Ranked Is The HARSH TRUTH You Need 

I've been at the point you're describing many times, but it always feels like one piece of the puzzle is screwing me over. It can be the special being bad, or the kit synergy not working, or the meta shifting past the main playstyle of the weapon, or a weapon needing a coordinated team to work. I really struggle to find something to consistently stick to in order to consistently improve.

I realized this truth a few months ago with VDS. I love them, got it to 5 stars, practiced the jump tech, did literally everything and it still didn't work out. Splatlings just work better for me than any other weapon/class in the game so I decided to just stick to those

This is such a profound video. This is definitely a warning new players need to hear.

Incredible summary of how it feels to “like” a weapon vs picking the weapon you are most proficient in. Not to say they can’t be the same weapon, but man this is so accurate for me and what I LIKE to play vs the weapons that I’m actually good with.

I do relate to this. So often over my ~1200 hours playing splatoon 3 I've tried new weapons/playstyles, like when I tried to be a splatling main. But I just never found consistent success with it, and now I'm playing weapons similar to the first weapon I "got good" with (Dynamo) such as sblast and painbrush, and I've done consistently better. While solo sucks sometimes, sometimes if you're consistently losing with a weapon, you just gotta take a step back and reevaluate

The medals are fun and nice, and it's nice to look at post-match stats to say "Ok, I'm playing mechanically well" or "Ok, I'm tending to the objective well", but the wins ALWAYS take precedent, and I think every single one of us knows deep down that over time, your luck with teammates _will always_ even out, and you can only improve the things you have control over. One time I had a Rainmaker game where my team ACTUALLY felt horrible, I'm talking "immediately they get blown up by the rainmaker shield and for every subsequent enemy push, they would run directly at the enemy team and get destroyed", and the end-of-match stats were so lopsided, I'm talking I was going 10-4 and two of my teammates were 0-7, it was rough. But ultimately I just thought "You know what? That's a story. That was just funny." ...And then the very next match I had a match where the _enemy_ team felt like that, they were biggest, most disorganized mess I've ever seen and we got a KO in under a minute. You really do just have to look out for your own capabilities!

I would love to see a discussion of what kind of situation leads to your Stamper results - what decisions lead to getting kills and medals but not games won. And what you did with Range that actually did win games.

Let’s not forget that no time has been wasted on Sword! All that experience of you playing it to 4mil is still useful even when you’re playing other weapons :) awesome video, really enjoyed listening to your point of view

Chara you should do a video talking about which game has the better ranking system. No one seems to talk about it, but I think it's a useful discussion to have. Personally, I never hit X in 2, but I much prefer that system/the one for challenges (since they are basically the same). The system in 3 seems so weird to me. And especially outside of X rank, it doesn't use glicko-2 power to determine point gains which is a major mistake imo, especially considering how random the matchmaking can be at times.

I really needed this video, I was struggling a lot when playing eliter, but then when I switched to octobrush, the weapon I really have "mastered", I had a better time winning and etc. Still I think that trying new weapons from time to time is fun. nice talk :D

This feels very validating to hear. I've been playing a ton of the new painbrush lately and losing 60-66% of my games despite getting crazy K:Ds. Haven't been able to get back to X rank with it at all. Swapping back to my usual fun picks of custom jr and krak-on, and I'm winning so much more despite not feeling like my gameplay warrants it at all. Every in game metric (K:D, gold accolades, turf against krak-on) says painbrush works better for me other than the win ratio.

