Why V52 breaks the core philosophy of Splatoon 3

[TechGuy456]

It's no secret that .52 is almost universally hated by anyone that goes against it. However, it does more than just be a really good weapon. It fundamentally breaks everything in Splatoon 3. However, we need to first consider what makes it so good, before we understand why it doesn't fit.

1. It's a shooter
Being a shooter means it is going to be more flexible than other classes. It's mobility is its call, like most shooters.

2. Its damage is amazing
.52 does 52 damage, and with a middling fire rate, makes it one of the fastest TtKs without having a one shot. This combined with it being a shooter allows to take fights easily.

3. Its range is really good for a shooter
According to Inkpedia, it has a range value of 55, barely outdoing Splattershot's middling 50. This allows it to outrange most of the other short range weapons, taking them out before they even have a chance to fire.

4. Its kits.
At least one of .52's kits has some form of protection in each of the games. S1 had Wall Wail. S3 had Wall Wail 5.1. S2 had K52, which allowed it to survive longer than ever with an HP special and a wall.

So why does all of this break S3's design philosophy? The answer is simple: it is a selfish weapon in a team based game. Most weapons play off of each other to capitalize on each other's strengths to push and make plays. .52 says screw all that, and makes plays on its own. Take a team with a pencil, shot, .52, and range blaster for example. Pencil gets cooler, which allows the range blaster to push up and control area, which lines up the shot to get Zooka and kill everyone. However, .52 can just steamroll through because it can protect itself, with already good mobility and TtK. So while the other three get to control more area, the .52 can control a tiny area because of its survivability and damage. And if it gets in a pinch, it can throw a wall and a wail in order to push the enemies back. Any other weapon in that situation would certainly die. While .52 can also die in that situation, it has a higher chance to survive. .52 can benefit from team plays, but much less so than the others. It doesn't need the blaster's AoE because it can threaten others with its damage and wall. It doesn't need the shot because it can kill and paint perfectly fine on its own. And it doesn't need the Pencil because it has decent range, with a wall to protect itself, and has good mobility as is. It can do everything all at once, and it doesn't even rely on gear in order to function well. Someone can literally run Tenacity, Respawn Punisher, and Drop Roller on a .52 and they would still manage to do really well with it. Meanwhile shot, while still being mostly not gear dependent, can benefit a lot from things like Swim Speed, Comeback, LDE, Opening Gambit, or SCU. Nothing of .52 requires to think about team or builds.

In short, .52 breaks the core philosophy of S3 because of it being so selfish against everything else which rely on others somewhat. It is mini tank, bulldozing through its competition and cooperating far less than its peers in the same class. And it needs a healthier approach to the weapon, as .52 Deco this game isn't doing it any favors with Screen being a fundamentally broken special.

 

[AKArien]

watching this thread because the twitter user inside me is looking for a reason to hate this weapon lol

idk, maybe ? because while 52 is certainly great at locking down space because it would win the one on one, it's not like it can buldoze through everything, and the wall is only a preventive protection, you're not getting anywhere if you're throwing it down as the engagement starts.
on the other hand, the main point is... maybe valid ? idk, i'm weary of coming to a conclusion because i know that i've never liked facing it

 

[ThestralZ]

I think wall as a whole is a little too powerful, I would just reduce its HP and I think that would fix the problem.

 

[OnePotWonder]

Not wrong, but not exactly right either. .52 does, in fact, not benefit whatsoever from having other weapons on its team outside of having a Cooler. It best combo is with its own second shot, it has a wall to protect itself and push forward, and it is ultimately a menace.

I wouldn't say it goes against the game's design philosophy, though. Other weapons like Glooga and Tri-Slosher function in similar ways where they'd rather work alone than with teammates. Same with most rollers and brushes, Sploosh, and Squiffer.

.52 Gal in Splatoon 2 did clash with the game's core philosophy, where everything and its mother was teamwork-based, but K52 had a wall and a continuation special. In Splatoon 3 it's just an annoyingly powerful weapon.

 

[Hitzel]

I don't buy the premise that a selfish weapon doesn't have a place in this game. This is partially because the series is filled with selfish weapons, and those weapons serve a purpose to the team by being play-makers and controlling forward space.

