Which specials should be left behind in Splatoon 3?

[isaac4]

I've been thinking about this topic for the past few months now and despite not having a lot of good options for certain specials like Inkjet or Kraken, we know that the devs could remove any special they want for the next game.
We have no idea what the direction of Splatoon 4 will be but I still think it's interesting to talk about which specials we would personally want gone.
I also don't think Splatoon needs a lot of specials, we don't even get 3rd kits for every weapon to give us the chance to see more kit combinations (we don't even know if we'll get 3rd kits in Splatoon 3 at all).

Personally, my choices would be Reefslider, Tenta Missiles, Ultra Stamp, and Triple Inkstrike.

• Reefslider is doomed to be a panic button that just gets you killed most of the time and it's also completely outclassed by TSD being in the game. While they're not exactly the same since Slider moves forward it doesn't change the fact that TSD is actually able to do what the devs seem to have wanted for Slider, an aggro special that you use to get kills with. They've also continued to buff Reefslider in some of the worst ways by giving it a bigger explosion radius and increasing the invincibility frames for when the special starts and ends but never addressing the real issues that it has. I don't trust it'd be any different if given the chance to return.
• I don't think I have to explain Tenta Missiles. Their use as a global range special is already enough of a reason to not bring it back.
• Ultra Stamp is there for a similar reason as Slider but I actually like the concept of the special. Too bad it's been in the same position in two games as an okay special you can't reliably use for what it's supposed to do. Especially when you're dealing with shooters which are going to be extremely common. I just don't have any hope in the special actually being buffed in a way that matters. They even nerfed it early on in Splatoon 3 which is very confusing but makes me think that they're not giving the special any significant buffs because Stamp is stronger against more casual players. Either way, I hope I'm wrong and they do end up making it good before patches end or at least in Splatoon 4 if they do bring it back.
• Lastly, I just don't like Tri-Strike. I find the special VERY boring to use. The only other special I dislike using more than Strikes is Slider so that probably says a lot for how I feel about it. There could be so many other ways to achieve a similar concept with a whole new special that doesn't feel as basic and simple to use. Not much more I have to say about it besides the fact that I don't like how easily it can help get control of zone when used properly.

Edit: I went back to make my points easier to read through.

 

[missingno]

I'd actually like to see them do a full reset again, throw out everything we had and do new specials only. Besides just making things fresh, I think this is necessary to avoid repeating the problem of too many specials and too few kits to distribute them.

Assuming that doesn't happen though, I'm still gonna nuke a lot:

• Tacticooler - I've had enough of S3 completely revolving around this special. I do not want S4 to completely revolve around it too. It needs to die for the new game to have a new meta.
• Trizooka - No more jumpscares, please.
• Tenta Missiles - Do I even need to explain this one?
• Reefslider - Die button masquerading as a panic button. Only real use is Zones cheese, which is even more reason to cut it.
• Ink Vac - Zones cheese.
• Wave Breaker - One of the weakest specials in S3, because it does very little besides refill your ink tank. I like the fire-and-forget special archetype, but there are a lot of other specials that occupy that archetype better. No real reason to keep this.
• Super Chump - See above.
• Triple Splashdown - Making Splashdown actually good was a horrible mistake. An issue that never really got talked about was that, although Splashdown was a die button at high levels of play, it never gets punished at low level play and even at mid level play could be fairly difficult for a lot of players to punish. That's why it can't ever be balanced, buffing it made it overwhelming for low and mid level play.
  Remember when not having panic button specials seemed like a very deliberate design choice at the start of S3? Please just go back to that.
• Splattercolor Screen - A special designed to be disorienting turned out to be disorienting. I feel like this should be a teachable moment for future game developers.

 

[TOD13]

Splattercolor Screen definitely needs to go because of the horrible effects it has on people.
Tenta Missiles, because you can just spam it.
Crab Tank either needs to be left behind or nerfed because it has both a solid defense and offense.

 

[DzNutsKong]

My list.

Zipcaster - This special has so many things that have felt completely unique to me from anything else in the series. A special focused entirely on giving insane movement like this is largely unseen in the series, it's SUPER fun to use, very flashy, and most importantly of all has an absurdly high skill ceiling. Even smaller changes with where you zip to can completely change the outcome of a situation but there are so many ways to approach a given situation. Punishing one is very fun too. I love things that inherently feel like they have limitless depth to them and while a handful of other specials in this game are hard, none of them even come close to Zipcaster. The two problems are that its skill floor can be very punishing and that there aren't many kinds of weapons this would be useful on, but this special provides so many things while having so little to complain about that it just has to come back.