I can relate to this so much! In Splatoon 2, I've put a lot of effort into both tri-sloshers. I especially liked the nouveau variant with Splat Bomb and Ink Storm. The other one was very strong of course, but the Splat Bomb was a lot of fun to me and I got some good results with it. When Splatoon 3 dropped, Tri-Slosher got Inkjet, an awesome special but it came at the cost of having the fart bomb as sub. While I played around with it a bit, I quickly realized how I don't enjoy playing the weapon without a real bomb, so I started to play around with different weapons. I've played a lot of vJr, Tetras, vLuna, Sloshing Machine and some other weapons. Nothing really felt good. Luna didn't have a special back then, vJr isn't aggro enough for my team (I fulfill the role of a slayer), Tetras more aggro but sub and special didn't fit, Sloshing Machine was fun but I've never felt comfortable using it. Some Seasons later, Tri-Slosher Nouveau was released. While Fizzy Bomb was the Sub I hoped for, Tacticooler was weird. It wasn't strong back then, but I figured this weapon is strong enough to be dangerous with only a main and a sub. It worked out pretty well - I played the weapon very similar to how I've played it in Splatoon 2, and our team got pretty good results during that time. Another positive side was me not testing different weapons anymore. Our comp has changed a lot over time, with me sticking to Tri-Slosher Nouveau, the other members could continue to test different stuff and get a better feeling for what works and what doesn't. Fast forward some months: the inkjet buff happened. Suddenly, I've had TWO Tri-Sloshers to pick from. That's the peak. And since it was the peak, it only went downhill from there. The inkjet buff got partly reverted (that was ok), but suddenly the devs released the ULTIMATE Splattershot buff. With Trizooka and Splattershot buffed, both tri variants started to struggle really hard (when trying to slay with them). Toxic Mist once more dragged the aggro variant down, while the Nouveau variant just can't compete with a carbon or splattershot which just puts out Zookas nonstop. Not having anything to be dangerous at range makes it hard to play the weapon as a slayer. What am I supposed to do? Throw a tacticooler at them and hope it bonks their head? Tri Nouveau still is meta, but only as a support kit or NZAP replacement and that's not what my Team needed. For them, I had to be a slayer who can flex to a more supportive role if necessary. Tri was too passive to be aggro most of the time. After our games got worse and worse, I started to experiment again. Tried vSlosher, tried Sloshing machine, tried many other stuff. Nothing felt right, nothing worked well enough so I mostly still played Tri Nouveau, but I enjoyed the weapon less and less until I started to right up hate using it. I stopped playing the weapon in SoloQ, and we lost even more games cause I didn't practice it anymore. Some weeks afterwards, I had to stop playing competitive cause of private stuff. When I left the team, I completely dropped Tri immediatly, but not only Tri, the whole Slosher class. In SoloQ, I tried more stuff again and I found back to blasters, the other class I really enjoyed playing. Shortly after, the new S-Blast got announced to have Burst and Booyah and I knew that's a candidate to become my one and only weapon in this game. Fast forward two more months: I've played a lot of S-Blast. The results are questionable (55% win rate in soloq) but at the same time I feel like I still can learn a lot from playing that weapon. Playing the game is fun again and I can't wait to see how far I can push the weapon, no matter if I stick to it or not. --- Thinking about these topics is important if you really wanna enjoy the game for months or years. No matter how much you loved a weapon some time ago, you're probably not playing the game cause of the weapon but for other reasons and if that weapon can't help you with reaching your goals anymore, you gotta question whether there's a better way you could go.

Reminds me of when I swapped from Tri-N to CBlast this season. I am winning more, not tilting, and having more fun after the secondary swap.

my problem is using weapons i like costs me more games than using ones that are good. i feel like i have to switch weapons to ones i dont prefer just to start winning games. but then you just feel unsatisfied despite winning because it's not what you want. certain weapons are just outclassed by others even if accounting for skill level. but it's just the way of things and you cant do anything about it.

While I did start playing wiper because "ooh it's the cool new sword weapon", after experimenting with it during the world premiere, I realized a few things. For one, it had torp and stamp, two things I already knew how to use thanks to splat 2. That meant I was mostly just learning the main weapon. Fast forward to today and it's been five starred for about 5-6 months, maybe more, and it's by far the weapon I feel the most comfortable with. At some point I started playing stamper more seriously than before. I think I'm decent at it, but depite me improving so much with the weapon, I know that I'm not nearly as good at stamper as I am at wiper. The fact of the matter is, that wiper just fits my playstyle better and plays at a much more similar speed to weapons I've played in the past, compared to stamper. I guess what I'm trying to say here, is that just because a weapon is really good according to the meta, it doesn't mean it's the right weapon to play. R So remember to consider what weapon feels the most comfortable for you to use, not just what's good in the meta. (Yes I know I like to ramble)

tbh weapon choice isn't the only thing this can apply to. I normally use heavy and was on a losing streak and sat down and thought: "ok what can I do differently to win these games if I assume this is in my control" The answer I came to was that I was too passive and not focusing on getting picks and taking space when I could. So I started looking for picks more and looking for opportunities to hold up without dying and it was an instant shift to my win % in the same rotation. "What's the point of staying alive if my teammates are dying? I'm not winning these 1v3s"

I find it 10x more fun as a casual who would play competitive but enjoys ranked to use and make builds for multiple different weapons, my goal is to make a build for every weapon and that grind is fun to me.

The same thing happened to me. At the very beginning of the game I played sword, I really liked the weapon. I developed some level with it but something happened. I started playing rb and was doing much better, my games with sword were very inconsistent. So I'm going to put more time into rb, thank you very much for this valuable advice.

I practically quit splatoon because of a bad mindset... accepting criticism and learning is truly the most powerful tool in anyone's arsenal

I feel like this is like the “when you should drop weapons” squid school video, which is described in the video as a hard truth, but with the kid gloves taken off and for people who think they should be better than they are. “You will be wrong and fail. You should actually consider when that’s happening and why. You won’t stop failing but some things make you fail less and that’s what makes it good.” Is a hard pill to swallow but definitely very useful to put out there. I consider myself to be very flexible and tend to switch multiple weapons in and out of my pool but at some point you do have to start differentiating between weapons you can have good games on and weapons that are consistent. There’s some I want to put more time in simply because I find them fun and hope it’ll maybe be something to have in my back pocket but I always come back to vdualies and vwiper for a reason. I’ve been playing them the most, the longest, they get the most results for me, they fit my playstyle the best.

