Junior splats in Mayonnaise Splatfest [2054p, 9(2)-1, Splattershot Jr]

Experimenting with other weapons was interesting, but it hasn't been winning battles. I'm moving back to the basic weapon, the Splattershot Jr, which is excellent in turf wars. The basic philosophy of turf wars works with the Splattershot Jr very well, with ink and move, ink and move. I also ink and nearly fall off the ship, not quite having learnt the layout yet, but I just make the landing.

First contact with Ketchup is broadcast with a charger's laser, letting me dodge a bit. And splatting the Sprinkler with one hit of the Splattershot Jr really highlights the effectiveness of my Object Shredder kit. But second contact goes a bit worse, when Ketchup has Ink Armour. So it goes.

After closing some holes near home, I move forwards. I keep going when Ink Armour is ready, flinging a Splat Bomb that lands perfectly under the charger. My follow-up inking catches the Splashdowner mid-launch, giving me a double-splat and letting me continue inking.

We look to have a lot of turf now, at least this far forwards. After pushing a charger away, I double-back to make sure we haven't been bypassed. Doesn't look like it, so we can keep pushing forwards. Or maybe just hold the middle turf for now, as the Ketchup inklings return.

The charger on the perch pulls out a Sting Ray, which makes a great target for a Splat Bomb, and my Ink Armour makes me bold enough to squid towards the other charger, trying to squeeze out some quick shots. I get a bit lucky there.

My squidmates help push the Ketchup team back, and with them on one flank I hit the other. I nearly bite off more than I can chew, with two inklings almost getting me in a pincer movement. But I squid to the other side of it, sensibly not activating the slow Ink Armour, and catch them now bunched tightly together. Nice!

One last attempt at a splat doesn't quite work, but that's okay. A charger trying to splat me is a charger not inking. And although one Ketchup inkling broke through our lines late in the battle, it was nowhere near enough of a threat to our victory. Woomy!

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Tags: console, splatfest, splatoon 2, splattershot jr, sturgeon shipyard, switch, turf war

Rolling in Mayonnaise Splatfest [1565p, 7-3, Carbon Roller]

Another weapon change. Let's give the Carbon Roller a go. Everyone concentrates a bit too much on our base to start the battle. We need to claim some turf near the centre before we have to fight for it, and my Roller really isn't the right weapon for this. Still, I get in to a decent position and let an Autobomb do the work for me. Good bot.

The Ketchup team come to meet us with Specials charged. The Tenta Missiles aren't much of a threat when we've got lots of turf to move through, and the Ink Jet falls to the vertical Roller flick. I use my own Special, the Ink Storm messing up the Ketchup, and lurk around the centre of the hall to defend more than attack.

It's not a bold strategy to sit in the middle and hold our turf, but you only need to ink more turf than the other team to win. If we have well over half of the turf inked our colour, it's more sensible to hold what we can then push for more, potentially getting us splatted and opening holes for the other team to exploit.

Even so, I push forwards when opportunity knocks, and although I ink turf and get splats, the partial hits on one inkling cause me to get more saucy than I like, letting a splash of tomato juice splat me away. Our turf control looks good still, encouraging me to super-jump back. Another couple of ineffective partial hits is discouraging, but getting an Autobomb to shepherd an inkling to me for a splat is good.

My flicking is not as powerful as I expect at the moment. I need to practice that, so that my opponents don't get a chance to splat me back. It doesn't help in this battle, and almost compromises winning position. But the ingress of ketchup is not as bad as it looks on the map, and we win comfortably.

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Tags: carbon roller, console, musselforge fitness, splatfest, splatoon 2, switch, turf war

Lines of Mayonnaise in Splatfest [1849p, 5(2)-1, Firefin Splat Charger]

Mixing up the weapons a bit in the Splatfest, I'm trying out the Firefin Splat Charger. I'm not convinced the thirsy Splash Wall will help me out too much, but the Suction Bomb Launcher should be much better than the Sting Ray in turf wars. I start methodically, inking long straight lines like only a charger can.

