- Joined
- Apr 23, 2015
- Messages
- 356
People are har at work in the Splatoon community trying to find the best strategies for weapons, maps, and team compositions in general. Now remember this IS a competitive game with a massive selection of weapons, so there should be a tier list right? well, some would obviously agree because tiers give people a good look at what the meta currently looks like and how it's currently being run. However, what truly makes any of these weapons great? Is it TTK? Range? Power? Mobility? Is it possible that there really is no defined tier list for this game at all? that is absolutely possible.
Right now i would like to give some pointers as to why tier lists for competitive splatoon are actually not that necessary.
Please note that YOU as the community can do whatever the hell you want to do, im just giving my two cents on the situation.
GEAR
Gear can change the properties of your character AND your weapon regardless of whether or not it caps at a certain level. it's true that there are some weapons that aren't affected by perks such as damage, but remember that each weapon has subs that are affected by special perks and these types of sub weapons CANNOT be ignored when it comes to weapons because you will use them and they will have an affect on how you/ anyone will use your weapon. the same thing goes for specials as well. So the point of this is simple if the gear you wear changes the properties of you AND the weapon set you have then where should that weapon go on a tier list? it's completely possible for the status of a weapon in the competitive scene to be altered due to a small factor like that, I mean look at the E liter, damage ups and away you go. hopefully you have a full grasp what i'm saying.
MAPS
This should be a no-brainer. Yes, maps do have an affect on how a weapon is used because the strategy changes almost all the time depending on what you use. for example, if you use 96 gals on port mackerel you will have a slight advantage because of the range and the small corridors. the same can go for any long range weapon because you have decent spacing between you and them (your opponents) other examples are like E liters on bluefin/moray, dynamos on walleye/flounder, etc. But just remember that the way you play also impacts the usage of these weapons as well so these weapons being as good as they are on these maps doesnt mean that much in the long run. The way weapons work on some maps is actually one of the reasons why we have map counter picks. and also for fairness reasons.
MODES
How Ironic is it that the weapon you've mastered in turf war means absolutely nothing to ranked modes? OR DOES IT?? Ok so again this is very simple as well. there are certain modes that can actually make using other weapons like ink brush or even a rapid blaster incredibly useful. Believe it or not almost every weapon is competitively viable in any mode, that is if you are good with it and at least know what you are doing. i wont go into too much detail about which weapons work the best in tower control, rainmaker, splatzones, or turf war because that would ruin the learning experience AND not to mention that it would be based on my opinion and not actual data to back up my claims.
I want to leave this off by saying that you can go ahead and make tier lists, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Just understand that people have their preferences and mains and will try to put down any type of tier list if there favorite weapon isn't featured at the top. Tier lists are opinion based. Some are accurate, some are not. The reason i made this post in the first place is because YOU as the player can literally defy the meta regardless of how many people say tentatek is the greatest weapon in the game. people like that aren't going to help this scene grow and all thats going to happen is band wagon city. Don't believe me? check out some of the Ink or Sink matches and tell me you dont see a large amount of tentateks and 96 gals. But hey that's not a bad thing!
Just remember this game doesn't NEED a tier list. it just needs players to keep changing the way we play this game competitively so that the challenges keep coming and they dont STOP coming.
TL;DR PLAY THE DAMN GAME
Right now i would like to give some pointers as to why tier lists for competitive splatoon are actually not that necessary.
Please note that YOU as the community can do whatever the hell you want to do, im just giving my two cents on the situation.
GEAR
Gear can change the properties of your character AND your weapon regardless of whether or not it caps at a certain level. it's true that there are some weapons that aren't affected by perks such as damage, but remember that each weapon has subs that are affected by special perks and these types of sub weapons CANNOT be ignored when it comes to weapons because you will use them and they will have an affect on how you/ anyone will use your weapon. the same thing goes for specials as well. So the point of this is simple if the gear you wear changes the properties of you AND the weapon set you have then where should that weapon go on a tier list? it's completely possible for the status of a weapon in the competitive scene to be altered due to a small factor like that, I mean look at the E liter, damage ups and away you go. hopefully you have a full grasp what i'm saying.
MAPS
This should be a no-brainer. Yes, maps do have an affect on how a weapon is used because the strategy changes almost all the time depending on what you use. for example, if you use 96 gals on port mackerel you will have a slight advantage because of the range and the small corridors. the same can go for any long range weapon because you have decent spacing between you and them (your opponents) other examples are like E liters on bluefin/moray, dynamos on walleye/flounder, etc. But just remember that the way you play also impacts the usage of these weapons as well so these weapons being as good as they are on these maps doesnt mean that much in the long run. The way weapons work on some maps is actually one of the reasons why we have map counter picks. and also for fairness reasons.
MODES
How Ironic is it that the weapon you've mastered in turf war means absolutely nothing to ranked modes? OR DOES IT?? Ok so again this is very simple as well. there are certain modes that can actually make using other weapons like ink brush or even a rapid blaster incredibly useful. Believe it or not almost every weapon is competitively viable in any mode, that is if you are good with it and at least know what you are doing. i wont go into too much detail about which weapons work the best in tower control, rainmaker, splatzones, or turf war because that would ruin the learning experience AND not to mention that it would be based on my opinion and not actual data to back up my claims.
I want to leave this off by saying that you can go ahead and make tier lists, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Just understand that people have their preferences and mains and will try to put down any type of tier list if there favorite weapon isn't featured at the top. Tier lists are opinion based. Some are accurate, some are not. The reason i made this post in the first place is because YOU as the player can literally defy the meta regardless of how many people say tentatek is the greatest weapon in the game. people like that aren't going to help this scene grow and all thats going to happen is band wagon city. Don't believe me? check out some of the Ink or Sink matches and tell me you dont see a large amount of tentateks and 96 gals. But hey that's not a bad thing!
Just remember this game doesn't NEED a tier list. it just needs players to keep changing the way we play this game competitively so that the challenges keep coming and they dont STOP coming.
TL;DR PLAY THE DAMN GAME