The WORST Special Design In Splatoon History [Splatoon 2 Special Design]

[@ProChara]

12:20 Yes I meant to say Wail not Ray here. I wanted to keep this section short but for the point of being able to touch tower barley, keep in mind the other team can easily re touch tower or kill you while you are in this weakened state. UPDATE: A new version of the bubble combo was found that allows you to sneak in the third bubble, this makes it even harder to stop and increases the hitbox especially since the 3rd bubble is largest... Aka it is now even more of a problem. twitter.com/toto_botoru/status/1413701256086835200

[@That_One_Gaming_Guy]

Wow, I thought Stingray was a bad special because it wasn't fun to play as, but now I know it's not fun to play against.

[@sleepykirbyplays6323]

Splashdow is good when superjumping

[@jameskelly-smith1279]

Here are my own unique proposals to fix Splashdown and Bubbles... Splashdown - Much higher jump height, requiring more range to hit. Bubbles - Bombs have a lot less of an effect.

[@cartisrevenge]

@@jameskelly-smith1279 I think splashdown should have a random height each time, not super low or high but in an area that random

[@tinytoonsMlg]

@@cartisrevenge im s+3 rank and I use a weapon with splashdown, I love that special

[@lewyn4k]

Fun fact, Hero Mode's specials weren't touched by the patches, so if you want, you can go back and use launch Sting Ray. It's quite an experience.

[@niksooxyz]

They also didn't fix the sun in moray towers in hero mode... when I had gone back and revisited that stage I literally couldn't see anything lmao

[@sadyoshhours2769]

Memories ;'(

[@za_crispy]

what's the difference between them? I only got s2 a few months ago

[@seanpotter1915]

@@za_crispy sting Ray only had the first laser and not the second laser

[@m4rz982]

I wanna do that

[@ultrayeets]

The concept of splashdown is just so badass, rising into the air and absolutely pummeling your opponents when in reality you die instantly 💀

[@GuessImSylvale]

That's why I normally used Splashdown after super jumping as a way to effectively use it. It's really hard to use Splashdown for the most part but it's really good at protecting Super Jumps (especially paired with stuff like QSJ)

[@ArtFromHer]

@@GuessImSylvale exactly. the super jump splashdown combo was the coolest thing ever and now it's just.. gone from splatoon 3.

[@Nokyyyyy]

Maybe if you could angle where you land it would be better ?

[@ArtFromHer]

@@Nokyyyyy the problem isn't landing, it's rising into the air lmao

[@Nokyyyyy]

@@ArtFromHer but if you are far enough from the opponent, you could shoot the thing at them without getting splatted, right ? Right ?

[@boombazled]

Flashbacks to when I killed a splashdown with an ink mine,, the easiest solution would to just increase the health of the splashdown user. It's probably cuz I mostly play turf war where almost no one is close together I never realized how much stingray was buffed.

[@TheMrblankos]

Only true counter to stingray is another stingray - that's when you know it's broken.

[@beastmode7946]

Well that and missiles, and also bubbles (to a much lesser extent, though) in a way to kind of camouflage yourself (i.e. just to make it slightly harder for the sting ray to see you)

[@illusionist1872]

It's like the Metal Blade from MM2, and they're broken for similar reasons: For Splatoon, it was incompetence caused by exiting their comfort zone, and for MM2, it was incompetence caused by time constraints.

[@schuylerschmadtke1250]

Missiles having any effect nowadays is more a result of ray being nerfed and special spam being otherwise unchecked for other specials, which is its own issue.

[@gimme_eliter4k720]

Missiles?

[@asc3end340]

Best way to counter ray is home + X + A

[@greenberrygk]

I think the splashdown work best in salmon run. During salmon run, your work area can be very cluttered with salmonids and there are times where your team can get cornered by them. Using splashdown works very good as it’s intended purpose: as a panic button. It gets you out of that situation considering the salmonids can’t counter it because it doesn’t have that AI, but also that doesn’t make it unfair because many salmonids come back very quick, so it’s very balanced in that instance.

[@KazShiro]

As a hydra splatling user with splashdown who lives in ranked battles, splashdown works best as a tactic for scaring people off the objective(sorta in a way like tower Control, you get off it or die trying to move it) or moreso a way to get people that are scattering amidst the chaos especially when your team is the one aggroing or defending. Otherwise using it for offense or as a last resort if the other team is trying to gain up on you is like Pro said a deathsentence. Though splatzones it can be a benefit

[@Kylemsguy]

The problem is that if you’re in that situation, you probably have stingers, steelheads and flyfish, all of which can take you out while you’re in the air.

[@VGF80]

I'm about to become a broken record, but I'm going to say it again just because this is the most relevant video to say it. Sting ray and Splashdown are bi products of Splatoon 2's rushed development just to fill in the first year schedule for Nintendo Switch. I just hope that 2022 gives Nintendo more time to develop as well as REFINE the game. If they can't fix splashdown or baller for Splatoon 3, then they should probably just scrap them. There is also one other thing I would like to add. Sting ray perfectly demonstartes the law of unintended consequences. It's intended purpose was to give backliners more complexity and meaning. Nintendo however also inadvetenly ruined Rainmaker and Tower control by basically denying/stalling the objective. Some teams spend ages trying to set up a push only to get whizzed on by sting ray.

[@dragonslayer7724]

Splatoon 3 is here, Baller and Sting ray are gone, and Splashdown has been downgraded to a singleplayer campaign-only special, with an improved Splashdown in the form of the Reefslider. Unfortunately, the shitstain that is Tenta Missles still remains.

[@wolfwarrior1176]

@@dragonslayer7724 you mean the easily dodge missiles that were easy to dodge in splat 2? Sure they can target a team but you are lucky to get a kill once in every 4 uses. Its got an obvious tell and is so damn easy to dodge.