Wave Breaker - Good on a lot of weapons, very flexible counterplay, very simple and easy to use and it helps against sharking which is usually very strong. I honestly wish this special didn't suck right now.

Big Bubbler - Didn't feel super strongly about this one to be honest, would be fine with it staying or going. I think if the developers were really ready to rebalance this one then it could be really cool. Make it match up well into whatever specials end up relevant and poorly into whichever ones suck, with some exceptions so as to not risk making it super centralizing.

Kraken Royale - I don't trust the developers to ever do this one perfect justice but Kraken is pretty neat to me. They just really need to play a lot more to the whole taming bit while also not making it way better for Shooters than other weapon types. Shooters already do pretty well into a lot of specials and this is one where I could see them very easily having an edge as well. Invincibility is totally possible to balance and could be very fun if implemented correctly, and the developers are already close even if not quite there.

Ink Vac - Once again, I wish this special didn't suck. I promise that was not an intentional pun. I absolutely love the idea for this special and I promise it's not just because I'm a Splatana guy, it genuinely just is one of the most creative in the series for me. I love how it plays off of things like Sprinkler and Inkjet, I love how it intrinsically encourages people to use it around others. It can be used as a sort of panic button and the hitboxes on the sides are a bit weird but I like it a lot regardless.

Crab Tank - I'm so glad they nerfed this special without making it suck because it's a very fun, dynamic, and overall healthy presence to the game now. Maybe you could argue that it defines Splatoon 3 too strongly and Splatoon 4 should feel different. I wouldn't entirely disagree with you but I think you could absolutely make another game where Crab Tank is decent, but not especially strong and it would be a very natural fit. The fact that you poke out from the top and need to be cautious into longer-ranged stuff, plus the fact that ball mode is an absolute last resort in general is all really cool for how much good it can provide.

Super Chump - Of the specials in this tier it's the one that's most deserving of a rework since the super jump aspect of it doesn't play flawlessly to allowing people to jump in with them, but it's otherwise a really cool idea. Lighter shields that you can choose how much you want to respect and how much you want to let them paint is really fun. Always funny watching other people and sometimes funny when you yourself actually fall for one of the jumps "not being hidden well enough." Deserves its time in the sun for sure.



Ink Storm, Inkjet, Booyah Bomb, Ultra Stamp - I like all four of these to varying degrees, think they'd all be fine in the next game in a vacuum but don't know how I'd feel about them being largely unchanged for three consecutive games. Ink Storm's healing buff interests me, Inkjet is genuniely awesome for a back-and-forth difficult special to master, and Booyah Bomb is like the most flexible weapon in the series, and Ultra Stamp is really close to being perfect but its matchups are very polarizing as it currently stands. I dunno.



Trizooka - Kinda has a similar issue to those four above where three of the four games in the series would have a special like this but do we really need this again? Even if you FIX a special like this, which I don't think would be very hard at this point, it's impossible to make a special like this good without it being absurdly overtuned. If a special's one job is to outright kill people at a distance then making it consistent in any way makes it a nightmare to play against and making it inconsistent will leave it permanently as a mid tier like it was before the initial buff. This special doesn't even do anything crazy as is so I see no issue with it being gone.

Triple Inkstrike - I personally love this one but it's really spammable and it probably isn't good that it has as good of DPS and painting as it does for that, plus it not being spammable would remove a lot of what I like about it. I was on the fence here but I'm just going to say no for now.

Killer Wail 5.1 - I think this special was way cooler on launch when it didn't randomly kill you and people were more encouraged to go in with them as a result. Even still it wasn't anything crazy and I'm fine never seeing it again.

Triple Splashdown - Why would they design a special built around trading with people?? If the point was to hit people on different elevations then they made it feel limited and awful to use for people above you, and if you're trying to hit someone below you then that feels lame enough because you're at an advantage there anyways. I get that there's a huge casual appeal to this one but they should've made it a recall special where you get to jump forward with a Splashdown three times, maybe letting you change direction and height and stuff. I'd be happy to see something like that even if it'd still need tweaks because it beats casual players way harder than competitive ones as is.

