It feels like I haven't written a big forum post in a while. This isn't based on viability as much as it is off of how much fun the kit is and how well they executed its playstyle and all that. Feel free to do similar for your mains or something in this thread idk
Splatana Wiper - 9/10
Starting off very strong here. The Splatana Wiper is a mobile, annoying weapon with great range and painting offset by an awful time to kill unless you one-shot someone. This kit gives you tools to work around that problem if you play more aggressively, which is something that all of Wiper's other strengths play into. A Torpedo thrown by a Wiper is particularly threatening because Wiper combos particularly nicely off of it and can get within range fairly easily. This isn't even to mention how strong rolling it can be for it.
Ultra Stamp is an amazing idea in theory, but how it works in practice does knock it just a little bit. This is meant to be an entry special but simply does not do this for Wiper. Instead, it's more useful in helping Wiper fight stuff when it's already where it wants to be. Wiper's mobility puts it in these kinds of situations very often and in spite of how bad the special is right now, Wiper is the standout weapon that makes it work better than anything else in the game. Having a better special would undoubtedly be better for it but it's not as bad of a problem here as it would be for other weapons.
All of this reflects in the weapon's current standing in competitive play right now. It's a high-tier weapon that still sees plenty of use even at top level. This is basically the ideal spot for most weapons in the game balance-wise. So really, the only thing I can knock it for at all is how Ultra Stamp is bad. The playstyle this kit puts together flows perfectly with what the main weapon wants to do and is very fun to boot.
Splatana Wiper Deco - 4/10
After one of the stronger ones, we have...one of the weaker ones. Actually most Splatana players would call this one their least favorite. I personally love it but need to be honest with myself for the sake of the thread. This kit is intended to let you play more supportively, with two parts that specifically don't do much for you if you're already closer to enemies. However, it does still try to play to Wiper's mobility with tools that would fit onto more fast-paced teams, with Squid Beakons being at their best on these kinds of teams and Tenta Missiles offering displacement and location.
The idea's there and it was pretty strong on launch when Tenta Missiles were one of the best specials in the game, but look at where we are now. Tenta Missiles are just kind of okay and Wiper Deco is a lower mid-tier as a result. Why? Some of it is a byproduct of the meta we're in where purely supportive weapons need one of a few select specials, some of it is that Wiper REALLY needs a bomb, and some of it is that Tenta Missiles don't have any particularly great synergy with Wiper. It's nothing offensive but it's just not what it needs.
Squid Beakon on Splatana Wiper is an idea that can work, and I personally would be very happy if it could happen, but already kind of sets this kit up to be something that you need to build your team around if you're trying to run it on a serious team. The utility of a bomb is so important that most teams will want at least three, sometimes two if you're really stretching it, and it's usually not going to be an anchor running one because of their positioning making it harder to threaten the right space with them. On Wiper specifically you need their help while getting into fights as well so you're instead going to need to rely on the help of teammates or your special much more than usual.
Tenta Missiles were strong when this weapon first released, so it was able to reach this goal and see use at top level with a small handful of teams running one without a backline. The year is 2024 though. Tenta Missiles aren't as strong, leaving the one hope for this kit being that Tenta Missiles have some particularly good synergy with Wiper, and it just doesn't. It's a perfectly serviceable special but it doesn't make up for any of Wiper's problems or enable it to do anything that other specials wouldn't do better.
However, I don't think every weapon needs to be meta. Having weirder stuff like this to fill out a game's more specific roles is very nice. This is still one of those that just did not work out in practice. Wiper Deco entirely hinged on something unhealthy for the game being unhealthy for the game and sees no use now that the unhealthy element has been toned back.
Splatana Stamper - 10/10
I don't think anyone will argue with this. This is clearly meant to be the faster, more aggressive Stamper kit. Zipcaster gets zero value unless you're killing people or directly getting pushes with it and Burst Bomb's area denial isn't nearly as strong as its use in combat. This is a fan favorite kit in the game and coming up with even a single negative thing to say about it is extremely difficult.
