This Is My Rifle (this is not a video) (in progress)

[blep]

blep submitted a new guide:

This Is My Rifle - 4.3.0. An in-depth guide to the Splat Charger

blep explains the Splat Charger:

-Kit/variants
-Role
-Gear/perks
-Modes/maps
-Drills

and more in This Is My Rifle.

Read more about this guide...

 

[blep]

please send help I don't know how to write guides on Squidboards and if you see this guide and it's not finished I'm so sorry and also I will find out how to use spoiler collapse so this thing is easier on the eyes I know it's a mess

but anyway

***

This Is My Rifle

Ahh, the Splat Charger. The slayer of slayers. The original charger and arguably the best. Splat holds a superb track record of manufacturing ever-reliable weapons, this particular one certainly crowning their legacy. Many an aspiring Inkling or Octoling has carried it into battle, but the few that have mastered it are unique as can be. Today, I, the not-so-great and not-so-mighty blep will share the not-very-secret secrets to sending Tentatek Splattershots and Custom Blasters scurrying for cover at the mere sight of you, your laser, or your, erm...bigger laser.

***Function***

Spoiler: Function

The Splat Charger has one mode of attack: a short-range, low-damage semi-auto stream of ink that can be charged to extraordinary range and damage enough to splat in a single hit.

Uncharged, it deals forty (40) damage.
Partially charged, up to eighty (80).
Fully charged, one hundred sixty (160).
There is absolutely no damage falloff.

Uncharged, you have about two lines of range.
Fully charged, around five.
There is no such jump in range between the instant before full charge and full charge itself.
The full range of a shot is achieved very quickly; the ink fired from the weapon seems to hit its target instantaneously.

Uncharged, you consume precisely 2.25% of your ink tank per shot.
Fully charged, 18%.
There is no jump in ink consumption between the instant before full charge and full charge itself.

The weapon is 100% accurate.

When fully charged, a charge can be held by keeping ZR pressed for as long as you wish. You can even transform into squid/octo form and swim freely at full speed during which you are visible as a white circle, keeping your charge as long as ZR is pressed for up to one full second, or sixty (60) frames, before your charge automatically dissipates into the surrounding ink. Should you emerge from the ink in kid form, you will maintain your full charge and immediately point your weapon with 100% accuracy, and regain the ability to carry charge in squid form for a second once again to no end. There is a bit of lag before you may fire after emerging from the ink with a full charge.

The Splat Charger has a laser sight built in to aid in aiming. From your view of your Inkling/Octoling, it will extend from his/her right shoulder and appear to stop (i.e, hit the horizon) in the center of your fixed reticle. Within the mobile reticle, a white ring will fill in direct relation to your charge, completing itself at a full charge. Around this ring will appear a very thin but noticeable colored ring in the color of your ink should your charge be sufficient enough to launch ink into the object or opponent your weapon is pointed at. Should an opponent be caught in your sight, hash marks will appear on the diagonal denoting that whatever is in your reticle will indeed be hit.

However, this is surprisingly difficult to do. Remember that laser? It's also your weapon's hitbox. The laser is only a few pixels wide, and you must hit your opponent directly to deal any damage at all.

(The Splatterscope and all its variants, which I will not cover in great detail, have a scope built in to aid in aiming. As you charge, your field of view will condense into the scope and zoom in significantly, and your reticles will grow to compensate. Your control sensitivity will likely feel different, but if you are accustomed to that, it is arguably easier to aim. You also gain 5% additional range over the unscoped variant, but lose your ability to carry your charge in ink.

***Kits***

Spoiler: Kits

The Splat Charger is available with three kits.

The Original, which will receive the most coverage, has Splat Bomb and Sting Ray.
The Firefin, Splash Wall and Suction Bomb Launcher.
The Kensa, which I will not cover in great detail, Sprinkler and Baller.

The original is obviously a good choice, with an all-around sub and well-suiting special. Even after the Sting Ray nerf, the weapon is still fearsome.

The Firefin is a defensive machine, possessing incredible potential in Clam Blitz and Splat Zones.

Personally, I recommend against the Kensa. Its kit does not suit its playstyle. It's true that Baller has defensive value, but the other variants also outclass it in defense. Should you find it attractive, your aggressiveness will cause even the calmest players to shudder. Plus, it looks really, really cool~

N.B.: The main weapon shares identical functionality across all variants.

