So what happened to ninja squid?

[CM86]

So ya, what happened to ninja squid? I never see it anymore. I remember back in the day, it seemed like everyone ran ninja squid and stealth jump together (good old times). I am not even talking about just competitive splatoon. When I casually play in turf war, NO ONE runs ninja squid. It seems like the ability died out which is unfortunate. I always thought the brushes and sploosh's would benefit the stealthy approach.

Obviously, the swim reduction was a big turn off especially when they nerfed ninja squid. Do you think it will ever be viable anymore?

 

[Dessgeega]

I'm starting to think that it slowly dropped off because, well, it's useless against skilled players. It only removes swimming ripples, not the indent you make when moving, and eagle-eyed opponents can and will spot that.

 

[Xehias]

Weapons that benefit from being stealthy are mostly the short-range ones, and they need swim speed. Ninja Squid can be fun, but it's too easily countered to be used reliably, unfortunately.

It only removes swimming ripples, not the indent you make when moving, and eagle-eyed opponents can and will spot that.

Something of note is that the indent you make when swimming is extremely hard to see in Mahi-Mahi Resort due to the lighting effect. So if anything, Ninja Squid could be useful on there.

 

[CM86]

I think ninja squid should have the following buff: Make it so and do not affect it. No one uses it as it. At least it would get ninja squid back in the mix potentially.

 

[Floating Eyeball]

The trouble is, that would make entirely useless. It might be nice for a sequel, but then, and have their own trade-offs, some stealth in return for slower swim speed for , slightly less stealth and better swim speed for .

 

[Nero86]

I'm still seeing many Carbons in Ranked using Ninja Squid and doing pretty good.

Avoiding being traced at all for the cost of one main ability would be pretty cheap, I don't think it's that fair.

Edit: In ranked

 

[CM86]

The trouble is, that would make entirely useless. It might be nice for a sequel, but then, and have their own trade-offs, some stealth in return for slower swim speed for , slightly less stealth and better swim speed for .

Good point. Though I wouldn't rule out cold blooded as completely useless. Its as you said. Both have a drawback, but come with a benefit. The only other way I can see ninja squid helpful used more is if the indent when swimming was completely invisible too.

 

[Award]

I think in general the game became faster and much more aggressive and at this point especially ranked everything moves so fast, it would be hard to see a non-ninja squid anyway, and most of the time you know exactly where all your opponents are because they're jumping around shooting and flinging like crazy in the open. "Stealth" is a .06 second affair as they zip around you and you're prone to miss them even without NS :)

 

[Lonely_Dolphin]

You can replicate it's effects by simply swimming slowly, and the more Swim Speed you have the faster you can go while doing this, that's why I pretty much never use Ninja Squid.

 

[Forma]

Adding onto what everyone else has said, Ninja Squid just hasn't seen improvements be it through buffs or nerfs to other abilities that make it worthwhile to run over other abilities. It's just so much more advantageous to run almost anything else. Real shame too - I used to swear by it.

 

[Dessgeega]

Good points here. All the shiny new abilities that have been enhanced don't have penalties either. Why swim slowly when you can achieve ninja skills via other methods?

 

[Xehias]

This thread is starting to make me wonder if they’re going to go back on their decision to nerf Ninja Squid. Though I’ll admit I’d rather not have that become a mainstream ability—I don’t want to deal with learning to counter it in S+ rank lobbies.

 

[Ansible]

I'm starting to think that it slowly dropped off because, well, it's useless against skilled players. It only removes swimming ripples, not the indent you make when moving, and eagle-eyed opponents can and will spot that.

Thank you. Last night I was playing with a few folks on Discord. One of them always uses Ninja Squid but was wondering how a couple of us were often able to still find him. I couldn't really explain it to him myself how we were able to spot him.

But as you explain it, it seems my eyes could track some sort of shadow or indention whenever I kept an eye on him. Much appreciated.

 

[Dessgeega]

Thank you. Last night I was playing with a few folks on Discord. One of them always uses Ninja Squid but was wondering how a couple of us were often able to still find him. I couldn't really explain it to him myself how we were able to spot him.

But as you explain it, it seems my eyes could track some sort of shadow or indention whenever I kept an eye on him. Much appreciated.

Happy to be of service, and also a fine demonstration for the audience :P Until ninja squid gets a buff, it's not very ninja.

 

[Xehias]

Maybe it’d be more useful if it actually hid other things, such as the origin of an Inkstrike/Echolocator when you use it, or the sound of the weapon/of swimming through ink?

 

[Award]

Happy to be of service, and also a fine demonstration for the audience :p Until ninja squid gets a buff, it's not very ninja.

Yeah I never knew about the dimple thing. That's astoundingly awful.

Personally I hate dealing with ninja squids so I'm glad it's not used as much. They're annoying how they vanish up close and end up behind you, though a lot of squids do that even without NS. But I've always found that it works REALLY well when the enemy uses it, and NOT AT ALL when I use it. Enemies, especially snipers seem to see me whenever I use it to the point that it seemed useless. I'd rather it not come back, but seriously it should be ACTUALLY ninja if they're going to give it speed penalty. No dimple, no more splashing in the open any time you go over any sloped surface or round the corner. But then it would probably be way OP.

 

[Dessgeega]

But I've always found that it works REALLY well when the enemy uses it, and NOT AT ALL when I use it.

Behold, every Splatoon post on every forum ever!

 

[Award]

Behold, every Splatoon post on every forum ever!

Weapons - ohko for enemy, 4 for me. Dynamo: Whole wave is ohko for enemies, dead center only for me. NS: Enemies see me, but I can't see them :P

Got to wonder who these people are that the weapon DOES seem to kill no matter what they do? :) CURSE YOU KENSUKE!

 

[Genuine]

I enjoy using while playing Hide and Seek, but in regular/ranked battles, if I want to stay hidden, I can just move the joystick slowly so I can have "an extra ability" for my shirt. That's just what I do, though.​

 

[SupaTim]

I used to use it all the time, but the speed nerf really does kill it pretty bad. I will sometimes use a build with 6 swim speed subs and ninja squid, but I noticed it is only good on maps that don't have a lot of narrow passages. It isn't really the best for stealth, like it used to be. I did find that it helps in firefights while swim strafing. You opponent typically has no idea where you went then you pop up behind them and SPLAT!

The prevalence of echolocator is also problematic. Can't be stealthy when people know exactly where you are....