Splatana Stamper as a main weapon is built around flexibility and damage combos and Burst Bomb only enhances both of those things. You have more damage combos to play around with for your main weapon on top of being able to threaten behind cover, give yourself ever so slightly faster movement and giving you another fast attack that isn't easy to avoid as your charged slash can sometimes be. The "threatening behind cover" point is even stronger here than usual because getting hit for 70 damage means you can no longer go behind cover at all without worrying about the Stamper user's follow up.
Zipcaster is a special that everyone loves as is and this is one of the best weapons to put it on. Zipcaster generally prefers to be put on weapons with longer range and Stamper absolutely can play to that longer range if you're able to track people's movement with your charged slash and follow up properly without your Burst Bomb. Getting closer to someone is a lot more challenging, but you do get rewarded nicely with your main weapon's one-shot if you can manage. It rewards its user for knowing good spacing and having good mechanics with the main weapon in a way that having a more standard special wouldn't allow for.
The closest thing to a complaint here is the inverse of what I said for Ultra Stamp since you can argue this weapon is too strong. The fact that it's easily been one of the best weapons in Splatoon 3 through the game's whole lifespan yet you have people defending it should speak volumes to how good of an influence it's had on the game. Most people automatically hate on whatever's top tier in any newer game, but Stamper has almost seen the opposite. It's gotten a lot of defenders saying that something this difficult with this much skill expression should absolutely be a top tier. Maybe there are combinations that could be stronger with the main weapon, but there definitely wouldn't be many and what we ended up with is probably infinitely more fun and unique to both play and watch than any of those could be.
Splatana Stamper Nouveau - 6/10
After over a year of waiting, Stamper's second kit had some particularly big shoes to fill. This kit seems to go for a bigger focus on area denial than the vanilla kit, which the main weapon was already decent at thanks to how slow-moving its projectiles are for how much range they cover. Toxic Mist is able to cover space for longer than your main weapon's ink tank usually allows for, while Crab Tank lets it actually paint over a lot of space with a more open sightline and allows its teammates to get into enemy space more easily.
I don't think Crab Tank specifically does anything crazy for Stamper outside of just being a strong special overall, but it does help push the idea behind the playstyle very well. Stamper can sometimes naturally play to the more spots where you'd like to use a Crab Tank but often does like poking at people from below ledges where this special is not very useful. You'll be playing in open sightlines enough to the point where I'd say this is still a solid choice for this weapon, especially given how it's supposed to work with Toxic Mist.
...however, Toxic Mist. This is what you get when the idea behind something is decent, but the balancing is exceedingly far below where it needs to be. A good Toxic Mist would make this kit a fantastic change of pace compared to the vanilla kit but that's not what we ended up with. Instead, Toxic Mist is in an odd spot where it's mostly outclassed by the sword itself when you want to deny space. Technically it goes a little bit further when thrown and there are a handful of spots where it can be handy but that's not what you want a subweapon to be. You should not be grasping at straws for spaces where a subweapon is useful.
For what it's worth, Toxic Mist being as bad as it is kind of loops around into something else for this kit. It's very weird and something I'd definitely not call a strength, but Stamper is both such a strong and an ink-hungry main weapon that not having a good subweapon means you have more time to use your stronger main weapon. It's not all bad when you can still use the subweapon for those fringe cases where it is useful and the weapon's playstyle still remains what it is but this is all worth mentioning. At the very least Toxic Mist can sometimes help you with the main weapon's extremely specific weakness to midline weapons with Splash Wall.
What we're left with is a kit here with a very defined playstyle that still feels usable despite the other kit clearly being strong. This is the ideal goal for a weapon's weaker kit. There is an obvious weak link here and it makes the kit feel a bit incomplete to use, with a lot of Stamper players saying that there's just no point in using it over the vanilla kit for fun or practicality. A little bit of tweaking would make this kit great even if still not perfect, but for what it's worth I think this one's still pretty good where it stands.
