The new meta for Splatoon 2

[Mr. Squiggly Squid]

I've been thinking about this for a while. First everyone was running around with tri-sloshers going on insane kill streaks. Then the brella came out and people cared about it for like, 12 hours. Then the tri-slosher got nerfed and everyone thought it was dead (but if you ever used it again you'd realize they barley changed it at all). Then I feel there was a sudden surge of charger users. Maybe it's just me, but I feel there's at least one charger in every ranked game I've played from C+ onwards. Now I'm not quite sure what it is. So I ask you, what's the new meta for Sploon 2?

 

[seaWEED]

Brella is now meta, splattershot was always meta, so is .52 gal with the nerf of tri-slosher.

 

[Vitezen]

My top 10 weapons right now:
Splattershot
Sloshing Machine
Range Blaster
N-ZAP '85
Splat Charger
Splat Roller
Tentatek Splattershot
Splattershot Pro
Splat Brella
Rapid Blaster

Pretty diverse, with quite a few styles of weapon having their own popular alternative. I think this might be the most diverse we've ever had in Splatoon 2 so far. Despite the splattershot still being extremely common, other weapons have a chance to shine too.

 

[Spaceswitchmars]

Pretty sure the dualie squelcher is going to make a strong push into the meta with its recent buff. Not only was the gun itself buffed, but so was its kit. It's a special spamming demon now, and we will fall prey to its tenta missile will. Let's bend the knee to our new god.

 

[Drew Sebastino]

I think this might be the most diverse we've ever had in Splatoon 2 so far.

That's really not saying much.

 

[BBGrenorange]

2 Words:

Rapid. Blaster.

Seriously, what even is this weapon? It pretty much shuts down every mid-long range weapon in the game (thank goodness that I know how to abuse the shield on the Tenta Brella), and most of the time you don't even need to aim.

 

[Emperor]

Getting good at your main (if you're good with a single weapon, you're reliable regardless) , learning how to aim, and learning the right times to bail.

 

[Mr. Squiggly Squid]

Getting good at your main (if you're good with a single weapon, you're reliable regardless) , learning how to aim, and learning the right times to bail.

I don't really have a set main. I always switch weapons every few matches to, y'know, stay fresh.

 

[precastzero180]

The meta of Splatoon 2 basically boils down to...

1) the Splattershot

2) weapons that can compete with or counter the Splattershot and other close-ranged weapons in some way

3) everything else.

 

[ThatOneGuy]

My top 10 weapons right now:
Splattershot
Sloshing Machine
Range Blaster

I feel like since the range blaster literally came out just a couple days ago, it can't really be considered "meta" yet. Being a range blaster main myself, I can't really call it "meta shifting" or actually a part of this "metagame". Even if I consider it to be a good weapon, I think it's just a bit over hyped right now, because a lot of blaster players (especially me), have been waiting for the release of this weapon.

Rapid. Blaster.

Seriously, what even is this weapon? It pretty much shuts down every mid-long range weapon in the game (thank goodness that I know how to abuse the shield on the Tenta Brella), and most of the time you don't even need to aim.

If you can't aim, you die to anyone rushing at you with a rapid blaster. Literally everyone will kill you if you don't aim at the player about to rush you. Even if you do aim, and hear that direct, you don't get a kill, you still need to aim another shot to make sure they stay down. And rapid blaster has been seeing a decline in usage (even before the range blaster came out).

I would say that splattershot pro has quickly established itself into the meta, with it's shot velocity buff. And .96 gal still hasn't seen much more use, even after the various buffs it received. .96 deco should really change that though. Still though, the heavy splatlings aren't meta and that's somewhat saddening, and the vanilla slosher (a weapon pre release was expected to be one of the best), still hasn't seen much use since release.

 

[Flopps]

Pretty sure the dualie squelcher is going to make a strong push into the meta with its recent buff. Not only was the gun itself buffed, but so was its kit. It's a special spamming demon now, and we will fall prey to its tenta missile will. Let's bend the knee to our new god.

Sometimes when I get really ****** off in Turf Wars, I stack all Special Charge Up and play Dualie Squelchers >:).

