Seeing as that last post was kind of questionable, maybe I can give some suggestions for the Ballpoint and provide insight into the mechanics. There’s also
this 2 year old post I made about Splatlings in Splatoon 1 that could be useful. Funny how my posts are just as passive agressive now as they were then.
Most Splatlings progressively gain range as you charge them, maxing out at one ring; the second ring charges faster. The Ballpoint is different in that the rapid fire mode and the long range mode both have a set range irrespective of charge. The Ballpoint can also be charged in the middle of firing.
All splatlings have the same rate of fire when unloading charge, except the Ballpoint; the short range mode is faster than other splatlings, while the long range is slower than other splatlings. The short range also has somewhat Jr-like accuracy, while the long range is almost 100%. Short range bullets leave larger splotches on the ground, and do so more frequently than the Heavy, while the long range bullets seem to leave fewer and smaller splotches than even the Hydra; long range is simply not for painting. Bullets do the same damage regardless of which firing mode you’re in, but are still succeptible to falloff damage.
The Ballpoint switches to long range after unloading 1/4 of a ring, and depending on how you space your recharges, you can keep it in long range or short range mode. If you absolutely have to force the weapon out of long range mode (which actually happens pretty frequently if you’ve charged up more than one ring), you can quickly squid-form to forfeit your charge and reset the weapon state. There’s some subtleties to this that I haven’t figured out myself, such as when the weapon transitions back from long range to short range during recharging - I do know that the weapon is forced into short range after being recharged past 1.75 rings though.
So how the heck do you play this weapon?
It has crazy mobility, and you’ll want to capitalize on this with run speed perks. I believe your mobility is slow in long range mode, fast in short range mode, and even faster while charging. You could potentially abuse this while juking your opponent and for quickly moving in and out of cover, for example you could be hiding behind a wall with your weapon charging (still on long range mode), then quickly pop out from behind the wall before starting to fire, thus capitalizing on the weapon’s unreal charging mobility.
For the most part you’ll want to be using the short range mode for securing your surroundings, and only switch to the Hydra-like long range mode when you’re safe and want to pick people off or pressure from a distance. If you’re pressured or surprised, get yourself out of long range mode by squidforming, then counter with a 1/8-1/4 charge in short range; the aerospray speed and 4-hit kill shred through people like you’ve never seen.
This weapon’s relatively slow firing speed in long range mode may warrant Thermal Ink as an ability, but I’m yet to test it out. I’d probably use two mains of Run Speed, and slap on some Ink Recovery and Ink Saver Main as necessary. You can tailor the other abilities to your play style, but I largely ignore the inkjet; I’m better off never using that special, honestly.
As a side note: be aware of the recent patch note changes. The Ballpoint now charges brutally slow when you’re out of ink, because you used to be able to sustain long range fire practically forever. It also charges even slower while jumping or falling now.
