Tenta Missiles

The Tenta Missiles are a special weapon in Splatoon 2 and Splatoon 3.

Appearance
When activated, the Tenta Missiles cause the user to brandish two large missile launchers. The launchers are mainly yellow and each consists of one main part on top that harbors four missile compartments and a smaller part on the bottom that only has one compartment. Each missile compartment changes color to match the user's ink. The Tenta Missiles themselves each look like water bottles filled with the user's team's ink. After activating the Tenta Missiles, the user's screen gains a large circle on top of it that shows the locking range. Some horizontal lines in the user's ink color move up and down along the side of the screen, giving the whole display a more technological feel. When an opposing player is not locked onto or targeted, they appear as two pairs of lines arranged in a way similar to a shooter's reticle. When an opposing player is locked onto or targeted, a cross appears over them. An opposing player targeted by Tenta Missiles will see a ring around them in the Tenta Missile user's ink color with some small bottle icons. The number of bottle icons depends on how many missiles the opposing player is targeted with. The icon that appears to warn opposing players of incoming Tenta Missiles is a simple black circle with a ring of the Tenta Missile user's ink color around it.

Splatoon 2
When activated, the player can lock on to up to five opponents using a large reticle and fire a set of homing missiles at them.

Tenta Missiles can also locate and briefly track opponents; while aiming and firing, a crosshair will stay on all locked-on targets on the user's screen and will follow each target until all the missiles have reached their destination.

After the special is activated and fired, markers appear to all players that show where the missiles land. If missiles are targeting a player, the player will see a ring with four, five, or ten arrows around their character showing how many missiles are still left. The number of missiles fired at each opponent differs based on how many have been targeted. If one player is targeted, they will receive ten missiles. If more than one player is locked on to, they will receive four missiles each.

Use

 * Locking on to as many opponents as possible will maximize the number of missiles that are fired. However, this will also extend the firing animation and leave the user exposed for a slightly longer time.
 * To prevent this, the player can back away near their spawn which will likely give them enough of a vantage point to lock onto and shoot down most or all foes. The farther away the player is, the more chances they will have to track the entire enemy team.
 * After version, due to the ability to assume squid or octopus form while the special is active, this can be taken advantage of to scout all the opponents and get into a better position before firing.
 * Players targeted by the Tenta Missiles should avoid teammates, as the missiles could otherwise end up damaging an ally. This is especially important when the ally is also targeted, because if you are near that ally when the missiles land, there will be double the amount of missiles in the area.
 * Each missile has splash damage, so a sizable distance between each missile's landing point is advised.
 * In most situations, players will only be able to target up to four opponents. However, in Octo Canyon, there are opportunities with five opponents on the screen at once, and in Rainmaker mode, players can target the Rainmaker shield as of version.

Quotes
"If you press, this will fire missiles at all enemies that you tag with your cursor. The more enemies you tag, the more effective it is."

- Sub & Special Guide

"Press to launch missiles at all enemies inside the selected area. Extremely effective at taking down multiple enemies at once."

- Splatoon 2 Sub & Special Guide🇪🇺


 * Notes

Demonstration
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODNZm6PkZ4I

Splatoon 3
Tenta Missiles returns in, being officially confirmed by the Splatoon 3 Direct on 2022-08-10. Prior to the aforementioned Direct, the Tenta Missile projectiles were first seen in one of the images from the announcement of Splatoon 3 as well as the Nintendo Switch OLED trailer. In the former, the E-liter 4K Scope can be seen around where the projectiles were fired, suggesting that it is part of its set. Also, the Release Date Revealed trailer shows that the icon for Special Power Up still depicts Tenta Missiles.

Strategy
For competitive tips about the Tenta Missiles

Trivia

 * The Tenta Missile launcher appears to be a pair of modified soda crates, as hinted by the logo which looks like the Coca-Cola brand logo and can be found on vending machines around Inkopolis Square. This is further hinted at by the fact that the projectiles that the Tenta Missiles shoot look like soda bottles of some sort.
 * In Salmon Run, the Flyfish appears to use its own version of the Tenta Missiles.
 * Based on word from Nintendo representatives during preview events for Splatoon 2, early versions of the Tenta Missiles may have fired a fixed ten missiles as opposed to the current version which varies depending on the number of opponents targeted.
 * As of version, the Tenta Missiles fire ten missiles when used on one or two targets.
 * The weapons with the smallest special gauges for Tenta Missiles are the Neo Sploosh-o-matic, H-3 Nozzlenose and Octobrush Nouveau at 170p each. The weapon with the largest special gauge for Tenta Missiles is the Mini Splatling at 210p.
 * There are no brellas with the Tenta Missiles as their special, nor is it paired with Splat Bombs, Ink Mines, Splash Walls, Sprinklers, Fizzy Bombs or Torpedoes as their sub.
 * According to one of the dialogues of Sturgeon Shipyard, shooting off Tenta Missiles just at the end of a match is called a "dismissive diss missile". In the Japanese dialogue it has been given the name "Embrace Me ☆ Twinkle Star" while in German it is called a "swarm alarm".
 * In Recon mode, apart from Rainmaker, Tenta Missiles cannot be launched due to not having targets to lock on to.