Star power

Star power, also known as the star count in, is an attribute on gear items. A gear item's star power corresponds to its initial amount of secondary ability slots and, if purchasable on an in-game shop, its price in cash.

Splatoon
In, the star count goes from 1 to 3 stars (equal to the number of initial secondary ability slots) and is static, not changing even if ability slots are added afterwards.

The higher the star count, the more gear experience is required to obtain a secondary ability per slot to compensate for the amount of initial slots.

Italicized numbers represent ability slots that must be added by Spyke beforehand.

2-star items will not appear in shops until the player reaches level 7, while 3-star ones start appearing at level 16.

Splatoon 2
The star count in functions exactly like how it did in Splatoon, with different amount of required gear experience per secondary ability slot.

Italicized numbers represent ability slots that must be added by Murch beforehand.

2-star and 3-star items will not appear in shops until the player reaches certain levels, although these levels are currently undocumented. However, such items can be bought from SplatNet 2 regardless of level.

Splatoon 3
In, the star power is dynamic, now affected by the number of secondary ability slots. The star power in this game goes from 0 to 5 stars, with all items having a default star power of 0 to 2 stars, which is equal to 1 to 3 secondary ability slots, respectively. Beyond 2 stars, no extra ability slot is given, instead increasing the gear experience multiplier by roughly 0.03× per star (caps at 1.10× at 5 stars).

Upgrading a gear item's star power to the next one can be done by buying its duplicate from shops with cash (at fixed price regardless of item, listed on the table below), if available for purchase that day, or by paying Murch Super Sea Snails at any time.

Grizzco gear items from Salmon Run Next Wave uniquely lack default star power values, instead being randomly assigned from 0 to 2 stars when the item is received, unlike their Splatoon 2 counterparts where Grizzco items from Salmon Run are always 3-star items (equivalent to Splatoon 3 2-star value).

Gear items which start at 1 or 2 stars will not appear in shops until the player reaches certain levels, although these levels are currently undocumented.