From Best to Worst
Bluefin Depot - My first splatoon match was on this map and I really liked it. There's something to be liked about fighting 2v2 and then in the aftermath seeing who's won and lost and which parts of the map to take. I will say it can be difficult when it's charger city, but I enjoy it when it's me and someone else on the ground and two chargers up top.
Museum D'Alfonsino - I just like how this map is, I prefer fights over the middle over spawn camping and this map make sure sure there's only one way into yours and enemy territory. I can usually perform decently here, and I remember some good splat zones games here. Rainmaker.. not so much.
Walleye Warehouse - I hated this map at first. I hated how easily it was to get shoved back and be unable to escape but I've since warmed to it as it is probably the most equal map for any weapon, and again some good Splat Zones games, turning it around in extra time or taking control after being on the brink of defeat and getting a knockout.
Kelp Dome - Another map I disliked at first, I just found myself getting caught off guard to easily here, but since learning I've made progress and actually enjoy this map now. I usually find myself in a 1 on 1 firefight at the beginning Andy then move into the centre.
Port Mackerel - Even though playing ranked has given me some disdain for this map as of recent, it's always a good map for me, I like taking in the classic squiffer or another weapon I like but don't play too often and just wrecking things. Another map I've had good splat zones games in too, with the Tri Slosher.
Moray Towers - Is it weird I don't tend to get killed too often by Chargers here? It's the one where I rarely get killed, maybe because it's so infamous I subconsciously avoid them, but it is difficult when you're trapped back at spawn. The ranked modes are what make this map for me. I don't think I've played Rainmaker here (if you can) but Tower Control and Splat Zones were both very enjoyable experiences.
Saltspray Rig - Hmm, there's a lot to say about this map but I tend to get some good games on here. I like getting stealth kills just sitting on the side, if we go for the top first, and with a brush I just like running past everyone dodging shots to take the top of the map, or spend the whole game fighting the one other guy who wants the bottom. It's just nice I think, a variety of ways to go, and going as a team and taking back the top in the last 30 seconds is fun.
Flounder Heights - Another map I just didn't like at first. There are so many ways to go I'd constantly be caught off guard, but now I've warmed up to it it's a pretty enjoyable map, another good for stealth kills to anyone that comes up top and doesn't ink the corners around the grate first, and sending seekers over the top is fun too. I've had decent results with all modes in ranked too.
Piranha Pit - Another fun map, that's huge as well, I tend to take care of the side areas, build up a kraken or bubbler and then just wail on the middle. Sometimes it's difficult to get out once pushed back but if that doesn't happen it's still possible to win. Theres a lot of ways to go and the conveyor belts really make it unique. This would've been higher but I just liked the others better.
Mahi Mahi Resort - I bet most people would expect I used to hate this map because of always falling in the water, but I did all my falling in the water back on Bluefin Depot, so that's not as much of a problem anymore. I like how half the map shows up 2 minutes in to give the losing team a better chance to get back into it if they're being spawn camped, and I love sitting on the wooden middle platformers with a splattershot pro or a charger. One thing I dislike is in Rainmaker, if you don't go straight left but then go left onto the grey platform and try to jump to the other grey platform you just fall straight in the water. Many a time I've gone to do this and died immediately, forgetting it's this way in ranked.
Blackbelly Skatepark - Another map I like that's unfortunately low because I like the others better. It's awkward getting spawn camped but otherwise there's a lot of ways to go, and to catch your breath if being hunted down, and it tends to be really fun in Turf Wars. I hate the Splat Zones here though. Too small and too close together. In Port Mackerel they were further away and in Flounder Heights they were bigger, here neither I said the case and it just makes keeping them exhausting.
Ancho V Games - There's a lot to like but also a lot not to like. It's awkward to get to people with the propeller lifts, but they can be a good escape too. Spawn Campers can't get all the way into your area, but they can still get close enough to make life very difficult getting out. Getting back out from the middle can be difficult if you want to retreat to catch your breath but it also corners them too. For every problem there's a counter, I'm just not great at this map.
Urchin Underpass - I guess another one I feel awkwardly neutral about. That dip in the middle makes it difficult to tell exactly what's going on til you go down there and get splatter from somewhere. I like going under the gates up to the side and exploring all the different ways to go, but I don't really have as much fun a son some of the higher maps, and I swear, every single time in Tower Control and Rainmaker, th either team pushes the objective almost right to the end at the start and we just can't recover.
Hammerhead Bridge - This one can be a pain. Those grates can make it hard to see, and as I tend to go to the left at the start there's a lot to focus on. I tend to stay on the lower ground but that can make it more difficult to get out and away. It's the worst when the other team takes the middle and pushes onwards, but other than that I don't really have a problem with it, I've had some good games had bad games, I guess the reason it's so low is I never really feel safe.
Arowana Mall - That steep ramp at the top is the bane of my existence. I never ever go straight anymore for that reason alone. climbing up is immensely difficult when people are standing at the top, and because it's so step as soon as you start shooting if youre close range you'll often fall back down and have to do it all over again. I tend to go left and right now instead but even then, I have trouble shooting down from the other ramps, and people struggle getting up while I'm there so it's a stalemate til someone else outside my range shoots me. It can be a fun map other than that, and I like the aesthetic but for me this is a difficult one.
Camp Triggerfish - liked the look and sound of this one I really did, but it's weird map design. The middles are separated and to get to the other side you have to climb on grates or go right to their base and just shoot at them. You could just sit up there all day shooting down and it's only in the last minute they can actually do anything about it. Long Range weapons definitely have the advantage here, which is fine, but often times I just struggle at anything I do here. Stay and defend? Warding off someone on the top who just sneaks to the other side as the others make their path through the other grates. Sit on the wall and charge shots? They always find one way in. Go on the offensive? Even if I make it all the way to their set of grates into our base I'm usually killed on their second offensive. It's not a bad map by any means, it wouldn't even be my worst if it weren't for ranked battles. I haven't had too much experience with Rainmaker and Tower Control here (not sure why but I always end up playing Splat Zones) but I'd say Camp Triggerfish's Ranked Battles are the most difficult of any map. It's Splat Zones are even more the bane of my existence than the ramps in Arowana Mall. When I stay and defend, everyone stays and defends,a nod whilst I'm fighting off the long range weapons we all get killed by a Carbon Roller or the like. When I go and attack, I may be able to kill a few, but I end up shooting back to cover my own splat zone in which case I get killed. I get this feeling nobody knows really what to do, at least in the ranks I've been in, and indecisiveness gets you killed in Splatoon. I'll agree, I'm never sure of what to do, but I commit to a path, even if we end up losing, or it gets me the worst track record of the team, I'll stay defending if I have to. I'm just cursed here, heheh. Maybe it'll get better in the future, maybe it won't.
Sorry about the enormous post, also thank goodness it saves every minute, my browser crashed in the middle of the final description and I was certain I'd lost around 15 minutes of writing.