As someone who plays very similar weapons to chara, i relate alot to the stamper revelation. I’ve been playing it since around May and enjoy it, but when i play other weapons i enjoy and play ( rapids, machines, s blast, etc ) I’ve just been better with my other weapons, but i really enjoy stamper. Im probably just going to drop stamper competitively and focus more on machine and rapid, maybe pick up dualies

Sometimes the weapon just makes sense and it works with your personal style and other times, it doesn’t. I love stringers, so I play them for fun, but if I need to win- I’m grabbing a splatling.

I think this is a valid point but personally, I've had weapon crises right before a big breakthrough in skill, like getting the hang of weapon-specific tech (like jump tech). I think solo is a good test and a way to reflect on your weapon choices but you should also be willing to push through at times, even if it's only to practice and keep your skills sharp for a weapon while you try and experiment with others weps.

Just want to know, what are people's strategies to play Solo with the intent of practicing and getting better? Rather than just playing to play

I relate to this a lot!! I’m not a competitive player by any means, I just play solo Q a lot. But when the vanilla Painbrush first dropped, I fell in love with the weapon. I was a octobrush main for most of Splatoon 2 and painbrush seemed perfect for me. I played pretty much only v painbrush throughout sizzle season and into the next season; I very nearly have 5 stars on it. But then I had to learn this exact hard lesson too in solo Q. I was always the MVP on my team in every match yet I was constantly losing. So much so that I ended up with minus points in S+ series for the first time ever. I had to come to the hard decision that painbrush is, not only very flawed, but also doesn’t mesh with my preferred playstyle of sharking and flanking because of the weapon’s long windup time. I switched my main weapon to the carbon roller deco and I’ve gotten so much better results in solo Q. I still have a soft spot for v painbrush but I’m probs not going to use it again in solo Q until it gets much deserved buffs.

Wow, you were one of the first big players to pick up stamper and it's a really cool weapon to watch gameplay of. But blasters are fun too,, I bet you can for sure get top 10 as a blaster player

Thanks chara i need the harsh truth of solo rank 😖

As a relatively new splatling and anchor player (~8 months) I’ve been sinking lots of time in the Ballpoints, with the vanilla one almost at 5 stars, and the vanilla Heavy already there. Grinding Ballpoint has been frustrating because I love the weapon, the kit, the playstyle, and my numerous moments of popping off with it, but I still struggle to be completely consistent with it as it’s a decently challenging weapon mechanically. I’ve been stubborn and gone on huge loss streaks before, trying to grind this weapon even when I didn’t feel my best, and what I’ve found recently is that switching back to the Heavy has got me suddenly winning games with far more ease. Even felt this with many different weapons in the past, always coming back to something that just clicked with me, even if it’s considered weak in the competitive scene which I am not actually a part of. As a solo player with sub-2000 power levels, it feels nice to see someone like you go through a similar experience, even if we both got different things out of it. For me, it led me to think about what I really wanted out of the game, and to not be too hard on myself for losing my matches or not playing particularly well with a weapon I like or want to like. Sometimes the weapon I want to use and the one that wins matches may not be the same, and that’s okay. In grinding the Ballpoints I have been trying to accept that I am obviously less likely to win matches with a weapon I am forcing myself to practice and grind for the 5 star badge, and that it’s probably not realistic to take it into series/X and expect a good result more often than not. Seeing my sessions as a learning opportunity for what I could have done better on my road to becoming a better Ballpoint and Splatling/anchor player and just having fun in my good moments is what has kept me playing the game, despite some embarrassing loss streaks. The chaos of ranked matches is perfect for seeing what works and what doesn’t work, and in taking it as a sandbox for experimentation I’ve been thinking about how quick people are to tilt and blame solo matchmaking and their teammates, where I actually was that mediocre teammate on countless occasions. Your take on the usefulness of it and the player themself being the common denominator is refreshing to see.

I get the idea, but there's one thing I'm not sure about. How much does a weapon needing support play into this? For instance if you play cdeco and do better on splash in solo queue does the fact that cdeco needs paint support play into it? On the one hand if you're playing in a coordinated setting you'll haven the support you need and can perform on cdeco more reliably, but on the other hand if you invested more time into splash you may be able to take it further than cdeco. IDK what to think about this but i just thought I'd shout into the void about my overthinking just to get it off my chest.

I don’t remember much from splatoon 1 and 2 but I remember I was playing roller in 1 and dualies and vshot in 2. I’ve hopped around to so many weapons especially in 3 with splatanas and stringers, and I ended up dropping those and going back to dualies. And now I tried range blaster and started winning with it, I actually got like a 5 series streak with it, and then started losing a lot with it afterwards. And now I’m just confused

This is an amazing video and a really great lesson. I can definitely relate to this as someone who mainly plays sploosh. Looking at competitive tier lists, I’m always trying to find a better weapon. I’ve picked up splatanas, dualies, and several other weapons, but none of them feel as fun as playing with sploosh.

