The Rainmaker Rundown: Rainmaker Discussion

[Kevham]

So, Rainmaker came out fairly recently. Splatters have had a portion of last night and all of today thus far to try out the new mode, myself included. I thought that I'd kick off the discussion for the Brand New gamemode. (Unless of course someone has beaten me to the draw on this.)

I'll attempt to update this to use as a compendium of sorts to maneuver about the thread if it becomes large enough.

Feel free to discuss strategies, weapon usage and other stuff about the mode.

Edit: Rather then posting, I'll just put my thoughts up here.

I use the .52 Gal a lot. About 85%-90% of my inked turf is from the standard version, and It shines in rainmaker.
It has the power and range to put pressure on the shield quickly at a safe distance and the splash wall can either block opponents shots or be thrown on the rainmaker itself to chew through the shield. Its biggest strongpoint in rainmaker is how you can easily and effectively support your rainmaker. Splash Walls do what's on the tin, Keep the rainmaker safe and gives them a chance to charge if needed. Killer wail Shuts down a pretty big area, Preventing the opponents from grabbing the rainmaker or making a semi-safe path.
The .52 Deco is Less good, but still a very solid weapon to use. Same basic shield pressure I mentioned with the Vanilla .52, But remove the wall in favor of a seeker which basically 1-shots the rainmaker Shield. You can still support the rainmaker pretty well with the Seeker/Inkstrike combo Seeker-swimming with the Rainmaker is an easy way to get them from point A to B relatively fast. Inkstrike feels less useful this mode, but It can effectively wipe an unaware team when they try and pop the shield.Also, it's a good scare tactic to clear out a path for the Rainmaker. Mainly because most squids want nothing to do with that Inkstrike indicator.

 

[ThatSquidYouKnow]

I've been using a charger with ink resist, and it's working well. You have to stay mobile though. It can break the shield really easily with a splat bomb and 1 or 2 charge shots, and it can take out the rainmaker from afar. I'm surprised I'm the only one using this setup.

 

[Macaque]

Maybe it's because most chargers seem to have a preference for a particular spot on the map, which isn't going to work too well in this mode if they can't see the fish from their vantage point. I hardly saw a single charger playing this mode yesterday.

Loving rainmaker so far. It's like tower control but even more hectic. It's fun killing people who are shooting the shield, but the blast from the shield is huge, so knowing when to shoot the shield and when to run away seems to be important.

There are a few problems. It takes good teamwork. If one player is too slow at the beginning of the game, it can lead to a very short match. If you manage to get a triple or quad kill at the start, it puts the other team in a very difficult situation.

 

[Rellek]

Pro tip: Using suction bombs or splatbombs on the rainmaker's shield makes them explode instantly. Use this when an enemy is standing near the rainmaker's shield and POP there they go.

 

[Aykorn]

I've actually been using a charger for rainmaker, too. The range+power is a great way to ward off the shield.

I've noticed that weapons --like chargers-- that are good at making paths are also pretty useful in Rainmaker. An Octobrush can just ink a path for the rainmaker to swim follow, and with some additional body guards, you're golden.

What would people say the rainmaker-holder's strategy should be? Swim through any ink they can find, making paths if necessary?

 

[Misery]

I only just tried it for the first time tonight, did a few matches on it. Used the heavy splatling, because heavy splatling. Mostly I just tried to defend others, as is normally what I do with that gun, except for the one point where we popped the shield, aaaaaaand.... nobody else seemed interested in grabbing it. Well, crap on a stick, I have to do it, dont I.... grabbed the loopy thing, and 1 panic-filled minute later, I somehow had it on the pedestal. Didnt expect that. The planets must have been in alignment.

And that thing is freaking DEADLY. I hadnt expected it to be as violently destructive as it is. Pretty fun to wield actually. Though still, I rather prefer defending over the nerve-wracking "oh crap I'm the focus of things right now, gotta not screw this up, DOOM COULD COME FROM ANY DIRECTION" action of carrying the blasted thing.

Opinion so far though is that it's a pretty fun mode, I like it. And those matches can end REALLY ABRUPTLY if either team gets enough momentum, even from the other side of the map. Kinda like that aspect, too.

 

[Dream21]

I have got to say I love love love Rainmaker!
Super fun, and I find it super satisfying to be the one carrying the rainmaker.

Twice now I've been able to grab it and waltz right into their base in the first 40ish seconds and win. Once in Kelp Dome, and then once in Camp Triggerfish.
I was laughing after those wins to be honest, I had no idea how I did it.

I've been using the Splash-O-Matic, and found bomb rush to be super useful in a clutch. I have used it to quickly pop the bubble when the enemy team is going for it also, and gotten a few nice splats from it.

