Competitive:Splattershot Nova
- For information about the Splattershot Nova, see Splattershot Nova.
Splatoon 3
| Abbreviations | Nova |
| Sub |  Point Sensor
|
| Special |  Killer Wail 5.1
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| Base damage | 24 |
| Ink consumption | 0.959% |
| Special points | 190p |
| Role | Support |
| Strengths | Range, turfing, mobility, strong enemy locator kit |
| Weaknesses | Terrible in up-close encounters, damage, lack of lethal bomb, accuracy |
Splattershot Nova is an all-new middleweight Shooter produced by Splat. The weapon's range itself is nearly on par with its older cousin, the Splattershot Pro, but with better mobility when firing and painting in exchange for less accuracy and damage.
Use
The Nova's main goal as a weapon is to provide support fire to frontlining teammates with its tiny bits of chip damage.
- The main advantage of Nova is its superior range to most weapons.
- Distancing yourself is the aim of the game and to be evasive in order to not get splatted when your teammates need you.
- Thanks to its fast fire rate, it has an advantage in Rainmaker.
- The Splattershot Nova can destroy the Rainmaker shield alone in 42 shots, and with Object Shredder, it would take 38 hits, allowing it to help deal more damage.
- Its Point Sensor allows the weapon to locate players in the opposition for your entire team to locate, as well as Killer Wail 5.1 giving support fire and extra chip damage to the opposition.
- If an enemy is evading the Killer Wails, the wail's tracking can give a general location of the enemy to your teammates.
- The Splattershot Nova is a strong counter to enemies that use Ninja Squid, with both its sub and special being able to locate them.
- The Splattershot Nova also has some downsides:
- Because of the weapons low accuracy, the player may struggle to get kills when fighting at range.
- The Nova has very low damage combined with a fire rate that's only average, many weapons can easily overpower it if they get in close.
- The speed in which they fire does better as chip damage up close, providing an assist for teammates.
- Killer Wail 5.1 isn't the most accurate special and is easily avoidable.
- The Nova might be a spiritual successor to the Dual Squelcher, but it has even worse damage than said Squelecher.
- Longer-ranged anchors can overpower it from a distance as long as the Nova user and their teammates don't engage them first.
Killer Wail 5.1 provides the Splattershot Nova with extra chip damage to help it engage with opponents, either itself or its teammates for a short duration
- While the wails are active, they'll home in onto targeted opponents by the user
- In that time, Nova can successfully rush forwards and help deal more damage on its own.
- Yet still, the Killer Wail 5.1 is fairly easy to dodge by opponents, and firing as normal is a good strategy.
- Think of Killer Wail 5.1 as more of a displacement special like Tenta Missiles.
Synergy
While one user of a short-ranged weapon such as the N-ZAP '85 might get away with a lack of range, having too many short-ranged weapons on a team without a longer-ranged weapon like Nova to provide support fire is often disadvantageous for several reasons:[1]
- An opponent with a short-ranged slayer weapon like Sloshing Machine or more accurate short-ranged shooters can more aggressively position themselves to provide the killing necessary when paired with the Nova.
- The opposing slayers can play more aggressively, knowing that there is no long-ranged threat to pick them off from afar.
- Having a painter for your team such as an N-ZAP, Splash-o-matic or any spray shooter or weapon with outstanding paint can aid the Nova and other immobile, bad painting weapons on a team.
- Some good weapons that can help other than the two listed are Custom Splattershot Jr., as Torpedo and Wave Breaker are two great chip damage subs and specials that even if the main slayer isn't focused, the extra damage from said sub and special can help finish opponents off.
- Any weapon with Booyah Bomb or Triple Inkstrike like Aerospray RG and Sloshing Machine for examples with Booyah Bomb and Tentatek Splattershot and Slosher for examples with Triple Inkstrike can give chip damage if opponents are caught in their radii.
The Splattershot Nova's lack of lethal bombs can also be a liability to a team composition. Lethal bombs – particularly either Splat or Suction Bombs – provide their user's team a couple advantages over another team that has no lethal bombs in its composition:[1]
- Their one-hit-splat offers its user's team chances of instantly gaining a numbers advantage, from which a game-winning push can arise.
- Their lethal explosion provides space for its user's team to either push into an area held by the opponent or stall an opponent's push.
- Despite this, Splattershot Nova is good with Point Sensor as it's mainly a support special.
Other specials like Big Bubbler can bolster a team's ability to either make a push or counter the opponent's push:
- Big Bubbler and other protective special weapons, such as Ink Vac and even Crab Tank to tank up hits and provide support fire, can increase the survivability of a team as they push into contested territory.
Countermeasures
- Matchups between Splattershot Nova users on opposing teams are determined by each player's skill, positioning, turf control, and the presence of any teammates.
- Any weapon that has a combination of longer range, better accuracy, or higher damage output without sacrificing too much mobility can counter the Nova. For example, both the Squeezer and Jet Squelcher and their respective variants meet all of these requirements.
- Users of long-ranged weapons, such as chargers and other splatlings, outrange an opposing Splattershot Nova user and can fire upon them with impunity.
- Weapons that track opponents, such as Point Sensors, temporarily prevent an opponent from sharking and make them an easier target for long-ranged teammates to pick off.
- When pursued by a Nova, using almost any sub weapon (except for Squid Beakons) can either delay their pursuit or deter them from turfing or chasing.
