Splatoon 2 Tenta missiles viability/usefulness?

[vanille987]

(first of all, sorry if there was a similar thread already made about this, i didn't find one from a few quick searches)
So from sources other then here i keep hearing how tenta missiles is 'bad' or 'more annoying then usefull' etc.
But i keep hearing how the special is also 'fire and forget' or simliar.
Or even how sting ray does it's job better, but those specials have a different 'job' or i'm i missing something?
I always thought tenta missiles was supposed to be fired upon the enemy forcing them to move and create chaos.
Then while the enemy team formation is disrupted, use the opportunity to push and get the upper hand. (the fact targeted enemy's stay tagged for a wile helps too)
Overall the special is great for starting a push and force the enemy to break their formation or so i like to think about it at least.
Admittedly, i don't have a lot of experience with this on high level play so i'd like to hear what the general thought about tenta missiles here is.
Is it really that bad or more like misunderstood or 'underrated'?

 

[Enperry]

I think Tenta Missiles is a very underrated special. I have heard too many times that it's the "Worst special ever" and stuff like that, but I disagree. The uncommon tactic of "Quad Tenta Missiles" is a very proven powerful tactic that I keep losing to for modes like Rainmaker and Splat Zones. Many times I take the Dualie Squelchers + Special Up into ranked and support my team very well. In addition, I've lost too many times against Tentas in general.

 

[Flammie]

Underrated?
Add up your special gauge, aim, fire, now you can build up another one immediately.

They are very viable as they are unavoidable to begin with, they have to target you before they drop down, so you are always in the risk of getting splatted by these, wherever you go.

Oh Ninja Squid and Stealth Jump don't matter, use these and you can see EVERYTHING...

These things are almost a win button if used at the right timing.

Seriously, fighting FOUR of these things at the same time?
It's almost impossible since you are expecting one barrage of 4, and suddenly it's a sandwiched version of 2 others, so you are running far longer than expected...

I mean four words on how to use it:
Turf, Aim, Fire, Repeat.

 

[Tech_Toxic]

My opinion in solo tenta missals are only good for gaining random map control and informing You where opponents are.
In duos and Squads with Voice chat? knowing where everyone on the make is and being able to apply pressure all over the map? With the new buff that lets you swim while using it its actually really great.

 

[AllToonedUp]

I think it's very underrated because the more people that you target, the more missiles will be fired and like you said, it's great for forcing to move. If the other team is cornered in your ink or if they don't move in time, they're basically squid toast.

It's one of the better specials imo since it can be used offensively and defensively and being able to swim with it now makes it much more viable for competitive play.

 

[Mar$el]

There was actually a game at beakon and one team was trying to pass the second checkpoint in overtime for the win, but then missiles targeted all 4 of them in that very enclosed area where it's already hard to get by and they got slaughtered. This is also useful on other tower maps like inkblot when people are trying to pass checkpoints. You can tear apart a rain push as well if they are just causing havoc moving up slowly if they're all in the same spot. I started maining slosher and then now I'm in love with the mini splatling and missiles are just to amazing at shutting down enclosed areas. Half pipe in blackbelly. plat on inkblot. 2nd checkpoint on sturgeon. So many spots you just shut down pushes.

 

[Dessgeega]

I'm going to be lazy and copy-paste what I said in another thread, yay!

People love to talk about how Tenta Missiles are "so bad" because you can walk away, but here's the thing - you have to walk away. You HAVE to move. If you don't, you will die. Tenta Missiles are fantastic for flushing out entrenched enemies, timed well with advancing allies this can result in game-winning pushes as the enemy is forced out of a comfortable position. In competitive play this can also be used for call-outs, as you can tell your teammates with voice chat where the enemy is and where they're going.

 

[Либра]

Oh Tenta Missiles, you're often terribly misunderstood even though you're easily one of the most versatile specials in the game. When you're hearing it's the "worst" special in the game, it's most likely from the perspective of a player who is out for consistent kills. If getting consistent 2-3 kills per special is your main focus, then yes, the Tenta Missiles are among the worst for the job. But here's the thing: They aren't meant to.
When using the Missiles on say, the Bambi, the Missiles serve multiple purposes depending on the time of activation, but oftentimes check all of them:

• Getting a good grasp of how the enemies are moving and where they are.
  This is especially useful when using VC, but also in solo in order to understand where to expect enemies, where to push, etc.
• Making enemies move away from important areas.
  Be it the tower, the zone, or just that annoying charger/splatling sitting comfortably and otherwise hard to approach on his little tower.
• While punishing enemies who tend to "cuddle up" for their positioning.
  This is where you can get splats, but it's not guaranteed. Again, view this one as a "nice to have", but not the main purpose of this special
• "Locking out" enemies altogether
  Now this is more of a group-tactic, but well-timed missile waves can lock out certain, or all enemies completely. Try working efficiently with say, an E-Liter when you're being targeted by missiles every ~15 seconds. That's lots of wasted time dodging and repositioning. I had a turf match where I spent more time dodging missiles than working my magic, effectively turning me useless. e_e
• And most importantly, unlike the Sting Rayl, it's a "fire and forget" special.
  Other than checking your surroundings for a split-second, you don't have to fall back a lot since the buff. Push that R-Stick, get a grasp of where your enemies are, and fire away. This is a huge boon the Missiles have going for them.