Tenta Missiles - Actually kind of has the same issues I did with the last two. Big casual appeal makes me wonder if there's a better way to implement it but I know people hate playing against a good Tenta Missiles for good reason. An idea I had earlier was making it a giant cannon that could launch much larger Torpedos very far forward instead, probably with much more health? Would make them much more dynamic to use and play against while still keeping the general idea of the special the same.

Reefslider - This one could be reworked very nicely but there are just other specials I think the developers should be prioritizing. Imagine if they gave it a bit more startup, made its rails travel like three times as far and made it so you could act super quickly out of the explosion? This would disincentivize using it as a panic button as opposed to encouraging careful setup like Kraken Royale, would let you use it for the explosion OR just fast movement and removes its big issue of being punished super easy. Would maybe end up being too free of an entry tool but Kraken isn't being used for that as so maybe something could be learned there.

Tacticooler - This special is so tied to Splatoon 3's identity that I think adding it back to Splatoon 4 would be a bad idea. To me, a special like this is at its absolute coolest when it defines one game in a series and is the reason you do or don't revisit it. Whether or not you like the special, which I personally do, it's probably for the best if it stays here.

Splattercolor Screen - It's a shame because this special shows me that the developers can still pump out some really sick, inventive ideas even in a game that's approaching 20 specials, but I've thought about it for a while and there's just no good way to rework this. Someone earlier mentioned Mario Kart's Blooper as a comparison but Splatoon is the kind of game where you need to be gathering as much information as possible. I don't think outright removing any part of the player's field of vision is a good idea. Not even to mention the PR nightmare that would happen for Nintendo if the special that made people blind and deaf were triumphantly announced to be returning in Splatoon 4...


I do see a lot of good even in the specials that I don't think should return so don't take this list as my opinions on which specials I do and don't like. My favorite is definitely Crab Tank but you don't see it in the absolute top tier with Zipcaster for good reason.

 

[vitellary]

An idea I had earlier was making it a giant cannon that could launch much larger Torpedos very far forward instead, probably with much more health?

so... super chumps?
i'm kinda kidding because they aren't quite the same thing but there's definitely merit to arguing that super chumps are kinda a missiles rework (especially given that when they first released, they were put on two kits that were references to splatoon 2 missile kits)

missiles and wail can definitely get outta here. wail is kinda fine but it's just not very interesting, and missiles break turf war so much that it is absolutely not worth bringing them back. and making a game where there's no global range specials is just, obviously a good thing to do
reefslider, ultra stamp, and kraken are all kinda just different flavors of the same special, and while i like all of them conceptually (yes even reefslider, if they'd just give it the obvious buff that every single person has thought of), i think the best move would be to scrap all of them and make a new entry tool special that either takes the most fun parts of each of them, or just make something entirely new

the rest i'm kinda indifferent about, but i do most like the idea of having a fresh start for the next game, especially considering i feel like splatoons 1-3 are kinda intended to be a complete "trilogy" and the next game is gonna have to be pretty different anyway

 

[DzNutsKong]

so... super chumps?

Kind of?? I don't know if I explained super well. Should mention that in my head they would go directly forward almost like a Trizooka shot without the falloff as opposed to just auto locking when you click and becoming impossible to interact with for a bit like Missiles are right now. The point here is that it would ultimately leave you more vulnerable up close but would be able to travel a good bit further and would have more powerful displacement at the cost of covering less space. Some of that might be necessary for changing Chumps to being good anyways but the point of these wouldn't be as meat shields anyways. Plus this would have a similar dynamic to Missiles where you could only target one player but make it much harsher or target multiple players to make it a bit tamer.

I'm now realizing though that this would likely be another special where Shooters would find it easier than anything else to play against so object damage might need messed with there as well, I dunno. Chumps are definitely meant to be another take on Missiles but I think they're vague enough as a displacement special to the point where you could make multiple things out of them. I know it won that JP poll in Splatoon 2 and imagine the developers would want to keep the "spirit" of it that I think Chumps kind of loses with how different the visuals and overall feel are.

 

[isaac4]

• Tacticooler - I've had enough of S3 completely revolving around this special. I do not want S4 to completely revolve around it too. It needs to die for the new game to have a new meta.

Tacticooler - This special is so tied to Splatoon 3's identity that I think adding it back to Splatoon 4 would be a bad idea. To me, a special like this is at its absolute coolest when it defines one game in a series and is the reason you do or don't revisit it. Whether or not you like the special, which I personally do, it's probably for the best if it stays here.

