To be truthful, the Splatterscope series is far easier to use and get to grips with. It has a faster charge time and more shots per full ink tank than the E-Litre, allowing more room for error (which will happen until you get comfortable with chargers and reading people's movements to get the most snipes). Splat Chargers and E-Litres co-exist alongside each other, there is no "better" charger variant between them, and both can be used just as effectively and hold their own. In my opinion, and my experience, I find that Splat Charger/Splatterscope can be played more aggressively than the E-Litre, as it has more mobility whilst charging, a faster charge and doesn't have the 10% reduction in swim speed like the E-Litre. The E-Litre has been reduced to more of a perch sniper, especially with some of the final patch adjustments that were made to it. E-Litre really requires precise aim because you have a significantly longer charge time and only have 3 charges per full ink tank, so missing shots is pretty bad.
It all comes down to personal preference really, I would recommend starting with the Splat Charger line and then looking into the E-Litre when you start to perform consistently and are comfortable with the sniping role. Then you have to consider the kits and your own personal play style preference. Splat Charger comes with the options of
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with the E-Litres offering
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. The only chargers that really overlap here is the Bento and E-Litre, both offering Echo. I prefer playing Bento for the charger with Echo, I kind of need to focus on using the Wall more though, I generally spend time forgetting about it and never use it, but it's handy for setting up on exposed perches, especially when you know they have an E-Litre. Unfortunately the Wall isn't the greatest since the nerfs, so it doesn't stand for too long, but you should be able to get 2 shots off before it gets destroyed, and then you need to refill your ink tank anyway. I find that the Kelp is the most effective charger for Ranked, as the Spinkler is fab for map control and the Wail is super useful on Tower and Rainmaker, where it can stop pushes and pop the RM shield (which refills most of your special gauge if you get the pop). Wail can be used to force the enemy into revealing themselves too, which helps for sniping. The vanilla is really nice too, it has bombs which can be rolled past walls and corners, and can be thrown further or rolled close to space, as well as having a very good special for pressuring. As for the E-Litres, I prefer the Custom because if you have to play like a perch sniper and can't be too aggressive, you may as well just play more support with your kit. Beakons are so useful for the team, as it allows them fast access back to mid when it's needed most, as well as allowing you a retreat option after using your Kraken without going back to spawn, essentially the same as getting splatted. Think of the Kraken as the way people use Bursts on the vanilla, it's there as the panic button to save yourself from being flanked and splatted. The vanilla is of course liked for the Burst Bomb ground strat to save yourself, but I feel like the Custom provides better support than the vanilla can.
Here are the kits I use for these chargers:
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(I know that isn't the Krak-On 528 but it's close enough)
This Kelp set gives me the bog standard damage for a faster TTK (helping for the aggression play style) and manoeuvrability buffs to get around the map more easily (also allowing me to pick up the Rainmaker when it's needed). The idea behind this set is to be able to move quickly (even when charging shots I can strafe slightly faster) and be a mobile charger that can get move around easily whilst hitting shots, allowing me to challenge E-Litres where I can't reach from the normal perches.
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Uses 1 Shiny and a Pure, but that's unavoidable when aiming for Tenacity + Damage on one gear and using Haunt. Haunt isn't necessary at all, but I've been experimenting and have had some positive results from it. I took out the Run Speed because the Wall means you should be more perch based as a charger. This weapon is essentially the go between for the Splat Charger vs E-Litre scenario. The Swim Speed has stayed because it's pretty useful for moving around and it's always faster than walking anyway. Haunt is here because when you get tagged you get Run Speed, Damage and Defence perks during the mark, which gives you more speed, a better TTK for your charge and you have Defence perks helping your endurance. Combined with Tenacity (to help charge Echo as there is no helpful subs for that), I can tag people quite a bit between the special and Haunt (which tags whoever splatted you).
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Once again, a build reliant on a shiny and pure, but that's the Splatoon devs' fault for not giving us all possible gear combos on stackable abilities across Headgear, Clothing and Shoes. The damage is standard, this allows you to splat at 75% charge iirc. The Ink Recovery is here so that I can get back to full tank quickly after placing a Beakon and just to get a full charge back ASAP and the swim speed exists for the purpose of countering the swim nerf and keeping a decent Kraken, it's essentially a requirement so you don't have a bad Kraken because of the E-Litre swim speed nerf. I prefer Ink Recovery to Saver Main when it comes to shots as I feel it's better to get ink back quicker to keep full charging shots at maximum speed than it is to get 4 or 5 full charges with loads of Saver Main. If you use the vanilla E-Litre than 2 mains or 1 main/3 subs of Saver Sub will give you 3 Bursts from a full tank, which lots of people do to help spam Burst Bombs on the floor to carry on with the CRC panic button. All in all it just depends on your personal preference, the way these work and how they fit with your tactics and strategies, that's without taking the kits into account. I wish you luck in learning the charger class!