Mint Decavitator - 8/10
Here's the first of the two kits for what is now my favorite weapon in the series. The Decavitator is a very slow weapon with the unique option to quickly poke around cover with a dash that isn't quite as strong out in the open. I don't know what playstyle the Mint kit is trying to allow for other than possibly being designed to be less aggressive than the Charcoal kit. How much less aggressive? I couldn't tell you. Maybe Big Bubbler was meant to be used to keep it safe against longer-ranged weapons, or more probably it was meant to be used in a more similar way to Roller where you keep people out of it and can poke at them from a distance. In any case, this is a weapon that's difficult to make two functionally unique kits for, but I think they did a good job with both.
Suction Bomb is probably the worst bomb it could have gotten. It has the longest fuse time, is tied for the most ink-hungry, and has the least use during an engagement with an enemy. This is also a weapon that loves staying hidden and will not be using it as much as other weapons with similar range as a result. This all says nothing about the quality of Suction Bomb itself as a subweapon because it ultimately is still a very good option for it. As I said with Wiper Deco, being able to threaten space behind cover is fantastic and most subweapons in general will be a "nice when you can afford to use one" kind of thing for Decav, which this is definitely one of the nicer ones you can have.
And then there's Big Bubbler. You could argue it might work better on Wiper or Stamper but this is still a fantastic choice for a special. All three Splatanas can guard the insides of a bubble very well thanks to their one-shots and have the range to threaten space outside of it even if the other two can poke over ledges and have more range on their projectiles. This weapon does have the dash to help get it into position more easily, but that's not something Wiper would struggle with at all.
I don't think any of this is leads to the Mint kit having its own playstyle that other kits can bounce off of, but that in itself isn't a bad thing and I didn't dock it points for that. The Decavitator as a main weapon can only play so many different ways without feeling blatantly bad to use and I think this works as a much more straightforward "starting point" for people looking to play this weapon, comparatively speaking. It's not absolutely flawless but the choices here were very good regardless.
Charcoal Decavitator - 9/10
Lastly, my current main. As I said before, I think this was designed to be the slightly more aggressive of the two kits, possibly the more difficult of the two as well. Both of its parts are a bit more unwieldy to use but allow you to pose a much more immediate threat to your enemies. Splash Wall is meant to help you close the gap between you and them more easily and Inkjet lets you threaten enemies from a distance, but this isn't the kind of weapon that can usually sit behind Splash Wall to directly control space like a Squeezer would and Inkjet's shot velocity with its precise one-shots make it one of the trickier specials to get the most out of in the game.
For the sake of second kits, I think Splash Wall is the best thing they could have given it if the first kit has a bomb. They technically could have given it two kits with bombs but if they wanted to give it two kits with similar playstyles, yet different strengths, this is the way to do it. Splash Wall definitely is awkward if you don't know what you're doing with it but proper use can let you skirmish like crazy. It's not really something that any other subweapon can do and it lets the Charcoal Decavitator get away with a lot of things that the Mint kit can't. Technically Burst Bomb or Fizzy Bomb could have allowed for damage combos and better movement, but the difference there isn't nearly as big as it is with Splash Wall.
I don't even need to say it but Inkjet is a flawless choice for the special. You can poke over ledges that the main weapon struggles with, you can threaten people at a distance aggressively, and you even have a dash to protect your landing with the recall. It's not as obvious but you can sometimes just land without dashing to activate your huge one-shot more quickly if you can react fast enough to people camping right next to your landing. It's great that they put this on the kit without a bomb to allow you to poke wherever you want. What else even is there to say though?
The balancing is great for both Decavitator kits as well, with both being just on the cusp of top level play and seeing fringe experimentation there. I've had absolutely nothing to complain about, so why is it not a 10/10? Honestly, the only reason is because I don't feel right giving this the same rating as vanilla Stamper. I was tempted to give it a 10 mostly from context of how it plays off of the Mint kit, but for as much as I love this kit, I can't tell you with a straight face that it's as good as vanilla Stampers. I can't tell you what kit they could've given to this weapon for me to give it a 10, but for what it's worth they did a fantastic job with this weapon.
