The BEST Way to Get Weapons & Badges in Splatoon 3

Upgrading your weapon freshness in Splatoon 3 can get you Sheldon Licenses for more Weapons, Stickers for your locker, and badges for your splashtag. But what's the best way to level it up? How long would it take to get stars on each weapon in the game? It's time to find out!
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[@VaskoGames]

Get your copy of Splatoon 3 here: howl.me/ciCNg0Zxrnv (Affiliate link, great way to support the channel)

[@goonerOZZ]

Hey, I just want to ask, in the turf war mode there's a meter that gives you green flag? What and how is it work?

[@sayde3000]

@@goonerOZZThat shows your weapon freshness :)

[@mayday_md6861]

Like @sade3453 said, that's for your weapon freshness. The more you play with that weapon and the more rounds you win playing it, the more your freshness increases.

[@CaptainAstronaut]

So what you're saying is... I'll have to be amazing and win every Anarchy Battle in a one minute knockout to get all the Gold Badges

[@jamespilgrim3774]

If you don't want to sink months and months of your limited life span into getting the gold badges, you could be a god gamer like Mr. Astronaut and get them all in... LESS months!

[@bazooka93]

How the hell am I supposed to win anarchy battles with the Bloblobber? It's top fun but that little potty has its limits!

[@christiancasaverdepertica1802]

​@@bazooka93 Farm it during splat zones. You can almost keep the zone on your own on a couple of stages

[@apersonwhomayormaynotexist9868]

@@bazooka93 bloblob is so easy to do well with, if you're in like s+30 and it's falling off just rank reset and you'll be fine

[@gregheffley5745]

@@christiancasaverdepertica1802 Maybe that was true in Splatoon 2 because the Bloblobber had a Suction Bomb Launcher, one of the best specials for zone control. I really don't like that they got rid of the Bomb Launchers.

[@maxtaco]

i really love how this video ended on "its cool if you dont get golden badges, just have fun!" like THATS the attitude we all should have

[@Some-guy-on-the-internet]

I really like how the freshness and license system works in this game. It's gotten me to play weapons I ordinarily would've never given a try and I've now found some new favourites as a result. The fact that I now have experience with so many weapons also allows me to fight better against those weapons by understanding the mindset of someone who uses them. There have been some bumps along the way but overall this system has made the game much more varied and fun while making me a better player in the process.

[@sonicrunn3r895]

This is exactly how I feel about it too! I've picked up TONS of weapons now, it's super fun to be encouraged to kinda try differently playstyles like this.

[@tex9419]

i just got splatoon 3 as an early christmas present and i was unsure how i would get all of the weapons in an optimal time. thanks for your guide so i can get all the stuff rly fast :)

[@charlesbee]

I have to wait for Christmas 😩

[@Lonk0063]

Imagine not getting it at launch

[@charlesbee]

@@Lonk0063 I don’t think it will kill me to wait 3 months

[@ajax9923]

@@charlesbee I probably would be dead

[@2wishuponstar]

i bought splatoon 3 for myself and some fake amiibo cards for gear, the cards came today, but the cartridge comes on tuesday, i’m so excited!

[@pixal1250]

I would like to note, you get badges for wins with certain specials, so you will unlock them too as you play

[@slurples149]

Yes! I have the the gold zipcaster badge

[@cardboardleaf7971]

@@slurples149 Nice work!! I'm trying to grind for that badge right now, still got a way to go but I reckon I'm maybe a quarter of the way there by now? Having the Bucket Deco introduced definitely helped me pick the grind back up. Funnily enough trying to grind for the Golden Zip badge also makes me one of, like, four people that still use Base Carbon over the Carbon Deco too

[@slurples149]

@@cardboardleaf7971 no yes it takes a ridiculously hard amount of times

[@slurples149]

@Cardboard Leaf I literally only use the stamper exclusively, so grinding for 1,200 wins was slightly easier but it's still grind nontheless

[@Entomofaunae]

What qualifies as a win with a specific special? Winning with a weapon that has that special? Winning with the most uses of that special in a winning game? Using the special at all in a winning game?