[@dragonslayer7724]

@@wolfwarrior1176 But the fact that it forces you to dodge is good for team displacement, especially in TC

[@wolfwarrior1176]

@@dragonslayer7724 so you mean its actually a decent special for a game mode whos whole shtick is getting enemies OFF the objective so you can take it over? In other words you are salty that its effective? Way i see it from your description its a lot like a rocket launcher or airblast in halo and tf2 respectively. If you know what you are doing its an effective weapon to clear the objective. If you dont then its a waste.

[@dragonslayer7724]

@@wolfwarrior1176 I don't know how the Halo RPG works, but Airblast isn't infinite range, and Tenta Missiles are. All you need to do is ink your back line then just press the fire button.

[@Tartartm]

But everything changed when the sting ray nation attacked.

[@aliteraldumpsterfire672]

Maybe it'll take a raid of ray users to get Nintendo to fix it. With Splatoon 3 releasing "soon, probably wouldn't even work

[@consumingkazoos]

@@aliteraldumpsterfire672 so, how do you feel about no more rays?

[@PatJ_or_Tom]

As a low X charger user (and stingray lover), I fully agree with this.I started playing the game after all the nerfs and it took me time to realize how broken my special was. Now don't get me wrong: using it effectively can be challenging. Yes, the tower being on a checkpoint or the rainmaker trying to push are easy. But I have yet to master its use and I truly enjoy using it. A few tips to escape me: move in your ink and change direction, bubbles are like smoke to the ray, delay your attack while painting.

[@cosmichild1]

Honestly, as someone trying to learn it, and as someone who dodges it, I don't see the issue. The main thing that's supposed to make it complicated is that you oftenly can't see your opponent. So you have to predict where they're gonna go, and make sure you don't accidentally switch targets, which could run you out of the time you have with it. Another thing with it is, if your opponent is swimming in ink, you can't detect them. That alone makes it hard for me to get any splats with it. Usually it takes me a few matches before I can get ANYONE with it. Not to mention, people sometimes just flat out jump back to spawn to escape. In ranked matches like Rainmaker or Tower Control, I can see how it would be broken, but I don't get how it's the biggest issue out of all of the specials.. Especially just in Regular Mode, or the other two ranked modes. And trying to learn to use it has showed me ways of countering it, like aiming tena missiles at it to delay it for example. I really don't see how people have so much trouble with it.. I only started using it because I don't see it that much, and I thought it would be cool if I learned how to use something more complicated, rather than just hurling bombs or ink armor that dies with one burst bomb..

[@-butterfly-594]

@@cosmichild1 I think the biggest issue is that if you're skilled enough with the Stingray, opponents have absolutely no chance of fighting back and sometimes no chance of surviving. Rainmaker and Tower are the most glaring examples, but even on Clams and Zones the ray can completely disable the opponent's defense and render backliners ineffective for it's entire duration. And with Clams, you still have a similar issue with the Rainmaker when opponents have a super clam, since once you get that first bit of damage you can open the map to keep track of damaged opponents and still track them. Stingray does have a high skill floor, but its skill ceiling is pretty much non-existent, which is insane given that it can be completely unpunishable in most situations. You can stall it with Tenta Missiles, but the only reliable way to punish bad usage of it is with another Stingray.

[@SimoneBellomonte]

@@-butterfly-594 Pfp Sauce (Artist)? 🗿

[@demomoon1552]

It sucks, because most of my favorite weapons have splashdown. And it is such a good concept. Like, a low-cost low-output mixup that is more of an ability than a special is such a good idea. It just had some really flawed development. I just wished they allowed us to change the height or even give it some armor when youre in the air like with booyah bomb

[@dragonslayer7724]

I like Splashdown, but I feel like it has a better replacement in Splatoon 3, that being the Reefslider

[@cresoma]

A somewhat similar issue’s come up in Splatoon 3 now, a lot of weapons have been overwritten with Zipcaster, and while I see the potential it just has no place in ranked! There’s no armor of any kind, and if you’re using a close range weapon, it’s 85% a free kill for whoever’s in the area you’re zipping to. You can’t really use it to get the high ground either, since you’re launched back to the activation point as soon as you run out of ink or use it enough

[@cobaltcabana]

Idea for Stingray nerfs: If the ray has to pass through a wall to hit a player, the player takes 50% less damage from it than normal. reduce the duration to 5 seconds Reduce swim speed during special by 5% The shockwave diameter should be decreased by 5% To compensate for nerfs: Special power up no longer increases duration, but instead increases the diameter of the shockwave, with 1 main bringing the diameter back to its previous size, and an entire set bringing it up by 20% The center part of the ray damage should be increased from 1.8 per frame to 2.2 per frame, making the center part kill at 46 frames instead of 56. the shockwave now kicks in after 1 second instead of 1.5 Easier alternative: replace it with killer wail and call it a day

[@loveladii69]

I know this is a year later but stingray is for passing through walls stingray passive to hit through walls is the main reason epopel use it nerf that or remove it it's just a dumb special

[@AvocadoClash]

@@loveladii69 I think that a good rework to stingray would be to increase ink laser damage by 33%, reduce shockwave damage by 33%, and reduce duration by 33%.

[@Tom-vx7qh]

I wonder if giving splashdown a temporary ink armor would help? Like booyah bomb but with a normal ink armor. Then chargers and rollers couldn't just delete splashdown immediately, and shooters need to react faster to kill it

[@Sanngot]

I feel like by the end of the Splatoon 2 patches, the devs were trying to turn Splash Down into something of an "anti-special" special. It ended up in a place where it was pretty effective at cancelling specials like the baller, bubble blower, inkjet, booyah bomb armour (I think), and bomb launcher (along with bombs in general). I guess they could only take the concept so far, though, since you couldn't exactly cancel inkstorm, tenta missiles and sting ray without fundamentally changing each of those specials. A way to improve it could be to give it some way to interact with most specials (if not all) if they bring it back to Splatoon 3, because while panic splashdowns were always a death sentence at top level play, it was always safe if you were super jumping in with it (which did attempt to promote team coordination).

[@ProChara]

Yea pretty much they did, which occasionally works, but still if you die in the air it won't cancel the special anyway.

