.52 Gal

The .52 Gal is a Shooter in Splatoon. It is a slow but powerful weapon with decent range.

Description
The .52 Gal comes in a set with the Splash Wall and Killer Wail. Each shot uses a large amount of ink, so it packs a serious punch. Since it has a low rate of fire, careful aiming is required in order to hit opponents. "A high-powered Weapon that pumps out a lot of ink with each shot. It doesn't take many shots to splat an opponent, which is a good thing given its rather slow rate of fire."

- In-Game Description❌

"A high-powered weapon that pumps out a lot of ink with each shot. Doesn't take many shots to splat an opponent, which is a good thing given the rather slow rate of fire."

- In-Game Description

"This is the .52 Gal shooter. Each shot uses a LOT of ink, so it packs a serious punch. It has a low rate of fire, but if you aim carefully you can splat your foes before they know what hit ‘em."

- Live from the Squid Research Lab

Demonstration
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlSUyq3e_X0

Competitive Viability
This weapon is GOOD. The weapon only needs two hits to get a kill, which is amazing for a shooter, and it has a strong enough range so that it does not have problems killing. It kills and it kills fast, despite the weak fire rate. Perhaps the biggest reason why it is so strong is the Splash Wall sub. The sub allows for .52 players to do a lot more safely and efficiently, and keeps them in good shape to effectively hold solid map control. Killing a .52 with a splash wall is hard. .52's were a lot more common before the multiple nerfs to the wall, which now has lead to more Tentatek Splattershot users, but the .52 is still a solid choice along with the Tentatek as the best shooters in the game.

Compared to other shooters with similar range, the has a low rate of fire and slightly low mobility, leaving the user vulnerable to enemies carrying weapons with high movement speed. Having Run Speed Up will boost mobility and make moving a lot easier.

Since the Splash Wall consumes a lot of ink, having the Ink Saver (Main) ability allows the user to fire more shots after deploying a Splash Wall.

Ink Recovery Up is also quite useful- the faster ink fills in the ink tank when in squid form, the quicker the can shoot and use a Splash Wall.

Since the is a slow weapon and can be taken down to a 3 shot kill with only a small amount of Defense Up, you may not have time for a third shot unless you have Damage Up to counter it. Damage Up can also help with falloff damage, if your first shot lands when your opponent is not quite within the weapon's effective range.

Because of the 's slower strafing speed and rate of fire, it can be useful to swim in between shots instead of firing continuously. Swim Speed Up will allow you to do this faster and not get splatted while swimming.

Trivia

 * The .52 Gal's name may be a reference to its base damage per shot of 52. The .96 Gal's damage per shot is not 96, however.
 * The .52 Gal was originally called the "5.2 Gallon" came with the Inkstrike instead of the Killer Wail. This can be seen in an image from before Splatoon's release.

Name Origin
.52 Gal is short for .52 Gallon. "Gal" is also a play on Cal, short form of Caliber, a term commonly used when describing the diameter of bullets for fire-arms.

.52ガロン .52 Garon has the same origin as the English name, but without Gallon shortened to Gal.