Topic: Splatoon 2

@Kimyonaakuma Oh OK, it’s nice to hear from someone with a similar experience to mine. I guess I’ll remove my expectations in regard to winning matches in 2 based on my skill in 1 and just get better over time with practice.

And thanks for letting me know about the Baller! Although in my experience once you shoot it the other person realizes and sets it to “inksplode” so the best approach is to run unless you have 3 or 4 team members in the same area.

@shadow-wolf Since you mentioned the Sting Ray as well: the way to deal with that is basically to take full advantage of the fact that it takes a few moments of contact to actually kill you. You can swim right through it and survive, and if it's chasing you, you can outlast it by doing that repeatedly as long as you manage to heal in between.

@shadow-wolf I wouldn't worry about it too much, I guess it's just an adjustment we have to make...
But I got used to it quickly and I'm not even that good, you should be fine in a week or two

@Tsurii I want to try that! I only seem to see people with Ink Storms and Tenta Missiles though so I might need to wait...

@Kimyonaakuma Makes sense, thanks for the input!

@Tsurii Lol that's pretty neat. I'll try that when I get a chance

@Zyrac Thanks for the info! I'll remember that the next time I face one.

@shadow-wolf I haven't played Splatoon 1, but I don't think that these specials are broken. Tenta Missiles can be avoided by moving, they give you plenty of notice (the ring around your player) and really can only either spread a bit of isolated ink to somewhere on the map, or get a cheap kill, unless you use them tactically to pressurise opponents already fighting another teammate. Baller can be heard easily and therefore run away from, and swimming is slightly faster than baller running. The baller also has 400hp, 4 times that of a normal Inkling, and once that runs out, the special stops immediately. Baller also only does 50 damage per contact hit (when it runs into you), and this can actually be reduced with Bomb Defense, even just 1 sub slot of it, so that it takes potentially 3 contact hits to kill. The inksplosion takes a few seconds to detonate, and you can use that time to escape. If you're on the outer reaches of the explosion, you'll actually be propelled away from the player, so you can recollect yourself before fighting/fleeing from them. Stingray is similar to Killer Wail, but in many ways worse. Note again that I haven't played Splatoon 1, and I'm just going off of what I've seen online. Killer Wail is slower, but also much wider, so better for dominating space. Stingray can dominate space, but because it's so comparatively thin, it needs a wielder who can aim well and follow foes. It isn't good for total area denial like the Killer Wail. I would describe Stingray as more of a 'Charger +', a long range killing tool that requires being able to follow foes.

@Kimyonaakuma We've had freaky paranoid responses to Splatfests ever since the first. I remember all the Mayo/Ketchup conspiracy theories that people took the time to concoct and commit to. It's kind of dispiriting, but what can you do... At the end of the day, isn't it like 2-4 Sea Snails separating the winners from the losers? It completely doesn't matter, and as you say, the Splatfests are just a wonderful celebration of stupid things and anyone who gets exercised over the result needs a dose of perspective. Also, you'd think that with 90% of people cheating (as was claimed), the results might have been more skewed than 51%/49%.

@shadow-wolf With regards to the Specials, I think there are a few tips which can help take the, err... sting out of them. For the Sting Ray itself, it's worth nothing that if the user can't see you they'll probably swing the weapon around left and right hoping to find and pick off as many people as they can. However, introducing even a slight bit of height can throw them off, and swimming up some surface can often put you out of the line of fire. Also, unlike the Killer Wail, the Sting Ray needs constant management and leaves the user very vulnerable, so if they attack from closer up, you can normally rush them and finish them off. The Baller is slow, and can be slowed down further (and even broken) with gun fire (your weapon's range will dictate how safe this is). Maybe running a few Swim Speed Up would make it seem less threatening. If fact, this goes for all three weapons; Swim Speed Up makes escape a lot simpler. The Baller also takes a long time between detonation and explosion, meaning it's often easy to escape if you were keeping your distance anyway. Again, Swim Speed Up will make this simpler. Finally, for the Missiles, I'd just say run. Or rather swim. Preferable with Swim Speed Up, and preferably not in the direction of another teammate.

But I guess all my advice really boils down to is: Swim Speed Up.

EDIT: I suppose another point worth making is that it's generally quite difficult for most Specials in Spla2oon to OHKO you from full health, but they can often be 'the straw that breaks the camel's back'. Generally keeping an eye on your health, and retreating to give yourself time to recover can often be the difference between surviving a Special and not. There's plenty of stuff that can almost kill you in the game, so giving yourself time to recover between bouts can help you weather the (ink) storm.