I’ve noticed that a lot myself when playing and looking at my stats and having to realize that although I feel weak while using the wiper I’ve been playing in a way that is consistently getting my team more wins then every other weapon as bad as the losses and lockouts may feel… it feels hecka sucky to be on lockout with that weapon and that’s what made me stop using it and when I picked it back up I realized why I used to main the weapon

I have been consistently playing dapple dualies since I've unlocked them in Splatoon 2, and feel so lucky to have found a main weapon that just resonates with me so deeply I really feel like I can't go back. The only times I switch off (because some of the maps in splat 3 are absolutely impracticable with dapple, e.g. eeltail alley) I feel so clunky in my controls it's weird. I hope everyone follows your advice because really, maining a weapon in this game feels so different compared to others and it's such a big part of why I love the series (here's hoping for a good third kit 🥲).

I’ve realized my own sword has felt terrible recently and this video was something I needed to hear. Instead of slamming my head into the game trying to make sword work I should find something that works and stick with it. Currently that has been Mini Splatting but I don’t think it’s gonna stay forever. I think having the mindset of “why did I waste all this time learning this weapon” can be poor because now you know 2 things. 1. How that weapon is going to play/how you can counter it 2. Game knowledge.

This is pretty interesting, I always see competitive players brush off solo queue as bad, it’s nice to hear a fresh perspective!

It was the same for me. I won every game in one rotation and lost every game in the next rotation. But these are the games I should look again to see what I can do better, and I can't just switch weapons because I can only play one weapon good enough for X. Except for tower, where I can play two.

Everyday I thank god I play splatoon for fun

I understand this so much and kinda did the same thing, I picked up stamper as my very first weapon, like right into the game, and i always thought i was amazing with it, but after realizing it took me 3 years to just 4 star the thing i realized "maybe i'm not as great with stamper as i thought" so i tried SO many of the other weapons, but the one thing is i always stuck to what others were saying was good and what's bad, so for the past few month's that was my thinking but the same thing happened i thought i was good but in reality the weapon wasn't really for me, then i decided well maybe i should try going to what i liked in s2, Goo tuber, Duelie squelchers and Tetra, i went from from 1400-1600 X power to now im in 2000 in almost all the modes, my point is for me going back to my roots helped me a ton.

As a casual solo Q player, early on in S2 I found myself gravitating towards medium range to long range weapons. I've always had the slayer mindset of wanting to get kills, but whenever I'd try the short range weapons I'd be a mess. I remember when Octoshot became meta and I picked it up in X and did terrible. I've noticed tho that every time I go back to mid range and long range weapons I just do better. I recently picked up the Forge Pro because it was the weapon I used to get to X in S2, and the muscle memory just comes back to you. I absolutely slayed in open and went on win streaks with golds and positive K/D, rarely going below double digits in kills. Now I've picked up the .96 gal another of my favourites and it's the same thing, my aim isn't the best, but my tracking shocks even me sometimes and I just feel in the zone. My favourite sub is splash wall, and coincedentally there are mid to long range weapons that have it, and I do well with most of them. Like it's been said in the video, you need to find the weapons that work with you and get you the results you want, otherwise you're going to stagnate, get frustrated and give up when all this time it was the weapon holding you back.

You need to do a video expanding on this. I feel this big time. I play the 52 gal only and have hit a wall. I have "good" games often, but that is not translating to wins. I can't break 2k in any mode. Can you explain why you aren't doing as good with sword? I have maps/modes I do good with and some I do bad with. I don't know why though. Should I switch weapons? Can I use the 52 but change style? Those are questions I don't know how to answer and maybe hearing you do it for yourself would help!

Honestly solo q is amazing for keeping myself honest, like I’m not high up or anything I’m just in S but realizing how consistently I can get to rank up matches then am not able to actually rank up has made me realize how I over all need to improve even if I’m technically on level I’m not continually growing in skill level. The only things that legitimately bother me about it is how the matchmaking system will without fail put duplicate weapons on the same team, I understand that in comp this will happen bc of strategy but in solo it just makes games less fun for both sides, like if one team gets a eliter and a pencil or smth and the other has no long range options then both sides end up at a weird stand still because the short range has very limited movement and the long range has limited pushing power. And I would normally say that’s just a nit pick but I’m genuinely pretty sure it’s a part of splatoons matchmaking system. There’s also a lot of issues with players not disconnecting but not playing, I assume this is mostly a lower level issue but I’ve had two rank up matches and a good number of regular matches where someone will stand in spawn and our team will get destroyed but it won’t be counted as a disconnect. Now the last thing I’m going to complain about (I swear) is going up against x rank players at the beginning of a new season or just straight up being matched against or with x rank players, I know a lot of people will say it’s good to learn from higher level players but honestly it’s just frustrating when your trying to get wins against people on your level and progress naturally but get knocked down by people who are just way better. It’s extremely useful to learn from higher level players but there’s a reason why ranks exist, it’s very frustrating to hit your head against the difficulty wall and it’s doesn’t promote any kind of casual play. Anyway the point I’m trying to make is that solo q is genuinely really useful but that we shouldn’t look down on people who don’t like it or at least think it has issues, nothing I mentioned above is an excuse for just not wanting to improve so we shouldn’t let people who just want a reason as to why they are failing to get a platform off of that. It’s just important to remember that splatoon has a lot of flaws that make going up the ranks less enjoyable, none of these things will stop someone from succeeding at all but they are road blocks that I think make people feel bad, and when those people are called lazy for complaining it just doesn’t help. Have a good day :3

