The "(Sorella) Tri Brella": an Ideal Brella Kit?

[Umbriel_Umbra]

Since the release of the Brella class in Splatoon 2, it's has remained clear that many people's opinions of this peculiar weapon type have been entirely mixed. Some people see a very unique, niche role for each Brella to fulfill that other classes simply cannot; others see no clear designation for what a Brella teammate is supposed to do on the battlefield: tank a couple shots, and then get out-ranged or die simply due to lackluster TTK / mobility? I have personally been in the camp of the former opinion, as one who has taken very fondly to the Sorella Brella and its Undercover counterpart, but it still has yet to have an easy time in any ranked mode without hard work and refined skill. Then I began to wonder: what if there was some Brella weapon that served as a median between a regular and an Undercover Brella whose averaged stats combined with some special mechanic gave it a powerful new presence in Splatoon 2's ever-growing meta-game? Admittedly, it was hard to give specific answers to many of the Brella's most daunting adversaries (any Blaster, Roller, or Slosher), but I gave it a go anyway.

Here I present to you: the (Sorella) Tri Brella!

[Above: Original art, by me! :) ]

Sorella Tri-Brella:

• Category: Main
• Class: Brella
• Sub: Burst Bomb
• Special: Ink Storm
• Base Damage:
  • 12 - 65
  • 20 per Shield, 60 total (Contact)
• Ink Consumption:
  • 4.75%
  • 35% (Launch)
• Special Points: 180p
• Range: 46 / 100
• Damage: 45 / 100
• Durability: 42 / 100

Data:

• The Tri Brella's shield has 360 HP; each individual shield has 120 HP
  • While remaining un-deployed, contact with the entire Tri Brella shield will deal a total of 60 damage.
    
  • Each individual shield does 20 damage to opponents on contact.
• The shield takes 1.5 seconds to be launched, and 5.5 seconds to return
  • The shield will fully heal or regenerate immediately if the user splats or assists an opponent.
• Each shot consumes 4.75% of the ink tank’s capacity, allowing players to fire 21 shots before needing to refill.
• Holding ZR long enough after firing to deploy the shield uses 35% of the ink tank.
  • So, 39.75% of the ink tank is used in total to release the shield.
  • Unlike the Splat Brella and Tenta Brella, the Tri Brella deploys three shields at once, each of them chasing after the closest enemy to them.
• [REST OF SPLAT BRELLA'S DATA]

Ok. Hopefully, you're still following me after that entire info dump, but here is my proposal: as you can see above, the main mechanic for this brella weapon is it's ability to launch three shields at once. Frankly, these could either act as the Seekers from Splatoon 1, with rigid mobility, OR have it be as if their respective velocities are each directed towards the closest enemy, and acceleration shortly follows, allowing for faster, more accurate tracking.

Then, there is the kit itself. Yes, yes, we can all stop rioting for joy now that we can dream of a Brella with the Burst Bomb sub. I think every criticism and critique of the Brella class has ended with something along the lines of "... and it could really have used Burst Bombs." Now before I get to the proposed Vanilla set, all I can say for now is that I was trying to go for something somewhat different than what we've seen with other kits? I'm honestly still not sure if hypothetically putting the Ink Storm on THIS weapon is good, though, because while it improves any weapon it's with, it might technically make the vanilla Brella obsolete? I'm not sure. Either way, it does provide the weapon an additional zoning tactic aside from its main weapon's shield launch mechanic.

Now, let's unpack a few stats to see why a set-up like this would work. Putting aside discussion about the proposed mechanic, here are a few combinations of the main, sub and special that can be executed consecutively with full ink tank, in a standard, "untouched" map environment:

• Up to 21 Tri Brella Shots (the standard)
• 1 Burst Bomb + up to 12 Tri Brella Shots
• 2 Burst Bombs + up to 8 Tri Brella Shots
• 1 Tri Brella Shot & Shield Launch + up to 12 Tri Brella Shots
• 1 Tri Brella Shot & Shield Launch + 1 Burst Bomb + 4 Tri Brella Shots

For reference, we shall compare these to the combinations of the Sorella Brella and Undercover Sorella Brella kits, to see how these other two more aggressive Brella variants differ:

Sorella Brella:

• Up to 18 Sorella Bella Shots (the standard)
• 1 Autobomb + up to 8 Sorella Brella Shots
• [2 Autobombs cannot be launched in succession: each currently take 55% of tank capacity]
• 1 Sorella Bella Shot & Shield Launch + up to 11 Tri Brella Shots
• 1 Sorella Bella Shot & Shield Launch + 1 Autobomb + up to 1 Sorella Brella Shot

Undercover Sorella Brella (USB):

• Up to 25 USB Shots (the standard)
• 1 Splat Bomb + up to 7 USB Shots
• [2 Splat Bombs cannot be launched in succession: each currently take 70% of tank capacity]
  
• [The USB does not have shield-launching capability]

Alright. Let's unpack this: starting off with just comparing the Sorella Brella and the USB themselves, it is very clear that these two weapons alone are quite different. While the Sorella Brella wins in the game of sheer numbers in regards to bulk (shield health and TTK including, both respectively being much greater) and options, the USB clearly relies on it's "Undercover" function to, well, function. And many call this the very crux of the weapon, and why it is "unusable" compared to the Sorella Brella alone, though in my experience (it's actually the weapon I've inked the most turf with, a couple 100,000 p, did I not mention? LMAO), combined with it's greater range, in certain situations it can certainly hold it's own, but... in others, it is simply overwhelmed by a few high-tier weapons.