***Role***

Spoiler: Role

The charger isn't the one that sits in the back and does nothing the entire game. No player should be stationary, regardless of role, but this weapon can and does lead to the pitfall that you must be. You are not a sniper, you are a long-range assault weapon. You do not stay in one nest the entire game, and if you try, you will fail as either the front line is pushed out of your reach or the front line pushes into your nest. But you are also not on the front lines, pushing back the enemies and thriving in the fray.

If that is all true, then what are you?

You are the shot caller as much as the shot taker. Your perches likely give vast fields of vision, and your range the ability to act on much of the information you gain. You spot flankers and sharkers, and provide overwatch during the battles. You can't paint tremendously well, but you have the tools to cover large open fields of enemy ink in your colors. You can even reach your teammates and paint beneath their feet to aid their movement.

Don't stay in one place. Annoy the Rapid Blaster on the left, and then go take out the roller on the right. Move around from one nest to the other to the third. Pop up in mid for a split second if it nets you a splat. Be unpredictable. Shoot to kill, so to speak (or paint), because the instant you do, you reveal your position and that can get you splatted.

***Gear***

Spoiler: Gear, Part One

The ink effiency abilities:

Spoiler: Ink Efficiency Abilities

Ink Saver (Main): This ability will drop your ink consumption from 18% per full charge to 9.9%. Realistically, though, you will not use that much. Whether you use ISM depends mainly on personal preference, but I do not use it. If you do use it:
2s will drop you to 16.5% which is enough for six full charges on a full tank.
1M 2s will drop you to 14.3% which is enough for seven full charges on a full tank.
2M will drop you all the way to 13.5%.

Ink Saver (Sub):
Original: This ability will drop your ink consumption from 70% per bomb to about 45%. Realistically, though, you will not use that much. I recommend it. I use 1M.
1M will drop you to about 65.4%.
1M 1s will drop you to about 60.6%.
1M 3s, or a pure, will drop you to about 57%.
2M 2s will drop you to about 53.5%.
If you want double bomb, 1M 9s, 2M 5s or 3M 2s will all put you below 50%. I strongly recommend against 1M 9s or 3M 2s of ISS, but 2M 5s is okay.

Firefin: This ability will drop your ink consumption from 60% per wall to about 39%. I recommend against this ability on Firefin, as ISM is slightly but significantly more efficient for your intents and purposes. (Which, considering Firefin gear has ISS affinity, is kind of disappointing)

Ink Recovery Up:
This ability can raise your ink recovery rate by over 50%. I strongly recommend this ability. As a charger, you'll not only be swimming a lot, but you'll have some times where you can just sit back and recharge your ink. This ability stacks extremely well.
3s raises your recovery rate by 10.7%.
6s raises your recovery rate by 21.5%.
2M 4s raises it by 37.5%.
You probably shouldn't use much more.

Discussion on ink efficiency abilities:

Both variants are reliant to some degree on the ink efficiency abilities, the original slightly more.
With no efficiency abilities, you get about 1.5 shots on the original after a bomb.
With no efficiency abilities, you get a little over 2 shots on the Firefin after a wall.
---
On the original, with 2M of ISM, you get slightly over 2 shots after a bomb.
On the original, with 1M of ISM and 1M of ISS, you get about 2.5 shots after a bomb.
On the original, with 2M of ISS, you get slightly under 2.5 shots after a bomb.
On the original, with 1M 2S of ISM and 1M 2S of ISS, you get slightly under 3 shots after a bomb.
---
On the Firefin, with 2M of ISS, you get barely under 3 shots after a wall.
On the Firefin, with 2M of ISM, you get exactly 3 shots after a wall.

However, it's rare that you will fire so many full charge shots in succession without even going back into the ink at all.

With this all in mind, I recommend the following.