In summary...
That is all. Have a good day.
Splatana Wiper - 9/10
Starting off very strong here. The Splatana Wiper is a mobile, annoying weapon with great range and painting offset by an awful time to kill unless you one-shot someone. This kit gives you tools to work around that problem if you play more aggressively, which is something that all of Wiper's other strengths play into. A Torpedo thrown by a Wiper is particularly threatening because Wiper combos particularly nicely off of it and can get within range fairly easily. This isn't even to mention how strong rolling it can be for it.
Ultra Stamp is an amazing idea in theory, but how it works in practice does knock it just a little bit. This is meant to be an entry special but simply does not do this for Wiper. Instead, it's more useful in helping Wiper fight stuff when it's already where it wants to be. Wiper's mobility puts it in these kinds of situations very often and in spite of how bad the special is right now, Wiper is the standout weapon that makes it work better than anything else in the game. Having a better special would undoubtedly be better for it but it's not as bad of a problem here as it would be for other weapons.
All of this reflects in the weapon's current standing in competitive play right now. It's a high-tier weapon that still sees plenty of use even at top level. This is basically the ideal spot for most weapons in the game balance-wise. So really, the only thing I can knock it for at all is how Ultra Stamp is bad. The playstyle this kit puts together flows perfectly with what the main weapon wants to do and is very fun to boot.
Splatana Wiper Deco - 4/10
After one of the stronger ones, we have...one of the weaker ones. Actually most Splatana players would call this one their least favorite. I personally love it but need to be honest with myself for the sake of the thread. This kit is intended to let you play more supportively, with two parts that specifically don't do much for you if you're already closer to enemies. However, it does still try to play to Wiper's mobility with tools that would fit onto more fast-paced teams, with Squid Beakons being at their best on these kinds of teams and Tenta Missiles offering displacement and location.
The idea's there and it was pretty strong on launch when Tenta Missiles were one of the best specials in the game, but look at where we are now. Tenta Missiles are just kind of okay and Wiper Deco is a lower mid-tier as a result. Why? Some of it is a byproduct of the meta we're in where purely supportive weapons need one of a few select specials, some of it is that Wiper REALLY needs a bomb, and some of it is that Tenta Missiles don't have any particularly great synergy with Wiper. It's nothing offensive but it's just not what it needs.
Squid Beakon on Splatana Wiper is an idea that can work, and I personally would be very happy if it could happen, but already kind of sets this kit up to be something that you need to build your team around if you're trying to run it on a serious team. The utility of a bomb is so important that most teams will want at least three, sometimes two if you're really stretching it, and it's usually not going to be an anchor running one because of their positioning making it harder to threaten the right space with them. On Wiper specifically you need their help while getting into fights as well so you're instead going to need to rely on the help of teammates or your special much more than usual.
Tenta Missiles were strong when this weapon first released, so it was able to reach this goal and see use at top level with a small handful of teams running one without a backline. The year is 2024 though. Tenta Missiles aren't as strong, leaving the one hope for this kit being that Tenta Missiles have some particularly good synergy with Wiper, and it just doesn't. It's a perfectly serviceable special but it doesn't make up for any of Wiper's problems or enable it to do anything that other specials wouldn't do better.
However, I don't think every weapon needs to be meta. Having weirder stuff like this to fill out a game's more specific roles is very nice. This is still one of those that just did not work out in practice. Wiper Deco entirely hinged on something unhealthy for the game being unhealthy for the game and sees no use now that the unhealthy element has been toned back.
Splatana Stamper - 10/10
I don't think anyone will argue with this. This is clearly meant to be the faster, more aggressive Stamper kit. Zipcaster gets zero value unless you're killing people or directly getting pushes with it and Burst Bomb's area denial isn't nearly as strong as its use in combat. This is a fan favorite kit in the game and coming up with even a single negative thing to say about it is extremely difficult.