I didn't even think about how important Cooler is to Splatoon 3's identity.
That's a good reason to not bring it back, just letting Splatoon 4 have its own support special instead of repeating what we've already had before.

 

[Grushi]

I agree with the others that I hope S4 has mostly new specials, since they're so tied to the game's identity.
But honestly some of the specials in this game are so cool and fun that I'd be sad to let them go, the new ones would have to go HARD to fully replace these. Not to mention some of these didn't really get a chance to shine in this game, because of kits or balance and stuff.

So here's my list, I tried being very strict:

I won't elaborate on all of these, mostly agree with what the others said.

My biggest problem with this game is GG specials. I think losing a game because the other team just gets lead and then pops one special feels horrible, I don't like it at all. I don't think a single mode should work like that. We're lucky that most gg specials are either weak or on limited options, so we don't really see those in comp, apart from strikes. But if any of these ever become meta, the mode in question would probably feel horrible, in solo and comp.

• Ink Vac: Easily the coolest support special, but it cheeses zones and rainmaker, only works on a single weapon because its main can remain somewhat active while the vac is used, is very difficult in solo, arguably cheeses clam blitz and tc too, walks all over some specials but gets nuked by others... But I love it.
  It could totally get tweaks: make the suction cancellable, reduce the paint and give allies an inverse mist effect for when they're protected. I'm kind of worried that this special would dominate rainmaker if it ever became good, but there is still counterplay options, so I don't think it'd be that bad.
  
  
• Triple Splashdown: I think this special is pretty cool, it's got huge casual appeal, and it's really fun to use. I also like aggressive specials, I think it's important for specials to incentivise risky plays and this one does that, it basically turns every weapon it's on into a qr demon, which is fun for the game, that makes people interact.
  I don't agree that it's particularly unhealthy, it definitely has moments where you go "well, guess I just die" when fighting it, but the counterplay is in how you prevent someone from getting close to you, and then you can still try to shoot the user down. If this is unhealthy then aren't rollers also in the same bag? Idk
  And honestly, this doesn't really work as a panic button, people just walk away usually, unless they're literally smelling you or whatever. It needs to be set up aggressively in my experience.
  I get the arguments against it but I think it's got pretty good depth in how you set it up and trying to be unpredictable. My only problem is that it screams splatoon 2, but even then, kraken screams splatoon 1 and zip screams splatoon 3, so I think keeping one iconic special from each game wouldn't be an issue. Also kind of a noob stomper, but I'd rather my noob stomper special be splashdown then missiles honestly.
  
  
• Kraken Royale: I used to think kraken was a GG special, and it's almost there, but living a GG kraken feels amazing. I think the special is really cool to watch, to use, and it's got decent counterplay, I just wish it took more knockback, that's it. Now that it no longer cheeses clams, I... kind of love the special, surprisingly.
  
  
• Splattercolour Screen: I think Screen is cool as a mindgame special, and it's got great counterplay, the effect is my one problem. Just make the enemies near-sighted, lol, and muffle the sounds, like an underwater effect, that's it, job done. No need to be too wacky with it.
  My only issue is that it's kind of weird at a casual level, but eh, deal with it.
  
  
• Crab and Cooler are just too iconic to Splatoon 3, and I don't want the meta to be the same again. I also don't want them to limit cooler to like, 6 weapons again considering how important it is. So I just hope it gets reworked as a general mechanic.
  
  
• Wave breaker: I just think it's got too much counterplay and doesn't feel great to use. It's already on 8 kits too. Cool idea, and while it is a location special, I'd want to see a new take on that in s4.

I think the others are pretty self explanatory, sad to see inkjet and booyah go, but they had their time in the spotlight.

 

[isaac4]

• Ink Vac: Easily the coolest support special, but it cheeses zones and rainmaker, only works on a single weapon because its main can remain somewhat active while the vac is used, is very difficult in solo, arguably cheeses clam blitz and tc too, walks all over some specials but gets nuked by others... But I love it.
  It could totally get tweaks: make the suction cancellable, reduce the paint and give allies an inverse mist effect for when they're protected. I'm kind of worried that this special would dominate rainmaker if it ever became good, but there is still counterplay options, so I don't think it'd be that bad.

