Tier list of every main weapon, based on how fun I think they are to fight

[Grushi]

So I was thinking about this recently, and I decided to make a tierlist of every main weapon in the game, but I ranked them based on whether I like fighting them or not

Disclaimers!
-One of the things I love about this game is how unique the main weapons are to play, basically all of them have their die-hard fans, and I think that's super cool.
A lot of them have really extreme strenghts, which makes fights feel really unique. So I'm not encouraging people to stop using their faves! I'm a tent main, my weapon gets a massive 1400 HP shield sometimes, so I think chargers being able to one shot at a distance is totally fine! This is just about how much I enjoy fighting them
-I'm not taking kits into account for this, this is purely about the main weapons, but I am taking into account that some of them can be very special spammy (aka annoying) if they're given the wrong kit
-This is 100% my opinion, so you're free to disagree!

I won't be going into every single weapon, but there are a few attributes I generally don't like:

-I really don't like fighting weapons that can one shot you at a distance and up close if they simply aim well enough, it feels extremely random and out of your control at times. You can try to mix up your movement and abuse cover, but there's only so much you can do, it's a bit too all-or-nothing to me. At least chargers have clear lasers that show their sightline, and a predictable charge time:
So that's most one shot blasters, H-3 (I'm so sorry), squiffer, both stringers and bloblobber

-Sit-back-and-paint-the-zone playstyles: there are some weapons that have an unhinged ability to paint well at a safe distance, and when people start optimizing their weapons, that's usually something they start to abuse (which is fair tbh), which means they barely fight. A lot of this can be fixed if they get a more aggressive kit, and if they can't just farm a special from a distance the whole game, but that doesn't change the problem for me:
I'm mainly thinking of jet squelcher, flingza (rip), pencil, and bloblobber

-Weapon that are so weak at fighting they basically just run away: Pretty self explanatory, basically junior, nova, big swig and aerospray


So in conclusion, I have successfully proven that dualies are, in fact, the best class in all of splatoon, and I won't hear any rebuttals
If you squiddies have any questions or hot takes, go ahead :3

 

[Yosi Spring]

if we're talking about online play I'd put Heavy Edit lower cuz the insane movement speed + lag makes them teleport a lot

 

[OnePotWonder]

Not much to comment on, I’m sure there’s nothing most people think should be more than a tier higher or lower.
Unfortunately, I’m not most people.

Personally, I’d put Shot in bottom tier with .52 Gal, and move Goo up two tiers.
My reasoning:
Shot is only marginally slower at splatting than .52 and it always has a lethal bomb. I don’t see why people like it more.
Goo Tuber, despite being a one-shot charger, is actually fun to fight because it doesn’t sit on a perch the whole game.

 

[Grushi]

if we're talking about online play I'd put Heavy Edit lower cuz the insane movement speed + lag makes them teleport a lot

I didn't really account for lag, but maybe I overrated edit a bit. I just really like that if you force it to fire with a partial charge, it can't fight you as well

Also if we're counting lag, eliter is going DOWN FAR GET OUT OF HERE I AM SICK OF GETTING WALLBANGED RAHH-

Not much to comment on, I’m sure there’s nothing most people think should be more than a tier higher or lower.
Unfortunately, I’m not most people.

Personally, I’d put Shot in bottom tier with .52 Gal, and move Goo up two tiers.
My reasoning:
Shot is only marginally slower at splatting than .52 and it always has a lethal bomb. I don’t see why people like it more.
Goo Tuber, despite being a one-shot charger, is actually fun to fight because it doesn’t sit on a perch the whole game.