Splatana Stamper as a main weapon is built around flexibility and damage combos and Burst Bomb only enhances both of those things. You have more damage combos to play around with for your main weapon on top of being able to threaten behind cover, give yourself ever so slightly faster movement and giving you another fast attack that isn't easy to avoid as your charged slash can sometimes be. The "threatening behind cover" point is even stronger here than usual because getting hit for 70 damage means you can no longer go behind cover at all without worrying about the Stamper user's follow up.
Zipcaster is a special that everyone loves as is and this is one of the best weapons to put it on. Zipcaster generally prefers to be put on weapons with longer range and Stamper absolutely can play to that longer range if you're able to track people's movement with your charged slash and follow up properly without your Burst Bomb. Getting closer to someone is a lot more challenging, but you do get rewarded nicely with your main weapon's one-shot if you can manage. It rewards its user for knowing good spacing and having good mechanics with the main weapon in a way that having a more standard special wouldn't allow for.
The closest thing to a complaint here is the inverse of what I said for Ultra Stamp since you can argue this weapon is too strong. The fact that it's easily been one of the best weapons in Splatoon 3 through the game's whole lifespan yet you have people defending it should speak volumes to how good of an influence it's had on the game. Most people automatically hate on whatever's top tier in any newer game, but Stamper has almost seen the opposite. It's gotten a lot of defenders saying that something this difficult with this much skill expression should absolutely be a top tier. Maybe there are combinations that could be stronger with the main weapon, but there definitely wouldn't be many and what we ended up with is probably infinitely more fun and unique to both play and watch than any of those could be.
Splatana Stamper Nouveau - 6/10
After over a year of waiting, Stamper's second kit had some particularly big shoes to fill. This kit seems to go for a bigger focus on area denial than the vanilla kit, which the main weapon was already decent at thanks to how slow-moving its projectiles are for how much range they cover. Toxic Mist is able to cover space for longer than your main weapon's ink tank usually allows for, while Crab Tank lets it actually paint over a lot of space with a more open sightline and allows its teammates to get into enemy space more easily.
I don't think Crab Tank specifically does anything crazy for Stamper outside of just being a strong special overall, but it does help push the idea behind the playstyle very well. Stamper can sometimes naturally play to the more spots where you'd like to use a Crab Tank but often does like poking at people from below ledges where this special is not very useful. You'll be playing in open sightlines enough to the point where I'd say this is still a solid choice for this weapon, especially given how it's supposed to work with Toxic Mist.
...however, Toxic Mist. This is what you get when the idea behind something is decent, but the balancing is exceedingly far below where it needs to be. A good Toxic Mist would make this kit a fantastic change of pace compared to the vanilla kit but that's not what we ended up with. Instead, Toxic Mist is in an odd spot where it's mostly outclassed by the sword itself when you want to deny space. Technically it goes a little bit further when thrown and there are a handful of spots where it can be handy but that's not what you want a subweapon to be. You should not be grasping at straws for spaces where a subweapon is useful.
For what it's worth, Toxic Mist being as bad as it is kind of loops around into something else for this kit. It's very weird and something I'd definitely not call a strength, but Stamper is both such a strong and an ink-hungry main weapon that not having a good subweapon means you have more time to use your stronger main weapon. It's not all bad when you can still use the subweapon for those fringe cases where it is useful and the weapon's playstyle still remains what it is but this is all worth mentioning. At the very least Toxic Mist can sometimes help you with the main weapon's extremely specific weakness to midline weapons with Splash Wall.
What we're left with is a kit here with a very defined playstyle that still feels usable despite the other kit clearly being strong. This is the ideal goal for a weapon's weaker kit. There is an obvious weak link here and it makes the kit feel a bit incomplete to use, with a lot of Stamper players saying that there's just no point in using it over the vanilla kit for fun or practicality. A little bit of tweaking would make this kit great even if still not perfect, but for what it's worth I think this one's still pretty good where it stands.