Ink Vac seems like such an interesting special but it's so weak right now and if it was on a slosher, I doubt they would make the obvious choice of giving it to Explo and instead give it to Tri for some reason.

I think the others are pretty self explanatory, sad to see inkjet and booyah go, but they had their time in the spotlight.

Rip Machine in Splatoon 4

 

[QuagSass]

I like a lot of the specials in this game, would be a shame to lose them.

That being said, I want to one day wake up to find Tenta Missiles dead in a ditch.
I guessss Killer Wail 5.1 can also be in that ditch. I don't mind it as much, but it does lose a lot of points for being a global-range special.
It was really cool at launch tho. Maybe revert it back to how it was then if it were to come back.

 

[Cephalobro]

I just don't like the Triple Splashdown. I have said this before and I'll say it again, it should not have the infinite vertical hitbox that it has, it's extremely misleading to do so. So unless they nerf the vertical hitbox to be a lot more accurate to its animation, it really should just be left behind.

Also, while I hate the Tenta Missiles due to my experience facing them in Splatoon 2, they don't seem as bad in Splatoon 3, but I'd prefer they get removed too. Maybe it's because I have dealt with too many Flyfish in Salmon Run and that's also a reason why I hate this special. But the one thing I hate more than inconsistent hitboxes is spammy stuff, and the Tenta Missiles can be very spammy if so much as three Tenta Missile users get put on the same team.

 

[Catloafman]

Alrighty heres my list there is prolly some hot takes in here

Peak special pls keep
All of these are awesome and decent balance wise I will be sad if they don't come back unless they replace inkstorm but idk

Needs to not hurt people
Screen would be top tier but it hurts people irl so please fix that
I ADORE screens design in this game screen plays are so insanely cool fighting a screen feels like you have a decent amount of counter play its awesome (just don't put it on undercover again and we are good)

Needs balance tweaks
Very cool specials but if you don't make them good I don't want them
AND also cooler just needs to be a bit more fair

Needs tweaks but wont happen because idk
Stamp is bad it has always been bad and if we don't give it frontal protection it will be a kit killer for a third game in a row so I would rather not

A rework would be cool
I don't know how you could fix kraken but I imagine it is possible
And zooka is a cool idea but like why did you make it so jank nintendo if you made it actually functional to use and not hell to fight I would like it a lot

Ew
tri strike is redundant
missiles and wail are infinite range
Bubble and reeslider are not fun to use and they are bad

 

[OnePotWonder]

I was going to make a thread similar to this, but it seems I was slow on the draw. Here are my thoughts.

Absolutely Keep:
Crab Tank
Ink Storm
Zipcaster

It's hard to beat perfection. Crab tank is the perfect space-holding special, Ink Storm is the perfect area-denial special, and Zipcaster is the perfect dive special. Getting rid of any of these in the next game would be a mistake.

Awkward Tier:
Inkjet
Killer Wail 5.1

These two specials are both in very awkward spots. Inkjet is a really good special, but it's been in two games, and it ends up being a bit redundant because of Zipcaster. As much as it would be nice to keep, Inkjet's time is past.

Killer Wail 5.1, meanwhile, has the complete opposite problem.
A lot of people (myself not included) want to see Killer Wail 5.1 scrapped alongside Tenta Missiles. But here's the thing. Killer Wail is the most recognizable special in the Splatoon franchise. It's Inkling's final smash in Smash Bros., it has been used in four of of five final boss fights in the series. We are going to have a laser special in Splatoon 4, guaranteed. Is Killer Wail 5.1 our best option for it? I think yes.

Killer Wail 5.1 should return in Splatoon 4, while Inkjet should stay in Splatoon 3. Spicy take, I know.

With Changes:
Booyah Bomb
Kraken Royale
Splattercolor Screen
Super Chump
Wave Breaker

Booyah Bomb is awesome, but it's way too strong of a panic button. I think that if it's going to return, they need to not only increase the startup, but also lower its armor, cause to bomb to disappear if the user is splatted after it's been thrown, and give it a minimum throwing range similar to Super Chump. I wouldn't mind a minimum charge time nerf as well.
I personally despise this special, but I know a lot of people love it, so I'm willing to keep it in if it can actually be cancelled.

Kraken Royale is good, but also bad. I'm going to be blunt, if it returns, they need to completely scrap its charge attack. It nullifies the special's only weakness, knockback, and is way too powerful compared to its jump attack. A speed buff should suffice to balance out the special, and make it more like the Kraken of old.

