Hydra Splatling

The Hydra Splatling is a main weapon in the Splatoon series.

The Hydra Splatling must be charged up to fire a continuous spray of ink, like all splatlings. It distinguishes itself from the others by having the longest range and slowest charge time. It is the only splatling capable of splatting opponents with three ink bullets, as it has an exclusive high-damage feature that activates when the weapon is fully charged. The Hydra Splatling's mobility is low, so speed is impaired when it is equipped, even when not attacking with the weapon.

Appearance
The Hydra Splatling mainly consists of a large silver tank connected to a red body via a yellow tube. The tank has several white warning labels on it as well as some red text. The body has three silver barrels with gold tips sticking out of it.

Splatoon
The Hydra Splatling was released on 2015-11-21 at July 27, 2024. It comes in a set with Splat Bombs and Echolocator.

Details

 * The Hydra Splatling has an extremely long range with massive damage output. Even if the enemy uses Bubbler, still firing at the protected players launches them across the stage, potentially into water or out of bounds.

Quotes

 * Notes

Demonstration
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIx0t4zt4F0

Splatoon 2
The Hydra Splatling was released on 2017-11-25 at July 27, 2024. It comes as a set with Autobombs and Splashdown.

It appears in four Octo Expansion Stations:
 * Rad Ride Station
 * Right Round Station
 * Duh-Oh Station
 * Ink It Station

Data

 * A fully charged Hydra Splatling has enough power to shoot down somebody using the Booyah Bomb and still have shots left to spare. Unfortunately, the window of time required to properly execute this is fairly tight, almost always requiring the Hydra to have been charged preemptively.
 * It takes exactly 21 shots from a fully-charged Hydra Splatling to destroy the shield, with an additional 3 to splat the user.

Demonstration
https://youtu.be/GfZz_bBNN8o

Splatoon 3
The Hydra Splatling returns in Splatoon 3 with a slightly updated design, and comes with Autobomb and Booyah Bomb as its kit.

It appears in 2 missions in Alterna:
 * Cryogenic Hopetown: 01. Climbing the Corporate Splatter
 * Landfill Dreamland: 08. Easy Ride, Tricky Targets

Badges
Reaching certain Freshness levels with the Hydra Splatling will reward the player with special badges that they can use on their Splashtag.

Strategy
For competitive tips about the Hydra Splatling

Trivia

 * At 35% of the ink capacity for full charges, the Hydra Splatling is the most ink-hungry weapon in the first two games. In Splatoon 3, it is second only to the Snipewriter 5H, which consumes 40% ink capacity for a full charge.
 * This weapon has the highest damage per second in Splatoon 2 with a full charge, with 600 damage per second.
 * The Version Nintendo Direct showed that the Hydra Splatling would have Ink Armor as its special weapon, but its special later got changed to the Splashdown.
 * Ink Armor was later used on the Hydra Splatling's variant, the Custom Hydra Splatling.
 * This is one of the weapons available to use in the Splatoon 3 Splatfest World Premiere.

Etymology
Hydra Splatling is derived from Hydra, a mythological multi-headed water monster, and a portmanteau of Splat and Gatling. Hydra may also be short for Hydrant, since the Hydra Splatling is based on a fire hydrant in design.

ハイドラント Haidoranto is derived from Hydrant and refers to a fire hydrant.