Splatoon 3: The 10 Best Special Weapons

Special weapons are labeled "special" in Splatoon 3 for a reason. They can be crucial in a Turf War or Ranked Match when used correctly. Selecting the right main weapon and sub weapon is important, but you need to keep in mind which special weapon comes with the main weapon you prefer.

A great special weapon is worth taking a slightly less-preferred main weapon. Any longtime player of Splatoon 2 will tell you the Tenta Missiles special weapon easily made the list of the five best weapons; they were spammable, targeted all enemies (even if hidden), were hard to dodge, and did significant damage. Below are the best special weapons in Splatoon 3.

10 Reefslider

This summons an inflatable shark that you ride across the battlefield. The shark moves incredibly fast and will even go up inclines. The path the shark takes is shown to all players via two ink trails that form a track of sorts. There is very little delay between the shark activating and when it begins moving. This gives opponents very little time to react.

When the shark reaches the end of the track it explodes. This is a large explosion that splats all enemies caught within the radius and inks the ground. The shark can be detonated early, which is useful if an opponent wanders into the area after the Reefslider is activated.

9 Ink Vac

This special weapon is almost mandatory in Turf Wars and Ranked Matches. The Ink Vac is a support weapon that draws in all enemy ink that gets close to the whirlwind it creates. This whirlwind has good range, and slows the run speed of opponents caught within. The Ink Vac doesn't affect the weapons of teammates, though.

The Ink Vac/Splatling combo with two teammates can make a serious push into enemy territory. Best of all, when this special's time limit expires, it shoots a large ball of ink.

8 Wave Breaker

This special creates a machine you can place on the battlefield. After being placed, the Wave Breaker sends out three sonar-like waves across the ground consecutively. Enemies hit by these waves takes damage; however, they can jump over the waves to avoid the damage. Forcing the enemy to jump hinders their mobility and makes them easier targets.

The Wave Breaker also highlights opponents with gray squids. This is great for revealing ink campers and marking possible targets for teammates to attack. The machine can be destroyed by opponents to end its three-wave cycle early.

7 Inkjet

This special weapon has changed a lot since Splatoon 2, and not for the better. This was in most expert players' S-tier when ranking special weapons. Even with the downgrade, the Inkjet is still in the top ten special weapons. For starters, the jetpack uses ink for propulsion that covers the ground and splats enemies if they're caught in the jet-stream. The aerial view is perfect for doing a little reconnaissance as well.

The inkjet comes with a weapon, too. The Inkjet can also shoot exploding ink blasts a pretty good distance. This special will be most useful for destroying opponents' Big Bubblers. Be aware that when the Inkjet expires, you super jump back to the spot you were when activating the Inkjet. This can make you vulnerable to ambushes.

6 Tacticooler

The Tacticooler places a cooler on the battlefield that dispenses an energy drink to you and your teammates. These provide a long list of bonus abilities. These extra abilities heighten the team's combat abilities, and include:

• Ink Resistance UP
• Intensify Action
• Quick Respawn
• Quick Super Jump
• Run Speed Up
• Special Saver
• Swim Speed Up

These abilities remain active until you're splatted, at which time they expire. This special will be great for pushes into enemy territory, but also telegraphs the general area where a push will occur. The ground around the cooler is immune to being covered with enemy ink. Even though it has four energy drinks, each teammate can only receive one.

5 Trizooka

The Trizooka is an ink bazooka that fires three shots, and each shot consists of three ink projectiles. This is probably the simplest special weapon in Splatoon 3. It gives you a large cannon that outclasses any of the main or sub weapons, but only gives you three shots.

The three projectiles per shot rotate around each other as they fly across the battlefield. Their trajectory is more or less a straight line, but there is a bit of an arc as well. The projectiles cover the impact zone with a lot of ink and will splat any enemies in the area. The Trizooka is easy to use and quite effective.

4 Ultra Stamp

This is one of the special weapons from Splatoon 2 that made the cut into Splatoon 3, much to the delight of players. The Ultra Stamp gives you a gigantic toy mallet that can be used in three ways. The first, and most obvious, use is to run around the battlefield smashing enemies. The speed with which the mallet can be used, and the large area it covers, can splat multiple enemies in seconds.

The mallet also inks the ground wherever it strikes. Again, the speed of the strikes and large surface area allows you to ink a large area in no time. The mallet can also be thrown as well.

3 Crab Tank

This special summons a small crab tank. Just like real-life crabs, the tank can move swiftly to the left and right, but is somewhat slower when moving forward and backwards. Alternatively, the tank can also roll across the battlefield as a ball — similar to Samus in the Metroid games.

The tank comes with two powerful weapons. The first is a cannon that fires ink blasts that function like Burst Bombs. The second weapon is a rapid-firing dual cannon, similar to the dualies main weapon type. The rate of fire increases the longer the trigger is held. This special is going to be a familiar sight during multiplayer matches.

2 Triple Inkstrike

This is another of the special weapon introduced to the series in Splatoon 3. The Triple Inkstrike, like the Trizooka, gives you three projectiles to attack enemies. You have three balls you can throw and a backpack with three missiles. When you throw one of the balls, a missile is launched and strikes wherever the ball hits.

When a missile hits the target, it creates a tall column of ink that swirls around for about two seconds; these columns splat enemies and cover the area with ink. The Triple Inkstrike can be spammed to create a near continuous barrage in a strategic area.

1 Big Bubbler

This is a support special weapon, but will undoubtedly earn a reputation as the most powerful in the game. The Big Bubbler lets you place a device on the ground that creates a spherical force field. This field protects against enemy ink, while allowing you (and your teammates) to fire your weapon out of the field.

The only vulnerable area is on the top of the force field. The enemy can enter the field without taking damage and destroy the device to bring down the force field, but this is not going to be easy, as they will probably have one or more players shooting ink at them when they attempt this.

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