My first Bomb Launcher isn't as effective is it could be, but I'm really out of practice. I also see the downfall of having the Splash Wall sub-weapon be different from the Special weapon, in that I rarely pay attention to when the Special meter runs dry, and lobbing a Splash Wall I didn't mean to is much more disrupting than another bomb.

Few, the Splash Wall really is thirsty. It's great protection, but less so when I need to recover ink almost immediately. I'll need to vastly improve my aim, so that one shot I have left hits its target, because few inklings will stand on the other side of the Splash Wall waiting to be splatted.

My shoddy aim lets me down again and again. It almost seems like I need to be much more accurate than anyone that splats me, but I'm sure that's not true. At least my squidmates are around to get the splats and keep me safe. We also seem to have an awful lot of turf, as I find myself aiming towards the Ketchup base. This is going well!

Another Suction Bomb Launcher, another Splash Wall I probably didn't want. It's a new weapon, I forget what the sub-weapon is. At least I get that shiny-headed inkling on the container this time. But we have been infiltrated. I track backwards, and get a hit on the troublesome inkling, but not quite a fully charged hit.

The Ketchup damage looks minimal. We're doing just fine. We stop a couple more inklings from trying to spread their ketchup, and I manage to get a couple of direct hits to keep our position strong. One last Bomb Launcher, and a few last shots here and there, and the battle is over.

Our Mayonnaise is everywhere. But one inkling sneaked past us, and looks to have launched a bunch of Curling Bombs. Good job, inkling. Even so, the victory is ours.

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Tags: console, firefin splat charger, port mackerel, splatfest, splatoon 2, switch, turf war

First battle with the Rapid Blaster in Tower Control [11(2)-7, Rapid Blaster]

I didn't use the Rapid Blaster much before, and my perception of it was soured by so many inklings stacking far too much Damage Up kit with it that I didn't care to try it more. But it's here and available fairly early, and with Damage Up gone I'm happy to give it a go. Its blasts aren't as strong as the Blaster, but it has a much bigger range. That's good and bad. It's good to hit from further away, but as you need the blast to explode, you have to be much more careful about staying at optimal range. This will be interesting.

As usual, my aim is tested and comes up short fairly often, but this is something I continue to work on. I'm also still struggling a little to move as freely as I'm used to without ink resistance, as I build up functional kit. As a minor aside, I like that the Tower's goal pad can now be fully inked, rather than be a permanent dry patch.

The different sub weapons definitely need some getting used to. It's not that I'm not aware of them and their uses, like the Ink Mine here, but more that switching between weapons often has my forgetting which sub weapon I currently have. I'll often try to lob a Splat Bomb and do something completely different. At least no one probably notices.

At least I can use the Rapid Blaster to ink turf quite efficiently, with its decent range extending to ink nice lines here and there. And when I get my range right, like at 2'18" or so, the blast can be quite effective. Double splat! The Hero Charger Replica still out-ranges me, though. My attempt to flank him almost works, but super-jumping inklings get in my way.

We're pushing the Tower quite well, getting to the second checkpoint occasionally, whilst maintaining a pretty good defence, and we keep up that pressure right to the end of the battle. The Tower sits at the second checkpoint, with the purple team trying to knock us off. But we stick around and keep control of the Tower, giving us the victory.

The Rapid Blaster is pretty interesting. I'll probably try to get good with it at some point.

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Tags: console, port mackerel, rapid blaster, splatoon 2, switch, tower control

Splat Zones get splatty [12(5)-3, Carbon Roller]

Heading down the side seems like a sensible move in the Academy, as long as not everyone does it. It lets me fling an Autobomb towards the green side, and roll up the side to the Splat Zones, with relative cover. Running in to another Roller almost ends with my being squished, but we both evade the other and approach from a different angle. I think my Carbon Roller flicked a bit quicker.