Mint Decavitator - 8/10
Here's the first of the two kits for what is now my favorite weapon in the series. The Decavitator is a very slow weapon with the unique option to quickly poke around cover with a dash that isn't quite as strong out in the open. I don't know what playstyle the Mint kit is trying to allow for other than possibly being designed to be less aggressive than the Charcoal kit. How much less aggressive? I couldn't tell you. Maybe Big Bubbler was meant to be used to keep it safe against longer-ranged weapons, or more probably it was meant to be used in a more similar way to Roller where you keep people out of it and can poke at them from a distance. In any case, this is a weapon that's difficult to make two functionally unique kits for, but I think they did a good job with both.
Suction Bomb is probably the worst bomb it could have gotten. It has the longest fuse time, is tied for the most ink-hungry, and has the least use during an engagement with an enemy. This is also a weapon that loves staying hidden and will not be using it as much as other weapons with similar range as a result. This all says nothing about the quality of Suction Bomb itself as a subweapon because it ultimately is still a very good option for it. As I said with Wiper Deco, being able to threaten space behind cover is fantastic and most subweapons in general will be a "nice when you can afford to use one" kind of thing for Decav, which this is definitely one of the nicer ones you can have.
And then there's Big Bubbler. You could argue it might work better on Wiper or Stamper but this is still a fantastic choice for a special. All three Splatanas can guard the insides of a bubble very well thanks to their one-shots and have the range to threaten space outside of it even if the other two can poke over ledges and have more range on their projectiles. This weapon does have the dash to help get it into position more easily, but that's not something Wiper would struggle with at all.
I don't think any of this is leads to the Mint kit having its own playstyle that other kits can bounce off of, but that in itself isn't a bad thing and I didn't dock it points for that. The Decavitator as a main weapon can only play so many different ways without feeling blatantly bad to use and I think this works as a much more straightforward "starting point" for people looking to play this weapon, comparatively speaking. It's not absolutely flawless but the choices here were very good regardless.
Charcoal Decavitator - 9/10
Lastly, my current main. As I said before, I think this was designed to be the slightly more aggressive of the two kits, possibly the more difficult of the two as well. Both of its parts are a bit more unwieldy to use but allow you to pose a much more immediate threat to your enemies. Splash Wall is meant to help you close the gap between you and them more easily and Inkjet lets you threaten enemies from a distance, but this isn't the kind of weapon that can usually sit behind Splash Wall to directly control space like a Squeezer would and Inkjet's shot velocity with its precise one-shots make it one of the trickier specials to get the most out of in the game.
For the sake of second kits, I think Splash Wall is the best thing they could have given it if the first kit has a bomb. They technically could have given it two kits with bombs but if they wanted to give it two kits with similar playstyles, yet different strengths, this is the way to do it. Splash Wall definitely is awkward if you don't know what you're doing with it but proper use can let you skirmish like crazy. It's not really something that any other subweapon can do and it lets the Charcoal Decavitator get away with a lot of things that the Mint kit can't. Technically Burst Bomb or Fizzy Bomb could have allowed for damage combos and better movement, but the difference there isn't nearly as big as it is with Splash Wall.
I don't even need to say it but Inkjet is a flawless choice for the special. You can poke over ledges that the main weapon struggles with, you can threaten people at a distance aggressively, and you even have a dash to protect your landing with the recall. It's not as obvious but you can sometimes just land without dashing to activate your huge one-shot more quickly if you can react fast enough to people camping right next to your landing. It's great that they put this on the kit without a bomb to allow you to poke wherever you want. What else even is there to say though?
The balancing is great for both Decavitator kits as well, with both being just on the cusp of top level play and seeing fringe experimentation there. I've had absolutely nothing to complain about, so why is it not a 10/10? Honestly, the only reason is because I don't feel right giving this the same rating as vanilla Stamper. I was tempted to give it a 10 mostly from context of how it plays off of the Mint kit, but for as much as I love this kit, I can't tell you with a straight face that it's as good as vanilla Stampers. I can't tell you what kit they could've given to this weapon for me to give it a 10, but for what it's worth they did a fantastic job with this weapon.
In summary...
That is all. Have a good day.
