Why You Should Want These Weapons To STAY META

[@ProChara]

There was some stuff I did not get to put into the video since its already quite long but for some extra notes/clarification... 1. This does not mean these weapons can't get any nerfs, toning them back in ways that keep them in their current spot is fine, mainly I would do this by slightly lowering their special outputs (210 bp/splash) or other very small nerfs. Nothing about their kits are unhealthy so just minimizing this would best in my opinion. 2. Splash was not like this until the most recent patch. While it always had potential the Crab nerfs in 3.1 are what made it have more healthy interactions. For example forcing it to ball form would not be a big deal with the decreased lag, same for breaking it. That patch is what made the counterplay to Crab really work. 3. Can other weapons fit with this pair? Yes, I mentioned 89 briefly but it fits a lot of the same qualities as splash with the main gun, just faster with less jumping. Autobomb doesn't spam too much paint and more is made to help fights and Chump is the only other special right now with potential to do as much as Jet/Crab without breaking things or being unfun to fight. I could potentially see future Shooters, Dualies, Splatanas, Splatlings, and maybe other weapons fit this kind of meta weapon style depending on kits and future balance changes. 4. I do think nerfing either of these 2 weapons right now would decrease overall weapon diversity, and most likely be replaced by something far less healthy to fight, such as Missiles. 5. The game still does need a lot of balance changes to mains, subs, and specials, these things should just be buff orientated, and can be around fitting in these many use cases working with or against these weapons. Things are not perfect but this video is more to say we should balance around these weapons, not replace them.

[@PA1NBRU5H]

Unrelated but I like dapples nouveau. That’s it

[@smit_sumitzu]

i say this a lot but i'm really disappointed you can't really use crab like a baller anymore. easily would've taken like, decreased damage on the first explo shot after changing forms instead of overall lag because twenty frames is HUGE tbh. but if it makes the game healthier in the longterm then i can accept it a lot of crab discussion gets drowned out by [>*pops object shredder zooka and uses one (1) of my three shots to ruin this vpro's past twenty seconds of work* >uggghhg where's my counterplay this isn't enough] but i guess that's just the nature of shoot game discourse lol

[@kingfuzzyhead1953]

Chara, the way you talk about inkjet, do you think rapid deco could work well in comp? such as mid-line support and can be agro when it gets its specail? (kinda like 96). Also, love the vid, I wanted inkjet to be meta from the start, I'm so happy now. (mains: ballpoint, goo tuber)

[@ProChara]

@@kingfuzzyhead1953 yeah u jus have to build a comp around it since its a blaster but its fine rn

[@LostSnowdrift]

Do you still think Crab should have additional nerfs (e.g. its painting range)?

[@sorenmathieson]

5:38 This aged well

[@Sylilkal]

Its so cool to see inkjet go from a mediocre special to a top tier

[@TheLaXandro]

More like from balanced niche special to same bullshit as the top-tier specials that require nerfs. One of which even started recieving them already.

[@Sylilkal]

@@TheLaXandro @TheLaXandro it's very balanced lol, it's very easy to kill and it's super slow, has slow fire rate and slow shot speed. Just because it's good does NOT mean that it's overpowed or needs nerfs, it should stay at where it is currently. And no it wasn't a balanced special before, it would almost always do 30 damage and be impossible to get kills with, and it was so easy to die with using it So please do not comment or respond if you do not know what you are talking about, and thank you🙏

[@TheLaXandro]

@@Sylilkal if you are good with it, it oneshots. And if you are good with it, the only things that can shoot you down are chargers and Rapids- not splatlings, a good Inkjet does not let those exist. That's all it needs to be a good special. It doesn't need to be a "press button, get 2 near-guranteed splats" machine, it was perfectly fine as a special that needed right time, right place and right skills to be used and strong but not overwhelmingly so results when those were fulfilled. A high-skill, moderate to high reward special. And before you say "but Inkzooka/Tri-Strike/whatever is high-reward", no special deserves to be as high reward as 3's top specials do right now. They are arguably the strongest they've ever been, even considering the bullshit of old Bubbler, Bubble Blower with bombs and super-spammable Missiles. Splatoon needs weaker, more limited and easier to cancel or work around specials overall, and to their credit most of the specials in 3 do fit those criteria. They just need to finish the job, and undo the mistake they did with Inkjet as a part of that job.

