Splatoon 2 Patch Rebalances Weapons Ahead of the Splatfest

A new Splatoon 2 patch has arrived ahead of the August 21, 2020 chicken vs. egg Splatfest. There’s nothing new or exciting added this time, though. Rather, this one is all about rebalancing. If you use a brella, dualies, or shooter sort of weapon, you might want to double check if one has been adjusted.

Here’s the full list of patch notes from Nintendo for Splatoon 2 patch 5.3.0:

Splattershot, Tentatek Splattershot, Kensa Splattershot, Hero Shot Replica, Octo Shot Replica

• Reduced the amount of time it takes for shot spread (which is the gradual distance shots spread away from the target when firing continuously) to return to normal.
  • Most Shooter-type weapons will have increased shot spread if you continuously fire.
  • When you stop firing, the shot spread gradually returns to normal, but with this fix, we’ve reduced the amount of time it takes to return.

.52 Gal, .52 Gal Deco, Kensa .52 Gal

• Extended the amount of time when firing continuously until shot spread reaches its max.
• Reduced the amount of time it takes for shot spread to return to normal.
  • Most Shooter-type weapons will have increased shot spread if you continuously fire.
  • When you stop firing, the shot spread gradually returns to normal, but with this fix, we’ve reduced the amount of time it takes to return.

Bamboozler 14 MK I, Bamboozler 14 MK II, Bamboozler 14 MK III

• Increased ink consumption by roughly 20%.

Dualie Squelchers, Custom Dualie Squelchers

• Increased the ink consumed by rolling from 5% to 8% of the Ink Tank.
• Very slightly decreased the size of hit detection between normal shots and players, making it harder to hit opponents.
  • There are no changes to hit detection between players and shots after rolling.

Splat Brella, Sorella Brella, Hero Brella Replica

• Decreased damage dealt by each ink droplet from 18.0 to 16.2.
  • Due to this change, the maximum damage dealt by a single shot has gone down from 90.0 to 81.0.

As a result of closely observing the changes in weapon choice after ver. 5.2.0 was released, we made adjustments to certain weapons that were still being used often or were often used by players of the highest rank, even after the changes in weapon choice evened out.

We’ve also made adjustments to improve those weapons that players started using a lot more often (and those with similar features) to give players more options.

We plan to perform a long-term analysis after this update is applied and make adjustments based on that.

Splatoon 2 is available for the Nintendo Switch. The chicken vs. egg Splatfest will be held on August 21, 2020.