection and distance is what I meant :P

 

[TheGreatGateway]

In the words of Bison, YES YES! I have escaped to B- rank, and I have the standard 52 Gal to thank for it :D

 

[DakotaBonez]

Anybody else having trouble winning late at night? I'll win by a pretty significant margin consistently during the day and into the early evening, but if I play past midnight it seems like my teams start to tank - hard!

I have a theory, past midnight I believe is when the japanese players start to logon. Unlike fighting games, japanese are generally less experienced at shooters.

 

[obscurica]

I have a theory, past midnight I believe is when the japanese players start to logon. Unlike fighting games, japanese are generally less experienced at shooters.

What. No. It's the opposite for me, and I'm playing from Taiwan. When I try during NA hours, it's a miserable experience, full of wankers that wander around spawnpoint aiming their charger at the skybox instead of rushing to lock down the choke. The Japanese players are mostly fine (minus the ones that thought they could day-one the inkbrush). Always the NA players that think they can all just rush the same chokepoint and wonder why they're losing control of the map when the enemy team's fanned out for better Charger positions.

 

[missingno]

It's all a matter of ping, which is largely dependent on distance. You'll have a much better time connecting between Taiwan and Japan than Taiwan and North America. Meanwhile those of us in North America really don't want to connect to Japan.

 

[obscurica]

Dude, I'm describing gameplay stylistic differences and you're bringing up ping. Missing the point. Quoted post I responded to was complaining about the Japanese community's lack of experience with console shooters, which is a fairly bogus claim. My counter-claim is that their expressed tactics has been overall better than the NA players I've ran into--this is regardless of their twitch reflexes and ping, but in terms of positioning, priorities and specials usage.

 

[Power]

Just finished playing with several rooms full of Japanese players. I have to say they do seem to have a better tactical sense than others. The lag against them isn't so bad most of the time, at least when I play with them.
I was able to climb up from B- to B+, here are some things I picked up, some obvious, some not so obvious.
-Always watch for areas in which enemies could sneak by
- Long range weapons can be pretty beast in areas such as port mackerel

-Try to avoid just charging in with all your teammates through one space, scope your options and attack from all angles, watching for everyone.

- Stalling the enemy can be game breaking in some matches. Definitely avoid dying, or at least if backed into a corner delay your death so your teammates can catch up.

-Shooting at enemy ink can be very beneficial, especially if it can be used as an easy route to the splat zone. You can never be too careful, more often than not someone is hiding in the ink. (Also, Ninja squid has helped me to get the positional advantage on the enemy)

-Oh and a cool thing I realized was throwing bombs at the spot where someone lands on an ink jump, if you time it right, there is no need to wait to aim and become a target yourself, (also possibly dying if its a roller) This goes for helping your teammates also, if they super jump to an exposed area, try to protect them by distracting or picking off the enemies.

Sorry if you guys know all this, just felt like sharing. Also sorry if its kinda long.

 

[Randy]

Honestly I think it's like a 50% chance of winning the ranked matches, you can be a really good player but get stuck with 3 people that just suck. I've seen people that are extremely good at the game lost because they're teammates are just horrible. I just see it as a 50% chance of winning. Oh not to mention sometimes someone will get dc'd then your'e really screwed.

 

[DaisyFan]

Today ranked is painful, like heck.

 

[ILikeKirbys]

I have a question: Do you need to pretty much restrict the enemy team to never getting into or beyond the area where their Splat Zone is to win on Port Mackerel? Because that's how most of my wins (and what feels like all of my losses) there have played out: we get our Splat Zone, there's some back and forth in the center and between Splat Zone aras, and then either we have both zones and I go spawncamping because how else do I prevent them from getting back and retaking their zone, or they get our zone and proceed to prevent us from getting our zone back or taking theirs.
Also, how do you attack the Kelp Dome Splat Zone when the other team has it? There are so many options, I'm just not sure how to tackle it, and I lose here all the time, so I thought I should ask.
Alsoalso, how important is that tall center platform on Blackbelly Skatepark? I know it's a good vantage point, and I tend to lose when the other team gets like a Squelcher or something on it (it's usually a Squelcher though), but does my team need to hold that for us to win? And when they do hold it, how do I go after someone who's on top of it? Should I go with the slopes, or ink up one of the walls, or should I attack from one of those platforms next to it? I generally use Tentatek Splattershot, but I'll be trying out the Splash-O-Matic over the next week or so, if that matters.