Splattercolor Screen is almost fine. If they manage to fix the audio-visual effects, it could stand to return in the next game with almost no balance changes whatsoever. Outside of being fully transparent to the team using it.

Super Chumps need to do more. They're prime rework material, I personally don't see them not coming back with changes.

Wave Breaker was only added in this game, but Nintendo seems to want to turn it into a series' staple. There are plenty of ways to buff the special and make it strong, most of which would make sense for the transition between games. It will return.

With Super Reworks:
Reefslider
Tacticooler
Triple Inkstrike
Triple Splashdown
Ultra Stamp

Reefslider as it is now is garbage that should stay in Splatoon 3. However, the shark bike could still have a use for an entirely different kind of explosion special. If you could fully steer the thing and it had a set detonation time, it would be awesome. If only.

A similar case to Reefslider, the current QR-infused Tacticooler should stay in Splatoon 3, but that doesn't mean the drinks shouldn't return in Splatoon 4 given a new purpose. I don't have any examples for this one, but everything except for the drink effects are well-designed enough to be worth having in the next game.

Triple Inkstrike is not good. I'm not discounting the possibility that Inkstrikes could be reworked into a decent special. I had an idea for fusing this special with Tenta Missiles, targeting up to two enemy players with strikes. There are probably better ideas.

I don't like Triple Splashdown, but I think that there's a way to change base Splashdown to make it decent. It's really quite simple. Splashdown's coolest use case is in a super jump, so why not just... always have it be used from a super jump? Have the user jump straight up, making them invulnerable. From there, increasing the airborne duration isn't a death sentence for the special, so it can give the user a few seconds to steer their landing to a nearby area (blocked by walls that couldn't normally be passed). As for the counterplay, increased startup and end lag. Boom, Splashdown is now a good special. Probably never happening, sadly.

Finally, Ultra Stamp. It's just... bad. It doesn't work, but when it does, it's overpowered. It leaves the user too vulnerable, it's a complete glass cannon special. Crab Tank protects the user more than it exposes them, which is what makes it good. Not true for Ultra Stamp. They would need to fix just about everything for the special to make an awesome comeback.

Absolutely Not Tier:
Big Bubbler
Ink Vac
Tenta Missiles
Tri-Zooka

Big Bubbler is horrible. It's nothing but a giant nuisance that absolutely should not return.
Ink Vac is just a worse, supportive Ultra Stamp. It barely protects the user but provides a cone of invulnerability that prevents enemies from doing literally anything. No.
Tenta Missiles are Tenta Missiles. Long range displacement that inks a ton of turf and randomly one-shots if you miss the indicator that appears for a tenth of a second. They will not be returning, guaranteed. Nintendo will have learned.

And Tri-Zooka, oh, Tri-Zooka. The worst special in the entire series. The most unbalanced, god awful abomination. Not only is it a one-shot super gun with no startup, its hitbox is extremely inconsistent allowing it to hit players in spots where the original Inkzooka wouldn't have been able to. It has a massive AoE hitbox that does 53 damage. What even is that number? It was never necessary in the first place because they brought back Inkjet and added Crab Tank, and Nintendo still hasn't nerfed it.
Even if Nintendo wanted to fix this special, it would be impossible. Fixing Sting Ray is easier. If this thing returns in Splatoon 4, I'm not even going to buy the game.


Those are my thoughts.

I need to make a TierMaker account.

 

[Grushi]

I need to make a TierMaker account.

Just so you know, you don't need an account! Just look up the splatoon 3 weapons template and you're good

 

[OnePotWonder]

Just so you know, you don't need an account! Just look up the splatoon 3 weapons template and you're good

It doesn’t let me download the lists I make.

 

[Grushi]

It doesn’t let me download the lists I make.

Oh really? Weird, it works for me.

I guess you could screenshot your lists? That could work

 

[Arigato!]

My list.

View attachment 11995

Zipcaster - This special has so many things that have felt completely unique to me from anything else in the series. A special focused entirely on giving insane movement like this is largely unseen in the series, it's SUPER fun to use, very flashy, and most importantly of all has an absurdly high skill ceiling. Even smaller changes with where you zip to can completely change the outcome of a situation but there are so many ways to approach a given situation. Punishing one is very fun too. I love things that inherently feel like they have limitless depth to them and while a handful of other specials in this game are hard, none of them even come close to Zipcaster. The two problems are that its skill floor can be very punishing and that there aren't many kinds of weapons this would be useful on, but this special provides so many things while having so little to complain about that it just has to come back.



