Sub Weapon Synergy Tier List

[OnePotWonder]

I felt compelled to think about which weapons would work best with my favorite sub weapon and rank them on a tier list.

Ink Mine Synergy

Each tier should be fairly self-explanatory, but I'll give some explanations.

Excellent tier weapons fit all of the specifications of a good Ink Mine weapon, with the right combination of range and mobility along with damage combos to optimize their ability to place and play off of their mines. And, of course, none of them actually have the sub.

Strong tier weapons fit two out of three specifications of Excellent tier weapons, and only aren't in the highest tier due to weaker combos, lower mobility, or just the fact that they prefer other sub weapons. The exception is Inkbrush, with its unique relationship to Mines.

Decent tier weapons can function fine with Mines, but would almost always prefer something else.

Damage Combo Only tier weapons combo off of Mines' damage, but don't want the sub over other options for various reasons. Most obviously, many of the weapons in this tier want a sub to enhance paint, or help cover a paint weakness, which Mines cannot do.

Not Good tier is the last tier where weapons can glean some use from Mines, and the sub wouldn't be a kit killer as long as said kit had a strong special it could spam. These weapons only have one good trait for Ink Mine each or prefer nearly anything else over it.

Worthless tier contains the few weapon whose kits Ink Mine would instantly kill, either having none of the traits good for Ink Mine weapons or virtually no damage combos (literally none in the case of .52).

There are a few interesting quirks when it comes to this list. The most obvious is the two Gals being split between Top and Bottom tier, another is there being fewer weapons Mines are completely worthless on than work perfectly with it. The heaviest distribution of weapons lands around the middle of the tier list, which just goes to show how Ink Mine is balanced; the sub is decent on anything, rarely a kit killer and rarely better than other options. Even many of the weapons in Excellent tier would prefer other subs like Splash Wall or bombs. Mines are stuck in this awkward middle ground between the best and worst subs in the game, never terrible, but never what a weapon actually wants. I find this pretty interesting.

As for the obligatory balance idea, here's how I would buff Mines to put them closer to the level of other subs:

Ink Mine

Direct damage increased from 45 to 60​

Ink cost reduced from 60% to 55%​

The first change gives a lot of weapons in Decent and Not Good tiers much better damage combos, and would push a lot of weapons upward in terms of synergy with the sub. Though, the new damage number would uproot the Damage Combo Only tier and actually lower the synergy on some of its weapons, as well as a couple in Strong tier. However, this change would also cut the Worthless tier in half by giving .52, Aerospray, and Splat Roller worthwhile combos. The second change is a quality of life enhancement to leave weapons with more ink after using the sub, which is good for weapons like Brella.

Feel free to come up with your own lists down below.
Thanks for reading, and have a wonderful day.

 

[QuagSass]

I'm kinda interested in your reasoning for Naut here. I think I see the vision, but I would like to hear why you think it has excellent synergy with mines. And also why Edit is in Not Good tier.

 

[OnePotWonder]

I'm kinda interested in your reasoning for Naut here. I think I see the vision, but I would like to hear why you think it has excellent synergy with mines. And also why Edit is in Not Good tier.

It's simple enough. Naut plays in forward positions and its mid-fire recharge makes deployable subs like Ink Mine particularly good for it compared to on other weapons. It can combo off of the damage and enjoys the location effect. It can usually get in fine even with the Point Sensor on its vanilla kit. Ink Mine just seems like a great fit and gives it some much-needed defensive utility.

While Edit also plays a bit more forward than other splatlings to place the mines in good spots, it's the only splatling to not combo two shots with the mines' damage. It also doesn't mind having an expensive bomb compared to other splatlings, making Ink Mine even less appealing for it when there are more good options. It can work with the sub, but probably prefers anything else that isn't Dart or Mist.

 

[solz]

You should do this with all the subs

 

[OnePotWonder]

You should do this with all the subs

I'm planning on leaving that to everyone else. I know Ink Mine better than anything else.

 

[Vidknight]

I know a good bit about curling bomb so I created a tier list for synergy Don't really feel like explaining right now. But I will later (Hopefully)

 

[OnePotWonder]

Curling is pretty good on Painbrush though, is it not? Gives the weapon a movement tool that doesn’t require a second of startup.

 

[Vidknight]

Curling is pretty good on Painbrush though, is it not? Gives the weapon a movement tool that doesn’t require a second of startup.

This is the reason why I shouldn't do tierlists at nighttime lmao. Painbrush does have great synergy with the weapon it just that I forgot to put it in a higher tier. I haven't played the weapon in 5-6 months and I seen like 2 painbrushes in solo queue during that time frame so I simply forgot everything about the weapon, but yea I would place it in the "Would work wonders" tier.

 

[Algae]

@OnePotWonder Wonderin' why ink mine's good with inkbrush but not octobrush

 

[solz]

Combos

 

[madt]

ah yes... I use just picked up wellstring and with ink mine...