Extreme-consumption players: (2M 6s) Please do not use this much efficiency. If you want to dedicate this much to effiency, guess what? Don't. You absolutely must wean yourself off of it.
Original: 1M 1s ISM, 1M 1s ISM, 4s IR
Firefin: 2M ISM, 2s ISS, 4s IR

High-Consumption players: (2M 3s) This is still quite a lot of effeciency, but is somewhat acceptable. Surprisingly enough, the Splat Chargers require quite a lot of efficiency, I'd argue even more than the E-liters.
Original: 1M ISM, 1M ISS, 3s IR
Firefin: 2M ISM, 3s IR

Medium-Consumption players (1M 4s): This is a middle-of-the road level, enough for the majority while still leaving lots of slots open for other perks. However, top-level players who have the aim and experience necessary to play with even less efficiency absolutely should.
Original: 1M ISS, 4s IR
Firefin: 1M 1s ISM, 3s IR

Light-Consumption players: (1M) This is a very daring level of efficiency. You must be very patient and very experienced. I prefer this efficiency level on both the original and Firefin.
Original: 1M ISS
Firefin: 1M IR

Spoiler: Gear, Part Two

The speed abilities:

Spoiler: The Speed Abilities

Run Speed Up: This ability can increase your run speed from .96 DU/f to 1.44 DU/f, and run speed while firing from .20 DU/f to .25 DU/f. I strongly recommend against this ability.

Swim Speed Up: This ability can increase your swim speed from 1.92 DU/f to 2.40 DU/f. I highly recommend this ability. It is useful to move around quickly, obviously, and also to aid momentum held when emerging from ink with a charged shot while moving. This ability stacks well.

2s will up you to 2.01 DU/f.
1M will put you at 2.07 DU/f.
6s will put you at 2.16 DU/f.
2M will put you at 2.18 DU/f.

I like to run 5s at least, but 1M will probably satisfy most of you.

Quick Super Jump: This ability can decrease your super jump time from about 3.63s to about 1.75s. This ability stacks well.

2s will put you at 3.31s.
1M will put you at 3.11s.

The important thing is that you get off the ground quickly, not so much decrease your overall travel time significantly, and it does not take a lot of that ability to do so.

Quick Respawn: This ability can decrease your respawn time from 8s to 5.44s, or negate the respawn penalty associated with Respawn Punisher, but only if you die without getting a splat. I strongly recommend against this ability. (If you want to run 1s to counteract the Respawn Punisher penalty, then your K/D ratio sucks and you should not run Respawn Punisher.)

The defense abilities:

Spoiler: The Defense Abilities

Ink Resistance Up: This ability can completely nullify run speed debuffs when standing in enemy ink, grant you temporary immunity to all debuffs in enemy ink, and also heavily nullify your damage taken and max damage taken from enemy ink.

You should use no more than 1s. This little bit can give you a short bit of debuff immunity should you get stuck in the odd patch of enemy ink or should the enemy push you. If you're very good at avoiding ink and keeping enemies at bay, the slot can be used better with another ability. Whether or not you use a sub of IRU will depend on personal preference. I prefer to use it.

Bomb Defense Up DX: Another ability useful in tiny qualities, which should probably be dubbed Sub Defense Up. This ability uses the combined effects of Bomb Defense Up and Cold-Blooded, decreasing damage from all non-main weapons significantly and dropping the tracking time of Point Sensors or Ink Mines used on you to as little as under 2s.

Once again, as little as 1s proves beneficial. Two indirect Inkjet shots? You're alive. A weak hit from a bomb threatens to take your Ink Armor? Nope. Burst Bomb combos frustrating you? Add a little more. Sting Ray? Pshh. I recommend exactly 1s of this ability. Whether or not you use more depends on personal preference, but use no more than 3s.

The special abilities:

Spoiler: The Special Abilities

Special Saver: This ability can completely nullify special gauge penalties associated with being splatted. I disrecommend this ability, but 1s can be useful if you die a lot.

Special Charge Up: This ability can increase your special charge rate by up to 30%. With the charger's high special gauge requirement, tiny amounts can again be useful. Whether you use large amounts of this ability depends on personal preference versus Tenacity. I prefer Tenacity.

1s decreases your special gauge by about eight points.
2s puts you under 200p on original.
3s sets your charge rate to about 108%
1M puts your charge rate at 109%.
1M 2s drops you to 175p on original.
2M is about as much as you might run, bringing your charge rate to 116.6%.

The power abilities:

Spoiler: The Power Abilities

Main Power Up: This ability can increase your damage on a partial charge to up to 99.9 (+20) and 190 on a full charge (+30.) You can not deal full damage on a partial charge like you could in Splatoon 1 with Damage Up. Therefore, I recommend against this ability.

Sub Power Up: This ability can increase your bomb throw distance by 50% and Splash Wall HP to 1500 (+700). Whether or not you run Sub Power will depend on personal preference and how many other abilities you'd like. I personally do not use it.