Wave Breaker - Good on a lot of weapons, very flexible counterplay, very simple and easy to use and it helps against sharking which is usually very strong. I honestly wish this special didn't suck right now.

Big Bubbler - Didn't feel super strongly about this one to be honest, would be fine with it staying or going. I think if the developers were really ready to rebalance this one then it could be really cool. Make it match up well into whatever specials end up relevant and poorly into whichever ones suck, with some exceptions so as to not risk making it super centralizing.

Kraken Royale - I don't trust the developers to ever do this one perfect justice but Kraken is pretty neat to me. They just really need to play a lot more to the whole taming bit while also not making it way better for Shooters than other weapon types. Shooters already do pretty well into a lot of specials and this is one where I could see them very easily having an edge as well. Invincibility is totally possible to balance and could be very fun if implemented correctly, and the developers are already close even if not quite there.

Ink Vac - Once again, I wish this special didn't suck. I promise that was not an intentional pun. I absolutely love the idea for this special and I promise it's not just because I'm a Splatana guy, it genuinely just is one of the most creative in the series for me. I love how it plays off of things like Sprinkler and Inkjet, I love how it intrinsically encourages people to use it around others. It can be used as a sort of panic button and the hitboxes on the sides are a bit weird but I like it a lot regardless.

Crab Tank - I'm so glad they nerfed this special without making it suck because it's a very fun, dynamic, and overall healthy presence to the game now. Maybe you could argue that it defines Splatoon 3 too strongly and Splatoon 4 should feel different. I wouldn't entirely disagree with you but I think you could absolutely make another game where Crab Tank is decent, but not especially strong and it would be a very natural fit. The fact that you poke out from the top and need to be cautious into longer-ranged stuff, plus the fact that ball mode is an absolute last resort in general is all really cool for how much good it can provide.

Super Chump - Of the specials in this tier it's the one that's most deserving of a rework since the super jump aspect of it doesn't play flawlessly to allowing people to jump in with them, but it's otherwise a really cool idea. Lighter shields that you can choose how much you want to respect and how much you want to let them paint is really fun. Always funny watching other people and sometimes funny when you yourself actually fall for one of the jumps "not being hidden well enough." Deserves its time in the sun for sure.



Ink Storm, Inkjet, Booyah Bomb, Ultra Stamp - I like all four of these to varying degrees, think they'd all be fine in the next game in a vacuum but don't know how I'd feel about them being largely unchanged for three consecutive games. Ink Storm's healing buff interests me, Inkjet is genuniely awesome for a back-and-forth difficult special to master, and Booyah Bomb is like the most flexible weapon in the series, and Ultra Stamp is really close to being perfect but its matchups are very polarizing as it currently stands. I dunno.



Trizooka - Kinda has a similar issue to those four above where three of the four games in the series would have a special like this but do we really need this again? Even if you FIX a special like this, which I don't think would be very hard at this point, it's impossible to make a special like this good without it being absurdly overtuned. If a special's one job is to outright kill people at a distance then making it consistent in any way makes it a nightmare to play against and making it inconsistent will leave it permanently as a mid tier like it was before the initial buff. This special doesn't even do anything crazy as is so I see no issue with it being gone.

Triple Inkstrike - I personally love this one but it's really spammable and it probably isn't good that it has as good of DPS and painting as it does for that, plus it not being spammable would remove a lot of what I like about it. I was on the fence here but I'm just going to say no for now.

Killer Wail 5.1 - I think this special was way cooler on launch when it didn't randomly kill you and people were more encouraged to go in with them as a result. Even still it wasn't anything crazy and I'm fine never seeing it again.

Triple Splashdown - Why would they design a special built around trading with people?? If the point was to hit people on different elevations then they made it feel limited and awful to use for people above you, and if you're trying to hit someone below you then that feels lame enough because you're at an advantage there anyways. I get that there's a huge casual appeal to this one but they should've made it a recall special where you get to jump forward with a Splashdown three times, maybe letting you change direction and height and stuff. I'd be happy to see something like that even if it'd still need tweaks because it beats casual players way harder than competitive ones as is.