[@Sylilkal]

@@TheLaXandro What rank are you??? idk how you can say the only things that can shoot down inkjet is backlines. Many weapons are capable of taking down inkjet, especially with its bigger hit box and slow movement speed. It's very easy to punish by most weapons, and unless you are playing dapples or sploosh there shouldn't be an issue. I can only assume that you simply struggle to hit jet. On another note; inkjet is one of the most interactive specials in the game??? It's ridiculous that you say it's a "press button and get 2 guaranteed splats machine", it requires a lot of good positioning, aim, and timing to even be effective. Another thing is, getting 1 shots with the slow projectile speed requires you to predict the other players movement, which a simple squid roll or sub strafe can counter. If you know how to properly handle a jet none of these things should be an issue. I am not insulting your level of skill, but I suggest trying to learn how to properly deal with jet Also inkstrike and trizooka aren't that high reward, especially trizooka as it's really dependent on a lot of factors to be effective

[@SVD63Ninja]

@@TheLaXandro i'm sorry,but i highly disagree with this. I was an octoshot main in splatoon 2 and let me tell you IT WAS ABSOLUTE AGONY AND I'M GLAD IT WAS MADE BETTER! Back in splatoon 2 the weapon felt so shit to use sometimes cause you can't kill effectively,can't dodge effectively,can't do anything effectively and getting shot out of the sky was THE MOST common thing to happen. If not that then have fun jumping back to your point with a random flanker camping your jump! It was bad and even if it had good moments it needed the buffs it got to actually be fun and viable. As for it's killability,it's STILL killable by weapons not even listed by you. Splatlings can still kill it by corner peeking,chargers can kill it VERY easily cause you're slow in the air,have a bigger hitbox as chara said,and your boost doesn't take you high enough to juke the charger. Blasters can kill cause of their blast and OHKo potential. Shooters MURDER sometimes due to their high speed,fast killtime,and fast firerate with good range except for a few. Splatanas also kill with fast and well placed horizontal cuts. List goes on. The only weapons that really struggle are just closer ranged weapons like roller (except dynamo),brushes,jr,etc. But even then they have solid specials or have the ability to just... Pick their fights. Cause while the jet's busy sniping the charger the roller can flank and pick off your own charger or teammates.

[@Duckmadeofrubber]

He said “pencil can fight it too if they make it good” then the made pencil good 😂

[@SALTYTOAD00]

Ballpoint being a meta weapon opens up a lot of potential for Inkjet to be good again.

[@toxic9729]

Inkjet is already good and has been since the patch, people are just now catching up to it since japan was the first to figure it out

[@TorayNix]

Fr this was my favorite special back is S2 🙏😭

[@DamTay_13]

Its like the opposite actually

[@theguy6852]

It’s more like Inkjet being good is making ballpoint good, because ballpoint wasn’t being picked that much before the inkjet buff

[@DamTay_13]

@@theguy6852 yh what i said

[@dark-death6982]

I would personally love to see something like the rock paper scissors meta in splatoon 3 like the one in splatoon 2, because a meta diverse game makes the game more healthy and easier to play

[@z-r-e7056]

RPS metas are super limiting though and kinda uncomfortable to try and play in if you don’t enjoy/play one of the weapons involved

[@ProChara]

That can help for diversity and I could see it getting there, but to be honest I think this is more important. I know this is refrencing 3.2 meta and as good as it was, stuff like Ray and Armor still made it feel much worse then this one among other issues. To me the things at the top being designed well is more important and options should be added from there. Smaller weapon triangles or counters can always come from there even if its not the staple. I think we have a much better groundwork now and if other weapons and a few specials like Chump are made good we could see smaller weapon triangles or counters without it being overcentralizing.

[@DHVF28]

I think the RPS meta gets too much credit. It has its fair share of problems, what we have now is better.

[@dark-death6982]

@@ProChara Yeah I agree, right now the balance and meta of the game is looking really healthy right now and as long as they keep the balances as consistent as they have, the game will hopefully not have a meta centralized over only 1 weapon and strategy

[@dark-death6982]

@@z-r-e7056 I agree, I can see the limiting part in that meta

[@Ouch.3]

I don't remember who said it but someone pointed out how the big problem with the game was that every special had one or two weapons that represented it best and that made the comps be more repetitive; booyah has machine, stamp-wiper, crab-splash, missile -flingza and inkjet-bp etc.

[@lightlemur5567]

5:39 It’s so funny seeing how this has aged 😂😂😂

[@oquinnisI]

5:39 Looks around in 2024 nervously-

[@lewyn4k]

I just wanted to say how amazing these recent meta-centric videos have been lately. The topics are really worth bringing up and they're so well presented. Chara the Splat content king fr

[@daisychannel2002]

I believe in analytical splatoon content supremacy

[@EclipseKirby]

Kinda reminds me of Gen 2 Snorlax. Snorlax was considered the best Pokémon in that gen, including the likes of Mewtwo, Lugia and the like. Its used on pretty much every competent team. Despite that, it is surprisingly not banned to Ubers because of its versatility and its presence just having a positive presence on the meta as its presence keeps certain playstyles from getting out of hand

[@aSh-pi1in]

Same thing goes for Landorus-Therian and Incineroar due to them providing role compression, allowing you to pick other pokemon for your team

[@aSh-pi1in]

Although Snorlax is the only one that has nearly 100% usage (and the only reason its not fully 100% is that some games end before Snorlax comes out)

[@juniperrodley9843]

I've heard the same said about Fox in Melee.