[@squiffurthewolf6276]

14:43 lel the way the music stop when your talking about the gal being the last weapon to ever get the stingray again, and that ur certain that the stingray will never come back, tbh it kind of hurt me as a charger main xd, and it not bcs im sad, i get it is too op, just the way it was it seem emotional and like i should be sad and i almost started to cry XDD

[@supercullen0047]

I still think splashdown is super fun, and the super jump splashdown trick is always gonna be the most fun I have with this game :)

[@ProChara]

Its definetly fun it just doesn't work once you get high enough in ranked.

[@salty-guardian6121]

I really liked this video, you did a good job at explaining why they are bad and going threw the history of patches and such.

[@bignoob24]

I hate that Snipers completely destroys me mid Splashdown without me being weak.

[@aliteraldumpsterfire672]

Even when I do that bs, everytime I say to myself *"GOD THAT'S SO UNFAIR"*

[@triggerhappy4199]

Sweats in blaster insta splash cancel

[@republicshocked]

I really like the music you're putting in the background of your videos now!

[@hexhex284]

I 100% agree with this I was in a scrim yesterday and this squeezer destroyed us with bubble combo and it wasn’t until I put obj on for it to make a slight difference

[@Galactc9283]

Oh look a fully accurate list also instead of increasing height for splashdown we could have a 30hp increase

[@pearldab7781]

yeah just needing an extra hit or so to kill would help splashdown a lot. you’d still be vulnerable to farther away splatlings and chargers, but it’s mean you’re no longer a free kill against rollers, blasters and anything with decent damage

[@fishyninjja9103]

Good idea!

[@traci7351]

Ray gives me memories of a recent scrim, about 2 weeks ago; The other team's backliner did nothing but annoyingly op strats which consisted of Ray spam Jet on Port Mackerel and Bamboo with nothing but mpu... lmfao

[@traci7351]

Do note tho, if the other team runs a spam ray Jet; you can counter with a spam missiles Sploosh Neo :)

[@diegislac5116]

@@traci7351 oh god that gives me nightmares

[@Galiaverse]

I remember I was Gittin' Gud with Day 1 Sting Ray while everyone else was screaming for buffs. Those people made that bed, so SLEEP IN IT! >:D I always wanted a nerf that _drastically_ reduced the duration depending how close to your spawn you were upon activation. They should have done that instead of the blanket duration cut. And for that matter they could have tied the shockwave size to Special Power Up.

[@meraki435]

i remember when i first saw the bubble blower in a trailer i was so excited to use it and it was gunna be my favorite special in the game (which it still is) and then ever since its been in the game, it was never on a main that i like so i don't use it... it would be nice if we could customize kits (to an extent so we dont get unbeatable kits)

[@humlabee2066]

Speaking as someone who is stuck with splashdown, if I was to make a special that was weaker/a panic button I'd make a shockwave type special. It would do more damage the closer you are to the person using it, move out from the person using it, a smaller range than what splashdown currently is(not that much smaller splashdown is pretty small anyways), no armor, no jumping, as it moves from the person out it would take a (small) amount of time to come into full effect + the warning that splashdown has (to be fair) and also have it negate bombs like splashdown does (also maybe a second where the user can't use subs or their main weapon(not too much though). Honestly if they just made splashdown jump a little higher or have a little more armor (or even just take less damage from specials) I would be a lot happier. Currently splashdown's is just barely too low to escape a rainmaker hit and the armor is just a little to low to survive booyah bomb and baller which sucks as a panic button. Currently I only use splashdown to negate bombs or cover an area quick or get my ink back. Lower ranks were so much easier with it hhhh

[@TheFreshestResh]

I really hope splatoon 3 brings a new special that has a quicker charge but much weaker effect, like a bomb that travels akin to fizzy bomb but paints a lot and has extra explosions that may or may not insta kill

[@VIofCaffeine]

*Bomb Power Up intensifies*

[@Aurea2001]

Fizzy x Torpedo Except it doesnt target. Just the explosions on impact

[@AmalgamJiena]

I think it's interesting how splashdown and stingray ARE in splatoon 3, but you can't use them in pvp. Splashdown is exclusive to the hero gear in story mode, and stingray is only used by the one boss salmonid.

[@TrentMkw]

Stingray was a byproduct of the devs not knowing how to properly balance the game. Just like the over-nerfs to tri-slosher and the buffs that turned baller into a stage control killing machine. They made mistakes with balancing but unlike baller and tri-slosher, stingray was near unfixable with the adjustments they gave it due to how the special works.

[@icyflame716]

I’ll say it again. They should have tied bubbles to the sub weapon allowing you to use your main instead of subs. This way you can keep the bubbles up but not instapop it with bombs. As for stingray. I can see why it’s bad but i personally like using it more than having to play against it. Btw, i’m loving these video essay type videos. Keep it up!

[@Skididz]

5:31 *Finally* someone is talking about this That bubble bomb combo always annoyed the hecc out of me "Oh? You wanted to push the objective?" *"How about no"* 8:12 I've always wondered why you could throw your bomb while using bubbles, seems a bit like bad game design tbh Edit: great video 👏

[@andrewjanes7220]

If the Bubble blower was to come back in Splatoon 3, they could make it so that the bubbles are less affected by bombs. Or they could reduce the damage all together and make it a more painting oriented special.

[@cosmo2590]

the octopath traveler ost was a nice touch

[@fyreboy5798]

I have some of my own ideas for reworking these. For Splashdown, I think your ideas for variable height and healing on landing are very good. However, I personally feel like it could be utility alongside mixups. I’ve always been thinking of a special that counters other specials, and the closest we have to that is Splashdown, since it destroys Baller, Booyah Bomb armor, and bubbles, not to mention it destroys bombs, negating bomb rushes, and received great vertical reach allowing it to hit Inkjets. It could be used to immediately destroy almost any object. My idea for Bubble Blower is that instead of preventing use of your sub while active is to make the bubbles take reduced to no damage when being blown. I actually have an idea to change Sting Ray for the better. First, make its shockwaves smaller, so that its total radius is 3x larger than the center beam rather than 5x larger. Second, reduce the damage of the shockwaves. Very simple. Lastly-and this is a big one-make it have limited range. The range limit would mean it’d have to be used from closer up, making the user more vulnerable.