[@Segendo64]

I'm slowly but surely working my way to getting the 5 star badge for the Hydra Splatling. It's been a while since I got the 4 star badge for that weapon. I also got the 4 star badge for the .52 Gal, but not the 5 star one. I usually play Turf War while sometimes some Anarchy Battles but it's still taking a REALLY long time to accumulate all those points. It's taking me months! I was also considering going for all the other badges but through my current experience and your explanation, that's probably not a healthy achievement. Thanks for the video. Edit: On January 10th, 2023, I finally got the 5 star badge for the Hydra Splatling!

[@sylvie_on]

Good job !! I want a gold badge for my eliter, but I’m only about a fifth of the way through the 1mil points 🥲

[@Babbitrix]

As a completionist, the self restraint it takes to not attempt to get all 5 star weapons hurts, but no matter what im definitely getting everything to 4 stars 😭

[@alf73]

I got my splattershot to 5 stars, no more grinding ☹️ but I'm getting the Hero shot replica to 5 stars instead so I can flex both of the badges along with gold trizooka hopefully in the future, flexing might be getting you targeted by ranked opponents but don't really care because they are going for teamates less.

[@Neo-Agent3]

​​@@alf73 CONGRATS THO THAT WOULD TAKE A LOT OUT OF ME FROM GRINDING 😭 Im trying to get my Eliter to 5 stars and im about half way

[@SliminBlue]

Fun fact: As of now, Splatoon 3 hasn't even been OUT for 4500 hours. In fact, it hasn't even been out for HALF of that time. It has been 2029 hours since September 9th as of 1pm EST on December 3rd, and that's RIGHT after a brand new update with 10+ new weapons. And that's not even taking into account that you will have to play 24/7 for that long with at a BARE MINIMUM of a 50/50 win loss ratio, which is gonna be near impossible for you to keep up for so long. This is freaking insane and I sincerely hope no one forces themselves to suffer through getting the gold badge on every weapon ESPECIALLY considering we might only have HALF of all weapons that will be in the game by the time updates are finished.

[@EppySPL]

brb going to play Splatoon 3 for the next 4500hrs

[@VaskoGames]

o7 good luck chief

[@redDawnyy]

1:25 hey, that's my friend Rider :) I helped him get the 5 star Dynamo and gold Tacticooler badge. I have the 5 star Hydra, 5 star Heavy and 4 star Zink Mini badges, the first two taking a little over two weeks each of using them nonstop (playing turf) to obtain. The 5 star grind isn't worth it unless you REALLY want to show how much you enjoy a weapon. They do look cool on your splashtag at least!

[@MM126.90]

How many hours did you play splatoon to get a gold badge in 2 weeks?

[@redDawnyy]

@@MM126.90 If by gold badges you mean the 5 star weapon badges, I had gotten 5 star hydra after about 110-120 hours of playtime

[@MM126.90]

@@redDawnyy sorry, I should have been more specific. How many hours per day did you play to get a five star weapon badge in 2 weeks?

[@redDawnyy]

@@MM126.90 I wouldn’t be able to recall, never kept track of the specifics lol. Our play sessions are usually 3-6 hours, and I know on a handful of days we had played for about 10

[@MM126.90]

@@redDawnyy Dang, that is some next level commitment

[@JakoBpyroTech]

Unfortunately, Weapon badges do not qualify one to gain a title "Champion" by facing the top 5 elite players or acquire higher level fighting equipment more easily. Good Science has been committed here, good Job, Vasko 👍

[@Opare51]

*claps*

[@Raptorr15_5]

Tip for fellow completionists out there, playing anarchy games also goes towards getting you the badges for those modes so by playing anarchy to level up weapon freshness you effectively get stuff towards, Special weapon badges, normal weapon badges, and anarchy battle badges.

[@squirtleislife1312]

Turf also has a badge, it's only one and the mode is always available though, not to mention you're forced to play it during splatfests for a whole weekend (unless you're a psychopath that only plays tricolor the second half and nothing else). So don't neglect turf, but it's definitely lower priority

[@stinkyboy]

@@squirtleislife1312 Huh, does winning in tricolor turf war not count as winning in turf war? So it doesn't count if you're trying to get the golden judd badge? T_T

[@squirtleislife1312]

@@stinkyboy no, it goes to the tricolor attacking or defending tram badges afaik

[@stinkyboy]

@@squirtleislife1312 Well that sucks..

