Theory Crafting: Carbon Roller

[Hinichii.ez.™]

After playing a strong carbon roller in an A+ game not too long, I've come to respect the weapon and make my own builds and opinions of it. I think, the carbon roller, is the most aggressive roller right now. It can land and even secure kills, futher away then the splat and kraken, without the use of specails. Burst bombs allow it to do splatter dashes, can cancel the flick animation (to an extent), threaten people from futher away, and can secure kills on the wounded. Bomb + Flick can and will kill farther away, then a flick from the splat and kraken. Ink Zooka, its amazing and I think we all know the pros and cons behind it already. All in all, I think this weapon has great potential.

I made this thread to theory craft, builds and strategies for the carbon. Hopefully, we can push the game of the carbon roller.

From my own testing, I have found DMG Up to be amazing. Normally, a burst bomb does 60 DMG. But add 2 DMG Up mains, and just 1 sub, and it will do 71 DMG, on a direct hit. This is important to the carbon roller, since at a distance, it relies on its bomb flick combo to land kills. Your flick will do 29.6 - 33.3 ( the ladder being much harder to land) with the DMGs up. The splat and kraken will do the same DMG, with its flick, from the same distance, with the same amount of DMGS Ups.i didn't meantion this before, but I am standing 2 lines away from my target, in the training room. So you're doing much more DMG from futher away. As you can see, DMG Up does wonders for this.

I think Bomb range up is great as well, but I'm unlucky, and haven't landed DMG Up + bomb range items.

Theory: Carbon Roller does not need ink resistance, because burst bomb and its speed. If you did not run ink res, I think saver sub would be a good choice to replace, or maybe some charge ups/duration. Thoughts? This is something I am going to mess around with in A+ lobbies today.

 

[Hope]

This is the build I use in TC. I find people often know where you are anyway so I don't run cold blooded, also ninja squid is godlike on the new map. It gives you so many more options to kill people.

I don't run damage up because it barely increases 1hk range, and I can kill people well enough with the burst flick combo, although 3 damage up subs on teh sweater cold blooded clothing would be pretty swag.

 

[Phobos]

I don't use the carbon roller myself, but if I did, I would probably try to fit in a combination of special charge up + special saver, or tenacity + special saver - either of these will enable you to get the Zooka out more quickly (I prefer the former). I personally don't find special duration up to be a good fit with the Zooka, since I tend to trigger it with a particular shot more or less lined up, and so it's done what I needed it to do within the first couple of shots, and after that it might be more advantageous to have my main weapon back.

 

[Pareto]

I've personally used a heavy damage build before (3 mains + 4 subs) and it didn't really change the fact that I still had to heavily rely on stealth and brute aggression to get kills in. Having Damage Up is nice but I've geared myself towards closing the gap between me and my enemy since I'd much rather get that fatal flick in through a lunge. I'm glad that Carbon Rollers have a great level of flexibility in terms of gear abilities so I've been experimenting with everything from Special builds to Quick Respawns and all of them seem to have their own tasty flavors to sample.

 

[TenZa]

I main the Carbon Roller and I personally think it favors a stealth playstyle more than anything. I have yet to experiment with the BombFlick combo, but I think that that's so much extra work for the same result as a Krakon Roller. In my opinion, you shouldnt be trying to fight at range at all and instead use the Carbon's running speed and low endlag to close the gap and ensure you OHKO them with a quick up-close flick followed by an immediate hide. I average around 14 kills with 5 or less deaths per game with a patient stealth-based playstyle w/ Ninja Squid. I essentially just watch the flow of battle from an ink puddle and then pop out and assassinate the enemy team one by one as I or they move into an ideal position, and most importantly, I hide and keep moving immediately after. Also, I agree with one of the above comments about the Inkzooka-- I play Carbon mainly for the main weapon and only even want the Zooka out when I have a perfect shot to take out a couple of people from far away. Hell, I won't even have any deaths a lot of times UNTIL I bring the Zooka out and someone gets in my face or flanks me and kills me cause it paints a target on you, which is counterproductive to how I play Carbon

 

[Ze Dewott]

I've started to go for a more stealthy gameplay lately with Ninja Squid and I'm already seeing fantastic results. In a span of 5 Splat Zones games, I've achieved Splats to Splatted scores of 20:3, 21:7, 16:3 and 20:4.

 

[Lonely_Dolphin]

Oh yes the Carbon Roller is easily my favorite Roller and one of my top weapons overall! Here's the gear set-up I use with it:

I'm focusing my abilitys entirely on burst bombs, as the main weapon itself is dominant at close combat, so it makes sense to give it a good range game aswell. With the amount of bomb range ups I have, my Burst bombs have the reach of a Jet Squelcher, and the attack ups help ensure they kill within 2-3 most of the time. All that combined with the Inkzooka means this weapon can fight strong at any distance, making this weapon uber versatile which is key for me!

EDIT: Oh and I just started using a slightly different set that incorporates swim speed, probably my favorite gear ability. The combo is 1x Ink Recovery 2x Bomb Range as mains, then 6x Strength and 3x Swim Speed as subs.

 

[Hitzel]

For the Default Splattershot, my loadout has 2 mains worth of damage and bomb range + ink resist shoes. I'll get a picture up when I get back to my house.

