Subs and Specials in Splatoon 4

[OnePotWonder]

It's finally time for the grand compilation of all of my sub and special weapon ideas. These special ideas all combine with one another to form a coherent roster of specials in Splatoon 4, and the sub ideas offer more tools for unique kits. Because of the sheer amount of content here, I won't be able to give any explanations for why I think these ideas are good, but I'm happy to discuss in the comments. Without further ado, this will be a long one.

Sub Weapons
The new sub weapons presented here are the Clam Trap, Light Bomb, and Boba Bomb. All subs from Splatoon 3 will return with several changes to balance out the divide between bombs and Splash Wall versus the utility subs.

Spoiler: Sub Weapon Rebalancing

Splat Bomb, Suction Bomb, Autobomb, Curling Bomb, Burst Bomb, Fizzy Bomb, Torpedo

Blast radius reduced by 25%​

Angle Shooter

Ink cost reduced to 30%​

Direct hit damage increased to 45, damage to objects doubled​

Direct hit tracking time increased from 5 to 7 seconds​

Toxic Mist

Slow decreased to a constant 10% speed reduction​

Ink drain increased to 10% of the ink tank per second​

Deals 20 DPS to enemies in the mist (0.33 DPF)​

Fizzy Bomb

Ink cost reduced to 55%​

Ink cost increased by 5% with each level of charge​

Splash Wall

Base HP reduced from 800 to 600​

HP decay reduced from 15% per second to 12.5% per second​

Throwing range reduced by 30%​

New Sub Weapon: Clam Trap

The Clam Trap is a hunting trap with clam-like stylization, having curved blades in place of teeth and a white, pearl-like sensor in its center. Its body is a metallic shade of the user's ink color. The trap can be thrown a short distance and arms after one second, covering an area 2.5 distance units in diameter, and submerging in friendly ink if applicable to leave only its edges and sensor visible. The trap snaps shut around anything that passes over it, dealing 220 damage and deleting bombs in its area. The trap breaks when triggered, and can also be broken with 300 damage. It costs 65% of the ink tank.​

New Sub Weapon: Light Bomb

The Light Bomb is a lightweight bomb with a lightbulb design, having a glassy texture and a filament faintly visible inside of it. It has the same throwing physics as Splatoon 2's Torpedoes and a detonation time of one second. The bomb glows and illuminates the ink around it before it explodes, revealing enemies in the area with Thermal Ink highlights. After exploding, the bomb leaves behind a cloud of colored smoke that dissipates over half of a second. The smoke blocks vision unless a player is inside of it, but also highlights enemies inside of it. The bomb deals 60 damage in a 2.8 unit radius, and 35 splash damage in a 4.2 unit radius. It costs 60% of the ink tank.​

New Sub Weapon: Boba Bomb

The Boba Bomb is a flip-top glass bottle filled to the bursting point with explosive paintballs. The sub bursts on contact with a player or terrain, dealing 30 damage in a small 2.4 unit radius, and releasing a storm of tiny explosive pellets in an area around it. The pellets begin to land and explode after just over half a second if the sub lands on the ground, or longer if it strikes a wall above ground. The pellets deal 60 DPS over the course of one second and thoroughly paint the ground within 4.0 units of where the sub landed. It costs 60% of the ink tank.​

Returning Specials
Many specials from Splatoon 3 would return, many with significant changes. The only special to return with no changes is the already-perfect Crab Tank. Also returning are Zipcaster, Wave Breaker, Kraken Royale, Super Chump, Booyah Bomb, and Bubble Blower from Splatoon 2.

Crab Tank

No changes.​

Zipcaster

The user's main weapon is replaced by an ink shuriken attack for the duration of the special. The shuriken flies in a straight line at slightly faster speed than an Inkjet's shots, dissipating at roughly the same maximum range. A shuriken deals 60 damage with a direct hit and 30 splash damage in a small (3.0 unit) radius. Each shuriken consumes 8% of the user's ink tank.​

Wave Breaker

Now emits up to 5 waves, with each wave being 0.1 units taller than the previous.​

Kraken Royale

Now has 800 HP of armor. The special ends early if this armor is broken. Movement speed increased by ~5% (from default middleweight swim speed to default lightweight).​

Super Chump

A chump will always land at the center of the targeted area.​

Booyah Bomb

Armor startup time increased by 10 frames.​

Bubble Blower

Sub weapons can no longer be used during the special.​

Damage dealt to bubbles by bombs decreased by 30%.​

New Specials
Finally, what you've all been ever-so-patiently waiting for; all of my new and reworked special ideas. The Super Ballzooka, Second Spawn, Reefslider Neo, Bubble Barrier, Tactical Inkstrike, and Killer Wail Surround.