[@SimoneBellomonte]

@@juniperrodley9843 Pfp (Profile picture) Sauce (Source [Artist])? 🗿

[@papershadow]

@@aSh-pi1in It's actually an interesting phenomena you see in Competitive Singles for Pokemon: When something is Meta in a bad way (Broken or otherwise overly centralizing rather than a role compressor like GSC Snorlax), it actually isn't frequently the most used thing, since people will run their otherwise-mediocre counterplay options and a lot of teams in turn exploit that in a RPS fashion. A recent example is Dracovish in the Gen 8 Meta. Before it was banned, Dracovish with Rain walked all over a lot of Balance and Defensively oriented builds while still putting in work against offense. Despite this Dracovish usually hovered around 15-20% Usage stats (which in terms of how they count it means they will show up on that percentage of teams at a high enough ELO to be weighed in those stats), while its best counter, Seismitoed, was usually double that at 30-35%, because a team could work against a normal or an anti-Dracovish team by not using Vish, but not using Toed usually cost you the game against Vish. I'd be curious if this is reflected in other Competitive Meta environments, though I imagine Pokemon is a rare case since the sheer roster size and lack of "same game" balance patches makes outliers a lot more common to slip in and be dealt with.

[@PotatoWizard_]

Ok he’s gone insane pulll the plug

[@abdulrahiimliadi2002]

I mean he’s not wrong

[@PotatoWizard_]

@@abdulrahiimliadi2002 me or him I’m always wrong according to a discord server

[@m4rcyonstation93]

Chara isn’t that wrong

[@SimoneBellomonte]

@@m4rcyonstation93But its better for everything to be meta. 🗿

[@m4rcyonstation93]

@@SimoneBellomonte Thats an ideal world that will literally never happen, ever, in any game, ever lol

[@Benjax_95]

0:02 Ah yes, the Club Penguin meta was so annoying back then, everyone adopting rainbow puffles just made the gameplay so repetitive! I'm glad they ended up adding more puffles as time went on though. We really needed some fresh new stuff to improve the game.

[@PickPig]

thank youuuuuuu positive takes on the meta are few and far between and this is a great summary of it, i love the current weapon diversity we have as soon as some of the weaker weapons and specials get bumped up a bit, then the meta will be in a fantastic spot

[@HahaYes540]

5:39 this moment makes me so sad

[@CalebExists101]

0:02 Since when did Club Penguin have a meta💀

[@roboscout64]

The only thing I’d want to see done to ballpoint and splash is give them slight points for special increases so there are more weapons able to compete as users for those specials. But yeah, both of them are fine right now. Crab tank and inkjet are fun specials to fight, with lots of options for both sides. And if any specials are going to be on top tiers, I’m fine with those.

[@smit_sumitzu]

tbh crab and now inkjet are the biggest things _protecting_ us from history repeating i was really worried about nsplash botting strikes with how reminiscent it was of s2's lategame, but not even that cripples high-downtime weapons like missiles did. seems like you can use so much more in comp now, and people shouldn't be afraid to push what they want since so much of the meta is capable of _supporting_ them the double chump/tent vid made my day honestly. that looked so damn fun

[@estoucansado981]

Nice to hear some positivity about the meta :) Although splash still should be 210

[@ProChara]

that and bp yes

[@iremidesamson3832]

No not ballpoint at most 200p

[@therobloxiangang3218]

splash should get nerfed to octobrush tier I want them to know how it feels

[@akshatambekar1076]

Remember when this was meta. I miss this.

[@RoseofBattle]

The little nerfs to Crab and the buffs to other specials have taken away a lot of the gripes I had months ago with the meta. It's been actually fun and worthwhile for me to go challenge Crabs to force them into ball mode and slow down, and I'm so glad we're seeing Ballpoint and Inkjet more. The versatility is fun! I hope we'll see some more niche picks to go with these weapons now.

[@SimoneBellomonte]

Pfp (Profile picture) Sauce (Source [Artist])? 🗿

[@RoseofBattle]

@@SimoneBellomonte It's a commission I had done by Jinkoika 👍

[@pechaberryjuice]

I absolutely agree! I'm a huge fan of buffing weaker options instead of nerfing strong ones. I only feel like nerfs are warranted when there's little to no counterplay to an option. Otherwise, buff the weak weapons so that they can be played more commonly!