[@karsan4900]

i mean you could also make it so sting ray can't go through walls which could help with perfect timing and rewards the player for it

[@wobblyaaron]

me who only uses splashdown when super jumping: 😃

[@drnarwhal2888]

Same. It almost feels like it was meant for super jump combos. Unfortunately for whoever is on the receiving end, if you have even a slight bit of lag, it is an invincible insta-kill bait. Especially on tower control. Easiest way to get quad kills in ranked.

[@donovanjoseph737]

Yeah, kinda surprised he never mentioned the super jump function. Makes superjumping in ranked reallt powerful by allowing you to jump back into the fight safely.

[@penguinxrock]

@@donovanjoseph737 he did mention it once. but even then, you might not always have a teammate to jump to, or players manage to hide below the tiniest ledge, and if you constantly spam it people will go "oh yeah, that's the brush that's always splashdowning in"

[@NunnyNugget]

I think the fact that the new "Sting Ray Replacement" (assuming that what it is) already shows way more promise than Sting Ray, even if it worked very similarly to how sting ray does. Even if it _did_ involve a player firing them from a weapon they can aim, it would likely be less annoying due to the fact that the new special seems to consist of projectiles, that would require travel time, and maybe possibly could even be shot down or blocked in some way. I have no idea what Nintendo is doing though sooo.... iDK

[@ProChara]

its definetly not player controlled since we can see the speakers, they seem to maybe lock on with less damage but thats already 50 times better because the durations short, theres no way itl kill someone on their own anymore.

[@RyanSumthn]

the stingray replacement in 3 doesn't really seem right tbh, it's the size of launch stingray and while there's 6 of them, it seems like it'd be really easy to dodge

[@bloxicon4043]

I don't think it's meant to be a lean mean splatting machine. It seems like it mainly helps you locate enemies while simultaneously pressuring them, similarly to Tenta Missles but instead they're miniature Killer Wails.

[@lemonadogirl4082]

Hi I'm from the post launch-it really is easy to dodge. It's tracking speed is so god awful that you can essentially just hopscotch over it in swim form two or three times with minimal movement, and then it goes away. The only kill potential it really has is in conjunction with other specials or other players, because while it doesn't force a ton of movement, it can lead to bumbling into the kill zone of another special or a bomb, and remaining in swim form a long time does leave the target open to attack from other players.

[@gmbaest1660]

I love the bubble blower special it’s one of my favorite I just love the gimmick and I’ve used the bomb tec. However my main is actually the tenta brella so my experience with the bubbles have been explode-y. I really want to see the special come back and I especially want to see the blobbobler with the bubble blower special. I hope they tweak it for splatoon 3 I just really like it.

[@BJ86491]

What do you think is the best designed special? Tenta-missiles? I remember you mentioning it, and you explained the reasons as to why it was designed so well, but I also remember you talking about booyah bomb talking about its pros and cons, and how it is such a balanced special.

[@eDebt]

Tenta is lame, it moves backline and it’s a one and done thing and with vc it’s basically an echolocater, directs one shot and the missle path is unpredictable.

[@BJ86491]

@@eDebt not to mention, there are too many weapons that can spam it; kensa shot, n zap 89 and neo sploosh in particular. These three weapons have taken off many years of my life, i swear. I have an aneurysm everytime i hear the sound of the missiles launching, and see the reticle locked on to me.

[@Jonasaurus7]

Tenta missies are confirmed for splatoon 3 Part of me really wants them to combine them with ink jet because little buddy could become a fly fish, maybe it has a limited range but is safer to use in the middle of the map

[@BJ86491]

@@Jonasaurus7 i wonder how nintendo would limit missiles' range, if they do. I just hope it isnt buffed in s3. As long as that happens, im alright.

[@ProChara]

Missiles is the best simple special Nintendos ever made, booyah the best HP, and I dont want to talk about paint specials or complex yet but i will cover those in part 4 and 5 and pick a favorite

[@funniflow]

Other people using Stingray: Target locked. Me using Stingray: Where is everyone? Why can't I splat these people? What? It's gone already? How do they always know exactly where I am when they use it!?

[@Vidya-James]

Splashdown is Nintendo to its very core: creatively brilliant but functionally incompetent.

[@iznxai]

it would be cool to have splashdown be immune to subs/specials and also have you at full hp on activation; would make it beat out bubbles

[@oregano2771]

A rework of bubbles where enemies can pop bubbles in their color like the rm bubble, of course the team launching the bubbles should have increased damage, but I think it would be interesting since it would allow both teams to get value out of bubbles

[@sleepycyborg3241]

I think that would also need a buff to the explosion maybe to make it more high risk high reward. Especially if you’re kit doesn’t have splat bombs

[@porksmork8354]

You forgot to mention in comp that it really came down to Stingray 1v1s back in the day when it was at its strongest. You'd get teams using there armors and missiles just so there ray could win the 1v1 against the enemy ray. Or that some tournaments banned teams from using double ray on maps like Port Mackerel due to them being unavoidable when used at the same time. What an awful and unfun special to play against, so happy that armor got buffed against them.

[@Ihonestlydek]

Ppl in the clips: *easily defeats splashdown* Me: *shoots splashdown and armor is already placed*

[@ianw.7897]

As a charger user liking stingray I just want complex specials like inkjet and stamp. I absolutely love stingray but for the sake of balance I’m willing to loose it. I just feel like I get too many kills easily with it. So I do love it but AS LONG AS I GET A COMPLEX SPECIAL THAT COMPLEMENTS BACKLINES (and is relatively good and I USE use it.) I am willing to loose it. I hope that the replacement is complex and I use use it.

