Splatoon is a movement-based third-person arena shooter series whose weapons are balanced around how they make it unsafe for opposing players to approach the objective. Various extra gamemodes listed below pit players against computer-controlled environments, testing how many enemies you can pick off in short amounts of time. This change in de-facto win condition alters which weapon attributes are most important, and with their expansion beyond Octo Valley's Hero Shot and amiibo-granted Roller and Charger challenges, some weapons in Splatoon 2 and Splatoon 3 are seen as widely ineffectual in modes that don't support their niches.
For a list of weapons that are underpowered for Player Versus Player modes, see here.
Salmon Run
Given that most Salmonids swarm directly to players and appear in big numbers, a few fair or even good weapons in the main modes are more of The Load in this co-op mode.- The Inkbrush and Octobrush get it the worst of all; their attacks are too weak to deal with most enemy hordes and bosses while the ability to create ink trails isn't all that useful either because of how small and short-range they are, making it impractical for guiding teammates back to the egg basket and how easily Salmonids can take over the team's turf. Brushes' main strength of rushing around and flanking enemies is negated due to Salmon Run's defensive nature and the Salmonids' sense of smell picking out hiding Inklings. About the only use people have come up with is collecting eggs, sweeping aside Smallfries and focusing on bosses that require bombs to beat; which is also impractical because both of those things tend to be behind hordes of enemies and other bosses. Their only unique benefit is allowing the player to move at swim speeds over the wire-mesh terrain which permeates the Lost Outpost and Spawning Grounds for as long as their ink holds out, but when you consider you need that ink to attack...
- The Chargers don't have it too much better.
- While the Splat Charger and E-Liter can splat a good radius around ground zero, take out a row of Chum and Smallfries and instagib a Steelhead on a direct hit, they dumps a lot of power into the one shot, meaning that bombs and specials are required for crowd control should they be cut off from reinforcements. Glowflies on a Charger player are a source of angry language over voice chat for this very reason. Splatoon 2 Salmon Run's Splatterscope and E-Liter Scope are even worse, since they greatly narrow the player's field of view while their focus zoom is moot in a mode where enemy movements are predictable, requiring you to constantly no-scope if you want to keep a good field of vision. Only the short-range Squiffer is useful due to its adequate damage output, short charge time, and penetration, as it allows splatting lines of Salmonids with ease.
- Even worse is the Goo Tuber, which trades range and charge speed for mobility in a game mode where major threats come in numbers and need to be eliminated quickly; while a player can charge in relative safety and engage or swim up a wall to attack fully charged, this is not sufficient compensation for the weapon's other drawbacks. In addition, the Goo Tuber's main strength, that you can hide in ink for a while with a full charge, is pointless in Salmon Run because the Salmonids still know where you are even while you're hiding in ink.
- The Bamboozler has a near-instant charge time, but the lack of damage output and full-charge piercing make killing Cohock lines and some bosses much harder than it needs to be.
- Most Blasters (except the rare Grizzco Blaster in Random Loadouts) are Master of None weapons that can't paint turf or walls reliably or utilize their strengths very much, due to their limited range (which makes them go from not very effective to completely useless when dealing with bosses) and slow fire rates (which makes them bad at clearing out the Mooks that try to mob you). Their secondary selling point (being able to do damage around corners) is less useful because you can't hide from Salmonids and they don't try to hide behind cover. That said, they are the only single-shot weapon capable of blowing multiple Stinger segments or Fick Stick smallfries off at once, and the Grizzco Blaster's fire rate makes the lack of range a moot point.
- The Dynamo Roller. While being able to plow over all three sizes of the basic Salmonids is a nice plus, it is an absolute nightmare to defeat bosses with because of the huge startup time needed to fling ink into bosses' weak points (a problem also shared by the Flingza Roller if one attempts a jumping fling) and the huge amount of ink it eats up in the process, requiring lots of refueling and another startup just to get rolling again. Other rollers can also have trouble destroying Boss Salmonids as ramming into them does very little and ink flings are hard to aim and lack the strength to destroy them quickly (Stingers especially), and it does what other rollers do in a Glowfly or Griller wave, but slower.
- The Nozzlenoses are a pain due to having to squeeze the trigger in a rhythm for three-bullet bursts, reducing its chances to scramble through ink compared to full- or semi-auto shooters. The H-3 has it far worse due to the delay between bursts. While the H-3 can tear through some of the Boss Salmonids with just one burst fired on their weakpoints (especially a Steelhead's bomb), it does not fare as well with crowds of lesser Salmonids (seldom single targets) or painting back turf.
- While any Splatling can be a nuisance to those unfamiliar with their workings forcing more defensive play, the Hydra Splatling mandates mastery to use effectively in Salmon Run. The user is slowed significantly during spin-up, unable to dodge Flyfish missiles and Stinger rays in the meanwhile, and the weapon takes two seconds to even reach max range, which in the midst of a salmon swarm can feel like forever. The upsides are the sheer volume of shots, a range barely below the E-Liter, and a full charge increasing bullet damage more than ever; but if you can't get a grasp on the weapon's functions and lack of ink efficiency, any Salmon Run involving this weapon will not be a fun one for you.
- The Explosher can make quick work of Flyfish thanks to its shots being able to destroy the missile pods directly...but due to its slow rate of fire and lackluster coverage, it's lousy at everything else.
- While many agree that the Grizzco weapons are all Game Breakers, the Grizzco Slosher is the least-liked of the bunch, as while it can demolish any boss with ease and chew through thick hordes of Salmonids, it fires slowly, its shots move slowly, and it drains a full ink tank in just four shots.
Single-Player Campaigns
Octo Canyon
Splatoon 2's Hero Mode has you use the basic main weapon of each and every class in the game, subsequently allowing them to be used in any level. While all levels are made to avoid long-winding Character Select Forcing, some choices (or Sheldon Request selections) of main weapon still make Agent 4's advance less effective than it would be otherwise.Since Octo Expansion and Return of the Mammalians have more limited weapon selections designed to alter the way each specialized puzzle-skill level plays, see That One Level for those campaigns.
- The Charger and the Splatling. While someone already acquainted with these weapon types won't be as affected, the inability to fire and do consistent damage on command makes it quite difficult to deal with some of the Octarian variants, and the Charger and Splatling both require charging up to do any meaningful damage. The Splatling also makes numerous puzzles that require inking walls quite difficult, due to taking time to charge up each stream of shots, meaning if you don't cover everything you need the first time, you gotta charge up again; and quite a few puzzles require inking walls on a strict time limit. Said Heavy Splatling's shorter range compared to a Splat Charger is bound to throw off newer players, too. Other weapons that require some buildup, like the Roller or Slosher, at least output all their damage at once regardless and don't require further charging to do more.
- Once again, the Blaster can be awkward to use in most situations, due to its short range, small explosion radius compared to any other multiplayer weapon in the class, and lacklaster paint output common in the class. The level that requires using it is often cited as That One Level too — the switches and farther-off enemies are more easily hit by the long blobs flung from the Slosher.
Side Order
- Uniquely, the general consensus around Splatoon 3's horde-destruction roguelite DLC is that most of the sub weapons are good... except for Splash Wall. This sub's functionality enables it to block Jelleton advancement from one direction. However, it takes a brief moment to set up, doesn't last very long, consumes too much ink to use very often, can't be improved with the various explosive-oriented Color Chips, and usually enemies will just be able to walk around it. Experienced players will generally steer clear of Splash Wall, quickly buying a new sub weapon from a vending machine should the Splatling palette be played.