[@babywizard9027]

Yes, nerf instead of buff. Make the low tier weapons feel better and more fun, instead of making the top tiers feel worse and less fun. If you buff more than you nerf, you slowly but surely make the weapons in the game feel better and more fun on average, but if you nerf more than you buff, you slowly but surely make the roster of weapons feel worse and less fun on average.

[@tex9419]

i want to see some more extreme weapons have a place in the meta, things that have very extreme attributes such as dynamo with its slow but powerful flicks instead of a bunch of jack-of-all-trades weapons that can do most things well like splash, machine, ballpoint is an exception because it makes so many comps work edit: splash should be 210p and bp should be 200p then i would be happy

[@PragmaticAntithesis]

Machine really isn't a jack of all trades. It has clear weaknesses in paint, special output, and solo kill time.

[@tex9419]

@@PragmaticAntithesis fair enough

[@TheLaXandro]

Stamper is that. It took people some time to figure it out but they are getting more common, which is nice.

[@Mr._Kagle]

BP was 200p before it was reduced to 190p in the Fresh Season patch. As someone who uses BP quite a bit, I wouldn't mind if that buff got reversed.

[@beamed7770]

splash should be like 230p with how good it is as painting. sloshing machine is 220p and it's painting is pretty bad.. so how is splash at 200p with a better special even remotely a fair treatment of shooter vs everything else.

[@DasMessedUp]

I did not realize the inkjet buff was enough to bring ballpoint to the top! Inkjet being strong vs crab feels like just the right kind of thing, and also the slight nerf to ball mode on crab really reined it in I guess!

[@lleoni2]

I'm so glad to see this topic have some exposure, while their is a lot of balancing needed, *cough* brella, I think I like the direction the Devs are taking with the more gradual patches, tho I would like a one or two mid season weapons

[@asianclicks3368]

Honestly i think vbrella should become like a jack of all trades except for paint, tent become the aggressive and annoying skirmisher, and undercover becoming the best weapon in the game!!!111

[@MattisticStatistic]

Ah yes, Club Penguin's meta. Cart Surfer and Puffle Roundup were the best ways to earn coins, with Cart Surfer's optimal coin farming strategy being doing 360s and backfli-

[@jcplays5831]

I don’t understand why people equate “meta” to “broken.” It doesn’t, and meta weapons shouldn’t always be nerfed just because it’s meta

[@TSERULOGOTH]

This is an amazing video. It’s great that your putting this out there because most people usually associate META with restriction, bad, anti-fun etc. It’s nice to show what an ideal of a game’s balance actually would look like.

[@lemonaid65]

As somebody that hasn’t played the game in like 2 months, I am pleasantly surprised that Ballpoint is meta!

[@leecyrus836]

I can see Emperry Splat Dualies will have a chance to be a meta weapon if it has inkjet with maybe splat bomb, if they add that weapon next season

[@seymourflux747]

just give me that and The Reef and anything else next season is just a bonus for me

[@wolfyspl]

well… splashdown 👊👊

[@Just-A-Rand0mDude522]

Poor Ballpoint. Got nerfed into the ground and it went through the earth’s crust

[@infinityheart_tm9270]

Ballpoint is one of the coolest weapons just for the simple fact that it’s two weapons stapled together.

[@Super_GreninjaXD]

5:39 Foreshadowing pencil?????????????

[@kingv-raptor840]

This video was really refreshing. It’s been a very long while since I’ve heard anyone say anything positive about a meta in any game while it’s still the current patch.

[@sethiroth1]

I had gotten the idea that Ballpoint was meta, but after this, I understand why. Ballpoint seems like a fun meta weapon, hopefully it can stay this way.

[@mono7t2]

Holy moly thanks for enlightening me in this. Im wondering why I didn’t think of the game this way earlier

[@DKZm]

This was a really good video, great work! One thing i’ve really liked about the approach to Splatoon 3 nerfs is making other things better to counter the strong weapon such as Crab Tank. I hope they keep this approach throughout the game’s life as well as directly buff some things

[@wurtknurte7283]

I feel like the main reason why people are hating on meta is because of public lobbies. People will always want to pick the "best" options, so you just see the top choices every match. I get frustrated over things like Krak-On Roller because in those public lobbies, Kraken is basically free. Other people get frustrated over Splash for the same reasons.

[@spark734_spl]

I'm actually pretty happy with where splash is at right now, since crab isn't nearly as opressive as it used to be and burst bomb spam has also been nerfed. As for ballpoint, I'm glad its meta again. It's one of the most unique weapons in the game and it's pretty fun!