We capture the Splat Zones, and help to hold on to them for a bit, until I'm caught in a pincer movement. At least I splat one of them, and a squidmate avenges me moments after my splatting. I head back down the side, deeper this time, and bide my time with some flicks whilst everything looks a bit too clean. I move forwards under an Ink Storm, and manage to get the high turf to remove some of the inky pressure coming our way.

Getting two hits on that inkling without a splat is a little frustrating, but I do the sensible thing and back away instead of pushing forwards, which keeps me unsplatted, until the next time I push for a splat I shouldn't have. Turf changes from orange to green as I muddle my way up and down the central block, and just at the right time for me to get caught in the wrong colour. So it goes.

My squidmates do a good job of battling the green inklings as I return, flicking ink somewhat ineffectively from the side, which bolsters me to move to the centre. An Autobomb finds its mark, and I drop down too late for a splat, so instead ink orange ink over orange ink. My Ink Storm charges, though, and it would be a shame to waste it. I aim it towards the green base and let it fly.

More Autobombs from on high, and dropping down to miss a splat because my flick is vertical. I'm not quite sure what trigger the change in Roller orientation yet. Still, I head around the block in the opposite direction to the green inkling I missed, and get the splat, just as our counter hits zero. Nice finish! Woomy!

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Tags: carbon roller, console, inkblot art academy, splat zones, splatoon 2, switch

More eggs than we can handle in Salmon Run [14-24-17, 11/656]

More Salmon Run! I get to use the .52 Gal today. It's not really been a weapon I've used much, and I'm assuming it's your basic shooter. It pretty much easier, and just a bit slower than I'm used to or would choose. It certainly deals with the Stingers easily enough. The third Stinger gets revenge for the first two, though.

It's kinda messy all the way through, but we get to the end of the wave with plenty of golden eggs collected, and I get given the Splat Charger. Good choice! I'm tested immediately with a Steel Head, which I splat efficiently, but I have a bit more trouble with the Flyfish. My squidmates must be busy elsewhere, and not only does my second Splat Bomb miss the target but my jump puts me in a bad spot.

My squidmates catch up to me and deal with the Flyfish, and everything gets back on track. We're past quota already, taking some of the pressure off, and I find I have time to shoot a Drizzler's bullet back at it. That's nice and easy. We collect a few more golden eggs, I dodge a Flyfish's final blast, and we move on to the third wave.

Dualie Squelchers for me! I've not bought these yet, but they shoot quickly and have decent range. I can use these. It's low tide too, which makes the start of the wave easier to find. The Flyfish takes two attempts to take down, but it doesn't look like get another boss salmonid in that time, so all is mostly well, once we revive our squidmate.

Ah, two Scrappers have appeared. We stop them in their tracks, but trying to squid past them plops me in the drink. I'm revived to see a third Scrapper has turned up! But a squidmate wisely uses a Sting Ray to cut through their armour like a hot knife through butter, and a Drizzler who drops by, letting the rest of us throw Splat Bombs at the Flyfish.

Our boss-splatting efficiency is through the roof! It has really helped that they've all appeared in the same peninsula, and our main problem now is collecting all of the eggs. More salmonid bosses turn up, all on the same stretch of land, and we splat them away too. It's a shame that we simply can't collect the eggs quickly enough!

Maybe if the bosses had come from different directions we could have collected more eggs, but maybe we wouldn't have been as effective against the bosses to get so many eggs. Either way, the last haul is surprisingly low for how many bosses we splatted, but we still complete the run. That's worth shooting your gun in the air for a bit. Good job, crew!

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Tags: console, salmon run, spawning grounds, splatoon 2, switch

Covering the Splat Zones [10(3)-3, Carbon Roller]

I'm not yet sure if I want to be flicking or rolling to start a Splat Zones battle. Flicking lets me move quickly, but perhaps I don't want to be the first to the Splat Zones as a Carbon Roller, and would prefer laying down a wider trail of ink for me to use. Not that rolling guarantees me lasting more than a few seconds anyway.