[@Aurea2001]

There's fresh squiffer, but y'know, the range

[@ianw.7897]

Yea I like fresh squiffy but I play backline so...

[@Aurea2001]

@@ianw.7897 I get ya. I mainly play backline as well. Sometimes I try the fresh squiffer or gootubers, but quickly got back to my long range

[@woahitsfranco5286]

Also Im just going to say that after looking at the trailer for the 50th time in a row, the lazar special is a mix of the look of sting ray and the gimmick of echolocater with a delay.

[@lamegamertime]

And maybe even mixed with tenta missiles, if you can have multiple on one player or something. Even though tenta missiles are likely already in the game.

[@woahitsfranco5286]

@@lamegamertime mhm, they can track 3 players at a time from the looks of it.

[@BigMeat41968]

Splashdowning out of a super jump is the greatest thing ever.

[@Bobo12300]

I didn't even know that you could do that with bubble blower and wow that seems broken. I wonder if Nintendo is aware as well

[@yumura137]

Stingray at it's very core is flawed, it makes me extremely disappointed on them as game developers, a rangeless lazer that goes through walls that is controller by a player and lasts long, it's p much a 1 player game, there's no counter play, you either jump out or *hope they mess up* and sometimes you won't even have time to react, it's a special that is literally only held back by ones ability to track or other ppls specials

[@1ogic948]

Ideas for redesigns (high chance to not actually be realistic, long comment warning) Splashdown - Interesting Option - give some armor and the ability to move (horizontally) while in the air - this gives the splashdown more utility as a tool to reset a bad fight or to start one with an advantage, but you still have to keep in mind your health and how much damage the opponent will be able to do. As for using this to get to higher ground, I don't _think_ that's too much of a problem as using the height from the splashdown to get up means an easier target for the opponent and more damage taken. You would still need to add grates to prevent some of the more ridiculous flank routes though. - Realistic Option - give it invincibility and maybe reset health to 100 - there's still enough counter-play when the splashdown hits the ground for it not to be op, source: lower ranks Bubble Blower - Interesting Option - While making the bubbles, replace the R button with a device that inflates a bubble from ~40 hp to the normal hp after being thrown like a bomb, while inflating bubbles gain much less health from your team's ink but still take normal damage from enemy ink. You have enough time to throw 3 bubbles, decrease lethal damage aoe - This rewards strong game sense as to maximize the value you have to know exactly where your team can follow up on it and where it will be most helpful. - Realistic Option - map it to the R button Stingray - Interesting Option - nuke it and start over - they've already done this for Splatoon 3, the thing that makes stingray stingray is "do damage and ignore walls, range, and by extension the opponent time to kill" which is the almost the entirety of Splatoon's gunplay. - Realistic Option - if you stop firing the special ends, damage decreases the farther the target is, change duration to taste - somewhat makes it reasonable while keeping it as long range weapon that goes through walls but it's not objectively better to be untouchably far away. The interesting solutions would take significant work and I admit I'm not the most experienced player all of these might not be good anyway but maybe the realistic solutions could be added. Anyway, thanks for coming to my GDC talk.

[@ProChara]

Cool ideas, personally for splashdown I like resetting health on landing, and mixing up movement, but not armor, it should still be cancelable but I want it to be harder/something splashdown users can control. Replacing a sub weapon button would work great for bubbles.

[@1ogic948]

@@ProChara Cool! Thanks for reading that. I was thinking ~50 armor while in the air so you can still be damaged heavily by the time you land but I understand that a little armor has a big effect on balance. But yeah thanks for reading :)

[@rotomfan63]

idk why the splashdown never got the same straight up invincablity booyah bomb got

[@radio5637]

The speaker things seem like a combo between the wail, the Ray, and the missles

[@MineNAdventurer]

I think a good idea for a sting ray change or sting ray like special would be to make it either be a super charger that fires a single high powered shot that pierces walls (with 50% dmg penalty) but high charge up and you can fire up to 3 shots of this or to make it like a sword where you are forced to pick two points where the beam will cut through. When moving at first it will be slow but then after a short while it will speed up.

[@jcplays5831]

I used to use splashdown when jumping from a platform so I’m higher up and harder to shoot. Idk it worked better than just panic specialing

[@penguinflames707]

Hot take: sting ray could have been salvageable in splatoon 3. I know the special won’t be in the game ever unless Nintendo decided to add a new special in a future update, but I doubt that, but what if sting ray was in splatoon 3, how could it be balanced? First off, the new squid roll allows as a quick strafe with armor, so long as you have speed in swim form. This allows players to easily dodge the special or get out of the way, forcing the ray player to recalibrate aim. This helps out a lot in rainmaker as it isn’t a free kill against the rainmaker carrier. TC is still currently broken though, so what can be done for this? Unfortunately since we know killer wail 5.1 goes through big bubbler, it’s safe to say a big bubbler won’t protect you from a sting ray. I’m not certain about crab tank roll though, so who knows if a crab tank in its rolling state would be safe. I saw a comment about if sting ray did less damage if the ray went through a wall, which I understand and like the idea, so what if it that was added. The poll on top of the tower could be used to shield yourself, possibly long enough when combined with the squid roll to survive on tower and keep pushing objective in overtime. Even then, a damage nerf to sting ray’s shockwave would likely be needed. As for what can be done to counter it, killer wail 5.1 locks on even through walls, so if a killer wail was fired upon a sting ray, the sting ray would be forced to constantly be on the move, completely shutting the special down. TL;DR: with a few nerfs, sting ray could have worked in splatoon 3 Extra: as for splashdown, all it needs in order to be effective if you ask me is some armor, to make players have to respect the blast radius instead of look up and shoot it down. Even so, it’s been replaced by Reefslider, and splashdown is story mode only

[@Teddinotteddy]

When I first got splatoon 2 I hated splashdown but after a while and I mean a while I learned how to counter it with the weapons I main. It's honestly not that bad anymore.