All in all I dub the Missiles one of the best specials in the game. Paired up with at least one special charge up it's a force to be reckoned with.

 

[Flammie]

I'm going to be lazy and copy-paste what I said in another thread, yay!

People love to talk about how Tenta Missiles are "so bad" because you can walk away, but here's the thing - you have to walk away. You HAVE to move. If you don't, you will die. Tenta Missiles are fantastic for flushing out entrenched enemies, timed well with advancing allies this can result in game-winning pushes as the enemy is forced out of a comfortable position. In competitive play this can also be used for call-outs, as you can tell your teammates with voice chat where the enemy is and where they're going.

This is the summary of all my pain.
I really don't like it when people talk about the Tenta Missiles as Underrated, because they are not, they are one of the simplest ones to use, and the easiest one to learn, plus any ability you normally would have to cloak yourself, don't work at all against these.

Hence why i never use, Ninja Squid or Stealth Jump because the Tenta renders them USELESS...

Lots of gear abilities, special and subs seems pretty unbalanced in this game, tenta spamming is without a doubt the one i hate the most.

 

[vanille987]

Welp, good to see the opinions here.
Mostly agree with everything but.

Oh Tenta Missiles, you're often terribly misunderstood even though you're easily one of the most versatile specials in the game. When you're hearing it's the "worst" special in the game, it's most likely from the perspective of a player who is out for consistent kills. If getting consistent 2-3 kills per special is your main focus, then yes, the Tenta Missiles are among the worst for the job. But here's the thing: They aren't meant to.
When using the Missiles on say, the Bambi, the Missiles serve multiple purposes depending on the time of activation, but oftentimes check all of them:

• Getting a good grasp of how the enemies are moving and where they are.
  This is especially useful when using VC, but also in solo in order to understand where to expect enemies, where to push, etc.
• Making enemies move away from important areas.
  Be it the tower, the zone, or just that annoying charger/splatling sitting comfortably and otherwise hard to approach on his little tower.
• While punishing enemies who tend to "cuddle up" for their positioning.
  This is where you can get splats, but it's not guaranteed. Again, view this one as a "nice to have", but not the main purpose of this special
• "Locking out" enemies altogether
  Now this is more of a group-tactic, but well-timed missile waves can lock out certain, or all enemies completely. Try working efficiently with say, an E-Liter when you're being targeted by missiles every ~15 seconds. That's lots of wasted time dodging and repositioning. I had a turf match where I spent more time dodging missiles than working my magic, effectively turning me useless. e_e
• And most importantly, unlike the Sting Rayl, it's a "fire and forget" special.
  Other than checking your surroundings for a split-second, you don't have to fall back a lot since the buff. Push that R-Stick, get a grasp of where your enemies are, and fire away. This is a huge boon the Missiles have going for them.

All in all I dub the Missiles one of the best specials in the game. Paired up with at least one special charge up it's a force to be reckoned with.

I personally wouldn’t call it fire and forget, the tenta missiles alone while most likely not splat anyone or do anything else much.
But the choas and players forced to move make’s pushing a really good idea.
What i’m trying to say is: Just using it will most likely not net noticable results, you or/and your teammates needs to propertize the situation in order for the special to be really effective.

 

[Либра]

I personally wouldn’t call it fire and forget, the tenta missiles alone while most likely not splat anyone or do anything else much.

It's about the deployment time. Ink Storm would fall into the same category for me, it's not about just shooting and literally forgetting about it, it's that unlike with the Sting Ray you're not bound to your special for its whole duration, making it easier to deploy without risking to get a nasty stab in the back, or being forced out of your special by a sneaky foe.

 

[The Salamander King]

Missiles are rather unremarkable by themselves, but when paired with an Inkstorm or Sting Ray, it creates a "trapping" effect where you don't have many movement options that don't result in death.

 

[SilverBrick]

So maybe this isn’t indicative of much since it’s Turf War, but I’ve been using Jet Squelcher (Toxic Mist, Tenta-Missiles) for the Splatfest, and I’ve found that a combination of Toxic Mist and Missiles can consistently soften up opponents enough to make taking them out trivial.

I don’t know how many weapons have that combination, but with a little coordination it shouldn’t be too difficult to let teammates throw the Mist. Or even using Bombs or Mines could work just as well.