[@jana9662]

Thank you so much for this guide! So helpful like no other

[@summersquid-]

*puts on repeat while raising weapon freshness :)*

[@williamdenning7027]

The editing of this is awesome. So much effort in this video with tons of research. Keep up the good work🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

[@evocircuit]

i was already determined to at least ATTEMPT to get every 5 star weapon badge and this just makes me even more motivated >:)

[@JokiBlue]

Thanks for putting this informative video together! Saves me from needing to spend hours researching. ❤ Personally I'd just get 5 star for my favourite (Bloblobber my beloved 😳), 4 stars for my mains and 2 stars for the rest. Past that and the hours are way too daunting for me.

[@jamespilgrim3774]

That 5 star blob brings shame to your entire bloodline

[@TrueYellowDart]

Super-helpful, thank you. I’ve been cruising along getting single stars for the licenses but was curious about further rewards/benefits. Thankfully WoW burned me out on completionism and grinding so no worries about obsessively getting all badges/stickers.

[@niquedixon2876]

Thanks for the stats!

[@Fiveways87]

This video came up in my feed when I was thinking about this exact topic. Thank you for the great video!

[@Magic_Mango]

I don't think I'm going for every gold badge anymore...

[@anotherxd5384]

i watched u all the time back in the day, glad to see ur channel flourishing so much now

[@undefinederror40404]

Haha indeed, these were some questions that I didn't know I had. I neglected the freshness ratings.. thank you for helping out so many people with this!

[@Dewioak]

Thank you so much! As a new Splatoon player, this helped me a lot. Although I have been playing it since it came out, I only played splatoon 2 for 4 hours. I've definitely played with the Sploosh-O-Matic for 150ish hours, but I have not gotten the gold badge yet. Working towards it though!

[@therianazz]

Thank you so much for this information! I am trying to get the luna blaster badge as it is my favourite weapon! 💕

[@S-Magma1215]

Before this vid i wanted 3 gold badges now im reconsidering

[@PRT95]

Thanks for putting together a video. Looks like I'll be spending an afternoon just to get more base Sheldon weapons. Also can get more Sheldon licenses via level-up, even beyond 30.

[@aSquidMin]

I hope to see more vasko in the next video too

[@Clone1625]

Ive been in a slump disliking all the weapons ive unlockrd suddenly, this info about licenses helped me! Id love to get the bamboozler to 5 stars, but I'm nowhere near as good at any weapon especislly bamboo as I remember being in splatoon 1

[@hugogerardobasurtorocha2524]

I looking for this 1 week ago nice bro

[@rameysue]

thanks, you helped me with my Splatoon 3 freshness raised problem PS I subscribed because of this video :)

[@dairyblitz]

planning to get all the normal stickers, thanks for the stats!

[@smolenbyy]

Thank you so much for this 🙌🏾 I’m on 4 stars with my dualie squelchers and I want to get the fifth star so badly lol

[@B3auPl4yz]

Congrats on 100K Vasko!

[@richardgossman7737]

Nice! I’m aiming for 3 mains, and I’m gonna try to max them all. It’s gonna be hard, but fun.

[@CC-sb7hv]

I really appreciate this video

[@Goggy.96]

sidenote for the special badges (if anyone is curious) you only get a 'win' towards that special if you A) use the special at least once and B) aren't in a PB even though both of these count towards the wins on the app they don't count in game I would say that a better estimate is around 1,500 - 1,600 wins (for me anyway this can vary from person to person)

[@MereCoolDude]

In splat 2 I picked up the octobrush and it’s now my main and this video is very useful for getting that octobrush gold badge

[@andrew_games413]

I got my Range Blaster to 4 stars about a month ago. I don't know if it's worth shooting for 5... 😂 Thanks for the tips Vasko games! Helpful as always! 👍🏻

[@that_guy.70610]