[@asri3809]

Tbh, when i was starting off, i was thinking it was THE BEST special, but after time it became something else. And after playing with charger for 7 months (and where i learned cancelling Splashdowns), i can state, that Splashdown is easy to dodge and cancel. On Vic's stream (in December of 2020) i stated: "Cancelling Splashdowns is a reflex". Even being in S+, i cancelled some more and it's kinda true. Btw, great video-discussing, which i and everyone else enjoy watching it 😼

[@Kyori64]

I don't care how awful Splashdown is, being able to make a sick entrance with a Super Jump + Splashdown is the best feeling, especially when on lower levels, you get a kill because they're caught off guard. It has and will be my favorite special no matter how bad it is, because I like it.

[@johtojedi5328]

I get that Nintendo wanted Splatoon 2's Specials to be less broken, but when you think about it, they all suck besides Ultra Stamp and Baller, which are kinda the same concept. Splashdown and Ink Storm are both generally weak, Tenta Missiles are way too easy to dodge, Inkjet is also way to easy to dodge, along with Bomb Launcher, Stingray, Booyah Bomb, and Bubble Blower. Splatoon's Specials are too good, Splatoon 2's are too bad, we need balance in 3.

[@ProChara]

I don't think they are overall too weak, coordionation makes most of them good which is the point. Splat 1 had huge balance issues due to specials. Missiles are easy to dodge but if you push while they are active you take advantage of displacement, inkstorm seems bad until you use it while teams are painting zone or pushing an area. The value of specials depends on how you use them and that is 100% a good thing. For refrence in comp stamp and baller aren't even top 5, they are still good bu far from the best.

[@bignoob24]

You can Bubble trick curling bomb as well. I use it with Custom Range Blaster. To be honest I once popped the bubble while practicing the trick and I did 300 damage to the training dummy. wow.

[@greenguy9090]

I'm going to be honest here, every single one of Splatoon 2's specials and even stage design philosophy, in my opinion, were all poorly designed looking back. They focused on competitive TOO much in S2 to the point that the stages blended together and the "Special" weapons were demoted to be more like secondary abilities. Everyone knows Sting ray was a weaker killer wail, Baller was a weaker Kraken, Ink jet was a weaker Inkzooka ect. They even joke about how the old specials were "too dangerous." Every stage in the game is also much less interesting, with most of them having the same design: Spawn > Snipe > Middle hill. Examples being Inkblot, Sturgeon, Musselforge, Starfish, Humpback, & Wahoo world. I'm not gonna say Splatoon 1 was perfect, like killer wail being the weakest special ever, but the stages and specials were a TON more fun in it, regardless of them being OP or not. Most specials in S2 are only good in ranked modes and are boring/underwhelming to use in Turf war. I hope to see them be more wacky and have more FUN with Splatoon 3 than they did with Splatoon 2, Inkzooka mark II and the squad lazers don't look too promising, as well as the return of Tenta missiles being a bad sign in my opinion because they're a special that doesn't really do anything in Turf war, but we don't know too much about them yet. I'm not a master at balancing things for video games, but I've played Splatoon for a very long time now. And even though I loved playing every bit of Splatoon 2, I want Splatoon 3 to be even better.

[@ProChara]

I disagree with that, specials were weaker but splat 2 had a ton of the best designed ones. Old specials were far too broken and while some specials arent designed well most of them were amazing. Booyah and Missiles are great examples that I covered previously in this series and the specials I havent covered are all great honestly Wail was fine prolly best balanced Sp1 special DO agree maps are garbo boring though

[@greenguy9090]

@@ProChara I didn't mean poorly designed as in they are bad specials, I meant poorly designed because they don't work well in both turf wars and ranked modes, and aren't as fun/exciting to use. Wail did work for getting people off the tower and attacking the rainmaker, but in turf wail doesn't really do anything but maybe block a bomb or two, but you could just shoot through it instead. I had watched your videos on booyah and missiles (keep up the great work by the way) but this should hopefully bring my point across more clearly: For tenta missiles, in turf the best you can do is spam them because a good team in turf will wall you off from leaving spawn. There is also no goal in turf, only having the most ink on the ground, so having missiles aimed at you is more of a brief annoyance and feeds YOUR special. Which makes spamming them a bad idea too, which was also a boring use of a special in the first place. Booyah bomb is better, for reasons you talked about in your video of Booyah bomb vs Baller, than tenta missiles but booyah only works in situations where you trap someone with it, otherwise it can go to waste pretty easily or doesn't do anything but feed specials as well. Many of the other specials have issues similar to this, feeling bland or not being powerful as you would expect a "special weapon" to be. The point I was trying to make is that the specials were catered towards being more useful and balanced in the ranked modes, but not for turf wars, which is how I consider them to be poorly designed.

[@ProChara]

@@greenguy9090 yeah turf war meta is mostly baller/armor for survivability or bomb rush but its hard to fix it bc turf just doesnt have the same kind of objective. I still am fine with the power scaling regardless. I think they cant be more powerful then now and I like that they have to be coordinated or used more strategically

[@greenguy9090]

@@ProChara In a way yes, but there's another issue, Baller is just weaker armor (like kraken was weaker bubbler.)

[@ProChara]

@@greenguy9090 armor was weaker bubbler baller is based off kraken, and the main problem was more baller couldnt be agro without being broken since its a panic button

[@johnwickfromfortnite9506]

The way you describe these specials is really well done. As a person that reached rank x in all modes, I can tell you that using splashdown is just asking to be shot. One way I've would've fix it is give the user a way to cancel the special like using a dodge roll of some kind and keep the starting ink armor from when you use the special. This would make it so the user can make their opponents guess if they're fully committing to the special or will roll out of it to get the armor instead and now players will actually have to respect the special. It would still have counterplay, but now it players will have to react fast as to which one you're doing. It can also have multiple uses, Instead of a being a panic button it can now be use before a big push to give yourself a one man ink armor and most weapons with splashdown already have rushdown built into their kit so it would make sense for it to have this feature

[@Syrahl696]

My 2am crazy idea to buff Splashdown- give it a tiny bit of horizontal movespeed in the air. Not much, like, just barely enough to match a squidjump in total distance moved. Since its harder to hit a moving target, it would make it harder to cancel a splashdown. The direction you move in would be basically set in stone by the direction you were holding the stick when you hit the special button. Now this does create a new, interesting application for Splashdown. You could use it to climb otherwise impossible ledges. Now, to balance this new aspect, I'm thinking that if your landing zone is higher than your starting position, the special would lose a lot of its power and range. The inverse is already true, so it makes sense. If you climbed a ledge using the full height of the Splashdown, you basically spent your entire special gauge to climb a wall - this could be worth it if it let you back-door the enemy team, but at the same time you want to avoid having it happen by accident.