Now let's begin comparing our "Tri Brella". Right of the bat, it can be seen that, as a sort of "Jack of all Trades," it seems to nearly outclass the Sorella Brella in regards to tank capacity. If we can all assume that, to most effectively get kills with any Brella (as is true), you will be up in your enemies' faces, with similar TTK's (the Sorella Brella can dish up to 90 damage itself, making both this and the Tri Brella two-shot-kills), it seems that the proposed Tri Brella ink tank consumption allows it many more options. The standard shots themselves are not a great difference (the Tri Brella could give three more hits), but just the 1 bomb combination is: not only would the Tri Brella deal immediate damage with the Burst Bomb over the Sorella Brella's Autobomb, but it would get 4 more main weapon shots! This is especially so when we look at 2 bomb combinations because, well, the Sorella Brella can't even throw two Autobombs in a row. When we then look at Shield Launch combinations, again, launching your shield and shooting the rest only has a difference of one main weapon shot between the two, but then combining THIS with throwing a bomb shows that the Tri Brella can have up to 3 more main weapon shots. This would not seem much, except considering you have two more shields on the ground, and again, the immediate effect of the Burst Bomb versus the Autobomb (which, for argument's sake in this case, seems to situationally favor the Burst Bomb over the Autobomb). To wrap all of this up, it is often seen in any Splat / Sorella Brella game play that you very rarely actually want to launch your shield: being able to strafe-shot to advance onto or hold off enemies, and then pull up the shield at a few crucial moments, is truly a better play style for the weapon. But the Tri Brella encourages you to launch its shields, so as to limit your enemies' options, although you could just as well keep it and still have some degree of shielding.

And lastly, well... the comparison between a USB and the proposed Tri Brella can't be much. Again, based purely upon ink consumption stats, the USB largely relies on its main weapon to do the talking, and as I believe most people have felt about it, it's too shaky / support-needy a main with it's 3 shot minimum kill to rely on. Now of course, it's own Brella mechanic allows it a different one from the Tri Brella, but if we can all agree that the Tri Brella does some better than the Sorella Brella, than most might also agree that it has something over the USB.

So there is all of that. Now, as you may have noticed, above I put it as the "Sorella Tri Brella." This is largely because, as I loosely mentioned before, it is the Sorella variants of all Brellas that seem to have the more hands-on, aggressive kits, and thus I will now show a possibility for the vanilla Tri Brella kit:

(Vanilla) Tri Brella:

• Category: Main
• Class: Brella
• Sub: Toxic Mist
• Special: Ink Armor
• ... and so on.

The first noteworthy thing to say about this is, the kit has not yet been seen, and is something different to consider. I know there is a lot of clamor, too, about the Toxic Mist: it guzzles ink, and for what "return investment"? Well, although it would seem counter intuitive to the Tri Brella's little Ink efficiency, I believe it would maximize upon it's zoning capabilities. The Ink Armor, meanwhile, provides it a whole other layer of support, and itself would seemingly be able to synergize well with just the Toxic Mist. Well, enough talk of sub and special, why don't we just run the stats again?

• Up to 21 Tri Brella Shots (the standard)
• 1 Toxic Mist + up to 8 Tri Brella Shots
• [2 Toxic Mists cannot be launched in succession: each currently take 60% of tank capacity]
• 1 Tri Brella Shot & Shield Launch + up to 12 Tri Brella Shots
• 1 Tri Brella Shot & Shield Launch + 1 Toxic Mist

Alright, you've got to admit: these are still some pretty decent combinations. While you can't exactly throw out your entire kit in a row like the Sorella Tri Brella (Shield Launch, Sub and Main), to have a Toxic Mist and 8 main weapon shots or a shield launch and a Toxic Mist is nothing to scoff at. The latter, especially, since you would have up to four obstacles on the field for enemies to watch out for! And it should be noted that, with each Tri Brella shield dealing 20 damage, launching three at a time is the equivalent of one Burst Bomb, for a total of 60 damage... interesting huh?

