Ink Vac

The Ink Vac is a special weapon in. It is a vacuum that sucks up enemy ink and then fires out an exploding ball of friendly ink, the size of which is based on the volume of ink sucked in.

Appearance
The Ink Vac is based on a diesel-powered backpack vacuum cleaner. The backpack consists of a white ink canister and a cyan vacuum engine below it. As the Ink Vac absorbs more enemy ink, the canister gets filled by glowing ink of the Ink Vac user's color and seems to shake more intensely. The engine has some control panels and a hose connecting it to a massive nozzle. The nozzle is cyan-and-black with two handles. The "Dolphin" weapon brand logo can be seen on the canister and the nozzle.

Splatoon 3
When deployed, the player can hold down to create a vortex that sucks up enemy ink projectiles (including ink droplets), bombs, and even some special weapons, though it cannot suck up enemy ink that has touched the ground. This vortex also protects the user and their teammates from taking damage from explosions, even though it does not entirely destroy them (the user can also still take damage from explosions from behind). Sucking in opponents' ink fills up the Ink Vac, and slows down the user's movement speed. A maximum of 800 damage can be absorbed before the Ink Vac fills up fully. Opponents caught within the Ink Vac's vortex will lose ink and be slowed down, similar to Toxic Mist, and also fill the Ink Vac up at a rate of 1.5 damage per frame (90 damage per second), although they do not actually take damage. However, the vortex does damage most objects, such as Sprinklers, Wave Breakers, and Brella shields, at a rate of 2 damage per frame (120 damage per second). Although the vortex is stopped by solid walls, it can pass through barriers such as Splash Walls and the Rainmaker shield.

6 seconds after activation, or when the tank is filled, the Ink Vac readies a projectile of ink that can be aimed, launching manually upon releasing or automatically after approximately 2.5 seconds. This projectile damages anything it comes into contact with, and once it lands, a damage radius is displayed before exploding shortly afterwards, dealing damage to any opponents within radius and line of sight of the blast. The size of the explosion depends on how full the Ink Vac's tank was upon firing.

It appears in only 2 Return of the Mammalians missions:
 * After Alterna
 * Alterna Space Center Hangar

Special Power Up
Equpping Special Power Up with Ink Vac increases the radius of its vortex.

Badges
Winning a certain number of battles with the Ink Vac will reward the player with special badges that they can use on their Splashtag.

Strategy
For competitive tips about the Ink Vac