[@averagefailboatenjoyer9940]

0:17 one example you can compare this to is valorant. the vandal being the best weapon in the game purely for its versatility and being able to adapt to any situation is great for all the characters in the game and requires extrermely high levels of skill

[@abra_escaped]

As a casual player, I've been saying that jet was the coolest special in Splatoon 2 and that it being on so many weapons made non competitive matches very fun. Hoping for enperry dualies in sizzle season, was one of my favorites

[@adrianoctavio]

This video is going to age like fine wine, or milk, whichever you prefer, after the sizzle season's mystery missile weapon takes over the meta.

[@cupofapricotjam]

they hated jesus because he told them the truth ...... i miss inkjet & bp being meta so bad

[@alexcrisman1954]

5:39 💀

[@arcitatious]

Famous last words

[@caper7635]

Amazing vid, this topic is really important. It’s important that the top tiers are well designed, so that it paves the way for other weapons to be buffed to more closely match that quality, allowing a diverse and fun meta. This is so much better than the meta of late splatoon 2, and the last 2 patch notes have given me hope that the devs feel this way too.

[@autismandgaming4532]

This video helped fuel my personal fantasy of Octobrush one day being top tier

[@gio_wuz_here]

The thing is, there was a point where I used splash a lot, but now it just doesn't seem fun to me since I'm more of a backline player, which I why I tried to give ballpoint a chance, but that weapon doesn't seem like my kind of thing. While it's good to have them on teams, the weapons don't seem like weapons I would use

[@technobeagle9598]

Amazingly crafted script which stays positive and aims to improve peoples opinions on weapons being meta by making them think critically about the benefits they bring. Love to see it.

[@Neon_Piano7900]

I’m so happy to see after 2 they made a meta splatling

[@Thegoat-tz8rw]

Tacticooler and super chump would be amazing if both those special can co exist in the meta also I feel once those two gets a good buff they need to be up there with crab and ball point we looking at the most diverse meta man and because they added kraken and chump last season I am actually hyped for sizzle season since we might get more diverse weapon kits.

[@daltongibson1033]

I really want to see more meta weapons; personally, I would love for at least one weapon of every weapon class to be meta in the way that Splash and Ballpoint are (If that's possible), so that no matter your favorite weapon class, you have one weapon that is consistently a solid pick. I think that could be really healthy both for the state of the game and for player enjoyment.

[@TGCPhilip]

YEYSH! That's what I've been saying! As abundant as Splash is, if a singular shooter was to be in the top tiers, it should absolutely be VSplash! Because let's be honest, there's always gonna be at least one meta shooter. Instead of nerfing the weapon and ruining its identity, opening up the spot for a more unhealthy shooter, I think making the other, weaker weapons better (and yeah ok, Crab needs more endlag) Ballpoint is just cool like, I literally don't have to bother making a point, everyone loves Ballpoint 💀

[@shrub2071]

REALLY good points throughout the video. I've personally been a hater of the splash o matic simply because of the crab, so i didn't stop to consider how healthy this meta is compared to Splat2's. Even if I'm primarily seeing double splash comps, not only does the splash itself open up much more fun playstyle like carbon, but it is just better than missiles and armor. Crab is still ridiculous, but that a while other can of worms. The fact that the current meta doesn't restrict other playstyles from seeing the light of day makes every thing much better.

[@a73cks]

kinda funny coming back and watching this with cooler meta rn and how everyone hates on pencil for doing the same points sploosh and ballpoint did

[@ProChara]

Outside of the matchup part yeah. I think thats Pencils issue though.

[@celestialspark5697]

The same concepts apply to other meta options that have seen a lot of play: Stamper, Wiper, and Tetras are all regularly seen, but are not ubiquitous, and are also some of the best weapons for expressing skill and unique playstyle. I would take Stamper being an over-the-curve weapon over a Jet Squelcher or N-Zap variant any day. (To that end, I also hope that, should they give Super Chump a needed buff, they also give teams a weapon more interesting than N-Zap to run it.)

[@ProChara]

Swords and Tetra are great for the game too yeah and have a lot of ways to express skill, but they will never be pillars of a meta like these can be. Not that they don't do great for the game they do of course.

[@X-35173]

How is Ballpoint vs Splatana? *Is the pen mightier than the sword?*

[@dotd1tdot]

For those who haven't watched Leon Massey's recent video discussing Brawl MK and Melee Fox, I believe that video is an excellent companion piece to this one as it shows why having a top tier is good. This video absolutely explains what makes these weapons "good" top tiers, ones that encourage the niche weapons and those who main them to develop their play, but I do think that Leon Massey's video very clearly explains in a more general context why that's important. Also I think the video is really good, well written and easily can easily compare brawl to spla2n and Melee to spla3n, which gives me hope as to the continued success of Splatoon.