1,160,000 is the goal 2,500 for ranked 1,400 for turf in turn it would take you 828 wins to get the badge, (not counting the 4 Stars) and for ranked it would take you 464 wins, ranked is way less time not to mention the fact that turf is so unpredictable that a coin toss would feel fairer

[@kylebayliff9360]

Nice breakdown. I started collecting the holo-stickers (I have about 7 or 8 so far), and was going to start working for badges after I got all of them. I think that's probably more time than I want to commit especially since I enjoy salmon run more than turf war. On that note, if you want to do some more number crunching, you could figure out how long it would realistically take to get some of the top salmon run rewards. The gold salmon run banner, for example, costs 333 gold scales! I think that's pretty ridiculous since the rate of king salmonids giving out gold scales is ridiculously low (3% on max hazard level, I think?).

[@CR34T0R_]

I've gotten 5★ Squiffer and 5★ Tri-Stringer However I got that 5★ Tri-Stringer just as the better Tri-Stringer came out, so I now half way to 5★ with that

[@KIKI_1228]

This was very helpful. I have gotten the normal weapon badge on the sloshing machine & eliter 4k but I want to get a gold badge. And now I know how much time it will take me! 50 - 60 hrs 😳... wow that's a lot

[@cameron9484]

I'm about halfway to the gold badge with my Hydra Splatling. I enjoy that weapon, I enjoy jumping between support and assault when needed.

[@quicheramene1860]

Are you heavy weapons guy?

[@agentsloth8593]

Finally a video about this

[@miguelmontoya7993]

me encantan tus videos siempre explicas muy bien

[@ivannovoafernandez5249]

Thanks for saved my live.❤❤❤❤

[@Itsjfell]

So true that I didn’t know that I wanted to know these things lol

[@bluehawkins6691]

As a tenta brella main, i will be getting 5 star tenta brella really soon! Really looking to join a competitive team at some point down the line as a tenta player!

[@JoeVev]

normally as someone who enjoys completing games fully this would be a nightmare, but this time I’ve decided to spare myself by only leveling up my favorite weapons

[@kidnamedfingermike9678]

Maybe when crusty sean is done travelling he could come back along with sideorder giving out food to boost your weapon freshness/catalogue lvl?

[@zezmogg934]

Of course, this comes out RIGHT after I get my fifth star on aerospray!

[@Splatoonspyro]

It worked I own every weapon of the game and an extra 16 Sheldon license for when the last season starts!

[@dontknoww8939]

It took me about 2 whole months, playing only splat roller, with around 20 battles a night (2ish hours every night) to get the 5* badge for it. And I do mean only splat roller, I didn’t ever play any other weapon during that time. It’s such a massive time sink that I probably won’t ever do it for any other weapon, but roller is my most favorite weapon forever and always so being able to flex having a gold splat roller badge on my splashtag does feel very nice

[@Joka.-]

I only have 5stars on 3 weapons, Splattershot Pro, Splattershot Forge, and Hero Shot Replica. ALL displayed on my Gold Banner‼️

[@undefinederror40404]

If you're a completionist [...] , _I sure hope you reconsider._ XD the time sink is insane!

[@PeptoAt3AM]

7:29 I’m pretty sure this guy is dressed up like the character rider from the splatoon manga - the fit, name, and dynamo makes me think so

[@kerifabrizi3672]

just need the sploosh and splash o matic badges to feel fulfilled

[@matt2027]

My plan is to go for the holo sticker on everything, but I’m taking it slow and methodically. I only play my mains in Anarchy, and I split my time between Anarchy and Turf, using Turf to rank up weapons and gear. The plan is to complete one star in everything, then 2 in everything, then 3. I have a similar plan for gear, ranking everything up to 3 subs and stopping there, except for my main loadouts, which I’m ranking all the way up to 5 for increased chunks. Once the majority of gear is at 3 subs and cash flow stops being as much of an issue (and I have a good solid baseline of chunks) I’ll start making my meme gear like I did in Splatoon 2 (i.e. snorkel, life vest, and swim flippers all swim pures)

[@Andrew-bz4yo]

this is basically exactly what I do. I'm trying to get the Holo sticker for many weapons and generally try to get them to 2 stars before I take them to anarchy so I'm a bit more comfortable with them. often by then the weapons are one of my new mains anyway as I probably enjoy playing them. I also only rank up gear in turf

