Reticle Tier List

[Yosi Spring]

If you've tried out every weapon, you'll know that not all reticles are made equal in Splatoon 3. But nobody really talks about it, so I'm gonna do an overly-analytical and biased deep dive into this topic . I posted a tier list on Reddit like a year ago but a lot of things have changed since then, so I wanted to make a new one.

First, let's define some criteria to rank the reticles with:
- "Accurate": a reticle is accurate if it adequately shows the area a weapon can hit.
- "Point of Impact": if a reticle changes when hovering over an enemy, or hovering over a wall.
- "Visible": if the reticle is easy to see, shows up when you need it, and isn't too distracting.
- "Gimmick": if the reticle matches the weapon's unique gimmick.

Now for the tier list...

"Please rework LOL" Tier:

• This is the tier for reticles that I hope Nintendo changes immediately.
• Splatana Reticle:
  • [Accurate , Point of Impact , Visible , Gimmick ]
  • The reticle for both Splatanas gets its own tier at the very bottom of the list. The most obvious issue is that when you charge up, it switches to the vertical reticle and no longer has Point of Impact. This means the game doesn't tell you how much range you have, or if your shot is going to be blocked by a wall. I honestly thought it was just a development mistake at first, since the horizontal reticle does have Point of Impact, but they haven't touched it at all. The reticle also fails to properly represent the Splatanas' gimmick because it switches to the vertical mode as soon as you hold down ZR, instead of after a vertical slash is charged.
• Stringer Reticle:
  • [Accurate , Point of Impact , Visible , Gimmick ]
  • This one might be a hot take, but after playing bow weapons in Fortnite I think that the Stringer reticle should show the entire path the arrows will take, including exactly where they will land. Just like how sub weapons work. One of the gimmicks of Stringers is that they can one-shot people hiding behind cover, but the game offers zero help with lining up the arc. While this change would take away some skill expression, it would greatly benefit newer players and increase the consistency of both weapons.

"Bad" Tier:

• This is the tier for reticles that should be changed in Splatoon 4.
• Brush Reticle:
  • [Accurate , Point of Impact , Visible , Gimmick ]
  • Brushes have a pretty useless reticle. Their hitbox doesn't line up with it at all, and it doesn't tell you if you're in range to hit a target or not. This is especially noticeable on Painbrush. Additionally, the reticle continues to exist on the screen while you're running around with ZR...and it changes based on if you're moving towards or away from the camera, which serves no purpose. The only reason why it isn't in the lowest tier is that brushes don't even need a reticle in the first place
• Roller Reticle:
  • [Accurate , Point of Impact , Visible , Gimmick ]
  • The roller reticle has mostly the same issues as the brush reticle, but I'm giving it Gimmick points because it properly changes when you are in vertical flick mode. It's also worth noting that recent patches have increased the hitbox sizes of rollers to match the reticle better, but it's still not good enough for me to consider it an Accurate reticle.
• Trislosher / Machine / Explosher Reticle:
  • [Accurate , Point of Impact , Visible , Gimmick ]
  • All the Sloshers reuse the reticle from the Shooter class. This is especially odd for these 3 weapons, whose hitboxes are much bigger than their reticles would suggest. The reticles also don't help with the gimmick of sloshers - hitting targets over walls.
• Splat Brella / Tent Reticle:
  • [Accurate , Point of Impact , Visible , Gimmick ]
  • If you've played Brella for even a few games, you'll know quite well that having someone inside the reticle means NOTHING about how much damage the shot will do. Now I know this isn't entirely the reticle's fault, but there's still another issue I have with this reticle - it doesn't show you how long you can hold the shield before launching. This would be a great QoL change, especially for Splat Brellas.

"Good" Tier:

• This is the tier for reticles that are usable, but could be improved.
• Shooters Reticle:
  • [Accurate , Point of Impact , Visible , Gimmick ]
  • The Shooter reticle is pretty much the gold standard. There's almost no flaws in them...except for a small issue with accuracy. They have a mechanic where their accuracy gets worse the longer you shoot, and the reticle does not reflect this. Of course, for some weapons this doesn't matter at all - that's why I put Aerospray in the higher tier even though it also gets worse accuracy over time. (Also I didn't want to just stick all the Shooters in the same tier )
• Charger Reticle:
  • [Accurate , Point of Impact , Visible , Gimmick ]
  • Chargers have a pretty good reticle - it clearly shows the charge amount, works with the scope, and even shows the gimmicks for Snipewriter and Goo Tuber (on my last tier list I had Goo Tuber in "Bad", but then they patched it!). Unfortunately, they have the same issue as other backline weapons, which is that the reticle doesn't appear until you start holding ZR. This isn't too bad for Splatlings and Stringers, but it hurts Chargers by making tap shots harder to hit.
• Hydra / Heavy Edit Reticle:
  • [Accurate , Point of Impact , Visible , Gimmick ]
  • This is definitely nitpicking, but I would like if these reticles indicated when you were firing in the full charge mode. The game does have other tells in the sound effects and visual effects, but it feels like they could have done something cool with the reticle, too.
• Sloshers Reticle:
  • [Accurate , Point of Impact , Visible , Gimmick ]
  • Reusing the Shooter reticle works pretty well on these Sloshers. It would be even better if the reticle gave the player an idea of how far the slosh would arc.
• Undercover Reticle:
  • [Accurate , Point of Impact , Visible ]
  • Since Undercover can't launch its shield, I don't think the reticle is as lacking.