I usually run a meter building loadout for the Carbon Roller, but you guys make me want to try my Splattershot build with it.

 

[Ze Dewott]

For the Default Splattershot, my loadout has 2 mains worth of damage and bomb range + ink resist shoes. I'll get a picture up when I get back to my house.

I usually run a meter building loadout for the Carbon Roller, but you guys make me want to try my Splattershot build with it.

I'm trying to get my gear so it's more based around Bomb Range and Special Duration, with a bit of Swim Speed to make up for the Ninja Squid. That Inkzooka staying out as long as possible really helps.

 

[Lonely_Dolphin]

For the Default Splattershot, my loadout has 2 mains worth of damage and bomb range + ink resist shoes. I'll get a picture up when I get back to my house.

I usually run a meter building loadout for the Carbon Roller, but you guys make me want to try my Splattershot build with it.

Definitely give it a try! You could also use that same ability set-up with the Neo Splash-O-Matic and likely the Slosher aswell. Mmm yes I love gear combos that work for different weapons!

 

[Hitzel]

Definitely give it a try! You could also use that same ability set-up with the Neo Splash-O-Matic and likely the Slosher aswell. Mmm yes I love gear combos that work for different weapons!

Unfortunately, +6 damage does not make a burst bomb and a Neo Splash bullet a 2-shot kill. That being said, it's still an awesome setup seeing as how the Neo Splash gets the best sub and special of the two Splattershots.

Oh, and here's my main build: https://drive.google.com/open?id=13GlZzKD-Rgy1p22BFFCA6N_bnMwr3hsyKh2smzISKoo

 

[Lonely_Dolphin]

Unfortunately, +6 damage does not make a burst bomb and a Neo Splash bullet a 2-shot kill. That being said, it's still an awesome setup seeing as how the Neo Splash gets the best sub and special of the two Splattershots.

Oh, and here's my main build: https://drive.google.com/open?id=13GlZzKD-Rgy1p22BFFCA6N_bnMwr3hsyKh2smzISKoo

Well hey I didn't say it did, but yeah it'd be nice and if you really wanted it to you could use more damage ups, but I don't think it's that important since I primarily use Burst Bombs to attack opponents the SplashMatic can't reach, and two bullets come out really fast with this thing. Also my poor Wii U cannot load your link. =(

 

[Hitzel]

It's a google drive folder. I'll just post a screenshot:

 

[polysaw]

i main carbon roller too and i dont have a picture but right now my gear abilities are dominated by strength, ink saver sub, and swim speed (i have a vest with four swim speeds on it). im loving this weapon for ranked so it made me happy to see a thread like this!!

 

[Lonely_Dolphin]

It's a google drive folder. I'll just post a screenshot:

*image*

Noice! But dat randy special saver doh. :L
Do you know what ability the Cuttlegear brand is more likely to get if any?

 

[Hitzel]

Noice! But dat randy special saver doh. :L
Do you know what ability the Cuttlegear brand is more likely to get if any?

It's brandless, everything is equal.

My goal is to save scrum the damage up snorkel goggles with bomb range, it's technically more bomb range and damage that way. It's a 1 in 4500 chance but I'm willing lol.

 

[xXDR.SWOOCEXx]

Sorry to bump an old thread but I have a question. Do you guys find this weapon really hard to carry your team with? I kill count is often in the mid-teens but if my teammates aren't the best, I usually lose. I don't want to sound like I'm blaming them, but do you guys have any thoughts or tips on the topic?

 

[Hinichii.ez.™]

Sorry to bump an old thread but I have a question. Do you guys find this weapon really hard to carry your team with? I kill count is often in the mid-teens but if my teammates aren't the best, I usually lose. I don't want to sound like I'm blaming them, but do you guys have any thoughts or tips on the topic?

This is a support/gank weapon. It, "can carry," but you'd be better off with the kraken, if you wanted to carry with a roller.

 

[Tri]

I honestly use this weapon as an on ground charger in the sense that I pick off enemies to allow my team to do what they've been designated to without the fear of being splatted. My friends have often said that they don't notice anyone on the opposite team for extended periods of time and once they do we've usually gotten a very secure foothold on an area. As a Carbon Roller there's absolutely no fear in my mind, if I get splatted so be it. I go in, splat some fools, then get taken out and respawn to get back to work. Sometimes luck isn't on my side but I work with what I have.

To help with this playstyle I go with the Squid Nordic, Red Check Shirt, and Blueberry Casuals. Comeback gives the playstyle an emphasis on picking fights. Then the Quick Respawn on top of that lets me get back into the fray faster. Comeback not only increases damage and both forms of movement, but with the recent patch Special Charge is also increased a noticeable amount. The clothing gives Special Saver so all the meter I've built doesn't go to waste if my luck isn't the best. The Ink Saver Main gives me some peace of mind that I won't run out of ink at an inopportune moment. Then the Blueberry Casuals give me faster movement while also mitigating the ink used by Burst Bombs.

If my connection was better I'd probably be a solid A-A+ rank, but I'm stuck at B for the moment. I do like the idea of this thread and would like to see it get active again.

 

[Nero86]

I really admire Carbon players, this weapon is fantastic and gives a nice show in a pro hands. I could try it sometime later, your build suggestions gave me a north to think about.

A question, in your opinion (or personal experience) which's the worst mode to play as Carbon Roller?