[@potatogamerrrrr]

For me it’s probably gonna be the tri stringers and brushes, my two favorite weapon classes

[@navyshark2286]

I was halfway to gold on my stamper but i took a break and stopped playing it but im getting my undercover brela to 4 stars now so thats cool

[@christiancasaverdepertica1802]

I got 4 stars on the undercover brella because it was my one true love in 2. I'm gonna stick with it and get the gold badge, but it's a rough grind for sure

[@kiru___]

i did sumn similar but instead of going to 0 to 5 i wanted to know how long to go to get a license for every weapon, and currently around 30 hours and a half to get all of them, but my math may be off

[@Dipped1234]

Working on that gold inkbrush, day by day.

[@WarmLillie]

The research match up with my personal results. My fresheness ticket formula: Play Turf, get 1 star = 1 Sheldon tickets. Use the blaster and slosher to speed up for easy victory. Don’t repeat my mistake. Take your time with hard weapons for me (snipers) and into anarchy. It will ruin your rank progression… I have 63 weapon and only used my golden ticket once to get my early katana. I still have 2 but saving them. I got a 4 star katana, yes I am a katana main. I’m currently 424525 / 1160000 Can I be the honorary Katana Champion? If you doubt me well… I can show you my arsenal, skills, and evidence.

[@hnglbanana]

i don't know if holding onto your gold licenses is worth it. the main benefit of them is that you get to unlock a weapon for 1 gold license regardless of your level (instead of paying 3 normal licenses for a weapon your not a high enough level to buy yet), but i don't think any weapons *ever* are going to require you to be higher than level 30 to buy (maybe 40 or 50 but only by the end of the game's content updates in 2ish years from now). if you've been playing regularly since launch, you're probably already close to level 30 if not beyond it, and would be way beyond by the time any hypothetical future weapons that exceed the 30 level cap are released, so the gold licenses are functionally identical to normal ones. unless you want to keep the gold licenses just to say you have them i guess...

[@quicheramene1860]

I've currently only managed to get my Classic Squiffer & N-ZAP '89 to 5 stars and it was easy to say than done

[@mariofanl1ve]

Welp, I've bought almost all my weapons through licenses from leveling up and im like level 30 something so... Time to start grinding. Or it will be after the big run. I don't wanna miss out on that.

[@IceyWolftb]

I have most of the weapons unlocked except for two weapons from the new season.

[@CHERRYTABBY]

Any golden splatana badge would be cool! ...and the explosher

[@connormcnulty6377]

I'm going to get my favorite weapon up to 5 stars, hopefully any weapon variants it gets, because it needs them, and then work on the rest of the weapons, because I play a bunch of random weapons. I already have 4 star freshness on the Undercover Brella.

[@goldenkuchen3266]

Thanks for this, wanted to know if there was any faster way or mode to get my Hero shot to 5 starts 😅 I'm getting closer though roughly 400,000 points until 5 stars!

[@StargachaYT443]

Me who told myself i cant stop playing chargers until i get them all to gold badge: 💀 No going back now 😔

[@finntherabbot]

currently working on getting all the freshness 3 stickers (i finished the freshness 2 on all weapons already)

[@rat-of-pain]

I tend to get really into a weapon for months at a time so I have 5 weapons at 4 stars (clash neo, luna neo, n-zap 89, painbrush, painbrush nouveau with tri-slosher nouveau soon to join them) and basically no stars in any other weapon lol

[@Dethneko]

Reef-Lux will likely be my first gold badge as it's my main cash-farming weapon. Otherwise, I'm going weapon by weapon for the holo-sticker. After that, probably weapons I like more in a rotation to the 4* badge, then to the 5* badge as time goes on (if at all). Though, to be fair, if they ever "fix" salmon run to be farmable for cash (which, going by Splat2 numbers I estimate would be less optimal than turf war), as that's my primary game mode I'll probably never get all the stickers, and will always at least use a weapon long enough to get the license from as it should take that long to properly learn a weapon or otherwise verify you aren't going to like it.

