Which Kits Are "Direct Upgrades"

[ThestralZ]

To preface this, the term "direct upgrade" to me means that the two kits play the game in almost the exact same way but one just does it much better than the other.

My list at the moment would be Gold Areospray, Carbon Deco, C-Liter, Dapple Nouveau, Custom Dousers, Sorella Brella and Sorella Undercover, CRB, Rapid Deco, S-Blast 91 and Painbrush Nouveau.

 

[Catloafman]

I would say the painbrush nouveau plays different than the vanilla kit that curling bomb can enable a very roller like playstyle that the missile kit can't do nearly as well

I would pick the New squiffer sure its way harder but it enables squiffer to be squiffer more then the vanilla kit does in my opinion

 

[Grushi]

You could make an argument against it but bamboo 2 feels like a direct improvement over mk I.

You get a better bomb for chip damage and paint, and another ink tank refill chip damage special, except this one paints A LOT. The only thing mk I does better is the location effect/arguably a better special for killing, but I feel like the paint compensates for that.

 

[isaac4]

Almost all the sloshers got their best kits at launch so there's not really a "direct upgrade" for that class.
nTri is much better than vTri but they don't play the same at all.
Which I could at least put Dread here but they actually made the 2nd kit worse than the Slider kit.

 

[youre_a_squib_now]

sure its way harder but it enables squiffer to be squiffer more then the vanilla kit does in my opinion

This is true precisely because the two kits do different things. New squiffer wants to go in and get twitter clips, classic squiffer wants to stand its ground and you better not come over here or else
so I don't think it qualifies as a direct upgrade. even though it's certainly better

 

[OnePotWonder]

.96 Deco seems like it fits the description. Two HP subs and two complete invulnerability specials that take away the user’s main weapon.

 

[Squidilicious]

Heavy edit nouveau, dualie squelchers, RBD, splash-o-matic, nzap 85, the splattershot pro with suction and booyah

 

[QuagSass]

Heavy edit nouveau, dualie squelchers, RBD, splash-o-matic, nzap 85, the splattershot pro with suction and booyah

Hard disagree on Edit. The two kits play very differently and neither is really better than the other. I think Edit is one of the better weapons when it comes to having two equally balanced kits that encourage different playstyles in this game.

I think one could also make a case for Splattershot Pro having two good kits. But I don't play the weapon and I never see people talk about it, so maybe I'm just wrong.

 

[OnePotWonder]

Edit and Squelchers both have two distinct playstyles, and vanilla Edit is as good as the nouveau one, if not better.

Forge Splattershot Pro is definitely a direct upgrade, though; the Angle Shooter on the vanilla kit doesn’t even synergize with it.

 

[youre_a_squib_now]

splash-o-matic,

If splash was a direct upgrade, neo splash would never see use because splash would be used instead. But some Japanese teams are using neo sploosh because it's really good at painting (see gem's recent video on the subject). therefore it is not a direct upgrade.

 

[Oliy]

This game generally does a decent job at avoiding pure direct upgrades, but lots of burst bomb options kind of destroy their alts (carbon deco, s-blast 91, custom dousers). One I haven't seen mentioned yet is the Jrs which are very similar in design approach, and another is the jet squelchers which I would argue custom is better (though I do see more vanilla squelchers which is interesting).

Of course you could argue between similar weapons with similar kits and roles, like neo splash vs ttek being shooters with a bomb and inkstrike or mini vs l3d for a fighting burst hammer or something, but that's a way deeper discussion.

You could make an argument against it but bamboo 2 feels like a direct improvement over mk I.

You get a better bomb for chip damage and paint, and another ink tank refill chip damage special, except this one paints A LOT. The only thing mk I does better is the location effect/arguably a better special for killing, but I feel like the paint compensates for that.

As your resident bamboo player, this is *generally* true, but wail and autobomb have their specific locations where they're nicer than fizzy/chumps. Tower control is a good example since autobombs stay on the tower while fizzies roll off and wails can target tower players, but also maps with small snipe blocks like sturgeon have decent arguments for autobomb. This game generally giving two different sub types to weapons and specials each having their very specific strengths means a lot of kits are never 100% outclassed. Vtent still gets used at top level in specific maps even if theoretically the stent is a way more versatile kit.

 

[C-53]

In the realm of “recon specialist” kits for a solo skirmisher like me, I have found this to be the upgrade progression: vDapples => CJR => vNova => cWellstring.

When I go slaying, I find Luna Neo to be a strict upgrade over vLuna. I find fizzies and hammer throws (almost never stamp unless I need a quick zone cap) just complement that weapon soooo much better than splat bombs and zip.

It makes me sad to repeat this as a Luna lover, but I know some people say that any S-Blast kit is an upgrade to the Luna kits.

 

[youre_a_squib_now]

It makes me sad to repeat this as a Luna lover, but I know some people say that any S-Blast kit is an upgrade to the Luna kits.

On luna blaster, if you sneak up and hit someone with an indirect, you're very likely to hit another one before they can turn around and splat you. This is very much not true with s-blast, just the opposite. The slow fire rate and endlag are its main weaknesses.

Is s-blast better? Absolutely. But it does a different thing.

 

[C-53]

On luna blaster, if you sneak up and hit someone with an indirect, you're very likely to hit another one before they can turn around and splat you. This is very much not true with s-blast, just the opposite. The slow fire rate and endlag are its main weaknesses.

Is s-blast better? Absolutely. But it does a different thing.

I love this take. Definitely fits with how I play each one. I’ll quote you next time I hear someone disparage Luna in favor of S-Blast. Thanks.