[@atsukana1704]

As an inkbrush main, I never had a problem with splashdown all the way up to S+9 so its not even like its a low level necessarily. What I think made me able to use it effectively though, was I never did use it as a panic button. That appears to just be a bait on part of the design of it. Instead most of the time I was using it to counter other specials as a shutdown, get an ink reset for double bombs and allow the ink clearing ability of it to cover my landing, and as a way to trap some enemies that were unable to hit me out of it. The number of times that I would see someone move out of my splashdown and get ready to try and shoot me put of the landing lag from it, only to be killed by a bomb they could barely see pop out of the big explosion was almost comical. Acting as an instant rainmaker bubble pop was also amazing because I could either catch a team off guard that was confident they had won the fight, or allowed me to get the bubble off solo after killing the enemy team with enough time to spare to get some points. TL:DR in my opinion much of the problem was actually with the player base never bothering to look at it as anything more than a panic button, which it was never going to be good for, instead of innovating new uses for it to counter other options.

[@LeviathanRX]

As much as I liked having splashdown on my Hydra kit, booyah bomb is objectively better also funny story, ultrastamp is vulnerable from the front too, if you aim low

[@DYSL3X1C-240]

Though I wasn't around for the beginning and hearing how stingray doesn't have many consequences using it. I still see so many randoms misusing the special properly its always fun flanking a bad stingray user.

[@crazycanyon3028]

Gonna be honest I diddent know the bubble power up and splashdown where defensive maneuvers

[@GrayAvian]

I remember when sploon 2 first launched and I was playing with a stingray weapon. I got cornered, panicked because I was pretty young, and hit the special button. You can guess what happened next

[@exeledusprince9165]

I really wish they'd buff and bring back inkstrike. It's such a cool looking special.

[@ProChara]

I got good news for you

[@exeledusprince9165]

@@ProChara welp I just saw it, looks just as cool as before. Hope it turns out to be good.

[@SirL_56]

as a player from splatoon 1 - 3, the greatest thing i could wish for is a classic brand based on the splatoon 1 designs and specials with the green and red colour scheme. id also love to see og killer wail, inkzooka and other og ults back for this brand

[@gxalcremieshiny4229]

pro tip for splashdown: you can make it 100% safe to use, when you use it while superjumping. You land insanely fast, making it near impossible for someone to react to it And you counter superjump-campers

[@theultimateinksack5825]

How are you so good at explaining things.

[@Nick-dq5zn]

In rank X as a Clapples player, as much as I may get killed by splashdown, I also get kills with it. Something like tenta missles I hardly get kills or killed by it, so it's a minor annoyance.

[@Nick-dq5zn]

right?!

[@KazShiro]

( hydra splatling user here who stuck with splashdown to the end of splatoon 2 up to rank x) splashdown even though not a good panic button nor good for offense, it seems to shine best as an ambush or a way to pick off players that are scattering amidst the chaos created from your team or as a last resort if they're trying to gain up on you. Also it can also work as a scare tactic if used right to force other people away from objectives like tower control to make it so they either get off the objective or die trying. As for splatzones it can serve its purpose for filling up the zones even if it misses. The big problem for people that get easily punished is that they use it most like you said a panic button or using it in wide open areas instead of closed spaces where the team can't move well or is trapped. Last but not least only way I can see it working offensively is the niche of killing people that are using specials that take longer than usual.

[@idelac4065]

One of my biggest gripes with the Splashdown is, yes, that you're not invincible when you're using it. I've gotten killed more times than I would've liked when trying to use it. If Nintendo just gave it that one quirk, it would've made it actually viable.

[@ProChara]

Well they have to keep it being killable, or it just becomes a free panic button but the issue is more its way too easy to kill

[@merch_andise]

i feel like there are so many specials in this game that have had a hand on the ball of being "the worst special in the game" over the course of splatoon 2's lifespan. Stingray was like that during launch, splashdown currently owns that title, i think ink armor also was briefly considered to be the worst a little bit after launch as well? (probably due to armor spam not being possible), the baller definitely had instances in the meta where it was super easy to break and counter, and tentamissles have sort of always been more or less pointless. Not saying we should go back to splatoon 1 where almost every special is just completely busted, but i do hope that splatoon 3's specials actually pack *some* amount of punch compared to splatoon 2's specials.

[@ProChara]

I think most of splat 2s specials are good just the bad one hit really hard. Its still an overall huge step up in quality from splat 1

[@crazycanyon3028]

The tower in samon run used stingray so will it get replaced I don’t think Nintendo will do that but it’s a possibility

[@ESCStroopwafel]

I find it interesting how so many people think the Stingray was OP. Keeping one's aim at an opponent is so hilariously slow, to a point where it's way too easy for you to get out of the Stingray's line of fire, having them waste several seconds of the special's duration to re-aim at you, if they even actually do it at all, instead of just randomly firing elsewhere. I see this ALL THE TIME when people use Stingrays. Then it takes a long time for it to actually kill. If you have any sort of escape route or way to go up or down a wall or slope, it's super easy to just survive the special and it'll be like nothing happened. It's a wasted special, and I don't get why it's considered among the best of the special weapons the game had. I'm far from a good Splatoon 2 player (Still roughly S on all modes), but I have literally only died to Stingrays when I was already damaged to 95% by other weapons, and literally anything else could've taken me down at those moments. I'd go so far as to say it was the worst Splatoon 2 had.