Wow that hit home in a lot of ways Weapon crisis I dealt with it because I'm mostly a 52 and a Trislosher player. The problem is it's not because I'm good with it that I have fun. 52 I have moments I don't want to rely on it. Trislosher is specific for me and my problem will always be "I don't have a weapon I feel consistent with" After a 2 weeks break I finally understood something: Find the weapon you think you will be able to improve with and stick to it. The sword is the exact play style I had with Trislosher in S2, I tried to have with K52 but the vanilla was WAY more consistent for me. What was my problem? The same as Chara's but even worse because I tried to change everytime.So I understand now that my problem and the reason I never got passed S+2 can also happen to anyone. And now I know that since I started playing Stamper more and stuck with it since October I made progress and I have to keep grinding

This video is a real one.

i actually had this feeling just yesterday after obliterating with painbrush and having 15 win streak after just an entire week of losses and went...huh i should probably go back and look at what i was doing in the games i lost and the games i won cuz this is...different i felt DIFFERENT looking at the weapons i play i am def learning that even tho i like some new weapons, i have my strengths and i need to try my best at sticking to them and not worrying about much else.

This could not have come at a better time after I was grinding some Neo Stamper. It’s fun, but there’s clearly something I’m doing better with other weapons that I’m not doing with either stamper tbh. They just don’t quite Work for me, I’m finding

Thank you so much for this video! as I am new to splatoon I just got to X rank a month ago and you just answered all my questions for X rank I used to just use one weapon but after trying different weapons from my class my power skyrocketed! Thanks Chara!

I'm glad that people are figuring out about their playstyles here, but for me learning what I do well at in Soloq just slowly made me more mad. It's not because I don't want to have to adapt, it's because the weapon that fits my playstyle best just isn't in the game, and has a high likelyhood to never be in the game. I am my team's dedicated support player, and we usually run backless comps, so cooler, even if it weren't as absurd as it is now, is almost always going to be the best support special for us. One of my noteworthy strengths as a player is I'm really good at cutting off enemy routes with things like suction and fizzy, so having a weapon with one of those is a huge boon. But the problem is I just don't play forward, and the only 2 weapons that have the kit I described, are Zap and Tri Slosher, which are both weapons that have to play at least somewhat forward. I could always switch to one of the midline cooler options, since that's the range I'm by far most comfortable playing at, but right now of the 3 that are in the game, H3 and Dynamo are both in horrible spots that make them feel borderline unconsiderable even for low level, and the last one Edit fits horribly onto the comps my team already run and barely covers any of the weaknesses we need covered. And none of them have subs with any real poking power either, which just makes the problem worse. And I think there's a good chance that even if we get a 3rd year content expansion, and 3rd kits for every weapon, I could legitimately see them not adding something that doesn't require me to sacrifice some part of my playstyle throughout the entire game's lifespan and that really sucks, especially since a midline weapon with a specific special and a bomb, really is not that high of an ask.

Do you think if you were willing to put in enough time on the weapon you could eventually learn to play it better? Or is this just a “will never fit your playstyle” kind of thing.

Actually I took a break from playing vstamper when Neo came out, but every time I play the base kit my play is just better. It just clicks with me more. Reminds me of that.

Funny about solo ranked is that when I switched back to my original main Forge Splattershot Pro (which this weapon is mid tier), I kept getting bad results despite being good with it. When I went back to .96 Gal Deco, the results were great due to consecutive amount of wins in Anarchy series. Also I hate Solo ranked.

I get it, I've moved back to Splatoon 2 to use the v octo brush and Sheldon's arospray cause I have spent so long using them and they work well for me

As a filthy casual splatling user, solo only since Splatoon 1. Play for fun type. I had to drop the splatling. I could serve as a rock solid support/anchor and watch a game fold in front of me. Even though I'm holding space and stacking bodies like Rambo, this cooler wouldn't allow it. But with the frontline, you're able to impact a little bit more. That has led me to the more jovial Ink brush only. My win rate shot up. I play with teammates better, and I can coordinate and play with more consideration and its fun. 😂 But. I can't play SZ. I get shutout. So so easily if i have to paint for every engagement.

I’ve been playing bow since the start of the game and have put a ton of time into it. I’m not the best player, have been stuck in S most of this game’s life, but it hasn’t bothered me. This season I’ve done terrible, got done to below -1000 rank debt, and I’m stubborn so I tried a lot of the meta picks to try something better, vshot, NZap, 52 gal, (Melon is up to over 4K XP so it should help). But nothing worked and I was still stuck, going lower. Then I thought of dapples, my main back in S2, which I was mid S+ with, (never got the chance to go for X). I know they’re not the best, I’ve played tetras but they never really clicked. So I gave it a shot. Not only did they climb me out of debt, but I’m almost to S+. Trying an old reliable was definitely the way to go here, even if it’s not a meta pick, and here’s hoping for a 3rd kit this game, (6th times the charm right?)