 

[Ryuji]

I have a question: Do you need to pretty much restrict the enemy team to never getting into or beyond the area where their Splat Zone is to win on Port Mackerel? Because that's how most of my wins (and what feels like all of my losses) there have played out: we get our Splat Zone, there's some back and forth in the center and between Splat Zone aras, and then either we have both zones and I go spawncamping because how else do I prevent them from getting back and retaking their zone, or they get our zone and proceed to prevent us from getting our zone back or taking theirs.
Also, how do you attack the Kelp Dome Splat Zone when the other team has it? There are so many options, I'm just not sure how to tackle it, and I lose here all the time, so I thought I should ask.
Alsoalso, how important is that tall center platform on Blackbelly Skatepark? I know it's a good vantage point, and I tend to lose when the other team gets like a Squelcher or something on it (it's usually a Squelcher though), but does my team need to hold that for us to win? And when they do hold it, how do I go after someone who's on top of it? Should I go with the slopes, or ink up one of the walls, or should I attack from one of those platforms next to it? I generally use Tentatek Splattershot, but I'll be trying out the Splash-O-Matic over the next week or so, if that matters.

Ok, what you pretty much need to do on Port Mackerel is to push with your entire team when you take the zone on their half of the map. Since it's a heavily contested area, you need all the help you can get. Since you use the Tentatek Splattershot, you have a great advantage with your special, Inkzooka. Since the paths are so narrow you'll more than likely hit one them. Also, either on your way to the enemy's zone or after you captured it, ink the paths in the middle to slow down enemy movement in the likely event that they take it back. If they manage to take back their zone and yours, you're in quite a pickle. You need to charge up your special to take it back. Even so, it's going to be tough because the other team usually inks the paths leading to the zone and thus makes it quite tricky to get out. You could also take the upper path, be the other team probably expects that. Best way to retake the zone in my opinion is for each of your team to take different paths and converge on it. Expect it to go back and forth like this because almost never will you hold the zone for the entirety of the match.

Kelp Dome is a quite a doozy. It's not easy by any means to retake the zone there since there's so many ways to approach it and that middle area is so wide. You'd be spotted easily. So basically what you need to do is use guerilla tactics. Find a way to sneak in(I would advise against taking the fastest way to get there by the spawn point), get in there and toss bombs if you need to, splatting the other team as much as possible, and ink the walls at the top of the zone and jump down again to evade enemy fire if necessary. This only works if you're really quick and your team is there to help(hopefully they are). If you plan on using the Splashomatic, Bomb Rush is really useful for taking back the zone. Just make sure to cover your sides since you're likely to be shot at from those directions.

Skate Park you definitely need the tall platform. The reason it's so vital is because you can see exactly where the other team is coming from and attack from it if you have a weapon with long enough range. It's also extremely useful for easily taking back the zones since you can just to stand up there and shoot ink downwards until you retake them. If the other team is up there, you can sneak up there by inking the walls(I prefer them over the slopes) if they aren't paying attention and splat them from there, or throw a suction bomb up there(best spot to throw it from is on top of the wall above the grates right by zone. Speaking of the grates, it's a great spot to shoot at the other team below, but you have to splat them fast. Once you've splatted enough of the other team, I would also ink the areas approaching the zone to slow them down. Throughout the match though you need to keep an eye out for snipers. Some of the ledges they perch themselves on are really hard to reach without them shooting at you first. Take care of them with suction bombs or the Inkzooka.

 

[ILikeKirbys]

Ok, what you pretty much need to do on Port Mackerel is to push with your entire team when you take the zone on their half of the map. Since it's a heavily contested area, you need all the help you can get. Since you use the Tentatek Splattershot, you have a great advantage with your special, Inkzooka. Since the paths are so narrow you'll more than likely hit one them. Also, either on your way to the enemy's zone or after you captured it, ink the paths in the middle to slow down enemy movement in the likely event that they take it back. If they manage to take back their zone and yours, you're in quite a pickle. You need to charge up your special to take it back. Even so, it's going to be tough because the other team usually inks the paths leading to the zone and thus makes it quite tricky to get out. You could also take the upper path, be the other team probably expects that. Best way to retake the zone in my opinion is for each of your team to take different paths and converge on it. Expect it to go back and forth like this because almost never will you hold the zone for the entirety of the match.