So... what are your thoughts? Would these seem to be the perfect marriages of sub and special for a Brella weapon, or are there other kits to consider? Do the average-across-the-board stats make this weapon too unspecialized, or a force to reckon with? Kit aside, how do you feel about the proposed main weapon shield launching mechanic? Comment down below! Discuss! I'd love to hear conversation surrounding this, since so often I see the Brella Class swept under the rug in favor of literally any other weapon class. I hope you all enjoyed this thread! Thanks for reading, and keeping up this far if you did :p

 

[the]

With the stats it has it definitely seems like a weapon I’d check out if it existed! Though I’d probably change the inkstorm on the sorella for two reasons. First, like you mentioned, it might obsolete the original splat brella. Second, combining burst bombs and inkstorm would be really good on any weapon, so giving it to this weapon might make it a little too good. (I think the only weapons deserving of that combo would probably be the inkbrush or some kind of nozzlenose.) Swapping it out for autobomb rush or tenta missiles could be interesting. Combined with the tri-firing shield and burst bombs, this could give the weapon a lot of pressure to use against enemies.

 

[Umbriel_Umbra]

With the stats it has it definitely seems like a weapon I’d check out if it existed! Though I’d probably change the inkstorm on the sorella for two reasons. First, like you mentioned, it might obsolete the original splat brella. Second, combining burst bombs and inkstorm would be really good on any weapon, so giving it to this weapon might make it a little too good. (I think the only weapons deserving of that combo would probably be the inkbrush or some kind of nozzlenose.) Swapping it out for autobomb rush or tenta missiles could be interesting. Combined with the tri-firing shield and burst bombs, this could give the weapon a lot of pressure to use against enemies.

This was entirely what I was thinking! Hahaha, I was considering the Tenta Missiles on this weapon in particular, but then the Sorella Tri Brella might almost seem too underwhelming. You're entirely correct to think Burst Bomb + Inkstorm with any weapon would be particularly troublesome for others, but to put it with a weapon class that has its own sort of... handicap, in terms of utility, might help to make it viable for gameplay. Either way I would definitely consider swapping the Inkstorm for the Tenth Missiles.

 

[Gameboy224]

I don't mind the triple canopy idea, and I don't mind the seeking canopy idea. But I think having both of them at once is a tad bit excessive for a single weapon. Well, I suppose depending on the canopy size and how intrusive they may be when launched.

Of course assuming all three canopies share the same HP when not launched, you should mention what their HP is when launched, unless they still share HP. Given their are 3 of them, they should be comparatively fragile to balance it out, coupled with the preexisting trait that they take half damage when launched.

Firing rate?

Also, you keep saying Autobombs for the USB, it uses Splat Bombs, not Autobombs. Also the USB can't deal 90 damage, it caps 40 per shot, the thing is a 3 hit kill. You might be mixing up names a lot.
The Undercover isn't close to unusable anymore, the most recent buff did pretty much fixed the weapon's greatest flaw and made the thing viable in more than just 1v1s.

 

[Umbriel_Umbra]

I don't mind the triple canopy idea, and I don't mind the seeking canopy idea. But I think having both of them at once is a tad bit excessive for a single weapon. Well, I suppose depending on the canopy size and how intrusive they may be when launched.

Of course assuming all three canopies share the same HP when not launched, you should mention what their HP is when launched, unless they still share HP. Given their are 3 of them, they should be comparatively fragile to balance it out, coupled with the preexisting trait that they take half damage when launched.

Firing rate?

Also, you keep saying Autobombs for the USB, it uses Splat Bombs, not Autobombs. Also the USB can't deal 90 damage, it caps 40 per shot, the thing is a 3 hit kill. You might be mixing up names a lot.
The Undercover isn't close to unusable anymore, the most recent buff did pretty much fixed the weapon's greatest flaw and made the thing viable in more than just 1v1s.

1. Honestly, I think it is somewhat necessary. I would think the Tri Brella canopy size to be as big as the Splat Brella, so you can imagine each individual shield being about a third of that. More often than not (really, unless you have an enemy physically cornered), the Splat Brella's shield, when launched, is easily dismissed by simply swimming around it. Having three tinier shields that seek out enemies actually maximizes the nature of the main weapon's intended mechanic: to zone and divert.

2. This was a quick fix I actually forgot to make, thanks for reminding me! I originally had the total shield health as 350 HP, but I was going to make it 360 HP, and then have each individual shield be 120 HP. To actually balance the squid-seeking bit, I would almost say that the shields should perhaps NOT take half damage like the splat brella's shield. What do you think?

3. Ah, I forgot this. I will have to check to see how this is usually displayed for weapons, but again, it would be between the Undercover and Splat Brellas' fire rates.

4. I don't quite understand this bit? The paragraph where I specifically refer to Autobombs and one of the canon Brella's doing 90 damage... that entire thing refers to comparing the Sorella (Splat) Brella to the proposed Tri Brella. The USB paragraph is below that, where I then reference it's Splat Bombs and three-shot-kill :) (EDIT: whoops! I actually did throw in "Undercover" once in that first paragraph. Apologies. I've fixed that now.) And I would personally say it is unusable either: as I stated above, I am in favor of the USB in particular! And especially, as you said, due to the recent update. But the general consensus among competitive players is that it is still relatively lacking and underwhelming in comparison to, say, a Dualie, Splattershot or Slosher shooter that you could pick up and play 10x easier for the same, if not better results. That's the point of, for instance, proposing both three Brella shields, AND homing capabilities on one weapon. To really buff up the Brella class.