I picked up squiffer out of no where one day and fell in love with it (casual player), it was really fun and satisfying but then one day I just kept loosing. No matter what I did I just kept loosing, I think I ended up with like -14K points in anarchy or something which caused me to just put the game down and not play for several months. I picked the game back up this season and was too stubborn to stop playing squiffer, but I still kept loosing. I then decide to randomly start playing zap '85 again, a weapon I've been playing since the half end of SPLATOON 2, and I started winning again and again. It felt like it took no effort to get things done and like half the games I won were KO's. Recently I've been grinding sheldon tickets cause I only play like 3 weapons and thought the experience was worth the effort and it was. Idk why I started having a loosing streak with squiffer but if I ever decide to play it again I know I'll at least be a little better at the game.

Where do you think the order weapons would end up on the tier list if they kept their Memverse kits?

I didn't get to say this on twitter, because I didn't have enough space. But I'm at this very point with big swig and brella. Though those are my mains, I've used big swig consistently and been fairly good with it. I don't play _in_ comp modes very much, but I've noticed that when I do, I seem to struggle adjusting back to big swig and the style that I play with, after hopping off of it for a few games. I love this weapon, and really, undercover isn't very good. Just on an individual level. But there's something there that shows within the games that I do _better_ with _undercover_ than I do with my main, despite it being the most comfortable for me. It's very odd and strange to come to terms with. After picking up Range and Dreadwringer, it's really challenged my perspective I think. Somehow, I'm doing better with those weapons than I do with my main, too. They're not weapons i'm very good at either. I wonder often if it's the teammates I'm set up with, or specific maps, or modes; maybe it's the gear that I'm running - or not running. But I've felt like a lot of it just has to do with me, and I'm not really sure why that is. It's really cool to see your perspectives challenged and listen to how you're thinking, and coming to terms with this kind of thing too. I was wondering the other day if competitive players also go through this when finding their mains and/or pick up stuff that their teams need them to learn. Thank you for sharing your thoughts PC. /)

im going through weapon crisis myself and splat3 is my first game. i’ve been playing ranked since may (got the game in march), so not long at all. i switched to stamper from pretty much playing exclusively silver areospray around that time because i wanted to see myself have a chance in the comp scene and it’s been something i’ve improved a lot with and it’s probably the weapon im best at. my thing is that i’ve been looking too much at builds or sensitivity settings and it’s kinda felt like I don’t know how to play the game/my weapon anymore. i went from playing -3,-3 to 3,1 for sens, which has helped 100% but i’ve also played things like 2,3 or 4,4 and it’s confusing the shit outta me for whatever reason, which isn’t helping. im grinding for S rn (im taking a break, currently at A+) and it’s kinda made me loose hope for getting into comp, as i don’t know what I really want to succeed with??? im not sure. but the weapon crisis thing is more of just me testing out a bunch of mostly slayers/frontlines which has made it worse lmao. probably just me overthinking my skill so 🤷

I feel excately the same, when i pick other weapons that i main i just get worse results than when i play range blaster, S-blast 91, VSplatana stamper and ttek, there is just something about these 4 weapons that not only they are my mains but they are also weapons i put a lot of time into it, i don't do as good with for exemple hero shot than these weapons, i guess these 4 weapons are just meant to be my mains and for me im happy with that because they are my favorites weapons but i do understand you chara Most of my mains were my mains because you got me into it and watching your gameplay was so admiring and impressive to me i also wanted to play these weapons and pick them as my mains after i got into it, so thanks you Chara !

As a soloq player, this video speaks to me. I play Splash o matic more often than Splattershot, even though I get more consistent results with Splattershot than I get with Splash.

I had something similar happen to me by Playing Stamper and switching to WIper Deco in zones. I thought I was doing great with Stamper getting good Zipcasters and in general not feeling like I was making big mistakes yet had my biggest losing streak. Switched to WIper Deco and won 3 series in a row.

I feel once Chara 5 stars Range, he might just be a blaster player again. And for all the sword players and other people have to except that. We all have our best weapons

I do play this game for fun, but I did notice when I switch back to Charger, despite taking a break from chargers in S3, I actually get more wins on them than when I play my support weapons. Might be time to finally derust my charger.

Did you figure out what specifically what was happening with the Stamper vs Range Blaster that wasn't providing the team synergy needed to win?

There are those times when I do so poorly on one of my mains that it's simply a signal for me to switch my weapons. I'm still mediocre at best with Stamper, finally got 4 stars on my Neo Stamp, and am dedicated to getting better at sword. But I knew to switch to something else, like Splattershot, and lo and behold...my game improved. I recently asked on your Range Blaster propaganda if having a bad day is natural or if you can influence it. I took your answer to heart but I also realize that there's some degree of influence (weapons). Me having a bad day on my mains only brings down both me and the team I play with. Stubbornness always gets the best of me, but I'm hoping to work on it. Besides, I have some weapons I want to grind to 5 stars and maybe this is just the excuse I need to do just that 😊

It's kinda funny because Gem just released a video yesterday that was kinda saying the opposite (about how SoloQ kinda doesn't matter because the quality of the teams and opponents can fluctuate so much), so when I saw this video it felt like it was a response to it. No hate to Gem or anything, but I was kinda saying the same thing you're saying here. Significant differences in win rate across many matches with different weapons or gear loadouts or whatever probably do represent noticeably better or worse play. While many factors can skew individual results going from like a 40% win rate to a 70% win rate probably indicates that you're doing something that's getting you more wins.

