Rainmaker (weapon)

For the shield that must be burst to obtain it, see Rainmaker shield.

The Rainmaker is a powerful weapon that can be held in Rainmaker mode, in the final battle of Octo Canyon, Tide Goes Out, and in the Octo Expansion. It can be grabbed by popping the Rainmaker shield and picking it up.

The Rainmaker itself is capable of shooting large twisters (in ) or bursts (in and Splatoon 3) of ink, similarly to the Inkzooka. The Rainmaker has similar attributes to a charger-class weapon, due to it having a charge mechanic. The shots that it can fire range from a small twister or burst to a large tornado-like twister or big, explosive burst depending on the length of time that is held down by the player. At maximum charge, the shot is lethal, allowing the Rainmaker carrier to have a form of defense against enemy fire.

The Rainmaker carrier should note that shots from the Rainmaker does not consume ink, and therefore they do not need to consider refilling their ink tank when defending or attacking.

Because the Rainmaker is so heavy, the player holding it cannot Super Jump, nor can they use any of their sub or special weapons. It is also impossible for the holder to have Ink Armor (however, the activation animation still plays whenever a teammate activates it). The player's movement speed and swim speed are reduced by 20% and speed-increasing abilities affect the user normally, no matter what weapon they were carrying prior. The special gauge does not charge while carrying it. If it is dropped, the Rainmaker shield reforms around it. It can then be recaptured by any player on both teams regardless of its position and which team popped its shield.

Appearance
The Rainmaker is a golden, fish-shaped weapon. The mouth is very large with several cone-shaped teeth, and there is a cartoony nose and pair of eyes with thick eyebrows above it. The tail sticks up in the air and is much smaller with two fins--one points forward and the other backward. The Ranked Battle symbol is on each side of the tail, and sticking out from each side is a fin, both connected by an axle. In and Splatoon 3, there is an orange sphere in the Rainmaker's mouth that shoots its projectiles. In, the projectiles are large tornadoes similar to those shot by the Inkzooka. In Splatoon 2 and Splatoon 3 the projectiles are large spheres of ink that explode upon landing.

The design of the Rainmaker is similar to a japanese folkloric animal called Shachihoko.

Splatoon
The Rainmaker was first announced in the Splatoon Direct on 2015-05-07. However, its description was extremely vague and only a picture of the Rainmaker itself was released. The weapon was later shown in action in a Japanese Splatoon commercial that was released in late July 2015. A few months before the mode was released, a general gameplay description for it was leaked on Twitter.

Rainmaker was then released on 2015-08-14.

Splatoon 2
The Rainmaker was changed to fire a ball of ink that explodes upon reaching the ground, rather than an ink tornado. A modified Rainmaker that does not explode after carrying it for too long and has significantly more range is given to Agent 4 by Sheldon during the final phase of the final boss battle, Tide Goes Out.

Data

 * A fully charged direct hit deals 60 damage.
 * The explosion deals 180 damage, with splash damage being 30.
 * A partially charged attack deals 30 to 45 damage depending on how much the Rainmaker was charged.

Octo Expansion
The Rainmaker appears in Far-Out Station and  Bring It Station. In the Deepsea Metro, the Rainmaker has the Kamabo Corporation logo on it instead of the anchor logo of standard Ranked Battles. It works similarly to the multiplayer version, but Agent 8 has to deliver the Rainmaker alone while fighting against a team of four Sanitized Octolings. The Rainmaker spawns near the player's base instead of the center, can be carried anywhere in the stage and does not automatically splat the user if held onto for too long. Additionally, the Sanitized Octolings do not attempt to take the Rainmaker themselves - if they break the Rainmaker's barrier, it is reset to its start point.

Splatoon 3
The Rainmaker works the same as in Splatoon 2 though the special and main weapon of the holder changes on the HUD to the Rainmaker.

Trivia

 * If a player gets splatted on the same frame that they pick up the Rainmaker, then the text and sound effects that indicate the state of the objective will not be present on any player's console regardless of their team.
 * As it is considered a special weapon by the game, the Rainmaker is technically the only special weapon to appear under the same name in all three games.
 * It may have been subject to the same regulations as the other Special weapons as detailed in Splatoon 2's Sunken Scroll 11, as its shot pattern was changed drastically between Splatoon 1 and 2.