The Kill Debate; Do Kills Matter?

[Citrus]

There has been some debate on whether going for kills in Splatoon is necessary or not. Some say that your focus should be 100% on spraying ink, while others disagree. I think that kills do matter, but are still seconded by spraying ink. I think on a team, there should be a assigned member who should focus on kills. Yes, splatoon is all about marking turf, but by having someone kill foes, they can take said foe's turf, and force them to respawn. Respawning takes about 5 seconds from my understanding, which can mean a lot in splatoon. Splatoon is all about getting your ink on the ground, but if your opponent is forced to respawn and lose turf, then you WILL get the upper hand. What other thoughts do you have on the topic?

 

[ndayadn]

They matter, but they are not the objective. I don't know what better way to explain it.

It's like...so long as it helps you achieve the win condition, why not? You see videos now of people with 19+ kills and people are like "but he's not helping!" But it is helping because those people are out of the game, and if it's a spawn camp/camp situation the other team is being held back, allowing your team to do stuff.

I don't think there's much to debate. This is just how the game works.

 

[Pink]

Inking turf matters more than getting kills, but getting kills does matter.
I think kills matter more in the last minute than the beginning of the match, as the game can turn around completely in the last few seconds and every second you're not spreading ink, the greater the chances of the enemy team winning.
However, if you focus on just getting to the enemies and getting kills you're more likely to lose, from what I've seen.

 

[Litagano Motscoud]

Well...yeah. It takes your opponent out of the game for a while, and leaves an area around them colored with your ink.

 

[Life]

It's not really an argument LOL. Covering ground is the main objective, kills help you do this, deaths hinder you from doing this, therefore stay alive and try to kill your opponents whenever it's convenient. Yeah if you tunnel vision on kills and only kills you won't be helping, especially since your opponents will frequently get the better of you anyway, but of course kills matter. The only question is how much.

 

[jp4464]

Let's say there's three types of roles in this game: offense, defense, and support.

Offense focuses on splatting opponents and pressuring enemies back to their spawn.

Defense focuses on covering ink, and establishing territory for teammates to utilize.

Support focuses on assisting both offense and defense with territory control, recon, and enemy pressure.

So offense pushes forward towards the middle or the objective to begin pressuring enemies back to their spawn. Meanwhile, defense stays back by the spawn point to paint as much ground as possible, and moves up gradually as offense pushes enemies back. Support moves around to assist offense if needed, as well as cover defense if enemies break through towards your spawn.

Why do teams win in turf war? Besides having the most ink on the field, they won because they kept the enemies at bay long enough to establish territory and push towards the enemy spawn.

Kills matter, but it should only be the focus of a player taking an offensive role in game. Defensive players will want to avoid all skirmishes if possible, while support will want to constantly be on the move to assist both defensive and offensive teammates.

 

[Agosta44]

They matter, but they don't matter enough for you to go out of your way to get them in turf war. If you come across opponents while playing the objective and have no other choice then go for it.

 

[Bottlecapn]

I do go for kills as much as possible, as soon as I see someone in my sights and we have an even position/I have an advantage over them I hunt 'em down. I like to buy my teammates time to keep inking while I go for the enemy. I do most of my inking filling in the gaps and getting any missed areas in the beginning of the match. But this doesn't mean I get no turf covered. I still average around 850p without the win bonus.

 

[Citrus]

I do go for kills as much as possible, as soon as I see someone in my sights and we have an even position/I have an advantage over them I hunt 'em down. I like to buy my teammates time to keep inking while I go for the enemy. I do most of my inking filling in the gaps and getting any missed areas in the beginning of the match. But this doesn't mean I get no turf covered. I still average around 850p without the win bonus.

Yeah, thats kinda how I played sometimes in the Testfire

 

[Jellyfishn]

I just like to consider my enemies as territory. It reminds me that they are something to shoot at.

 

[Gsnap]

Everything matters. There will be times to kill and times to not. As long as it feeds into completing the objective, whether directly or indirectly, it will matter.

