Saturday, August 15, 2015

Things you should know about Splatoon if you're playing it.

While I am terrified at the prospect of sending my oldest to high school this fall, he doesn't seem too freaked out about it. He spent a fair amount of time playing Splatoon this summer, including participating in all three Splatfests so far. I haven't played the game as much as he has, so the gameplay tips are all his.

I asked him what people should know about playing in Ranked Mode, which is where I usually find him complaining about the gameplay of his opponents. So, here's his list!

  1. Have at least two people guard a Splat Zone.
  2. If nobody is on the tower, GET ON IT!
  3. Overtime means CAPTURE THE THING!!!!
  4. In all of the modes, don't place squid beacons near your base. You can already jump to it by tapping the spawn location on the GamePad.
  5. Put down an ink mine or suction bomb on the tower if you're rushing it or defending it.
  6. Sloshers are very good for covering the walls and ground. Use this to get your players with longer range weapons to higher ground.
  7. Any weapon that you have to charge is SUPER slow when charging midair so don't try to start charging midair if there is an enemy below you. Fire off a shot or two so you can get to the ground safely and then worry about charging or attacking.
  8. In all of the modes, if your weapon has seekers and there are no enemies around it, swim right behind it. It is good stealth without losing speed from the ninja squid ability.
  9. Make sure before you super jump that you make sure that you are not going to get killed right as you land.
  10. Do not go off and paint stuff! Your super meter will fill plenty if you keep in the battle and watch for hazards.
Hopefully this helps a few people. I would add another item to this list for people used to other shooters - for each of the various game modes, make sure that you're paying attention to the primary goal for each mode. Regular versus mode means painting a lot of ground your color, Tower Control means maintaining control of the tower, Splat Zones means controlling specific zones of the board. While taking out your opponents is often helpful, racking up a big kill count doesn't win the match.