Special Power Up: This ability can increase the duration of Sting Ray or Suction Bomb-Launcher. In patch 4.3.0, Special Power's effect on Sting Ray was nerfed.

Original: I do not recommend this ability. Use Special Charge Up or Tenacity instead.

Firefin: I recommend this ability.

3s increases SBL's duration to 6.55s.
1M adds 0.61s.
1M 3s, or a pure, will put you over 7s.

The headgear abilities:

Spoiler: The Headgear Abilities

Opening Gambit: This ability grants 30p each of Ink Resistance Up, Run Speed Up and Swim Speed Up for the first 30s of a match, and an additional 7.5s per every splat or assist you get. I strongly disrecommend this ability.

Last-Ditch Effort: This ability grants 24p each of Ink Saver (Main), Ink Saver (Sub), and Ink Recovery Up for the last 30s of a match (in Turf War), or once the enemy's score drops below 30p or during overtime (in Ranked), and lasts throughout the rest of the match. This ability is very situational, but for a charger I consider it slightly better than Opening Gambit. I do not recommend it, but it depends on personal preference.

Comeback: This ability grants 10p each of Ink Saver (Main), Ink Saver (Sub), Ink Recovery Up, Run Speed Up, Swim Speed Up, and Special Charge Up for 20s upon respawn. I do not recommend this ability.

Tenacity: This ability grants you free special points when your team has more teammates down than the opponent's team depending on how many of your allies are currently respawning.

-1 ally: 2.19 pts/s
-2 allies: 4.37 pts/s
-3 allies: 6.56 pts/s

Whether or not you use Tenacity instead of Special Charge Up depends on personal preference. I use Tenacity.

The clothing abilities:

Spoiler: The Clothing Abilities

Thermal Ink: This ability tracks opponents directly damaged by your primary weapon for 16 seconds with a white silhouette. This ability is terrible, and I do not recommend it, especially for chargers who can splat in one hit.

Ninja Squid: This ability greatly conceals you when swimming, but decreases your swim speed by 20%. I do not recommend this ability for chargers, who do not need to be concealed when swimming.

Haunt: This ability tracks opponents who splat you for 26 seconds with a white silhouette. If they die during this period, they are Respawn Punished. (see below) This ability is terrible, and I do not recommend it.

Respawn Punisher: This ability inflicts +0.7s respawn time and +15% special gauge loss on opponents you splat, and +1.1s respawn time and +22.5% special gauge loss on you when you are splatted. This is a high-risk high-reward ability, but can benefit chargers who do not die a lot. I recommend it if you know what you're doing.

The shoes abilities:

Spoiler: The Shoes Abilities

Drop Roller: This ability grants you a dodge roll after super jumping or landing from an Inkjet (which is slower than dualie rolls), and upon use grants additional buffs of Run Speed Up, Swim Speed Up, and Ink Resistance for about 3 seconds. I don't recommend this ability, as you won't be jumping into the fray.

Stealth Jump: This ability conceals your super jump marker to all players unless they are close enough (about the range of the Dapple Dualies). Again, you won't be jumping into the fray; this ability would be a waste.

Object Shredder: This ability grants you powerful damage buffs to objects like bubbles, Beakons, Rainmaker shields, Sprinklers, etc. This ability is situational, and largely map/mode/comp-dependent. Personally, I don't use it.

Edit History:

1/28/19: Added spoiler boxes.

1/18/19: Tried to add more and new edit was erased. Discussed the remaining abilities and began to discuss maps, starting with Camp Triggerfish.

12/14/18: Discussed the rest of the non-exclusive abilities and the headgear abilities.

12/12/18: Discussed ink efficiency abilities and speed abilities.

 

[blep]

***Maps*** (finally)

Discussion on Points of Interest

Points of Interest are positions from which chargers or other backliners direct the flow of battle. I will divide them into firstlines, midlines, and lastlines. Different points have different functions in different modes even on the same map. Other points are suited well for aggressing and supporting a push, and are labled as such. Sometimes, multiple corners will allow for multiple positions on the same line of defense.

Camp Triggerfish: (I will add an image with labeled callouts ASAP so you know what I'm talking about but for now please bear with my descriptions. Thank you)

I: Points of Interest

-From spawn, drop forward and swim to the sponge. Climb it and swim across the wall (carefully, don't fall) to the corner. Behind the first corner is an especially good place to attack both sides of mid, and can net some surprise splats in the opening seconds. The entire stretch of wall lacks in cover, so you must be careful, especially against enemy chargers. If there's not any, though, and there's a man below to cover you, feel free to stick there and defend as long as you'd like. A great and underrated firstline.