 

[CommanderRin]

Probably my favorite mode due to how free it is. Doesn't seem like any one set-up completely dominates the mode. Unlike splatzones which if you aren't running something with Ink-strike then you're doing it wrong (exaggeration).

I've been using a lot of Duel Squelcher, Echo-Locator is god-send in this mode imo.
(Use it before grabbing the rain maker).

 

[SquiliamTentacles]

I think more people need to take the hidden paths then they should. As you can get to the other team's base however you want, I find it easier though areas like the upper part of Saltspray, over the chains in Dome, across the large side building in Towers, etc. because they are less crowded, and the narrow paths in Warehouse and Mall due to the rainmaker being able to shoot anyone who follows (unless a Ink Wall is involved.)

I find the Range Blaster good here. Can 1 shot enemies from a distance with more room for error than a charger, Splat Walls are good to stall off enemies or protect the Rainmaker, and Inkstrikes can break the shield well.

My favorite part of the mode has to be both teams struggling to break the shield first.

 

[V-kun]

I like rainmaker when it's not in squad battle... Jeez, i was de-ranked all the way to C+ because we've been fighting nothing but S+ ranks...

 

[Jearbear357]

Not sure if it was mentioned above (I'm too lazy to read all of it Xp)
but I personally think the E liter scope is one of the best weapons on this gamemode. Here's a list reasons why...
1: The E liter is good at killing, especially when they're a open target and they have to be if they want to break the sheild. From what I can tell, kills matter the most in this gamemode, because killing the whole team could make you instantly win ESPECIALLY on certain maps like blackbelly skatepark.
2: Killing the rainmaker. The rainmaker is a a very open target and you can see the rainmaker when its in it's own ink. If I can't see enemies on the other side of the sheild, I'll just wait for them to break it, grab the rainmaker, then BOOM! Better luck next time.
3: Echolocater. Echolocater is very nice since it's the only special iirc where you can use it and instantly grab the rainmaker. (Which is nice since if you have a special while holding it, you necessarily wasted it) However the e liter shouldn't grab the rainmaker if possible since using the Echolocater when your doing a push, is a really good way to safely know where the enemies are after they respawn
4: E liter can make a straight easy line for the rainmaker. On a map like arowna mall, this helps alot.
5: Now i'm not sure how breaking the sheild works, but the e liter can surprisingly break it really fast if you rapid fire.
Theres much more reasons that could go into more detail, but thats the jist of it. Good at killing and supporting the rainmaker.

 

[Jearbear357]

I think more people need to take the hidden paths then they should. As you can get to the other team's base however you want, I find it easier though areas like the upper part of Saltspray, over the chains in Dome, across the large side building in Towers, etc. because they are less crowded, and the narrow paths in Warehouse and Mall due to the rainmaker being able to shoot anyone who follows (unless a Ink Wall is involved.)

I find the Range Blaster good here. Can 1 shot enemies from a distance with more room for error than a charger, Splat Walls are good to stall off enemies or protect the Rainmaker, and Inkstrikes can break the shield well.

My favorite part of the mode has to be both teams struggling to break the shield first.

Speaking of the chains of kelp dome, people really need to start going that way if they can since the other path is way harder to pish through and is less rewarding in terms of distance

Also it was the map where on my alt account that I plan on getting to s rank again and me and my friend exploited that spot so much Xp. He used to be B-, now he's A and my alt is B+ level 15 i think (Wish I had the e liter :( )

 

[Psycho_Wendigo]

While I don't think every map is quite optimized for it yet, the freedom of taking the objective to the goal however you want, as apposed to Tower's rail, is fun. Especially if you use it well in Towers and Dome. And dunking the Rainmaker on the pedestal feels so good...

 

[FlareHabanero]

Morays Tower is... erm... interesting with Rainmaker l'll say that much.

Feels weird since there's hardly a "detour" so to speak.

 

[Splooshi Splashy]

I'm actually quite the fan of Rainmaker, for the Rainmaker itself can actually not only move faster than the Tower in Tower Control, but it can also fight back, if given enough time, space, and protection from the other teammates. Thus, the overall speed of a match is even greater than that of TC at times, and there's the significant danger of entire teams getting Splatted all at once, which happens surprisingly often, due to the Rainmaker Shield's huge OHKO explosion radius. However, in terms of matches actually ending quickly, I don't expect it to happen too often, depending on the stage you're at, how well-coordinated both teams are, and how well the Rainmaker-holding team mixes up their goal approach options.

Kelp Dome and Bluefin Depot, for example, have 3 different pathways to approach the goal with. The Rainmaker holder can mixup which approach path is used, and if the opposing team guesses wrong on where the holder is heading to the goal from, said holder can cover significant ground, and possibly even win the match, depending on how many of the opposing team either committed to the wrong option or even got Splatted prior to or during the approach.