I roll a new route, recover ink, and make a move. I think my squidmate's bucket has more influence, but I add what green ink I can to the Splat Zones and turf surrounding it, mostly dropping in to a support role. That's turned on its head when I make another circuit, and come under the gaze of an E-litre 4K. A squidmate super-jumping to me attracts the attention of the brush I bypassed too. I'm feeling vulnerable.

An Autobomb comes to my rescue, and the super-jumping ring distracts the brush. My squidmate even gets the splat on landing, so everything worked out rather well. Well, we've lost the Splat Zones, but I circle back and help out there, right up until I squid in to an Autobomb.

My return to the Splat Zones is cautious, but quite successful. I even manage to dislodge the E-litre 4K again with another Autobomb. Those little guys are really handy. I'm splatted away, but spy the E-litre 4K's new spot when I am, and head back to deal with him. A squidmate gets there first, but I'm in a good spot to support the Splat Zones.

The Splat Zones get a bit hairy, and I drop back to where the E-litre 4K is once again perched above us. I try to take some of the pressure off, even when more pressure is added to me, using everything in my arsenal. It works too, the little Autobomb forcing the E-litre 4K off his perch and in to my Roller. Nice!

One more run through the Splat Zones helps push an inkling in to a squidmate's grasp, and we keep them green for the few seconds more required to get the knockout victory. Woomy!

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Tags: carbon roller, console, splat zones, splatoon 2, switch, the reef

A few hits, but an ultimate miss in Rainmaker [11-5, Splat Charger]

Two good splats to start the battle. If only that Splat Bomb had rolled better, the second inkling may not have burst through the inksplosion of the first to splat me back. So it goes. The purple team grab the Rainmaker and, well, start raining ink on us. The explosions ink force us away, and a bomb or two fly in as well. I'm just happy to get a splat out of it, and do my best to cover the purple ink.

My Sting Ray doesn't push the purple team back, as my squidmates have already done that, but it helps us burst the Rainmaker free. We don't get far, sadly, and as I'm still picking kit to fill ability slots and not for utility, my lack of ink resistance means my own attempt to move the Rainmaker has me mired in purple ink.

At least I'm now aware of the second route to the podium and am not caught unawares. I think my Splat Bomb stops the push, but it catches an inkling not carrying the Rainmaker. Even a bit of careful aim doesn't stop the Rainmaker, a squidmate does, but I get three in a row after that. Nice! I grab the Rainmaker, not in its shield, obviously, and make a run with it. The path looks clear, but the Dapple Dualies seem to come out of nowhere.

With so much purple ink, and not being too effective by myself, I hold back on my return to try to hinder the purple team's next advance. This has the happy effect of charging my Sting Ray, right when I am in a good position to hold a channel. I get a splat, but not the Rainmaker, and the purple ink floods our way, helped along with bursts from the Rainmaker itself.

A couple of Splat Bombs stops the Rainmaker, but the N-ZAP '85 gets past my defences, and inks all the way to the podium. A squidmate covers that up immediately, but it's a foreboding sight. At least bursting the Rainmaker free sends green ink everywhere, but we still don't get far with it. If my aim were a bit steadier, perhaps we'd have more of a chance. Still, third time lucky.

I try to add some defensive support, but a Splat Bomb bounced off our wall doesn't do what I planned. And when the Rainmaker comes back our way, what I don't need amongst its explosions are some Tenta Missiles coming my way. I am pushed right back to the podium, and although I can't really rely on my aim, it's probably still a mistake to pull out the Sting Ray when under such immediate pressure.

My squidmates stop the Rainmaker at the foot of the podium, but not the rest of the purple inklings. They stick around with enough firepower to burst the Rainmaker quickly and finish the job. Good battle, purple team.