I mean I get it shot kills really fast too, there are times when it makes me go "well... okay" but I don't think it's as extreme as the gals, if you get hit twice you live at least and it doesn't have as much range. I don't mind it too much but I could see it being a tier down yeah (but I'd much rather fight a weapon with a bomb than a splash wall ngl)

I probably am being a bit harsh on goo, but it's one of those "well if they can hit their partial charge I just lose hooray" weapons. You're definitely right that it actually fights you though so it's not that bad

 

[isaac4]

I'm guessing Machine is annoying because of fizzy and the AoE being able to hit over the shield, right? Maybe also the fact that it has more range than vSlosh so it hits above ledges much better with its arced sloshes.
What about Undercover though? I don't like fighting it either since Machine has such a slow fire rate (rip 5 frames) but I always thought Tent had a better job dealing with Undercovers shield.

 

[QuagSass]

Whenever I see tierlists like this, they usually put Hydra in the "I hate this thing RAAHHH" tier or something. So seeing it so high up is a nice change of pace :)
But then I see that you play Tent, and maybe that's why lol

 

[2bdamned]

N-ZAP ‘85 IN TOP TIER LETS GO

 

[Grushi]

I'm guessing Machine is annoying because of fizzy and the AoE being able to hit over the shield, right? Maybe also the fact that it has more range than vSlosh so it hits above ledges much better with its arced sloshes.
What about Undercover though? I don't like fighting it either since Machine has such a slow fire rate (rip 5 frames) but I always thought Tent had a better job dealing with Undercovers shield.

Well I'm not counting the kits but I just don't like machine's directs making the kill time a lot harder to predict, and I mostly put it there out of SPITE for the splat brella matchup haha. I don't think tent's bad into it but I swear there's some trizooka level of hitbox jank with machine's sloshes, so splat brella's shield never works against it in my experience, and that makes me go insane

I just think undercover's really annoying, tent's good into it but for any other weapon it's kind of a chore having to shred the shield while fighting a goddamn mosquito. And I think the shield regening its HP when it gets a kill or assist is a cute idea but it kind of decentivizes fighting 2v1s against it which just feels weird to me ngl. It also has that aerospray-esque quality of not being able to fight, so it just runs away from you half the time

Whenever I see tierlists like this, they usually put Hydra in the "I hate this thing RAAHHH" tier or something. So seeing it so high up is a nice change of pace :)
But then I see that you play Tent, and maybe that's why lol

Tent probably helps haha, but I honestly don't mind hydra. The only annoying part about it imo is since the recent buff, this thing shoots for SO long I feel like I'm waiting for an elevator to arrive sometimes. But that's it really

 

[QuagSass]

Well I'm not counting the kits but I just don't like machine's directs making the kill time a lot harder to predict, and I mostly put it there out of SPITE for the splat brella matchup haha. I don't think tent's bad into it but I swear there's some trizooka level of hitbox jank with machine's sloshes, so splat brella's shield never works against it in my experience, and that makes me go insane

I just think undercover's really annoying, tent's good into it but for any other weapon it's kind of a chore having to shred the shield while fighting a goddamn mosquito. And I think the shield regening its HP when it gets a kill or assist is a cute idea but it kind of decentivizes fighting 2v1s against it which just feels weird to me ngl. It also has that aerospray-esque quality of not being able to fight, so it just runs away from you half the time


Tent probably helps haha, but I honestly don't mind hydra. The only annoying part about it imo is since the recent buff, this thing shoots for SO long I feel like I'm waiting for an elevator to arrive sometimes. But that's it really

Yeah, it's a weapon that demands patience from both the user and the enemy. And not a lot of people seem to have that patience.
That being said, I feel the same about fighting Tent. No strong feelings one way or another, though I do like seeing if I can just punch through the shield with Hydra sometimes

 

[Grushi]

Yeah, it's a weapon that demands patience from both the user and the enemy. And not a lot of people seem to have that patience.
That being said, I feel the same about fighting Tent. No strong feelings one way or another, though I do like seeing if I can just punch through the shield with Hydra sometimes

Yeah, exactly! And out of topic, but I actually really like playing with tent's slower pace, it helps a lot mentally because it forces me to cool down and be attentive to what's happening at all times, so it's a lot harder for me to get tilted with it. You also get a lot of moments where you just follow your shield and can take a breather for a sec. I like this weapon a tiny bit hehe