- When facing an opposing Killer Wail, assess where is a safe place to either reroute an attack or reposition on defense:
- In general, get near the opponent with the Nova as its low accuracy could mean either a trade or killing one or the other players, and removing the spawning of more Killer Wails if you're early enough.
- Even while avoiding an opponent's Killer Wail, it is still possible to turf or otherwise influence the area underneath. Long-ranged weapons, thrown sub weapons, and other special weapons (such as a Trizooka or Crab Tank) can splat opponents or dissuade them from occupying themselves with splatting teammates.
Gear abilities
Gear abilities provide different effects in battle that benefit the player with their equipped weapon. This is a guide to gear abilities in relation to the weapon. Strategy, synergy, viability, and purpose may be written here.
Sub Resistance Up will not only reduce the damage taken from opposing sub weapons that isn't a one-hit-splat, but will also reduce the duration of the tracking effects of sub weapons such as Point Sensors and Ink Mines, allowing the user of this ability to evade detection more easily.
- 3 ability points - just one sub - has a lot of utility and therefore could be run on any weapon.
- Getting hit by splash damage from a bomb will not make the user visible on the map.
- Getting hit by splash damage from a bomb will no longer be a lethal combo with weapons that do 35 or 70 damage.
- The duration of an enemy Point Sensor will be decreased by more than one second just with one sub of Sub Resistance Up alone.
Using Quick Super Jump can allow a Splattershot Nova user to more easily retreat to their spawn point from a losing battle.
- 3 ability points - just one sub - decreases the Super Jump time from 1.33 seconds to 0.97 seconds.
Every player is expected to come in contact with the opponent's ink on various surfaces, which can both be damaging and reduce mobility. Ink Resistance Up not only partially offsets the reduction in mobility but also delays the damage taken from contact with opposing ink:
| Ability points |
Mains | Subs | Invulnera- bility time (frames) |
Rate of damage (HP/f) |
Maximum damage (HP) |
Run speed in opposing ink (DU/f) |
Jump height in opposing ink |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.3 | 40.0 | 0.24 | 0.800 |
| 3 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 0.2 | 38.0 | 0.33 | 0.854 |
| 6 | 0 | 2 | 15 | 0.2 | 36.2 | 0.39 | 0.888 |
The Splattershot Nova isn't an ink-hungry weapon, but Last-Ditch Effort can still be very useful for it. When equipped, the ability grants up to 24 ability points of three different stackable abilities for the last 30 seconds of a match, or if the enemy team's ranked counter is at 50 or below. These abilities include:
These abilities can come in handy for a Splattershot Nova user, allowing them to fire for longer periods of time without running out of ink, and save more ink for the main weapon when throwing multiple Point Sensors.
Thermal Ink is a fairly good option, as the Splattershot Nova is a longer-ranged shooter that will often land shots on opponents without Splatting them. Thermal Ink allows the user to locate players through walls, thus allowing them to better aim Point Sensors to reveal their location to the rest of their team.
Super Jumping to a teammate after respawning carries the risk of getting splatted upon landing, due to the appearance of a Super Jump indicator. When equipped, Stealth Jump better covers this indicator from long-distance opponents, allowing its user to more safely return to the front lines and maintain pressure on the opponent. It's not a bad choice, but a Splattershot Nova user likely won't be jumping back in as much as a more aggressive shooter.
Run Speed Up can improve a Splattershot Nova's strafing speed, helping it dodge enemy attacks when fighting, or disengaging from a fight. The ability can come in handy for helping its user zone out shorter-ranged opponents as well. It's an obvious excellent choice for the weapon.
As a support weapon, the Splattershot Nova greatly benefits if it is able to swim faster. Swim Speed Up enables its user to more quickly close the distance towards an opponent, more quickly respond to an opponent's push, or even escape unfavorable situations.
- 6 ability points - two subs - increase the swim speed from 1.92 DU/f to 2.01 DU/f, which is roughly the same default swimming speed for lightweight weapons.
- 16 ability points – one main and two subs – increase the swim speed from 1.92 DU/f to 2.14 DU/f.
Mostly useful in Rainmaker, this ability helps a Splattershot Nova user to destroy objects such as the Rainmaker barrier, Crab Tanks, and Wave Breakers. This ability is particularly useful at helping the Splattershot Nova break weak objects like Sprinklers and Squid Beakons, (which just so happen to be most popular in Rainamker,) as it struggles to do so without due to its low damage. It's not the best ability for the weapon, but it certainly has its uses.
Intensify Action is great for increasing a Splattershot Nova user's mobility in fights, as it increases the accuracy of shots fired in mid-air, allowing the player to jump without being guaranteed to miss a majority of their shots.
- Normally, without any Intensify Action, Splattershot Nova's jump accuracy is 12°
- 3 ability points – just one sub - decreases Squid Surge charge time to 35 frames, and decreases shot spread while jumping to 9.73°
- 13 ability points – one main and one sub - decreases Squid Surge charge time to 22 frames, and decreases shot spread while jumping to 7.97°
Always a good choice, Special Charge Up allows a Splattershot Nova user to provide more killer wails with which to support their team.
- 10 ability points – just one main - decreases effective points for special from 190 to 175.
- 16 ability points – one main and two subs - decreases effective points for special to 168p.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1
"Splatoon 2 - What is a good team comp? (TOP 6 mistakes)" by Sendou, formerly of Team Olive
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