It is July
21st, 2017 and Splatoon 2 is now officially out! Nintendo’s highly
anticipated sequel to their hit, 2015 shooter landed on retail shelves and the
eshop this morning, much to the delight of fans all over the world. Whether you
are a returning veteran from Splatoon 1 and just need to freshen up, or a new
player who never got experience the original, I’m sure a lot of players are
going to find themselves rusty or inexperienced when jumping into an online
battle. Well don’t worry, because I have taken five tips from Splatoon 1 that
still apply to Splatoon 2 in order to help us all be prepared to splat our
opponents!
·
Try out different weapons
It is incredibly vital to try out every weapon type and new
weapon that you unlock at least once. This doesn’t necessarily mean that you
need to take every single weapon into an online battle with you, as traveling
to the game’s shooting/practice range should suffice. Every weapon type acts
very differently from one another, each having their own strengths and
weaknesses that will be better for specific maps, modes, and play styles. For
example, rollers are incredibly powerful and put down a lot of ink, but have
short range, therefore making them good for players who like to hang back and
cover a lot of turf, or players who like to play up close and personal in order
to smack down a wave of ink on their opponents. Chargers, on the other hand,
cover very little turf at a time and have a slow fire rate, but have great
range and damage. This makes chargers great for offensive minded players who
still like to hang back and stay out of the thick of things. Players who choose
chargers can find high ground and take out opponents from afar, or even create
a straight trail of ink for their teammates to swim through in order to infiltrate
enemy territory. Play around with every weapon type and find what best suits
your play style, and don’t forget to mix and match depending on the map or game
mode!
·
Play through the story (Hero Mode) to
sharpen your skills
Like with any good multiplayer game, there are two very
important ways to sharpen your skills and improve your play. Play a lot and
play through the story. Since this is a list for launch day and no one has had
the chance to play a lot yet, we will cover the latter. The original Splatoon’s
story campaign was designed in a way to give players an interesting and fun
single-player experience, but was also intended to teach basic game mechanics,
like jumping and sneaking up on enemies. However, fine-tuned skills were also
taught by playing through the story, like precise and quick aiming. The same is
also true for Splatoon 2’s hero mode, and to an even greater extent. Splatoon 1
locked players into using just 1 weapon for story mode. Splatoon 2, however,
allows players to choose from a variety of weapon types for every level of the
story mode. This allows players to not only develop their skills, but weapon
specific skills as well. Therefore, players have no greater training option for
Splatoon 2 than playing through the games awesome Hero Mode!
·
Clothing options are for more than
just style
One of the best and most interesting mechanics in the
original Splatoon was the ability to customize the apparel of your character
which also granted specific abilities based on the clothing items worn. Unfortunately,
there are too many different abilities to go into in this post, and Splatoon 2
adds even more of these customizable clothing/ability options. However, it is crucial
to experiment with different clothing items/abilities in order to best suit
your own playstyle or preferences. There are abilities for so many different
things, such as roll-dodging after a super jump, conserving the amount of ink
used, movement speed, etc… Experimentation is crucial in learning your ability
preferences. Have a favorite outfit, but the abilities of your outfit are not
what you prefer? Don’t worry, this is customizable in Splatoon 2 as well! Clothing
really is key in Splatoon!
·
Don’t play every game mode the same
way
When the original Splatoon launched, the game was pretty bare
bones. There wasn’t much in the way of variety, especially in game modes.
However, Nintendo supported Splatoon long after launch, giving the game much
needed depth. All of this added depth is returning in Splatoon 2, and that
includes all of the game modes. The primary game modes for online are: turf
war, splat zones, rainmaker, and tower control. Each game mode is very unique,
requiring very different strategies. Therefore, if you approach every game mode
the same, then you are holding your team and your own potential back. For
example, in turf war, you may want to use a roller to hang back and efficiently
cover every inch of turf you can with ink. However, if you do this during splat
zones, then you are wasting your time. In splat zones, the objective is to
control a certain area of the map, therefore the turf far outside of the designated
splat zone is not nearly as important as the area within and immediately around
the splat zone. You have to be aware of the rules of each game mode and play to
your strengths specifically designated for that mode.
·
Experiment with your control setup
In Splatoon 2, there are two very obvious control differences,
motion controlled aiming, and traditional stick controls. This is the obvious
decision that you have to make first. Which do you honestly prefer? Don’t be in
such a hurry to throw out the idea of motion controls just because of the “casual”
stigma surrounding them. On the other hand, however, don’t feel locked into
motion controls just because it is the way that Nintendo intended for the game
to be played. Experiment with both, and see what you prefer. I personally
prefer traditional controls, but there are also very talented Splatoon players
that swear by motion controls. The choice is ultimately up to you. There are also
other control decisions that have to be made and fine-tuned. What controller
will you use? Joy-con or pro controller? You can also adjust specific control
settings, such as look sensitivity and inverted controls. Once again,
experimentation is key, so feel free to mess around in your options menu and
see what works best for you!
There you
have it! Five simple tips to immediately help you improve your game in Splatoon
2. All of these tips were taken from what I personally found helpful from my
time with the original Splatoon, but they can, and should, be applied to the
sequel as well! Implement these five tips into your gameplay arsenal, and you
will be sure to have the jump on many of your inexperienced, rusty, or less
informed opponents! As always, most importantly, have fun!
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