-Your side of mid has two points of interest:
One is the grate and the behind the wall on the right leading up to it. Retreat to the ramp to recover ink, but watch your back. From this spot you can reach most of mid and into your street to stop frontliners. A nice firstline, especially in Tower Control; just make sure you watch your back!

The other spot in your mid is on the left adherent to the left wall's right corner. From this corner you can reach deep into their street (especially if you charge carry down mid into the corner next to sneaky), and also into both sides of mid. You also have a clear view of any enemies pushing into your street and can easily reposition accordingly. Firstline.

You can also cheese and sit in the ramp up to mid and repeatedly charge carry for a similar effect to the first spot, but it is much more safe. Your vision is limited, however, and popping up into the sights of an enemy sauntering down your mid will end you many times if you're not careful.

-To the right of the sponge is an inkable wall on which you can climb up to the flank grate. This can be a nice place to defend against straight pushes especially in Clam Blitz. A flexible post in CB and midline in TC/RM. Too awkward in SZ.

-Spawn itself is a nice lastline in Tower Control. The walls can also usher you forward a bit to just get the edge on a Sting Ray sitting back on your ramp.

-As for Rainmaker, there's an inkable block as part of the left-front wall in room (not exclusive to the mode). You can climb it or peek the corner. You can even peek the corner of the pedestal if you'd like. All are suitable lastline positions. Just be sure to watch your left so no one flanks you from gate.

-To aggress in Splat Zones, you can be daring and push to the opponent's snipe for an edge on anyone leaving their spawn. I believe you can even reach their rail from there. If not, just hang back and shoot from afar. A pretty cheesy spot, but you can make it work.

-In Tower Control, riding the tower can make for some difficult shots, but you're granted plenty of corners to peek as well. Definitely jump off to Sting Ray, but Firefins have walls to bank Splash Walls off of as well. In the back half, do not ride the tower; you will quickly become vulnerable as the tower approaches the opponent's spawn. Support at the junction of opponent's front and mid when your team aggresses past 55.

(Fun fact: whether or not to ride the tower is a question that plagues hordes of backliners, myself included. The answer is NOT a simple "yes" or "no" and is VERY map and composition dependent.)

-In Rainmaker pushes, simply follow the carrier as he runs up grate to room and snipe anyone that peeks out and tries to deny them. Don't touch the last third or so of it, however, if you're going for 70+ points or so, let the slayers front for the carrier and support with a special in the back. It's such a lethal choke point that as an anchor, you're better off staying back.

-In Clam Blitz, you once again don't want to overextend as spawn approaches. Support in the back at junction, like in Tower Control, and be careful if you must throw in clams as kills are definitely a priority that far in. However, I will note that you MAY push up a little further, say to the bottom of the ramp or even to top flank, as your team leads. You could even feasibly be a carrier and of course retreat immediately following a dunk.

(Do not try to rush in and save a ball if you miss unless you are absolutely sure the coast is clear. That's not your job, and you'll die if you're not careful. Goes for all maps.)

II: Modes

Splat Zones: As mentioned, you can hang around in your side of mid almost the whole game and do just fine. You should play more towards your snipe than their street, since your frontliners will push up it a lot. Make sure you do support them over there, but don't leave the objective too long.

Tower Control: Also as mentioned, you can ride the tower to around 50. Any further and you will be overwhelmed so close to the opponents' spawn. Hang in mid for the back half of pushes and fight from the back while your support rides the tower instead.

Rainmaker: Support pushes from corner and ramp. (Be careful of sneaky when you're in corner). Remember once again to hang back as you approach the goal, as the nasty choke point that is the opening to room will bring your destruction. Defend from the wall, your snipe, your front/spawn, your back (the back of your street after dropping from room), and room when appropriate.

Clam Blitz: Once again, stay in mid, picking up and passing clams, painting, and hitting shots. When your team pushes, be careful not to break the defense bubbles they might put up especially if you use your special. Defend from spawn, front, the right-corner of your court, or even the right-corner of your sponge. Firefin mains will have an easier time defending for sure, especially with their powerful bomb launcher.

The Reef: coming soon!

Port Mackerel: coming soon!

[more to come, of course!]