With this update, will there be a noticable usage difference with Cold Blooded and Defense Up?

[CM2]

http://www.nintendo.com.au/support/files/Splatoon_Upcoming_software_update_April_13_2016.pdf

I feel like many people skimmed over the Cold-Blooded nerf which is a big deal IMO since I know many players like to use that ability.

 

[Coleo&Idea]

From what I see they also nerf the echolocator/haunt duration time so in the end cold-blooded cuts the time in half (9 -> 4,5 seconds). Which is still a good thing I'd say.

 

[Airi]

It's actually a little funny. It feels like we're just beginning to see a real rise in Cold-Blooded in the competitive scene.... And now we may see it fall in popularity just as it began to rise. x) I think a lot of people skimmed over it because it's kind of tacked on like an after thought, you know? I think most people are too busy freaking out of the nerfs and buffs to our weapons to really notice small details like that. :P

If I'm reading it right, it's not just nerfing Cold-Blooded. It's nerfing Echo and Haunt as well. The chart on the left has higher numbers for the time inactive than the chart on the right. Of course, I could be reading it wrong but it seems like everything to do with Echo and Haunt got nerfed in the end. The only one that stays the same is Point Sensor. It is a fair trade off. Cold-Blooded is meant to cut Echo in half... 2 seconds is not half of 8 seconds. :P So it does make sense because it matches up better with what Cold-Blooded was really meant to do.

 

[Lonely_Dolphin]

It wont change my usage of defense up which I only use on a few weapons just cause they don't really need anything else, so it's just nice to know that whenever I use my Kelp Scope, .52 Gal, or Slosher Deco with their defense builds they'll be better against .96ers and Burst Bombs.

Cold-Blooded on the other hand I'm thinking twice about. It went from 9 extra seconds of being Echolocated without Cold-Blooded to just 4.5, all while tagging in general was nerfed. Definitely much harder to justify using this semi-situational ability over ones that help at any and all points of time. Of course it can still be worth using if you're style is sneaky or aggressive or if your weapon has no ranged options, but for the Splat Roller I've decided to replace it with another Ink Saver Sub and just go for double suction bomb shenanigans.

 

[ParanoidDrone]

Echolocator and haunt also affect targets for less time than before. Cold blooded got nerfed to -50% tracking duration (from -75%), but the base tracking itself got nerfed as well from 13 to 9 seconds. (Point sensors got left alone, they're still at 8.) I think they wanted to adjust both sides of the equation so that cold blooded isn't quite as mandatory, but also so that Echolocator is still a special worth using regardless of whether the enemy has cold blooded or not. It's an interesting fix and I'm not too fussed about it.