Rapid Blaster Pro: Analysis and Thoughts

[Noise Tank]

errrrrrrrrr, hate to burst bomb your bubble, but it doesn't.

granted I was only counting the direct hit marker for the js vs the edge of the splash damage for the rbp, I guess you're right about the js having the most range still. Anyways dual squelcher is no comparison to either of them:

http://webm.host/244f0/

 

[Hinichii.ez.™]

How do you talk in absolutes about hypothetical situations? Seekers aren't the best sub, but not using because they're a "waste of ink" is just not being resourceful.

Seekers are the worst sub in the game, and many players have already come to this conclusion; no need to optimistic about it.

 

[LimitCrown]

I thought that the Ink Mines were considered to be the worst sub weapon. In any case, I'm more likely to splat opponents with Seekers than with Ink Mines.

 

[Scones]

I thought that the Ink Mines were considered to be the worst sub weapon. In any case, I'm more likely to splat opponents with Seekers than with Ink Mines.

The big problem is that seekers leave a straight trail of ink with an explosion at the end. The main weapon does the exact same thing. At least with an ink mine you could cover one of your flanks. Seekers have their place but are a bad sub for this weapon.

 

[Noise Tank]

Seekers are the worst sub in the game, and many players have already come to this conclusion; no need to optimistic about it.

what are you talking about optimistic ? I'm already pushing 30k points ink'd with the rapid blaster pro, and have been putting those seekers to work, especially at close range. Useless for getting places quick though like has been said.

I agree with LimitCrown about ink mines being the worst sub still. Even though I've grown to like them with the rapid blaster, I think seekers will rack up more kills for me with the rb pro in the long run.

 

[HappyBear801]

So, I tried this weapon out last night and everything said about it so far, good or bad, is all true in my experience. Like I thought, this is not a weapon for everybody, and it should only be used in the back lines where enemies rushing you down shouldn't be an option. Every aspect of this weapon is for killing at long range, be it the main weapon, the Seeker subs, or the Inkzooka special. Another thing is that its definitely built for bigger maps and, of course, ones that lend thenselves less to close combat. The problem is, last night I had the exact four worst maps for that scenario: Walleye Warehouse, Hammerhead Bridge, Blackbelly Skatepark, and Kelp Dome. So, I did enjoy this weapon, but I have to try it again on maps that better suit it. As for the weapon itself, being a Rapid Blaster Deco secondary, I did enjoy it, especially the Inkzooka, but the Seekers felt weird to use on it and while I liked the range increase, the decrease in fire rate doesn't make up for it for me, and I'll stick with the RBD. This is a good weapon for those who are all about range and who like bigger maps, but it's not my thing.
EDIT: I do like bigger maps though. I'm actually making my 12 best-worst maps and the big ones are all on top. Go figure.

 

[RiDEL]

I can't determine if it's good or bad. Coming from someone who uses the Rapid Blaster Deco I just don't like this weapon. I feel that trying to hit someone with a Blaster at this range is just not enjoyable, also trying to shot at someone from above doesn't work that well cause it loses it's blast radius on ground contact. Seekers are fun but they don't synergize well with this weapon at all. Inkzooka is never a bad special but since this weapon has niche ink coverage it becomes very hard to actually get one charged up.

 

[Heart of Ice]

. The best thing about seekers is that you don't have to aim or even know where an enemy is for the seeker to go potentially find a free kill for you when you aren't fighting anybody in the moment.

I have some bad news for you..... Seekers don't go after people hiding in their own ink.

 

[SupaTim]

I have some bad news for you..... Seekers don't go after people hiding in their own ink.

I think he/she meant that you can just fire a seeker blindly down a corridor or over a ramp and sometimes (more often to me than I'd like to admit) it will just surprise people and splat them. Not that it will necessarily track them down. It's kinda like a mobile suction bomb.

 

[LMG]

I think he/she meant that you can just fire a seeker blindly down a corridor or over a ramp and sometimes (more often to me than I'd like to admit) it will just surprise people and splat them. Not that it will necessarily track them down. It's kinda like a mobile suction bomb.

I remember that once I threw a Seeker down the ramps on the middle of Arowana Mall and it landed on a roller's head. Later on I tried the same trick with splat bombs, but never got the same results :(

 

[Box]

I'm not a fan of this weapon and it comes down to the seekers. It's not that they can't be useful, it's that they have far more limited use when compared to suction bombs. With the rapid deco, the suction bombs keep enemies at bay from angles where your main weapon can't hit. Seekers, on the other hand, mimic the behavior of the blaster by exploding on impact with walls. And the high ink cost limits would-be follow up options from the only long range seeker user.

There are a few maps where the extra range is appreciated but the rapid deco has a far greater number of positioning options by having a much more flexible sub weapon. Similarly, inkzooka is nice but the rapid deco has suction bomb rush.