[@joshuawan1031]

I was going to ask what this means for solo queue considering how much chara was also talking about certain team comps, but come to think of it the fact these weapons are so versatile could help make up for splat 3’s bad team making system

[@tinytim1906]

Chara, the time and effort you put into making your analyses about Splatoon as accurate, well-informed, and entertaining as possible is rivaled by hardly anyone else - this video exemplifies that. I love watching your videos, and the Splatoon community is lucky to have such a dedicated content creator!

[@NeverEverWatchThis]

Thank you for making this video. It has helped me a lot with under standing why weapons being good can sometimes help the meta.

[@therealmer9001]

This is an amazing video! It's got great editing and goes over some very relevant points. My favorite part was at 10:14 though XD.

[@S0s0yy2]

Watching this changed my view on meta weapons. I still think we need more meta options, 89 would be perfect for a good meta weapon as you said, but i also wanna see blasters and mainly brellas in the meta. If we could have atleast one meta pick for each class Id be content with that, even if it meant shooters had more meta options. I also still think crab has too much range but its fine for now

[@thetopcatgamer4946]

I get what you're saying; I agree that these top tiers are comparatively healthy for the game alongside the top tiers of Splatoon 1 and 2. All three of these games have had crutches. In this case, Splatoon 3's crutches are the mere existence of Splash and Ballpoint. Now that's not a bad reason to be meta, but I do think it's important to acknowledge the inherit problem with there even being a blatant meta in the first place, being that at a top level, weapon comps become super monotonous and boring. If you can't make a weapon comp viable without having a splash or ballpoint, then yeah, I'd say there's a problem with the balancing.

[@DosDeAsada69]

Up to this point, none of my main weapons were even close to meta/reliable, but now my favorite weapon of all time (ballpoint) is a top tier and god am I hopping for it to stay at the top for a long time

[@adrianoctavio]

Ballpoint has been some of the most fun I've had with splatoon probably ever, and I hope it stays really good for a long time! It reminds me a lot of octo shot from splatoon 2 (Although if they nerfed the 190p jet down to 200p I'd understand, I get why they did it before and why they would put it back now)

[@adrianoctavio]

lol

[@romantingle6241]

Getting kinda poetic there towards the end, Chara 😂

[@CarlosVillanueva-nv5xx]

Been playing Ballpoint since splat 2, and boy do I love the love its getting now THE PEN IS MIGHTIER THAN THE SWORD

[@xpload]

This is a really interesting perspective on the meta right now, it's awesome!

[@SomeGalNamedEve]

I could not agree more with everything said in this video, this is one of the best Metas in Splatoon history and deserves way more credit than it gets. Thank you for bringing some more attention to how good the current Splatoon Meta really is.

[@bump7718]

Reminds me of Leon Massey's vid "A Tale of Two Top Tiers". Talks about how melee fox speeds up melee's meta while brawl meta knight slows down brawls meta.

[@tori_emerald]

This video is so important!! What i think some more casual players dont understand is there will always be dominant weapons in any metagame. I think meta these casual players envision is one that is fully equalized, where every weapon and playstyle is used in equal amounts. But thats not really how any games work, no matter what there will be some options better than others, and competitive players will use those options. Whats important is exactly what this video describes, top choices that are fun, have counter play, and can enable variations in skill expression.

[@mr.lonkman4644]

As a competitive Pokémon player and a more casual splatoon fans. It’s cool to see parallels in how metas develop and how things are considered healthy. For example, like these weapons Landorus-Therian is a good example of a glue member of a team that can help the team build more freely and play around with other ideas.

[@rubberchickensfoot8912]

having versatile weapons being meta is also a sign of balanced mechanics

[@ommirean2780]

While i do agree with the video for the most part i do think there are a few problems with the specials mainly. Crab is cool but i do think the range is really kinda oppressive on the maps, and makes the act of actually getting to it to fight it near impossible against a decent player. Also the endlag which i believe can be swam in, and since splash is a lightweight, it makes the punish window way smaller than it actually should be. I also think in the case of splash itself there’s one thing i would change: ink efficiency, with a slight nerf to it, it makes it way less strong at spamming specials, and subs, to make it play in a more healthy way than before. But other than those two things i really like this video as it is a problem with how many people complain, without actually seeing why something is meta.

[@mystic5175]

(Looks at the calendar) (Its not April first)

[@Thatawesomeguy14th]

Interesting new persective. Ive always hated meta weapons but this helps me appreciate them in a new light. Many thanks!