Super Ballzooka

This reworked Tri-Zooka comes with a new, gumball machine-inspired look. Rather than firing a group of three swirling in globs, the special only fires one ink ball, but said ball is able to bounce off of terrain up to twice before expiring. The shots deal 220 damage with a direct hit and 50 splash damage in a 3.4 unit radius. Enemies caught in the splash radius are also knocked away from where the ball lands. The special can only fire three shots by default, but if it splats an enemy, it recovers one shot. The special has one second of startup and a maximum duration of eight seconds.​

Second Spawn

Activating this special causes the user to Super Jump straight upward, where their Spawner drone will catch them in mid-air. The user can steer the drone around above the stage at slightly faster speed than swimming, 50% higher in the air than Inkjet. At any time while guiding around the drone, the user can press ZL to initiate a Squid Spawn on the spot. They launch back onto the stage with three seconds of spawn armor and gain full access to their main and sub weapon. When the special's duration runs out or if the user tries to Super Jump back to their spawn, they recall to the point where they initiated the special. The special has a total duration of twelve seconds, which pauses while executing the Squid Spawn.​

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Reefslider Neo

This special lets the user ride a Reefslider-like shark floaty colored a dark shade of the user's ink with a metal muzzle around the front. After the same startup as Reefslider, guide rails extend a short distance in front of the special as it begins to rush forward, running over anything in its path. The user can steer the special as it moves, though turning reduces the special's speed from Reefslider to slightly faster than swiming at angles shallower than 45 degrees, and to slightly faster than running at angles steeper than 45 degrees. After three seconds or if the special user presses ZR, the rails angle slightly upward to create a ramp, and the special dives forward a short distance, exploding on impact with the ground in a radius 25% smaller than Reefslider's. The special can also be broken early if it takes 300 damage.​

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Bubble Barrier

This special is visually the same as Big Bubbler, save for the fact that the emitter is included in the base and it has no weak point on top, meaning its radius isn't constrained by low ceilings. The barrier produced by the special has 600 HP, but it recovers 75 HP per second if not at the maximum. The barrier also blocks the damage from Booyah Bomb and Tactical Inkstrike. The special doesn't end if the barrier is broken; a new barrier will be produced in three seconds as long as the emitter remains intact. An enemy that passes through the barrier, in or out, takes 30 damage. The emitter has 450 HP of its own and the special ends early if it's broken. Otherwise, its maximum duration is twelve seconds.​

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Tactical Inkstrike

This special gives the user two shoulder-mounted missile launchers reminiscent of Tenta Missiles and allows the user to target up to two enemy players within Triple Inkstrike's maximum throwing range, prioritizing closer targets. The special fires two inkstrikes at the targets when locked, marking them with warning indicator circles akin to Tenta Missiles. There is a four second delay between the strikes being fired and landing, as well as between the two strikes landing if a single enemy is targeted. The strikes have a slightly larger radius than those of Triple Inkstrike.​

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Killer Wail Surround

This special causes four sizable square speakers to orbit the user like shields. Each speaker has 100 HP and can be broken by enemy attacks. If a speaker is used or broken, the remaining speakers space out to fill in the gap left behind and rotate faster to keep cadence. The user has full access to their main weapon while the special is active, but their sub weapon is replaced by the speakers. Pressing R causes the frontmost speaker to lock in place in front of the user and stop following them, before firing a Killer Wail with similar strength and duration to a Killer Wail 5.1 speaker, except in a five times wider radius. Unlike the 5.1 speakers, the Killer Wail Surround's speakers continue to fire in the same direction and don't track opponents. The special ends when all the speakers are broken or expended, or after 9 seconds.​

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Conclusion
Thank you for taking the time to read this post. It may be expanded upon in the future with new concepts to round out a full 15 specials, but these are all the design ideas I have at the moment. Feel free to share your feedback.
Please, for my sake after writing out all of this, have a wonderful day.

 

[youre_a_squib_now]

I already had my own rework idea for bubble, but this gave me a new idea or two to add to it. Hopefully I'll do that soon.