 

[chaotik0]

i honestly have a hard time comprehending how annoying a weapon is, probably because i only think of weapons as strong or weak with these weaknesses and these strengths
to me this kind of just looks like an upside down tier list of the weapons in the game except with a lot of bias

the only thing i think of as annoying in terms of weapon design is if they make something that is unfun to use, not unfun to fight. if they for some random reason add a weapon that is stupidly busted and give it a splat bomb trizooka, sure it will be very difficult to go up against and maybe even impossible to beat but i cant see how that would be annoying. yeah it would be stupid and unfair, but im playing stamper, my favorite weapon, im having a great time! the main thing i get annoyed about in this game is when i feel like im playing so much worse than i should be

i say AAAA I HATE PENCIL!!!! as much as i can but the only reason i hate it is because no other cooler weapon is viable with it so people who think pencil is unfun to use dont get to use a cooler weapon that is fun to use, atleast at high/top level.

also the stamper placement makes sense
once you get hit with a vertical you better be outside the horizontal range or behind cover, and if you are behind cover you better hope you don’t get a burst bomb thrown at you

how to counter stamper while im here i guess
the best way to take beat a stamper is be within your fastest kill range but far enough away to not be hit by the melee, and also to take advantage of their bad ink efficiency and approach when you see that they were shooting a lot. and if you are a backline, you are very vulnerable to an instant burst bomb combo so move around a lot and always keep track of where the stamper is (two things you should be doing anyway, rotating positions and making sure the longest range enemy player can’t contest your current position)

as for zipcaster, it wont last very long so once they activate it you can just hide until it ends and punish them afterwards BUT DO NOT BE NEAR THE MARKER YOU WILL EXPLODE WHEN THEY LAND. while fighting them in zipcaster, just shoot them and dont miss it works every time as long as you have a faster kill time which almost every weapon does

 

[isaac4]

Well I'm not counting the kits but I just don't like machine's directs making the kill time a lot harder to predict, and I mostly put it there out of SPITE for the splat brella matchup haha. I don't think tent's bad into it but I swear there's some trizooka level of hitbox jank with machine's sloshes, so splat brella's shield never works against it in my experience, and that makes me go insane

You're definitely right about how annoying it is for Splat Brella to deal with Machine lol
It's the easiest brella for Machine to deal with since it can hit over the shield but I've always wondered if lag was the reason hitting over it felt pretty easy. It seems consistent enough that I wouldn't be surprised if that's just how Machine's AoE hitbox works against the shield though.

How does Tent and Splat Brella do against Tri-Slosher though? It always seemed to me that once Tents shield was up, there's not a lot Tri can do to deal with it unless it's on high ground.

 

[Grushi]

You're definitely right about how annoying it is for Splat Brella to deal with Machine lol
It's the easiest brella for Machine to deal with since it can hit over the shield but I've always wondered if lag was the reason hitting over it felt pretty easy. It seems consistent enough that I wouldn't be surprised if that's just how Machine's AoE hitbox works against the shield though.

How does Tent and Splat Brella do against Tri-Slosher though? It always seemed to me that once Tents shield was up, there's not a lot Tri can do to deal with it unless it's on high ground.

I've basically never been able to block a machine slosh with splat brella, so at one point I gave up and just don't even try to anymore lol

Against tri I think they're okay, especially tent. I don't think sloshers as a whole are bad for tent since the shield is pretty tall and you're always following right behind it so they don't hit you that consistently, tri especially since to do that it has to get into one shot range, so it has to be on high ground. Splat brella's weird against it, I think it's a 50/50 matchup since at max range tri doesn't have great aoe so it has to be very precise and aim really high, and you can pretty reliably block it if it shoots straight at you, though it does have a really good fire rate and ink efficiency

 

[a hot mess]

you're not really fond of pablo, i see.