[@mr.fuggetaboutit7633]

I just dont understand how booyah bomb has MORE ARMOR than Splashdown in splatoon 2, it makes no sense since its practically a ranged, larger radius splashdown, it was better in every way

[@ashy3604]

When i first got at x rank, i found myself getting splashdown canceled multiple times a match, it took me years to realize that it was just that easy to punish on higher play

[@loading...948]

Say what you will about stingassray but tenta missiles are just so annoying to deal with. Sometimes they do nothing and other times they disrupt anything you're tryna do

[@natologic]

I'm a quad X competitive vanilla splat roller main and you absolutely nailed it on Splashdown. Incredibly easy to cancel in X, too weak to survive, very easy to punish. It's an ink tank refill and maybe an opportunistic super jump option. That's it. Nintendo won't do anything :/ I activate it when I'm about to die to get the reduced charge hit.

[@Deyellowboy08]

Reef slider is the splatoon three version of splashdown 3:03

[@Cicadacakes]

I think this is the third time I've watched this. Still good. never gets old. Also, I just had an interesting idea about how Splashdown can be saved. Give it armour, but when the armor breaks, the inkling flies a pretty far distance and they lose their special meter.

[@Vulcanfaux]

Ican think of one way to make splash down better, but it would be more of a splash dash. Have it let you do it in a direction. With the direction you jump being the way you are moving, meaning you have to purposely stand still Togo strait up and down. With a short hop version that sends you farther horizontally if you do it while in squid form. Would be like splatoon ones kraken jump but with the splash down effect instead. Hard to say if it would have been good without actually playing with it though.

[@StoryTeller796]

Chara: Splashdown is useless and terrible Me, a regular Undercover Brella main: hey! Look at the ground! The opponent(s):come here! Me: *Circles around the opponent through walls or the little uninkable thing while placing ink mines and shooting my main weapon to ink the ground, then presses splashdown* hehe, fools! The regular Undercover Brella has two weapons of it's kit where you usually have to shoot at the ground, for the Brella you have to focus on breaking the shield and catching the person behind it, and for the ink mines you have to detonate them in order to not get marked and get a bit of damage. Because no one like being damaged and tracked, and everyone wants to hit the shield and finish the brella user off, they will usually go for the ground, not realizing that that was all part of the master plan. See, this is the strategy magicians, pickpocketers, and Sun Tzu memers use, they first direct your attention on where they want you to focus, then strike You can even coordinate with your teammates to increase the effectiveness of this strategy.

[@Kiri68419]

Because I played since Launch, I never fully ingrained the idea that Stingray was good. I knew it as an awful chip-damage beam you could dance around since that's how it started out, and I barely noticed it got buffed. I only thought it got an animation upgrade.

[@-Tanooki-]

Tenta missiles ( although pretty much never get a kill ) are probably the best special in my opinion. Its great for pretty much all modes as it turfs, locates, makes people scatter or come out from hiding and of course it can kill ( sometimes ). And using the special is usually done in a safe area making it generally a super safe special to use

[@ProChara]

Its one of the best, Its arguable for second only behind ink armor (in terms of strength not game design I mean) Missiles are also one of the best special designed specials the best simple special, they are very cool glad their in Sp3

[@TheLaXandro]

The problem with Splashdown isn't that it's easy to deny, it's that it lacks prescense. Every other special can help you or your teammates push in, but SD by design only functions when either you or your teammate is already overextending.

[@koopakid3102]

I would’ve liked to see splashdown be harder to get, but in turn harder to punish in the air. I’m not gonna act like I’ve been able to punish a lot of splashdowns but it’s just gotten to the point that splashdowns are so easy to get for certain weapons so they’re a safe panic button and it can get annoying. By giving it a bigger cost for the sake of giving them better armor in the air, I think it would make it have a strategic use

[@harvetwound1234]

Splashdown should've been way faster than it is.

[@kingdedede7335]

if i were to fix splashdown, i would make it so you are vulnerable only when you are ascending in the air. When you reach max height, you are invincible

[@aurafox1]

Is using a Splash Down out of a super jump not a competitively viable strat? That's pretty much the only thing I ever use it for, to get a drop on an enemy who thinks they have me pinned down.

[@Prismark]

One thing that could at least counter the problem with rainmaker and tower control is to not decreas your momentum/speed like when standing in enemy ink. It would be at least feel deserved to get KOed when the enemy had to keep aiming at me instead of capturing me.

[@basil4825]

As a squeezer player. Yes I do stack too much spu to bully people

[@nabbitgohome9672]

0:46 - 4:54 I think it’s because the bomber move (Basically when someone is dead superjump to them [if have splash down] And once to the place splash down (if there people there [in this case yes] splash down on to them to trap them. (But then again probably not)

[@נועםיהודה-י2צ]

i say a way to make splash down better is to make so that you are able to target the place you want to trigger the explosion so instead of you pressing the special button and you jumping and just slamming the ground below you, you can choose the place you want to slam in a limited radius around you

[@ProChara]

Yeah I like that idea, the big problem with it is using the special to get out of bounds, but there could be a work around

[@kentdelacalzada6407]

The stingray is good but you need to be good at using it :((

[@edmundlewandowski4189]

If I made strings rays description it would be: Allows the user to kill at least one member of the opposing team of your choice

[@melonpalooza]

I almost exclusively use splashdown to revenge kill for my teammates. I jump to them and ult last second to get those that are trying to spawn kill me. But again, I think I'm pretty low level so that might explain why it always works.

[@13vex]

Maybe the stingray could’ve been reworked so that you had limited visibility. Having the rainmaker and tower becoming invisible to the user could help the tower stalling or the ability to just kill the rainmaker no matter what. Maybe getting rid of the thermal ink effect would help too. Hampering the abilities of the user would help, since that’s the main issue with the weapon.