It's also because I think "forcing teamwork" in the design of a shooter is just lazy and bad design. Teamwork doesn't go away when you empower individuals, teamplay becomes emergent over top of individual skill, so you wind up with individual plays and teamwork mattering instead of just teamwork. The more you strip individual empowerment away from a shooter like this, the less individual plays matter but teamwork kinda just stays the same. All you did is remove depth. You get closer and closer to being just another generic class based team shooter where everyone needs to sit in their assigned seats. I don't think Splatoon benefits at all from heading in that direction. It's simply not interesting and takes away from Splatoon's identity.

 

[youre_a_squib_now]

while .52 might be strong, I think calling it universally hated is a bit of a stretch. It hasn't been seeing much use in top level tournaments (to my knowledge), it tends to be vshot that gets played more because wail isn't amazing rn.

 

[youre_a_squib_now]

Also, neither 52 or vshot are super gear dependent, they both absolutely benefit from gear.
Besides, gear freedom is a good thing in general. If .52 has as much more gear freedom than vshot as you say it does, that enables more creativity with the weapon. which certainly isn't against Splatoon's design

 

[AKArien]

while .52 might be strong, I think calling it universally hated is a bit of a stretch. It hasn't been seeing much use in top level tournaments (to my knowledge), it tends to be vshot that gets played more because wail isn't amazing rn.

yeah ig i kinda hate that i hate it too

 

[TechGuy456]

Not wrong, but not exactly right either. .52 does, in fact, not benefit whatsoever from having other weapons on its team outside of having a Cooler. It best combo is with its own second shot, it has a wall to protect itself and push forward, and it is ultimately a menace.

I wouldn't say it goes against the game's design philosophy, though. Other weapons like Glooga and Tri-Slosher function in similar ways where they'd rather work alone than with teammates. Same with most rollers and brushes, Sploosh, and Squiffer.

.52 Gal in Splatoon 2 did clash with the game's core philosophy, where everything and its mother was teamwork-based, but K52 had a wall and a continuation special. In Splatoon 3 it's just an annoyingly powerful weapon.

For me, at least there are drawbacks to Gloogas and Tri Slosher. Gloogas are forced into turret mode in order to get the high damage mode, and while Tri Slosher does have a quick 2 shot, it needs to get much closer than 52 in order to get it, and it has nasty fall off. For the rollers, they capitalize off of their specials in order for others to get in, and same for brushes, using their high mobility to push for the team. Sploosh, reserving my feelings for it, is a frontliner and is definitely a weaker one than 52, requiring its team to push in order for it to maintain control, otherwise it's a nothing pick. Squiffer needs to chain for it to maintain pressure, and heavily requires others to do well.

52 needs none of that, it can die and still output a ton of pressure when it comes back, for free at range, and it can move freely while giving a deadly two shot consistently, getting consistent paint and special. That's at least how I feel about it, because .96 at least is a slow weapon with horrible shot RNG. As long as .52 has no drawbacks to compensate for its two shot, and it has a protection sub or special, it has broken the game philosophy in my eyes.

 

[OnePotWonder]

That’s just .52 being broken overall, though, not it clashing with the game’s overarching design philosophy.
The reason the thing feels broken to fight is because its main drawback, its low accuracy, is just not significant enough. That’s an issue with balance, not design.

I would like to note that Splattershot paints just as well, has a lethal bomb whose outside radius shaves a shot to splat, and only a two or three frame slower time to splat than .52. And a good special. It’s equally broken, and it doesn’t even have a built-in weakness you’re supposed to be able to exploit.

I’m by no means calling .52 a good weapon concept, I’m just saying that it’s no white whale of weapon design. Maybe a blue lobster, though.

 

[Hitzel]

I don't think weapons need a built in weakness to be exploited.

Giving weapons weaknesses like that is usually interesting and makes the game better, the design just needs to do a good job of combining that exploitable weakness(es) with unique and exploitable strengths. You don't want all weapons to be like that though, or else gameplay becomes polarizing and therefore becomes boring kinda fast.

 

[Dessgeega]

My immediate thought: How does something that's been in the series since launch break a core philosophy? Would it really appear in every game as a launch weapon if there were a problem with it? It's performance has been largely unchanged, it got buffs in S2 but 1 and 3 have barely touched it. .52 has varied in popularity over the last decade but it's always been around. Odds are good it will be a launch weapon in Splatoon 4 as well.

I'd expect to see a thread like this in 2015 or 2016, not so much these days. As it is, unless the .52 gets a kit with a conventional bomb and a really good special, I can't agree with this. If you have issues with the .52, you should consider the larger design issues at play rather than one weapon simply being strong.