[@AccursedCrow]

I'm probably going to at least try and get gold badges for Hydra, Nautilus, and Ballpoint since I'm a splatling main, but there are others I want too, so who knows.

[@TATERLIVIE66669]

I would wanna get the Golden AreoSpray, Hero Shot Replica, and possibly the Splatanna and Z+F Scope to 5 stars

[@TheWeaklyPaper]

I intend to get 5 star for maybe like 3 weapons, 4 stars would be fine for anything else I use that consistantly. Tri-Stringer, Splatbrella(if they ever fix brellas in general), a third weapon... either going to be basic Slosher or something else if another weapon sticks out to me. I kinda want to be able to fill an entire splash card with golden splat stickers, and that should be it for me.

[@seapop311]

Let’s say you’re like me and don’t have much going on in day to day life and are free all weekend during the Splatfest. Play one weapon the entire time. Get that freshness up. I picked up splash o matic during the chocolate Splatfest and got it to 4 star by the end. Splatfests are a solid time to grind freshness.

[@aggron1202]

The perfect guide for Porsche:

[@TheRealBlazingDiamond]

You bet your ass im at least getting the gold badge for the Dualie Squelchers. After that, I'll consider the rest of the dualies, but the Squelchers are my favorite so far... after having played with the stock dualiea beforehand only lol

[@Your_average_kirby_fan]

Thx I’m not trying to get weapon badges or stickers I just want the Sheldon liscences because I still need to buy A LOT more weapons and now I know it’s better to do it in anarchy

[@humanratteler9760]

I like it as is tbh. It’s a system that isn’t built for completion, but favors the badges being actual symbols of maining a weapon

[@lambsauce149]

Tetra dualies would probably be my gold badge bc it was the only one with a kit I kinda liked when I picked up the game

[@OctozenX]

For anyone interested, as of fresh season 2023 there are 80 separate weapons, meaning that the estimated 64 is a little off since the exact number was 68. My calculations are not including grizzco weapons

[@myguymonolo101]

If you spend too many Sheldon points do some weapons just become unobtainable. For example, I have bought 2 different weapons for 3 Sheldon points. Did I just loose access to like, 4 weapons?

[@OctoAri]

I'm only getting the 5* badges for the weapons I consider to be my mains (both Dapple Dualie kits & both Splattershot Jr kits). I'm already at 5* for the regular Dapples and I unlocked 4* in the Dapple Nouveau & regular Jr. For all others - I'm only getting 1* for that sheldon license lol

[@VeryNormalHandel]

Either splat dualies or splattershot jr. Maybe even splattershot.

[@christopherm2628]

As of may 2024, I currently have one weapon that’s a 5*. Currently going for the 52 deco. For other weapons I use, I’m only going for 4*

[@isiskline469]

This is good because im getting splatoon 3 on amazon

[@NinjaV_Editz]

**People going for all gold badges** Vasko: *“welcome to hell”*

[@Opare51]

I personally for some reason, find my self using the Splatana swiper

[@Purplesamurai54]

Do you know about special titles and how to get them? Would love to see a video on them.

[@prestonandtom9337]

Get lucky in the shellout machine

[@ericrosario2278]

I have two weapon badges and 10 including the two weapon holographic stickers

[@zacjdavis]

Does anyone know if Vasko has delisted some old videos? I am looking for a Splatoon 2 video from ~4 years ago where he did a challenge where he could only move around the map using super jump.

[@VaskoGames]

I did unlist it, but here is a link to the video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/jauZo3eQaqdpe5I

[@dontatmeimmoody2895]

You underestimate completionists…. 😨

[@jessicawilliams3335]

4500 hours, i guess ill be here for a while, when i saw the freshness levels i know i wanted to 5 star all of them, well good luck to me 😵

[@nathanblackburn1193]

I've got 2 weapons at 4 stars those being the Tri-Stringer and the Tenta Brella and I'm currently just over half way to 5 stars on Tri-Stringer, I've been playing since day one so yeah it takes a while

[@cetrix1402]

Going for the Elite 4k Scope Gold Badge rn am at 3 Stars currently...I hated the weapon at the start and now I've become quite skilled at it tho its still a pain to play it on some maps