 

[HappyBear801]

I'm not a fan of this weapon and it comes down to the seekers. It's not that they can't be useful, it's that they have far more limited use when compared to suction bombs. With the rapid deco, the suction bombs keep enemies at bay from angles where your main weapon can't hit. Seekers, on the other hand, mimic the behavior of the blaster by exploding on impact with walls. And the high ink cost limits would-be follow up options from the only long range seeker user.

There are a few maps where the extra range is appreciated but the rapid deco has a far greater number of positioning options by having a much more flexible sub weapon. Similarly, inkzooka is nice but the rapid deco has suction bomb rush.

Yeah that's my main problem with this weapon; how situational it is. You need to be on the exact right map and mode to do specacularly, unless you're very VERY dedicated. I actually tried it out last night and fared better, Flounder Heights and Blackbelly Skatepark being two much better maps for this weapon (especially Flounder Heights).

 

[LimitCrown]

I recently used the Rapid Blaster Pro today in Ranked Battle. I was able to reack Rank B+ with the weapon and it went better than I initially expected it to. The two stages that I was playing on were Arowana Mall and Walleye Warehouse and the mode was Tower Control. The Seekers didn't seem to be terrible; I mainly used them to create paths of ink that I could travel through or to splat opponents at close range or long range that were being distracted by another opponent. In other cases, I used the Seekers to cause the opponents to move from their positions so that I can splat them more easily with the main weapon. I found that it is best to keep my distance from the opponents or the tower in most cases so that the ball of ink from the Rapid Blaster Pro can explode right where they are if I don't get a direct hit. These were Rank B lobbies, though, so I don't know whether I'll have as much of an easy time with this weapon when I manage to reach Rank A. So far, the Rapid Blaster Pro is a very fun weapon for me to use.

 

[JFL]

So l've tried this weapon for a bit in turf war and l like it a lot.

The range and fire rate means you're going to demolish everything you outrange which surprisingly includes quite a few popular weapons. lt's also great at picking up leftovers, by that l mean if you stay a comfortable distance away from the frontlines and see one of your teammates in a duel, shooting in his direction is often going to steal his kill. On the other hand, a lot of my opponents who survived my barrage got easily taken out by someone else because l weakened them so much, so l guess it balances out.

Regarding seekers it's true they're not very useful but l managed to score a couple of kills against people who were able to close the distance on me, throwing a seeker point blank in their face will at least result in a trade. No need to talk about inzooka as everyone knows how good it is, although some special charge up should probably be used to have it more than once or twice in a match as you're not going to get a lot of turfing points with this weapon.

Overall this looks like a very solid weapon, l'm not too confident about bringing it to ranked but l'm sure someone more skilled than me could do some very interesting things with it. l could see it being dominant in tower control and on some maps like Arowana Mall, Port Mackerel or Camp Triggerfish.

 

[MakesDream]

I agree with box, the rbdeco has a lot more going for it, the firerate nerf is terrible considering the damage is the same, and the seekers just kill this weapon, they have basically no functionality and are so ink costly that they're almost never worth it. hopefully the rpb deco (disruptors and wail) will help, but i don't see it happening, the range is nice but not exactly needed, you get to outrange a few more weapons but the regular rb can still compete in the same range as some of the longer ranged weapons. The pro can compete with the js but with the pros firerate it has no presence against a weapon with similar range.

 

[HappyBear801]

I agree with box, the rbdeco has a lot more going for it, the firerate nerf is terrible considering the damage is the same, and the seekers just kill this weapon, they have basically no functionality and are so ink costly that they're almost never worth it. hopefully the rpb deco (disruptors and wail) will help, but i don't see it happening, the range is nice but not exactly needed, you get to outrange a few more weapons but the regular rb can still compete in the same range as some of the longer ranged weapons. The pro can compete with the js but with the pros firerate it has no presence against a weapon with similar range.

Well, the one big advantage that the RBP has over the JSs is the Inkzooka, since it's the only way between all three of them to pull out a long ranged 1-shot tool. Inkstrike can work for the Jet Squelcher, but it's unreliable for kills and it more useful for anchoring turf.

 

[Lonely_Dolphin]

Nah, in terms of the main weapons themselves, the RBP is definitely better than the standard. Significantly more range at the cost of a barely noticeable firerate drop, and that's literally the only real differences between them, so coming to this conclusion is easy. RB Deco does have best Sub n Special combo of any Rapid Blaster though, for now!

 

[JFL]

Yeah, l don't see how the fire rate nerf is "terrible", it's negligible and the range buff more than makes up for it.

it doesn't out range the dual squelcher either. http://splatoonwiki.org/wiki/Dual_Squelcher
granted dual only beats it by a very small margin.

It actually does. Numbers or the length of the ink trail don't say everything, what's really important is the effective range. Except if l somehow did things wrong, l tested the RBP earlier in the firing range and it's possible to do more than a hundred damage on a training dummy with no defense up in two hits at a greater range than every other shooter in the game with the exception of the Jet Squelcher.