Special Saver

Special Saver is an ability in Splatoon and Splatoon 2.

Each time a player gets splatted, their special gauge is reduced by a certain amount; Special Saver reduces that amount.

Tactics
Special Saver tends to be helpful when players get splatted just before earning a special, or after earning it but before having a chance to use it.

Splatoon
In the initial version of Splatoon, on respawn the special gauge would always be reduced by 50%, and Special Saver allowed users to reduce this amount by up to 50% of the total special gauge size so that players could lose as little as 0%. As of version version 2.7.0, special gauge reduction upon respawn depends on the weapon. Three special gauge depletion classes were added in the 2.7.0 update: 40% depletion, 60% depletion, and 75% depletion. Special Saver was essentially unchanged, as it still allowed users to reduce this amount by up to 50% of the total special gauge size. So, weapons in the 40% class could reduce as low as 0%, weapons in the 60% class could reduce as low as 10%, and weapons in the 75% class could reduce as low as 25%. Because the 40% depletion class has such a low base loss, only one primary ability and eight secondary abilities (or 34 ability points) of Special Saver are necessary to reduce the points lost to 0%.

Tactics
Special Saver can be useful with weapons that have a hard time covering turf such as blasters and some long-range shooters, and for special weapons that require a lot of ink to charge such as the Inkzooka, Kraken, and Echolocator.

Stacking
Points Lost (relative to Special Gauge filled amount) for each Depletion class:

Gear
Special Saver is the main ability of:

Splatoon 2
Splatoon 2 does not have the special gauge depletion classes that were present in the original Splatoon post-2.7.0, so Special Saver is once again used to bring a 50% reduction to as low as 0%. It still works by reducing the loss by up to 50% of the total size of the special gauge. Players who get splatted after using but not completing a Splashdown have their 25% special gauge loss reduced to as low as 0% by Special Saver, and because the base loss of 25% is so low, only five secondary abilities (or 15 ability points) of Special Saver are necessary to reduce the points lost to 0%.

The effectiveness of Special Saver can be temporarily decreased by Respawn Punisher used by any player.

Stacking
Points lost (relative to special gauge filled amount) for when getting splatted after using but not completing a Splashdown, and every other case:

Gear
Special Saver is the main ability of:

Trivia

 * In Splatoon 2, Special Saver is the only ability that is unfavored by two brands.
 * Special Saver is the only ability that appears in both games where a piece of gear that had it in has a different ability in.