Echolocator

The Echolocator is a special weapon in Splatoon.

Appearance
Once activated, a digital explosion effect occurs around the user as they send black squid-shaped arrows flying to enemy players. Said arrows are black with highlights in the user's ink color. The tagged players are encircled by the aforementioned arrows and tied to members of the Echolocator user's team with a line of the user's ink color, although each line is only visible to the member it leads to.

Splatoon
When activated, it tags all active opponents with black circling squids that can be seen through opaque obstacles by the user's team (similar to those applied by the Point Sensor).
 * Base tagging duration is 9 seconds.
 * The duration can be extended with Special Duration Up.
 * The duration is reduced by 50% if the tagged opponent has Cold-Blooded.
 * The tag disappears if the opponent gets splatted and does not carry over to the next life.
 * The special gauge is emptied immediately upon use (instead of slowly depleting over time), allowing the user to refill it immediately after use.

Quotes
"Echolocator instantly reveals the locations of all opponents on the stage for approximately twelve seconds. And it doesn’t just work for you. Your teammates can see the locations of the enemy too. Opponents are shown on the screen as circling squid icons. The lines extending from your character’s feet show the direction in which each opponent is located—so even if an enemy is behind you, you get an indicator. With a quick glimpse, you can see exactly where each enemy is positioned. Use Echolocator in conjunction with a teammate’s Killer Wail or Inkstrike. By knowing the locations of each enemy, aiming the Killer Wail and Inkstrike specials is much easier, resulting in more splatted opponents."

- Splatoon Prima Guide

Strategy
For competitive tips about the Echolocator

Trivia

 * There are no brushes or blasters that have the Echolocator as their special weapon.

Etymology
The weapon's name is based on the term echolocation, a means of navigation used by many marine animals, such as dolphins, porpoises, and toothed whales.