 

[Mightysplat]

It also creates a good opportunity for you or a teammate to chase down tagged opponents while theyre running away from the missiles and splat them. They're generally better in ranked than in turf wars because people are more likely to be clustered in ranked. They're great in specific situations like firing them to end an overtime TC push or, if you're across the map, at opponents who just broke your basket in CB. Pretty strong in SZ where people often cluster around the zone particularly on maps like PM where there isn't much room to maneuver.

But I think what is hard about them is using them at the right time. People seem to often use them right when they get them which often doesnt make much strategic sense and then they don't have them to stop that overtime TC push or whatever.

 

[Flammie]

Each missiles if direct hit is also an instant death, getting hit by all four within explosion range is also instant death (90% of time).
If one missiles aims behind you, and you try to dodge anything you see on screen... Let us say that i've seen 99+ Leveled players run into Tenta Missile impact just by going backwards to dodge them.

Once you have fired them, you can already turf and load for another shot immediately, making this special one that you can throw anywhere, anytime, and always have the chance of splatting an opponent, if they are at the wrong place, at the wrong time, and all it takes is just a little less than one second of hesitation and misdirection to get bummed out.

 

[MotorGamer]

I don't know why but for some reason today when I was playing I was running into a lot of teams that liked spamming tents missles, especially at the same time. Makes thing very chaotic IMO

 

[Lonely_Dolphin]

After the buffs it's my second favorite special in the game, basically what Inkstrike should of been, and the closest thing we have to Echolocater in this game. You brilliant people here have already covered it's usefulness, but I just wanna drive home the point that Tenta Missles on their own wont accomplish much. You and/or your team has gotta be pressuring alongside for the missles to be most effective.

Though I do have to say they're not very good on the Sploosh as it can't always follow up the missles well with it's lack of range, but most other Tentamissle weapons have good synergy.

 

[MotorGamer]

After the buffs it's my second favorite special in the game, basically what Inkstrike should of been, and the closest thing we have to Echolocater in this game. You brilliant people here have already covered it's usefulness, but I just wanna drive home the point that Tenta Missles on their own wont accomplish much. You and/or your team has gotta be pressuring alongside for the missles to be most effective.

Though I do have to say they're not very good on the Sploosh as it can't always follow up the missles well with it's lack of range, but most other Tentamissle weapons have good synergy.

While I think Tenta Missles are an Inkstrike/Echolocator sort of special, it isn’t exactly good at taking out chargers. And currently I think that the Bambooled is the only charger with Tenta Missles, so cant really help chargers, also combined with the fact that it only points it out to you.
I am begging so hard for Tenta Missles to sort of like Point Senior the opponent once you launch Missles at them

 

[Mar$el]

I don't know if anyone knows this, but when you target someone with missiles, your whole team can see a little dot underneath them that you can see through walls which has helped me get snipes as well as being aware of "hey there are actually 2 people behind this wall." Now not everyone gets the whole X mark thing you get but those dots underneath them apply to everyone. I just think anything more would be OP. If your whole team could see the X's that would be pretty overpowered. And giving them a point sensor effect would be going way too far in my opinion. If you wanna make them stronger just make them fire faster or have more missiles target each individual person, or make them more spread out causing a longer effect.

 

[Lonely_Dolphin]

While I think Tenta Missles are an Inkstrike/Echolocator sort of special, it isn’t exactly good at taking out chargers. And currently I think that the Bambooled is the only charger with Tenta Missles, so cant really help chargers, also combined with the fact that it only points it out to you.
I am begging so hard for Tenta Missles to sort of like Point Senior the opponent once you launch Missles at them

Tenta Missles aren't good at taking out anything on their own, but it will force movement, so against a Charger it can push them out of their perch and give you an opportunity to move in. The long range chargers wouldn't be able to follow up the missles that well so it makes sense they don't have this special, though I bet Sheldon's Picks might change that. Point Sensor in the sense that your whole team can see I agree with, but I don't think it needs to go so far as to actually tag them.

I don't know if anyone knows this, but when you target someone with missiles, your whole team can see a little dot underneath them that you can see through walls which has helped me get snipes as well as being aware of "hey there are actually 2 people behind this wall." Now not everyone gets the whole X mark thing you get but those dots underneath them apply to everyone. I just think anything more would be OP. If your whole team could see the X's that would be pretty overpowered. And giving them a point sensor effect would be going way too far in my opinion. If you wanna make them stronger just make them fire faster or have more missiles target each individual person, or make them more spread out causing a longer effect.

Do you think Echolocater is OP? Certainly strong yes but only with proper play since it doesn't straight up give you kills, you'll still have to work for them. This would still be the case with Tentamissles aswell even if your teammates can see the reticles as you do. I don't think it needs this buff per say, but if it is to receive another that's what I'd like it to be. And yeah it doesn't need to actually tag the opponents.