[@VGBrothers]

This has been something I've been figuring out recently as well, not only in Splatoon, but also in other games like Destiny 2. There are ways to tangentially buff or nerf weapons, specials, perks, etc, without completely changing their overall identity or how they can be optimally used. In Spatoon's case, I think the best evidence of that was the object damage buff to Inkjet, Ultra Stamp, and Trizooka against Crab armor. It didn't directly buff how all 3 of these specials are used in most cases, but they are now on a more even playing field when Crab Tanks are in play or could be in play, and Crab already has the necessary range to deal with them in return. Makes me interested to see how they could tangentially improve ones like Super Chump or Ink Vac without having to touch something like damage or HP.

[@agentblackbird9435]

Anyone here like playing Splash-O-Matic even if its meta? It’s not my main but I still like it, it’s fun ✋🙂

[@softy5447]

From picking up ballpoint again recently inkjet definitely feels way more fun, useful, and a defenite way to shake up the enemy team when they try to hunker down while not being as overtuned as missiles I also gotta admit that crab finally feels not awful to fight against and alot more fair when it sets up in a nice spot (if anything my one remaining gripe is the aoe and normal shots having the same falloff range meaning you get one shot combod behind cover, my gripe is how it almost always happens by accident)

[@itssoclover]

i've been having so much fun with ballpoint recently. i'm definitely not at the level where the meta matters as much as it does for top players, but the versatility still feels great.

[@humangarbagebin4183]

that area cup footage gave me ptsd thanks for reminding me this was a thing

[@edsbegaming507]

I feel like a weapon counter meta game could be really fun for the game, and I feel we’re already sorta seeing it with the pain brush, as it handles weapons like dualies really well. So I think it’d be cool if more weapons had other direct counters to them you could teambuild around. For example if they were to actually fix brellas, they could be a great shooter counter. Splatlings could do more object damage and counter brellas, chargers already sorta counter splatlings, and dualies counter basically almost every form of backlien

[@taichi80]

A proper meta is one where the meta can be countered with many, many rogue options. That's balance.

[@dznutskong]

I come back to this video a lot. I think people are too quick to hate on certain things in games like this for completely arbitrary reasons. Power creep in Pokemon is a big one that comes to mind but I think touch-of-death characters in Smash or, like this video goes over, things that are meta across all games just end up seeing way too much hate for zero reason. It's not even like what is and isn't meta will effect a bunch of the Splatoon players who complain about this - it's literally just the ones who play at or frequently watch high-level tournaments. The one exception being when something that's good also happens to be really annoying for reasons outside of it being meta like Tenta Missiles was lmao

[@ultimate_yippee]

Yesterday I was in a battle and the other team had two range blasters and I think they were pretending to be storm and arashi one was just named storm with a star and the other was narashi or something along those lines.

[@4xzx4]

The problem with meta weapons that are good at everything, is when they are better in (almost) every category than other weapons, they make other weapons fall out of the meta. If something is "jack of all trades, master of none", then they better be "master of NONE" and NOT "master of ALL".

[@e_lel2342]

Once upon a dark time, K-gal CJet, K-Shot and most notoriously, tenta missles ruled the meta of splatoon 2.

[@LuddyFish_]

I definitely support the notation that meta weapons should be weapons that fulfil multiple playstyles to accommodate as many other options as possible. As a backliner, I am still trying to learn how to use bp, but it's definitely a challenge as it plays differently than what I'm used to, and it doesn't help that I also have to try and accommodate different playstyles depending on the team as well, but I'll get there hopefully. My only gripe with splash is that it has been a meta pick since the beginning and I'm kind of tired of seeing so many splash.

[@palmerhugh6866]

What makes me constantly return to a game's meta is the fact that every weapon or character feels viable to use. Sure, there are "top tiers" (i.e. Splash in Splatoon, Pyra and Mythra in Smash Ultimate) in every game, but they're toned in a way that doesn't make them overpowered to play. Each character/weapon has its weaknesses, and that's why Splatoon's meta is so refreshing to see. Plus, with the new Sizzle Season coming up there are going to be more new weapons and a new patch, meaning that some other weapons will possibly get their time to shine in the meta.

[@Terotrous]

I'm kind of curious why this video is about Ballpoint and not Sloshing Machine, which has generally been considered to be the #2 weapon after Splash. Do you think the design of Sloshing Machine is not as healthy for the game?