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Tags: console, humpback pump track, rainmaker, splat charger, splatoon 2, switch

Losing track of the Rainmaker [8(2)-5, Splat Charger]

We're on the back foot early in the battle. My Splat Bombs hit nothing, and my aim is as shoddy as always, so no surprise it's my squidmates stopping the Rainmaker, at least for long enough for me to roll a much better Splat Bomb in to the mess. We recover the Rainmaker and my squidmate makes a dash with it, heading away from the blue team, but only until they realise the lay of the turf makes them turn back. The routes here are new to me too.

I lose sight of my squidmate, and then the Rainmaker entirely. I try to add some supporting ink to whatever I'm doing, but it's a bit of a guess, as I don't really know where anyone is. But they'll probably come back through the centre of the Track. Hey, there goes the Rainmaker! I'll help it along. The blue ink starts flying in, stopping our push, and I pull out my Sting Ray just a bit too late to be effective.

The blue team find a second route to the podium, which my squidmates are thankfully wise to, and we trade possession again. And with most of both teams out of the way, I burst the Rainmaker and grab it, making my own little dash. I blast a path ahead, and even though it gets covered by blue ink pretty quickly, my only aim is to take the lead. Rather than blast a new path, I puddle hop, and achieve my goal of sneaking in to the lead.

I almost do more than simply take the lead, and a patch of yellow ink on the podium makes me believe for a second that I'm about to dunk the Rainmaker, but the blue ink catches up with me. No matter, the pressure's now on the blue team. I don't quite catch up with the change in ownership of the Rainmaker, neither does my Sting Ray burst the dropped Rainmaker, but our position remains positive.

I am assertive in my defence as the blue team push again, but the Carbon Roller is more assertive. And quicker. And more accurate. Thankfully so are my squidmates, and although the blue team increase their score, the increase is only slight. My squidmates grab the Rainmaker and move it away from our podium again. My ink-rail mastery needs more work, though.

As time runs out, my Sting Ray comes in useful at last, although the blue team just about stretch the battle in to extra time. They grab the Rainmaker and make a dash, but out come the big guns, and an Ink Jet splats the battle to an end. My charging always needs more practice, but I'm quite pleased with my little Rainmaker run.

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Tags: console, humpback pump track, rainmaker, splat charger, splatoon 2, switch

This way and that in Rainmaker [17(7)-12, Blaster]

We come out on top of the initial fracas over the Rainmaker, but not me personally, and I super-jump back to support our first push. The Rainmaker is lost, re-exposed, and I grab it to make a dash. I'm not yet away of that short-cut on the ledge to jump right on to the podium, which I personally think is a bit of a flaw in the design of the Mainstage for Rainmaker, offering little chance of a last-ditch defence. Either way, I don't get far.

It looks like a squidmate knows about the shortcut and makes a jump for it, but is stopped in mid-air. Sure, that makes it seem like you can defend that jump, but I would suggest it's much more difficult than requiring a turf route to the podium. Anyway, the yellow team have their work cut out for them, but they certainly seem motivated to try! Indeed, on their second push, they exceed our lead, as my blast flies past the Rainmaker. So it goes.

As my squidmates take the Rainmaker back the other way, I do some cleaning up. We can't have the yellow team sauntering right back through their ink. It maybe helps a little, but I really want to have a look at that Flingza Roller. Dumb name, but it seems neat. And I suppose my previous inking does slow down the yellow team a bit, and this time I get my blasts working to splat away the yellow push.

A squidmate takes the Rainmaker back across the Mainstage again, and I am almost there as support. I get in to a tight spot, where my Blaster won't help me, surrounded by a few inklings, which is when I remember my Splashdown. That does the trick of clearing a couple of inklings away from me, but not all of them. I risk super-jumping back, which lands me safely, but not hitting the Splash-o-matic given a couple of opportunities costs me a splatting.

Another couple of outings don't get me far, although I stop the Rainmaker once more. But time is running out, and the yellow team have a pretty solid defence. We end up throwing our little inky bodies at the Rainmaker, but it's for naught. At least my squidmates are in good spirits, knowing that we put up a good fight.

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Tags: blaster, console, rainmaker, splatoon 2, starfish mainstage, switch