*Chef's kiss*

 

[Mili]

@OnePotWonder Wonderin' why ink mine's good with inkbrush but not octobrush

I'm not sure if this is the reasoning OnePotWonder had in mind when making this list, but Inkbrush is much better at putting ink mines in awkward spots for the enemy team compared to Octobrush who does a lot less sneaking around, and is more reliant on sharking, I feel octobrush appreciates pokes more than deployable subs, , while inkbrush's mobility allows it more freedom on putting deployable subs in more spots than other weapons.

 

[youre_a_squib_now]

I know a good bit about curling bomb so I created a tier list for synergy Don't really feel like explaining right now. But I will later (Hopefully)

View attachment 13625

Why nautilus so high? It would much rather not lose its charge to throw the curling because it would have to charge back up to swim in it, at which point it would already be painted over.
Or it could use the curling to go in without charge. Not sure I need to explain why that's a bad idea.

 

[Vidknight]

Why nautilus so high? It would much rather not lose its charge to throw the curling because it would have to charge back up to swim in it, at which point it would already be painted over.
Or it could use the curling to go in without charge. Not sure I need to explain why that's a bad idea.

You are on the mark with naut. I realize now after looking at the other weapons in the tier it can follow up well with curling and get a pretty quick kill or enhance its mobility pretty well. While nautlius can't really follow up on it to well and it doesn't really need much of an escape tool since it can defend itself pretty well. So guess I'm moving naut to "eh..." and while we're at it hedit to "It can work".

 

[isaac4]

Normally, my process for determining main/sub synergy is a lot more complicated and takes longer than just a few days but I made this as a rough idea of what I thought would work best with Fizzy.
Obviously, Fizzy isn't bad on anything but the sub enables some weapons much more than others.
For example, Slosher would be much better with Fizzy than Machine due to just being a stronger main weapon but Slosher doesn't need Fizzy as much as Machine does.
Worse ink efficiency plays a huge factor here but Machine also focuses more on mobility and chip damage so having the paint and damage from Fizzy really helps the main play to its role better.
I'm open to changing things around since I know a lot of these might be inaccurate (I don't play most of these weapons anyway).

 

[lesbianseagull]

Curling is pretty good on Painbrush though, is it not? Gives the weapon a movement tool that doesn’t require a second of startup.

Yup. Painbrush + Curling Bombs + NS/Swim Speed has very good synergy. Most of the time I throw Curling Bombs to get to the center stage quickly or just as a misdirection for an enemy cuz they'll usually suspect an enemy is swimming in the path and immediately ink it. Other times I spam them in contested areas that are too dangerous to approach. But once you create an ink path that gets ignored by the enemy that's when you make your move and ambush someone. It's also a good mobility alternative to running, making it more stealthy overall.

It's worth noting that what makes Curling Bombs particular good on the Painbrush is that the Painbrush has the range (both in terms of width and length of flicks) to really take full advantage of entering into enemy territory with a Curling Bomb path and attacking enemies. When you're surrounded by enemy ink and your shots are narrow there's a chance of you missing an enemy. And when your shots are real short it makes it easy for them to back up out of the range and kill you. Painbrush is good at covering these weaknesses. If they back up out of the range of the Painbrush they're usually far enough away to where you have time to run back to safety. The only other weapon that utilized this strategy to this degree would be the Tempered Dynamo from the first game (although now Dynamos have the vertical flick to make such paths so maybe they don't need path-making sub weapons).

I will be utterly inconsolable if the Painbrush doesn't get Curling Bombs in the next game.

 

[AdphæeXD]

View attachment 13635

This is a pretty good tierlist in my opinion, but I don't understand why Tetras are so low, and I think BP should be one up. Edit isn't great with Fizzy cause the charge time, but BP can use Fizzy without as much effort—although, I do agree BP doesn't need Fizzy. I still think Tetras should be placed higher due to the fact Fizzy paints lines to approach through; additionally, Fizzy allows Tetras something to do when it lacks a numbers advantage (since you cannot skirmish without a slayer,) and Tetras can safely use Fizzy because they're ink efficient.

 

[isaac4]

This is a pretty good tierlist in my opinion, but I don't understand why Tetras are so low, and I think BP should be one up. Edit isn't great with Fizzy cause the charge time, but BP can use Fizzy without as much effort—although, I do agree BP doesn't need Fizzy. I still think Tetras should be placed higher due to the fact Fizzy paints lines to approach through; additionally, Fizzy allows Tetras something to do when it lacks a numbers advantage (since you cannot skirmish without a slayer,) and Tetras can safely use Fizzy because they're ink efficient.

My justification for Tetras came from the slower pace that Fizzy might force on the weapon since you need to charge it first as well as the paint being less of a factor for a weapon that's already focused on rushing in and dying but I didn't consider how it could use it when it needs to defend. You're also right about the ink efficiency not being a problem so I would place it higher now with all of this in mind.
It would only be by one spot though and the same goes for BP which isn't as restricted as the rest of the backlines in the same tier it's currently in.