Tenta Missiles - Actually kind of has the same issues I did with the last two. Big casual appeal makes me wonder if there's a better way to implement it but I know people hate playing against a good Tenta Missiles for good reason. An idea I had earlier was making it a giant cannon that could launch much larger Torpedos very far forward instead, probably with much more health? Would make them much more dynamic to use and play against while still keeping the general idea of the special the same.

Reefslider - This one could be reworked very nicely but there are just other specials I think the developers should be prioritizing. Imagine if they gave it a bit more startup, made its rails travel like three times as far and made it so you could act super quickly out of the explosion? This would disincentivize using it as a panic button as opposed to encouraging careful setup like Kraken Royale, would let you use it for the explosion OR just fast movement and removes its big issue of being punished super easy. Would maybe end up being too free of an entry tool but Kraken isn't being used for that as so maybe something could be learned there.

Tacticooler - This special is so tied to Splatoon 3's identity that I think adding it back to Splatoon 4 would be a bad idea. To me, a special like this is at its absolute coolest when it defines one game in a series and is the reason you do or don't revisit it. Whether or not you like the special, which I personally do, it's probably for the best if it stays here.

Splattercolor Screen - It's a shame because this special shows me that the developers can still pump out some really sick, inventive ideas even in a game that's approaching 20 specials, but I've thought about it for a while and there's just no good way to rework this. Someone earlier mentioned Mario Kart's Blooper as a comparison but Splatoon is the kind of game where you need to be gathering as much information as possible. I don't think outright removing any part of the player's field of vision is a good idea. Not even to mention the PR nightmare that would happen for Nintendo if the special that made people blind and deaf were triumphantly announced to be returning in Splatoon 4...


I do see a lot of good even in the specials that I don't think should return so don't take this list as my opinions on which specials I do and don't like. My favorite is definitely Crab Tank but you don't see it in the absolute top tier with Zipcaster for good reason.

WOAH. Sure TSD is annoying for different levels and stuff. But leaping forward with three splashdowns AND a recall? I think thats too much. I would make it so you leap 3 times, but you have to hit the target square on the head like with zipcaster and you don't recall.

 

[DzNutsKong]

WOAH. Sure TSD is annoying for different levels and stuff. But leaping forward with three splashdowns AND a recall? I think thats too much. I would make it so you leap 3 times, but you have to hit the target square on the head like with zipcaster and you don't recall.

I mean, think about it this way - if you were to slow it down a bit, make it so you can play a little more evasively while using it, and probably shrink the hitbox a bit, what's stopping it from being like a Triple Inkstrike in how you're able to dodge it? Minus the whole shooting it down aspect because that should still be a part of the special even if I don't know how feasible it'd be to make top level players not immediately shoot it down. "3x big explosion" is not inherently an overpowered idea.

 

[Arigato!]

I mean, think about it this way - if you were to slow it down a bit, make it so you can play a little more evasively while using it, and probably shrink the hitbox a bit, what's stopping it from being like a Triple Inkstrike in how you're able to dodge it? Minus the whole shooting it down aspect because that should still be a part of the special even if I don't know how feasible it'd be to make top level players not immediately shoot it down. "3x big explosion" is not inherently an overpowered ide.

The blast radius. 80 damage for just being in a circle is wild. And where did slowing it down come in? 3 jumps around a player(there's a lethal inside ring too) would make it very, very annoying. You could traverse the map easily and it would practically be safer zipcaster. Changing height would just be a bad idea because you would be able to jump safely into the enemy base or backlines with invincibility most of the time.

 

[OnePotWonder]

I mean, think about it this way - if you were to slow it down a bit, make it so you can play a little more evasively while using it, and probably shrink the hitbox a bit, what's stopping it from being like a Triple Inkstrike in how you're able to dodge it? Minus the whole shooting it down aspect because that should still be a part of the special even if I don't know how feasible it'd be to make top level players not immediately shoot it down. "3x big explosion" is not inherently an overpowered idea.

I'd like to hear your thoughts on my Splashdown rework idea:

Splashdown's coolest use case is in a super jump, so why not just... always have it be used from a super jump? Have the user jump straight up, making them invulnerable. From there, increasing the airborne duration isn't a death sentence for the special, so it can give the user a few seconds to steer their landing to a nearby area (blocked by walls that couldn't normally be passed). As for the counterplay, increased startup and end lag. Boom, Splashdown is now a good special.