Ah, I see. But what should I do when we have both Splat Zones and my teammates are respawning? There's no way I'm winning a 1v3 or 1v4 even when I have the Inkzooka (maybe I could pull off the 1v3 with the Inkzooka, but it's unlikely), but I can't just run away, right?

Kelp Dome is a quite a doozy. It's not easy by any means to retake the zone there since there's so many ways to approach it and that middle area is so wide. You'd be spotted easily. So basically what you need to do is use guerilla tactics. Find a way to sneak in(I would advise against taking the fastest way to get there by the spawn point), get in there and toss bombs if you need to, splatting the other team as much as possible, and ink the walls at the top of the zone and jump down again to evade enemy fire if necessary. This only works if you're really quick and your team is there to help(hopefully they are). If you plan on using the Splashomatic, Bomb Rush is really useful for taking back the zone. Just make sure to cover your sides since you're likely to be shot at from those directions.

I think I see what you're saying, just rush in with the rest of my team (not from the same entrance, yeah?) or throw Suction Bombs over the catwalk when they're all splatted and I'm waiting for them so we can try again, yeah? Am I close?

Skate Park you definitely need the tall platform. The reason it's so vital is because you can see exactly where the other team is coming from and attack from it if you have a weapon with long enough range. It's also extremely useful for easily taking back the zones since you can just to stand up there and shoot ink downwards until you retake them. If the other team is up there, you can sneak up there by inking the walls(I prefer them over the slopes) if they aren't paying attention and splat them from there, or throw a suction bomb up there(best spot to throw it from is on top of the wall above the grates right by zone. Speaking of the grates, it's a great spot to shoot at the other team below, but you have to splat them fast. Once you've splatted enough of the other team, I would also ink the areas approaching the zone to slow them down. Throughout the match though you need to keep an eye out for snipers. Some of the ledges they perch themselves on are really hard to reach without them shooting at you first. Take care of them with suction bombs or the Inkzooka.

Ah, so it's like I thought.
Thanks for all that, man.

 

[Ryuji]

Ah, I see. But what should I do when we have both Splat Zones and my teammates are respawning? There's no way I'm winning a 1v3 or 1v4 even when I have the Inkzooka (maybe I could pull off the 1v3 with the Inkzooka, but it's unlikely), but I can't just run away, right?

This is one of those times where you're probably going to get splatted. But if you have both zones you're most likely going to be at the zone closer to the other team's spawn point, so I would suggest you retreat should there be too many for you to hold off. You can always to try to retake the zone rather than dying and being sent all the way back to the spawn point.

I think I see what you're saying, just rush in with the rest of my team (not from the same entrance, yeah?) or throw Suction Bombs over the catwalk when they're all splatted and I'm waiting for them so we can try again, yeah? Am I close?

Yes, always go in with your team but use different entrances(you don't necessarily need to go by yourself, a single teammate taking the same path is fine). I think the one main reason why people think their team isn't helping is because they're either dead or charging their special somewhere. You need the power of numbers on your side to retake the zone, so look on the map(if it's safe) to see if your teammates are there, then go in. Focus on dispatching the other team. See if you can toss a suction bomb at the top of the zone. This will destroy any potential ink mines or splat anyone trying to hid in the ink up there.
Also, I almost never go on the catwalks because it's way too risky. If I do it's because our team has the zone but I still get back on the ground pretty quickly.

 

[Crucifigo]

i had the most ridiculous match where both our teams were fighting over the last 5 points on the timer

in the end we won but jesus 5 POINTS 3 POINTS 1 POINT YEA WE WON-wow we won

i wasn't a fan of ranked before but now i quite like it. rank b-, deco gal 2-shots everything short of three defense ups, nice payout, etc. people don't fall for seekers as much as they do in c-/c but it still works to distract players and force them into corners