Special weapon



"Lay down enough ink and your special meter will fill up. Then you can use one of these (like the Inkzooka) to do major damage."

- Splatoon's official website

Special weapons are powerful weapons in the SS undefined. There are several different kinds of special weapons, but they can all turn the tide of a battle when in the right hands.

Description


Along with the main weapon and sub weapon, every set of weapons comes with a special weapon. These weapons are designed to be very powerful and table-turning. To use one, a player must fill their special gauge and may only utilize the special for a short time.

When a player has a special weapon ready, it creates a unique effect: they give off sparks, the tentacles on their head become very brightly colored and glowing, bubbles form at the top of their head as if from boiling water, and they appear to be caught in a strong wind even when completely still.

Activating a special weapon makes the player's character do a front flip and refills the ink tank.

Usage
Special weapons are available by filling the special gauge by inking the ground in matchmaking modes, obtaining a canned special in the Battle Dojo and singleplayer modes, starting a Salmon Run session where players have access to two specials or starting specific missions in the Octo Expansion where the special is obtained via the equipper. Once a special weapon is ready, clicking activates it. Different special weapons need different amounts of turf inked to fully charge, for balancing purposes; for instance, the Inkzooka requires 220 points to charge as of Version, whereas the Killer Wail requires only 160. As of, special weapons paired with different main weapons may also require different points to activate. For example, both the Slosher Deco and Inkbrush Nouveau has the Baller as their special, but while the former needs 210p to activate it, the latter requires only 180p.

The rate at which the special gauge depletes after being activated depends on which particular special weapon is in use. If the player is splatted before the gauge is completely depleted, they respawn with a portion of the remaining gauge filled (how much depends upon the special depletion class of the main weapon; see special depletion). This can be increased by equipping gear with Special Saver. As of, being splatted reduces the filled part of the player's special gauge by a fixed percentage, which can be modified by Special Saver or Respawn Punisher. Also, the penalty is greatly reduced if the player is splatted halfway through a Splashdown.

Abilities
Abilities on a player's gear can affect special weapons. The following abilities have effects that directly affect the performance of special weapons.

Trivia

 * The most common special weapon in is the Inkzooka, with 16 different weapon sets including it. The most common in  is the Ink Storm, appearing in 17 different weapon sets. The most common in Splatoon 3 as of Version 1.1.1 is the Ink Vac, appearing in 6 different weapon sets.
 * Special weapons were originally called "Super Weapons" in the E3 2014 Splatoon demo.
 * The reason that no Splatoon special weapons return in Splatoon 2 is because the new weapons are designed for effectiveness in the right situation, rather than pure power.
 * The in-universe reason is attributed to new regulations, as revealed in Sunken Scroll 11, where protest signs are also shown.
 * During both fights with Agent 3 in the Octo Expansion, they are able to use different special weapons despite only using one main weapon, and is even able to use them consecutively. This is explained by Marina in the Spinal Phase fight, saying that Agent 3 had removed their limiter, which implies that Inklings and Octolings can normally use many specials and have to put on something that restricts this ability.
 * The Rainmaker is technically the only special weapon to be usable in all three games, though it is not available as part of a kit in any game.
 * The Killer Wail is also usable in some form in every game, though in different forms each time, and the Princess Cannon in Splatoon 2 is not part of a kit.
 * Until Splatoon 3 introduced checkpoints, the Rainmaker was the only special weapon that could not be dropped without the holder being splatted. It is still the only special weapon that splats the holder once its timer runs down.
 * The Crab Tank is the only special to use three different buttons for its unique functions: to fire,  to launch bombs, and  to roll. Other specials that come close, such as the Ultra Stamp, retain the player’s usual swim.