The weapon I do best with honestly depends on the day for me. Most days I do best with Tri Nouveau, but other days I'm more feeling Carbon Deco or Enperry Dualies

I relate alot to what you said about playing better with range blaster even though sword is technically "better". I know the majority of splatlings are better than hydra but I win more with hydra. When ballpoint was meta I tried switching but I did better with hydra or nautilus than ballpoint. Maybe the location subs just click better with my brain or something, idk

Ive only ever played Solo and found that what you said is pretty accurate. Im v casual but S3 is my first game and ive got to S+ from getting my ass kicked over and over until i figured out how to manipulate defenses with the splatlings

I stick by my belief that solo q is hell, but I think it's awsome that it was able to help you find weapons you like. I just don't think that redeems solo q because of all the bad that comes with it.

I will say I play big swig roller better than most people that like to play it and I got to S+ with it but the weapon just sucks and that’s the fact I’m going to admit although I hate it and want it to be a OK weapon that can get somewhat results

THANKS A LOT!!! Means to me so much right now!!!

At some point the key to victory is to get the most value with the least effort.

I hope it's just me, but honestly, i've had so much luck with blasters in S rank that sometimes it feels like it's such a broken weapon to use for the rank i'm in. I don't go past S because i'm an idiot and choose stamper and wiper, then lose consistently, but it's just, such a massive difference between the two

I like trying new weapons but invariably I end up back at the hydra when I want to make progress in ranked. I like the in your face weapons like the Splatana but I am quickly reminded that I’m a much better anchor lol

I've always been trying to get good at high tier shooters (splash, splatterhot, zap) as they seem to me like easy weapons to learn and reliable choices because I can assume they will remain really good weapons. But no matter how much more I played of them I win a lot more games when I play tent even after a month long break. That was always frustrating since I put so many time in learning one or more playstyles and the I'm far the strongest with is something that has to deal with a lot of issues and just isn't a good option for a lot of cases objectively (I still do better on TC with tent than with other weapons).

I'm not saying Chara is doing this but for people who want to follow a similar line of thinking, don't take one session for anything. Confirmation bias is a thing, recency bias is a thing and in general people tend to focus a lot more on bad things than good these days.

Idk if I can agree or not, Im more willing to say yes, but I will just elaborate S3 is my first Splatoon game, because I was poor and only recently bought Switch because of summer job last year yada yada and so as a new and inexperienced player I played only turf war as a safe spot, tried different weapons and at some point I decided to try Heavy edit, because it seemed cool and nice and I really came to like this weapon. Fast forward to last month and getting 250 wins in turf war I finally decide to try anarchy thinking Im good to go. Today I got to S rank, all solo with Heavy edit and also today I decided to just quickly test out in turf war different weapons, because I have been thinking about trying something else. The weapons being Foil Squeezer, Splatershot and Ballpoint splatling. I can definitely say that I had the most fun and best result with Ballpoint even if its turf war and it doesnt say much, not to say teams being worse than anarchy. Next one was Squeezer and last Splateshot. In my opinion from what I learned I definitely prefer and do better with longer range weapons, like if I wanted to try dualies first I would go for Glooga or Squelchers. Next is that Splatlings are definitely my main weapon class, next I will try blasters being range blaster and rapid blaster deco, I tried S blast 91 during blasters challenge and it went pretty bad, but it was blasters only so maybe in normal matches it would go different, plus I didnt have gear besides main abilities given I didnt have it grinded. Thats it even if its wacky, waiting for Nautilus to get good kit if it does I will main sh1t out of it, because weapon itself feels amazing to use.

You play open because you want to increase your power. I play open because series doesn't have the game mode I want to play. We are not the same.

So I really like this video but I still think we need the ability to play series/x battles with a team, or at least bring back league battles You did a great job explaining why soloq is a useful tool for practice and why its important, but if team coordination was the most important part of competative play it'd be just stupid to have the ability to play with your friends and communicate be completely absent from the game's "competative modes"