[@LostBonesNumber]

**Ah, yes, Club Penguin. My favourite meta**

[@Local-Phonk-Collector]

Its not that a meta exists its more that so many people follow the meta. Use whats fun not what the majority considers good and eventually you will get good with your fun weapon. Personally I see lots of splashs runnimg at me expecting to outdamage the .52 or casting crab in my weapon range (just aim slightly higher and kill)

[@kawaiiwolf4724]

Inkjet is amazing. Glad it's seeing more use this days. (Btw I main try-slosher)

[@eclipseultra]

ballpoint as a main weapon is insane i still cant believe its in the game

[@babywizard9027]

Yeah, in Splatoon 2, the top tiers felt miserable to play against, and had little counterplay. You were just being spammed by Missiles and Armors all game. In Splatoon 3, however, the top tiers don't just feel fair, but even fun to fight. When I see a Splash o Matic, it doesn't feel like an unfair match up at all. It's obviously a good weapon, but it still has weaknesses and counters. A few other weapons that could be mentioned here are both Splatanas. These weapons are also very good in the meta right now, but they feel really healthy and promote a fun aggressive playstyle that I love. Fighting a Splatana never feels unfair or annoying. It's just a good weapon, but it has weaknesses that you can exploit to win. Any good meta should have a good aggressive option, and Splatanas fit the bill perfectly, not being too overwhelming to the point of feeling unfair, but being good enough so that aggression is actually a viable style in competitive matches.

[@babywizard9027]

I hope they don't nerf Splatanas, I think they are amazing and super healthy top tiers, and they are incredibly fun to play, and even fun to play against. Maybe I'm biased because I Main Splatana Wiper, but I love both of them and want them to stay in the meta.

[@mrhalfsaid1389]

Yea I've never understood hating the meta for being the meta, it's just dumb, hate what deserves to be hated not what just performs well

[@CMYKITSUNE]

honestly i see vsplash as lando-t of splatoon. its everywhere and it can be tiring to see it constantly but its very versatile while not broken. both can do whatever the team needs without overwhelming everything else that other weapons/monsters will like teaming up with it. while they can easily lose 1v1s with right counters like splash and its crab struggling a lot against splatanas i think crab will be perfect if the maps were better. the special itself is kinda healthy especially after those nerfs. im sure everyone will prefer that over stingray or smth

[@BrownCharlie1]

My idea of the "perfect meta" has at least one weapon from every class. But we all know that brellas will never get their time to shine again sigh

[@Twig_the_Blue_Pikmin]

I've come around to these 2 specifically being meta but I feel they need special output nerfs. Also Crab's Range is still kinda stupid on these maps and I feel it deserves a slight nerf to it's range still, it doesnt have to be major, maybe like by 5% or 10%. As for Ballpoint, just make it 200 but if not, it's not a problem

[@LeotoBrilloVT]

I usually don't comment on videos, but I need to comment on your opening statement, and people's hatred of 'the meta'. EVERY GAME WILL ALWAYS HAVE A META. Regardless of genre, competitiveness, heck even singleplayer vs multiplayer: Every game will have players experiment and theorize with what's the most effective in order to play most efficiently, be it to show off and be stylish, to speedrun, to play multiplayer at the highest level, etc. Yes: I can agree in some cases that optimization can ruin the game's fun, but there will always be people optimizing, it's just human nature with games. Yes: Splatoon 3 is also doing less then it should to try and have all the weapons have an equal shot at being meta (Hi brellas and blasters), but that's also because metas are not something a good developer creates and enforces, a meta is what the players discover, and the developers look into to try and rebalance in an effort to make sure it is fun. Also: On the topic of balance: COMPLETE BALANCE IS IMPOSSIBLE. There will never be a game that has different options and perfect balance. In the case of splatoon, aerospray and sploosh by design will just never be as good as splash or Junior. Auto bomb, curling bomb, and the non-lethal subs (Except wall) Will never be as good as the bombs, because splatoon is a game about fast paced lethality, and the abilities afforded by a bomb are too good to want anything other then maybe a wall. Yes: it's unfortunate that angle shooter and point sensor are bad, but I think that's more a sign of poor design thinking then anything that statistical improvements can help with. Am I excusing the fact that brellas have been left out to dry, along with blasters, to an extent rollers, etc. No, not at all. The devs need to get on that better balance. But what I am saying is that inherently, it needs to be accepted that not all things can ever be balanced perfectly. A last statement: I vehemently disagree with the idea of being a 'meta slave'. If someone is playing meta, it's because they in part want to play it. Maybe a meta weapon isn't their main, but people don't like playing weapons they actively detest, and won't play them often if they dislike playing them. Yes, people will try to play what's better, but bashing people for playing meta, and saying they're a slave to it just feels like trying to admonish people that are trying to play the game at a higher level. If someone dislikes the meta that much, they won't play it.