"Great" Tier:

• This is the tier for reticles that are perfectly fine.
• Shooters Reticle:
  • [Accurate , Point of Impact , Visible ]
  • I don't think there's anything to add here.
• Blasters Reticle:
  • [Accurate , Point of Impact , Visible , Gimmick ]
  • I wasn't entirely sure how to rank this one. The reticle doesn't show the blast radius at all, so it's technically inaccurate...but the blast radius is easy to see from the visual effects. Having the blast radius in the reticle would introduce more visual clutter, so I think it's fine as-is.
• Splatlings Reticle:
  • [Accurate , Point of Impact , Visible ]
  • Nothing to add.
• Dualies Reticle:
  • [Accurate , Point of Impact , Visible , Gimmick ]
  • The Dualies class was lucky enough to be gifted a reticle that properly shows which firing mode the weapons are in. There are some Accuracy issues when in the normal firing mode, but I don't think it's a big deal.

"Exceptional" Tier:

• This is the tier for reticles that I especially like.
• Squeezer Reticle:
  • [Accurate , Point of Impact , Visible , Gimmick ]
  • This reticle does everything right. It does slightly misrepresent the accuracy of the painting mode, but like for Aerospray, accuracy doesn't matter much for painting.
• S-BLAST Reticle:
  • [Accurate , Point of Impact , Visible , Gimmick ]
  • I'm just putting it in a higher tier than the other Blasters because it has a gimmick.
• Ballpoint Reticle:
  • [Accurate , Point of Impact , Visible , Gimmick ]
  • The Accuracy thing might be more of a problem after the recent patch but it has a cool gimmick so it gets to be in this tier

TLDR; Please change the reticles for Splatanas and Stringers, I am going to go insane

 

[youre_a_squib_now]

Stringers get their own tier. On the top.
The path being shown would take the fun out of it. Like seriously, what's the point of hitting a sick fall off one shot if it just marks out the path for you?
Aside from the coolness factor, it would also just take so much skill expression away from the weapon

 

[→Raccoon←]

YESSS bp reticle my goat

 

[plantknowsyourlocation]

roller reticles are actually kinda nice imo, rollers wouldnt fit a normal reticle with how they legit aim at the floor to make verticals hit max damage, and horizontals travel in an arc. main gripe is that with swig express having no reticle makes dart so much harder to aim

 

[Yosi Spring]

Stringers get their own tier. On the top.
The path being shown would take the fun out of it. Like seriously, what's the point of hitting a sick fall off one shot if it just marks out the path for you?
Aside from the coolness factor, it would also just take so much skill expression away from the weapon

On one hand I agree with you. On the other hand, I think lowering the skill ceiling a bit to greatly increase the consistency would be a fine tradeoff. They could also have it show only the first half of the arc, so it's a bit easier to aim but still requires estimation

 

[youre_a_squib_now]

On one hand I agree with you. On the other hand, I think lowering the skill ceiling a bit to greatly increase the consistency would be a fine tradeoff. They could also have it show only the first half of the arc, so it's a bit easier to aim but still requires estimation

It does show the first half of the arc. The first half of the arc is a straight line away from the player, which is what the reticle is for.

 

[Yosi Spring]

roller reticles are actually kinda nice imo, rollers wouldnt fit a normal reticle with how they legit aim at the floor to make verticals hit max damage, and horizontals travel in an arc. main gripe is that with swig express having no reticle makes dart so much harder to aim

Yeah that's fair, though I think they could probably come up with a way to have it more accurately indicate the range. And yeah if I did a tier list for subs/specials, marker would be in the lowest tier LOL

 

[Yosi Spring]

It does show the first half of the arc. The first half of the arc is a straight line away from the player, which is what the reticle is for.

oh...yeah, that would make sense
Guess I want it to show 3/4 of the arc then

 

[Bits]

stamper is fine tbh