Short hopping while Squidding and then slightly charging up a shot (but not all the way) while in the air, so as to fire it off upon landing, can allow the Rainmaker holder to hustle onward towards the goal surprisingly fast, even if the trail ahead of you is devoid of your team's ink. 'Course, this does leave you vulnerable to enemy fire, especially if your allies are nowhere nearby (which can actually happen more often than I'd like it to), and you'll want Ink Resistance Up for this to reliably work.

Speaking of hustling, as Jeremyx7 once said at another thread in the Multiplayer section, this is like American Football, where whoever has the Rainmaker becomes the Quarterback that HUSTLES over to the goal that's in enemy territory as quickly and as far as possible. Keyword being HUSTLES. One of the key tasks of the Rainmaker holder is to brute force your way through the opposing team as quickly and as far as possible before getting Splatted. It's important to make much progress for your team, so as to provide your team with the lead buffer to withstand the other team stealing the Rainmaker from your team. Even if you don't reach or exceed the same distance your team made the 1st go around, any distance that's closer into enemy territory is more space for the enemy to have to run past, which buys your team more time for interceptions. My teammates who see me with the Rainmaker will know me as the guy that *Cue the clip from Rhythm Heaven Fever with the "GOGOGO!!" *Triple punch string* sequence* and then Squidding onwards towards the goal with or without my teammates nearby with the intent of scoring the point/distance lead. They'll also know me as the guy that uses "Booyah!" whenever we start to take the lead/Rainmaker, and especially whenever I get Splatted, so as to attempt to alert them of where the enemy team forces may be (you literally canNOT do anything else while you're waiting to respawn, other than fire off Booyahs, so I mind as well do so, since there's a chance of the Sonar Spread putting the enemy team on your teammates' radars).

To me, 3 traits are needed to be a good Rainmaker holder:
1. The bravery to hustle onwards as quickly and as far as possible.
2. The map route knowledge to mixup your goal approaching options with.
3. Speedrunning strats to shorten the travelling time between where you picked up the Rainmaker and your team's goal space.

To be a good Rainmaker guard:
1. The loyalty to stay by the Rainmaker holder's side for as long as possible, wherever the holder may plan to go. (Using the "C'mon!" command whenever appropriate).
2. The awareness to cover the Rainmaker holder's blindspots with your own arsenal, including the forging of paths ahead of him to Squid forward with.

I've not had the displeasure of anyone in any of my rounds of Rainmaker thus far trying to camp it out for the remaining 4 minutes after taking the Rainmaker a decent distance into enemy territory before getting Splatted during the 1st minute. If anything, the rounds often go for as long as 5 minutes, because of how aggressive everyone seems to be about trying to take the Rainmaker over to the goal.

My go-to main clothing build for Rainmaker is Tenacity | Haunt | Ink Resistance Up, because your teammates will likely be Splatted often, making Tenacity activate often (a boon for how hard it is to build meter for some weapons, like Luna Blaster), and Haunt is for letting my teammates be aware of the location of the Kid who Splatted me (accompanied by my Booyahs, of course), and Ink Resistance Up is for the above paragraph about short hop slight charge shots to function better.

Speaking of Luna Blaster, my main weapon for seemingly all modes, it's pretty good as aiding Rainmaker Shield Breaks, KO-ing the Rainmaker holder in 1-3 shots (even if said holder's above or below you!), and Ink Mines can help create "insurance" against enemy approaches (even if you Squid Jump to anyone on your team), though it's not the fastest weapon for chasing Rainmaker holders with if there's no trail. I DO wonder when Luna Blaster Neo's coming out, since its Sub & Special loadout of Suction Bombs and Suction Bomb Rush seems better suited for Rainmaker than plain ol' Luna is.

 

[Las7]

I really enjoyed the Rainmaker, it's chaotic but doesn't favor certain weapons over others.
You might want to try different clothes in the rainmaker since certain skills are suddenly more useful. Speed ups, Comeback, Special Saver are skills I didn't think about using in other modes. But rainmaker has made them pretty good options, Comeback might actually be something I'd be looking into trying with other subs and modes. Right now I just use a hat with triple special saver and it works well for Rainmaker but won't be as useful in other modes. Since it appears you special is key on one hand and on the other you build it up even by poping the shield on the rainmaker.
I've not actually played the mode on all maps but mostly I've enjoyed it - especially on Moray since that is one of the larger maps.

Still my personal preference for my favorite maps remains Splat Zones > Rainmaker > Tower Control for maps with two Splatzones, on maps that only have one Splatzone I don't really mind which mode is being played. I feel Splatzones shines where it's not a single zone to control since it requires a bit more tactical gameplay and awareness of what is happening on the battlefield.

 

[Wi-fi Calcium]

Love it. Its pretty simple and an intresting gameplay. (Also because I won 6 of the 7 first games I've played of rainmaker.:p) So yeah I love this mode.