For the last couple of months, I tried Dualies, a very mobile and responsive class that enhances squid rolls and surges which is the closest to the forgiving shooter class. I tried Dapples, quick dps and basically instant dodges with an extremely useful Torpedo Tried a little Gloogas, went well enough, but ultimately not my style Both Regular Splat Dualies, solid DPS, solid movement, solid kits, solid range. Performed wayyy better with these because they are objectively better weapons than dapples, not struggling with range or kits. For both types, I found the endlag after rolls incredibly handicapping when I wanted to parry with the Squid Roll, which leads me to Dualie Squelchers, the mesh BRILLIANTLY with Squid Rolls in combat and you're constantly maintaining momentum while dodging but... it can't kill for shit. Despite parrying MULTIPLE shots within fights and dodging really well, I couldn't counter effectively. Using its range was difficult because of the accuracy issues in the standard firing mode for me The Squelchers were technically the answer I wanted though; can you look fucking awesome and scary with Dualies if you mix them with Squid Rolls? Yeah, I'm not the guy for it though. The thing is that, I got extremely stressed on that journey and decided one day that I wanted to give the Rollers a visit again, and I've enjoyed the game so much more! I feel like I'm a lot more enthusiastic about working around the weaknesses of my Rollers or admitting that I as the player fucked up since, I know Rollers, I know when it's inconsistency or it's just me being overconfident or too relaxed. If I miss a shot, it's a lot easier to just marinate in my bad decisions and try to avoid doing that again or admitting that I need more practice. I really thought Dualies would be way better for me if I put in the effort like I did when learning Chargers but Nah I just love Rollers more now 💀

I hate soloq but I'm forced the play it😢😢

As a reminder, RB is a mid tier weapon. This video isn't saying to play the best weapons, it's saying to play the weapons you're good at IF you're looking to improve and find consistency Obviously improvement focused videos don't apply to people who just want to play casually

I have my main weapons i stick to, but i personally play different weapons because i cant simply stick to one weapon for more than like 5 games. It might be the reason why im still in A, but i have been in S before.

I wish we had different rankings for each weapon. This is my first splatoon game, and I've been spending a lot of time on a variety of different weapons just figuring out what I like. After Dread Wringer released, I played it a ton and something clicked for me with it and it's gotten me higher than any other weapon (2K+ X). BUT I still really want to learn to play other weapons, but every time I pick something new up, even something I feel like I'm good with, I'll go on like a 10-game losing streak in ranked, and then it's just *sigh* back to bi bucket I guess. I really wish the game would let me go play H3 in B rank and my main in S+ lol.

In solo rank, use your best weapon. It’s that simple.

I've been playing nothing but BP and Rapid Deco consistently, and yet this season and this season only I have seen abysmal losing streaks, like 19-26 abysmal, whereas previous seasons have been about 30-15. What exactly has changed? My skill hasn't gone down, I haven't taken any big breaks or anything, I play when I'm in a good mental state and stop when I feel tilted, so why in this one season am I apparently now bad at the game? If the only thing I can control is myself, and that has been as consistent as it could be, what is the source of these consistent losses?

Good video! 👍

I've been feeling something similar. I love my splattlings and always will, but I have wanted to try out other weapons, I've tried slosher which I usually do well with, and some shooters I find fun, but I am not the best with shooters as being in the front lines taking these fights kind of where I feel like I'm weak. I prefer supportive roles which is why I've tried n-zap cooler, same with the slosher cooler. But shooters if it's not the tenta-tek shooter I usually suck for some reason, with the sloshers I do decent, but nothing gets me as many wins and or kills as my splattlings so I just go back to my Hydra or my Heavy Edit. At least I can play my worse weapons in turf war for fun I suppose.

As a sword player I’ve literally been thinking about going back to playing chargers literally bc of the same reason you think you should go back to sword Chara. But I really have been doing only just decent and have been getting rhe same results as I’ve been getting when I’ve been playing chargers or even Vanilla Splattershot

Grinding x rank plus practicing a weapon doesnt really go well. Either u are comfortable enough to play it good enough to have impact or not. Playing "well" isnt the same as well "well" on ur true comfort pick. Like i watched jared recently doing pretty good on cds but he didnt have impact really until he switched to vdualies.

Would you say its any different with the current state of TTK division? I'm holding around a 24-2500 power in all modes as of now but i dont feel able to push past that for a number of reasons. A few bieng the que times, being less ready when i DO get games (also part of the q times), continually playing with people around 100 xp below me, only have around 8-9 players queing at the same time resulting in repetitive matches. I do one trick squiffer but i dont see that as a setback as i've learned my liter matchup to a point where, on average, its 70/30 in my favor. I am going to be playing in Takoroka div next season but do you think that being in Ttk has as much of an effect or am i just bad

good video, thank you !

personal question you dont hsve to answer this but why do you think you sre doing bsd wirh stamper? like what are physical things you thinj your doing thats not csusijg you to win? or you just csnt put your finger on it and for some reason range is hust winning for you?

but if you have fun with sword, keep doing sword

Ok, but what if your team keeps getting splatted immediately and leaves you in a constant 4v1 where you can’t do anything because they all keep cycling specials to keep you oppressed and your team is off doing random bs. I lost my tenth failed rank up series in a row with a laggy dapples neuveux because of this. I’m not kidding, every rank up series I have there’s always a laggy English dapples with a jp v roller, squiffer, and REEF-LUX 450.

This happened to me when I switched off of 96 gal to hydra ☠️😭

Blaster one hit cheese

amazing video chara

8:12 could anyone link these other players? I’m a Splatana main and would like to learn from them

Self improvement enough said by me