 

[VZ_Blade]

For me personally I would not choose to hunt down people even if they are close, killing is only necessary when I am fighting over an piece of territory.

 

[obscurica]

It's going to be dependent on mode, and a lot of our expectations are based around Turf War--which might not even be the primary form of competitive play. But I think a lot of players are getting a mistaken impression on the importance of ink coverage in Turf War anyhow.

The objective of the game isn't to maximize ink coverage. It's simply to have more than the enemy team. You can win with a mere 10% covered so long as you've screwed over the enemy team enough that they've only gotten 9.9%. Kills are important in that regard: unless they have a Krak-on Roller on their team that's already dropped a beacon, the only places that they can super-jump to from respawn are where their teammates are. That means every kill resets enemy team progression in the area that you've managed to kill them.

It's even more vital if you're playing the other modes demonstrated to us, I think. Point-capture demands that you shut down their access to the capture node, tower defense means knocking them off the tower, etc.

In the end, while the territory coverage aspect of the game gives it a strategic level not found in a lot of shooters, this is still a PvP game--not player versus environment. Optimal strategies absolutely have to account for the elimination of the other player as a factor.

 

[Citrus]

It's going to be dependent on mode, and a lot of our expectations are based around Turf War--which might not even be the primary form of competitive play. But I think a lot of players are getting a mistaken impression on the importance of ink coverage in Turf War anyhow.

The objective of the game isn't to maximize ink coverage. It's simply to have more than the enemy team. You can win with a mere 10% covered so long as you've screwed over the enemy team enough that they've only gotten 9.9%. Kills are important in that regard: unless they have a Krak-on Roller on their team that's already dropped a beacon, the only places that they can super-jump to from respawn are where their teammates are. That means every kill resets enemy team progression in the area that you've managed to kill them.

It's even more vital if you're playing the other modes demonstrated to us, I think. Point-capture demands that you shut down their access to the capture node, tower defense means knocking them off the tower, etc.

In the end, while the territory coverage aspect of the game gives it a strategic level not found in a lot of shooters, this is still a PvP game--not player versus environment. Optimal strategies absolutely have to account for the elimination of the other player as a factor.

Point capture? Is this a new mode? Ive never heard of it,,

 

[Citrus]

or are you refering to Splat Zones?

 

[SquidBuster]

I think it depends on your team setup. If you've more then 2 snipers on your team killing is the only way you can feasibly win, whereas if you'e got more than two rollers dodging and covering the arena is mostly your best bet.

 

[Chaozrush21]

Basically what @jp4464 said. If you're not planning on helping splat ink and your gear setup is more offensive than defensive then it better for you to kill off inklings while your team does the rest and vice verse for people that would rather be defensive.

 

[FunkyLobster]

kills matter a whole lot. they don't give you an advantage, mechanically, but they do in terms of the meta. don't think of getting frags as something that gives you +x amount of points to win or something, think of it as:

• a situation that force the enemy back to spawn
• that forces them to take time regaining momentum

and that is huge. even if you lost points for getting frags or something, it would still give you an advantage and be worth doing since you can be more assertive and claim territory from them while they're respawning. there is a direct correlation to the winning team and the team that gets the most frags, because they spend the most time in the game, and thus more time claiming turf with ink.

while it's true you don't get points for fragging and they don't count to the objective, they are still absolutely paramount.

 

[Hinichii.ez.™]

They matter, but they are not the objective. I don't know what better way to explain it.

It's like...so long as it helps you achieve the win condition, why not? You see videos now of people with 19+ kills and people are like "but he's not helping!" But it is helping because those people are out of the game, and if it's a spawn camp/camp situation the other team is being held back, allowing your team to do stuff.

I don't think there's much to debate. This is just how the game works.

This is pretty much all that needs to be said.

 

[redadil4]

If the everyone on the other team is all dead, you can ink easier and faster than if they weren't but at the same time, if your whole team is spawn camping and the other team is already winning then kills aren't really helping you.