 

[Spaceswitchmars]

Sometimes when I get really ****** off in Turf Wars, I stack all Special Charge Up and play Dualie Squelchers >:).

I’m making a build of that right now just for the purpose of evil.

If you can't aim, you die to anyone rushing at you with a rapid blaster. Literally everyone will kill you if you don't aim at the player about to rush you. Even if you do aim, and hear that direct, you don't get a kill, you still need to aim another shot to make sure they stay down. And rapid blaster has been seeing a decline in usage (even before the range blaster came out).

Yup. What separates my good games from my bad games is how often I can take down rush down artists. It can be difficult even when my aim is tight.

Rapid is far from OP. It has so many weakness that can be exploited. It’s just an idiot savant at killing anything at range.

 

[Flopps]

Why IS the Range Blaster so popular? It's fire rate is horrid, and it only gets a tinsy bit of range.

Also, is Brella meta now? This makes me sad as a Brella Main pre-1.3/1.4 :(.

 

[Mr. Squiggly Squid]

Why IS the Range Blaster so popular? It's fire rate is horrid, and it only gets a tinsy bit of range.

Because it has "range" in the name, so people automatically think it's an intervention.

 

[Flopps]

Because it has "range" in the name, so people automatically think it's an intervention.

Umm... I don't get how intervention is supposed to be used in the sentence...

 

[Mr. Squiggly Squid]

Umm... I don't get how intervention is supposed to be used in the sentence...

 

[Flopps]

oh COD

 

[BBGrenorange]

If you can't aim, you die to anyone rushing at you with a rapid blaster. Literally everyone will kill you if you don't aim at the player about to rush you. Even if you do aim, and hear that direct, you don't get a kill, you still need to aim another shot to make sure they stay down. And rapid blaster has been seeing a decline in usage (even before the range blaster came out).

I would say that splattershot pro has quickly established itself into the meta, with it's shot velocity buff. And .96 gal still hasn't seen much more use, even after the various buffs it received. .96 deco should really change that though. Still though, the heavy splatlings aren't meta and that's somewhat saddening, and the vanilla slosher (a weapon pre release was expected to be one of the best), still hasn't seen much use since release.

Yeah, that makes sense.
Unfortunately I'm not a particularly aggressive player - I choose to play support (actual support, not the kind of support play you see on 'Help me get better!' threads) with weapons like the Tenta Brella, which I personally believe is actually a pretty good weapon, and the heavy splatling (deco as well).

The only experience I have with the Rapid Blaster is picking it up after feeling salty, and getting 20+ kills in multiple games. I stopped using it because I hate weapons I think are too good.

 

[Vitezen]

I feel like since the range blaster literally came out just a couple days ago, it can't really be considered "meta" yet. Being a range blaster main myself, I can't really call it "meta shifting" or actually a part of this "metagame". Even if I consider it to be a good weapon, I think it's just a bit over hyped right now, because a lot of blaster players (especially me), have been waiting for the release of this weapon.

Well, that is why I said it's my view of the meta for right now. I do agree that the meta is currently shifting, and what's popular this week may not be popular the next. I don't think it's possibly to reliably predict meta shifts, so I just recommend people to try what I see working at the moment.

 

[ThatOneGuy]

Why IS the Range Blaster so popular? It's fire rate is horrid, and it only gets a tinsy bit of range.

It's popular right now because it's one of the first weapons that isn't from the base game, and it's actually good. Other key contributors are the fact that it (again), just came out. People might realize how hard the weapon can be to play after a certain amount of time, or they realize they just don't like the new weapon. Another factor is that people have been waiting 3 months for this weapon to come back. Seriously, I'm lucky I'm not a hydra main. As some Rapid and Vanilla Blaster players (like me) instantlyu switched when they saw this beast of a weapon returning last Friday.

But the reason why it's good is because the range tier is golden. Because that "tinsy" bit of range allows you to fight Splattershot Pros, Rapid Blasters, and Squiffers on equal ground. And not to mention, you outrange standard meta weapons like the splattershot and sloshing machine, making it a pretty good anti-meta pick right now. The fire rate takes some getting used to, but once you get the rhythm down, you forget about that problem.