Splatoon‘s first balance patch for 2023 is set to release later this evening. This patch includes changes to multiplayer, bug fixes to player controls, Salmon Run, and the campaign.
The biggest change featured in the patch centers around Ninja Squid, a gear ability that allows players to swim in their ink without leaving a trail at the cost of a max speed decrease. The ability has seen large use in casual and competitive play, with the biggest Splatoon 3 tournament of 2022, The Big House, having five out of eight players in the finals using Ninja Squid. Starburst, the champion team, had three players using the ability on all three maps.
Ninja Squid is valued for its versatility in any situation, from flanking unsuspecting players to dipping in and out of fights at rapid speeds without fear of being tracked. The max speed drawback was easily mitigated by inserting Swim Speed Up ability chunks to the rest of a player’s loadout, allowing for full-speed sneak attacks.
With the new changes to how Ninja Squid works, Swim Speed Up will not have the same effect of countering the negative speed penalty, as Ninja Squid now will have a fixed deceased swim speed amount.
Reception to the patch has been mixed, with notable community figures and competitive players speaking out. Some professionals, like ProChara of Last Resort, see the change as positive, allowing for increased meta diversity with the patch.
Nintendo is seeking to change how close-range fights operate with Ninja Squid, while keeping its intended use of sneaking up on enemies from long range. By changing the ability so it has clear positive and negative trade-offs, Ninja Squid will now have a clearly defined role, rather than being a must-have ability.
The other major changes include the increases and decreases to special charge time for many primary weapons, with many shooters receiving buffs. These changes will enable rapid special usage, as four weapons received notable changes. The biggest changes include Tacticooler, which receives quality-of-life updates concerning Respawn Punisher, and Crab Tank, where the overall duration is adjusted to be longer with Special Power Up, and shorter without the ability.
Splatoon Patch 2.1.0 Jan. 17 patch notes
Main Weapon
Aerospray MG / Aerospray RG
- The size of terrain area inked by falling spray has been increased by about 10%.
Jet Squelcher
- Reduced blur when firing on land by 17%.
Splattershot Nova
- The size of terrain area inked by shots has been increased by about 19%.
Dynamo Roller
- The damage-rate reduction caused by distance has been adjusted. You can now cause 50.0 damage / 100.0 damage from farther away than before.
Big Swig Roller
- The minimum damage from horizontal slashes has increased from 30.0 to 35.0.
Bamboozler 14 Mk I
- Reduced ink consumption by about 17%.
Nautilus 47
- Increased firing duration by about 15%.
Sloshing Machine
- Increased ink consumption by about 10%.
Sub Weapon
Angle Shooter
- Damage has been increased from 30.0 to 35.0.
- The radius of ink coverage when striking terrain or opponents has been roughly doubled.
Special Weapon
Tacticooler
- Tacticooler’s Quick Respawn and Special Saver will no longer be negated by gear abilities Respawn Punisher and Haunt.
- Respawn Punisher and Haunt effects (increase in respawn time and increase in amount of special gauge lost) will still occur.
Reefslider
- Adjusted the amount of time for the invulnerability window, which occurs after exploding until you are able to move, to about 28/60 of a second.
Triple Inkstrike
- Increased the radius of the area damaged by about 10%.
- Increased damage inflicted by about 50%.
Crab Tank
- Shortened the duration of the Crab Tank when not using the Special Power Up gear ability from about 9 seconds to about 8 seconds.
- Increased the extension rate of the duration of the Crab Tank when using the Special Power Up gear ability.
- As a result of these changes, the duration of the Crab Tank when maximizing use of the Special Power Up gear ability remains the same as before.
Point Requirements
Splattershot / Hero Shot Replica
- Reduced point requirement for weapon special from 200 to 190.
.52 Gal
- Reduced point requirement for weapon special from 200 to 190.
.96 Gal
- Reduced point requirement for weapon special from 200 to 190.
Splattershot Pro
- Reduced point requirement for weapon special from 190 to 180.
Splattershot Nova
- Reduced point requirement for weapon special from 200 to 190.
Splat Dualies
- Reduced point requirement for weapon special from 200 to 190.
Custom Splattershot Jr.
- Increased point requirement for weapon special from 180 to 190.
Sloshing Machine
- Increased point requirement for weapon special from 210 to 220.
Splatana Wiper
- Increased point requirement for weapon special from 180 to 190.
Developer Comments: We reduced the amount needed to fill special gauges for some weapons and within that group strengthened some frequently used short-range weapons to increase player options.
We increased the amount needed to fill special gauges for some weapons and within that group curtailed somewhat the tactic of using sub weapons and special weapons to attack from a distance.
We also made some adjustments to increase the manifestation of special weapons.
Gear Ability
Ninja Squid
- Ink splash will no longer be invisible for 30/60 of a second immediately after transforming into kid form.
- Using the gear ability Swim Speed Up at the same time will no longer result in one of these abilities being canceled.
- While using Ninja Squid, swim speed will continue to be reduced by a fixed amount.
Developer Comments: A lot of the adjustments to main weapons were made to lessen the impact on some of the weapons from Splatoon 2 where the increased performance of the gear ability was negated in Splatoon 3.
Regarding changes to Ninja Squid, while mitigating the issue where players would lose sight of each other when shooting at each other from a relatively short distance, we’re also intentionally maintaining the way to approach opponents with longer ranges.
To see the full patch notes visit the official Nintendo of America website.