@NinjaAceTrainer @Maxz Thanks for the advice. I appreciate the detail both of you gave in your responses, that made the strategies you suggested more clear. I’ll try that out next time I play.

Now for another “Splatoon 1 did this better than 2” comment (that’ll probably be disproven once you guys tell me how to deal with it): Autobombs. They’re much harder to deal with it than the original rushing bombs that went in one straight direction in Splatoon 1 (which I forgot the name of) since they’re much smaller and home in on you and don’t require much ink to use in the first place. Thoughts on autobombs?

@shadow-wolf Do you mean Seekers? Again, I haven't played Splatoon 1, but they were supposedly quite overpowered from what I've heard. They did home in on players that were out of ink and exploded on impact. As I see it, the Seeker has been split into the Curling Bomb and the Autobomb. The Curling Bomb is the mobility, swimming in the trail, whereas the Autobomb is the seeking trait. I would say that Autobombs are easier to deal with (purely in theory from this breakdown), but I'll give you some tips anyway. They detonate when close enough to kill you doing 180 damage, so if you move away in the detonation time, you shouldn't die. No matter the target, any opponent of the Autobomb can detonate it. Try not to screw your teammates over by leading a bomb to them, and if that happens to you, move quickly. A way to remove the threat of the Autobomb is to swim towards it to detonate it, then swim away. That way, it's just some minor damage to you and a puddle of ink. They actually got buffed recently, so they're much more spammable (reduced ink consumption, reduced tracking time). They're still fairly slow though, in terms of time from hitting the floor to exploding, which is only prolonged by it having to chase you. It does explode on its own after a while, so don't worry about being chased for the entire game. In terms of their noticeability, I actually have some trouble with this too, especially in some Splatfests. I'm a lot better at noticing them now, but the things to do are to listen for it's walking sound, and especially for the more obvious exploding sound, and act accordingly. If you outright see an opponent throwing an Autobomb, keep a mental note of it so you don't get caught out later. A lot of this just comes down to experience though, so just keep playing and find your own way to deal with them.

@NinjaAceTrainer @shadow-wolf I mostly just jumped over Seekers in in Splatoon 1. They didn't know what to do after that. As for Splatoon 2, Autobombs obviously cant scale walls. So my best method of dealing with them is just to climb something. Even a small ledge will do.

@NinjaAceTrainer @ThatNyteDaez That makes sense, thanks for the advice! To add to what both of you have said, I like to swim right through the auto bombs, that causes them to detonate with me at a safe distance away.

Welcome to the Brand Finale!

The 4th Splatournament of the NLInklings will be themed after Splatoon's gear brands.

The sign-up period has just opened and will close on August 2nd 11:59PM.

You can sign at our Discord server, just head to the channel #sign_ups.
Please also leave your ranks in #post_your_ranks because we need those for teambuilding.

These are the teams:

1. The Krak-On Krusaders
2. Zink Big
3. Forge Onwards
4. Tentatanks

Of course you're not limited to the gear of your team's brand, any and all gear is allowed. Think of the four brands as esport team sponsors.

That said, this is not really a competitive tournament. Of course everyone wants to win, but our focus always lies on having fun.

Tournament format (brackets)

Rules

Terms & Conditions

So did anyone try out the new weapon, the Bloblobber? It's funny just how OP it is, it's like a Slosher with twice as much range and the ability for shots to bounce around, and shots barely take up any ink. Seriously, I think this outranges everything except the sniping weapons and maybe the Jet Squelcher. It is probably the most OP weapon I have ever seen in Splatoon 1 and in Splatoon 2. Enjoy it before it gets nerfed in the next update!

Bloblobber is a game-changer

@shadow-wolf Cheers for the heads up. And there I was going to try out the Nautilus this evening.

Man, Blobobber is way too overpowered.

It needs a serious nerf, badly, because it's basically if you're caught in the crossfire of one, you're dead/splatted before you even know it.

Going against multiple of anything sucks. I haven't played Splatoon since the Bloblobber released, but it seems fine.

This pretty much. We'll definitely need to wait until it has become more established and doesn't have 4 out of 8 players using it.

And now, again, the Octo Expansion secret final boss is once again giving me problems.

I'm at my wit's end with it and may have to rely on outside help from any folks who live in my city nearby me who can defeat it so I can quickly get the Golden Toothpick and move on because I don't even care about the satisfaction of doing it myself anymore. ; ;

Good news for most players. Splatoon 2 does have anti-cheat in place since update 3.1.0. It was revealed by hackers that it is a legitimate thing.

I posted this in the Switch thread but next week's Fork vs. Spoon NA Splatfest appears to be the last one before the paid online service goes live.