Ink Vac

The Ink Vac is a special weapon in. It is a vaccuum that sucks up enemy ink and then fires out an exploding ball of friendly ink, the size of which is based on the volume of ink sucked in.

Appearance
The Ink Vac is based on a diesel-powered backpack vacuum cleaner. The backpack consists of a white ink canister and a cyan vacuum engine below it. As the Ink Vac absorbs more enemy ink, the canister gets filled by glowing ink of the Ink Vac user's color and seems to shake more intensely. The engine has some control panels and a hose connecting it to a massive nozzle. The nozzle is cyan-and-black with two handles. The "Dolphin" weapon brand logo can be seen on the canister and the nozzle.

Splatoon 3
When deployed, the player can hold down to create a vortex that sucks up enemy ink projectiles (including inking droplets), bombs, and even some special weapons, though the Ink Vac cannot suck up enemy ink that has touched the ground. The vortex also damages subs and specials such as sprinklers and Wave Breakers as well as Brella shields. Although the vortex is stopped by solid walls, it can pass through barriers such as Splash Walls and the Rainmaker shield. Opponents caught within the vortex are applied with a Toxic Mist-like effect that slows them down and gradually drains their ink tank. Projectiles, subs, and specials that are sucked up, as well as opponents caught in the vortex, gradually fill up the Ink Vac's tank. As the tank fills up, the run speed of the player while vacuuming decreases.

6 seconds after activation, or when the tank is filled, the Ink Vac readies a projectile of ink that can be aimed, launching manually upon releasing or automatically after approximately 2.5 seconds. This projectile damages anything it comes into contact with, and once it lands, a damage radius is displayed before exploding shortly afterwards, dealing damage to any opponents within radius and line of sight of the blast. The size of the explosion depends on how full the Ink Vac's tank was upon firing.

It appears in only 1 Return of the Mammalians mission:


 * Alterna Space Center Hangar

Use
The Ink Vac is known to suck up damaging projectiles and inking droplets as well as the following sub and special weapons:
 * Splat Bomb
 * Suction Bomb
 * Burst Bomb
 * Fizzy Bomb
 * Curling Bomb
 * Autobomb
 * Angle Shooter
 * Torpedo
 * Trizooka shots
 * Tenta Missiles
 * Ink Storm device when thrown
 * Booyah Bomb projectile and explosion
 * Ink Vac's explosive projectile
 * Ink Jet shots and exhaust
 * Ultra Stamp when thrown
 * Crab Tank shots
 * Reefslider explosion
 * Triple Inkstrike tornados (the inkstrike markers themselves cannot be sucked up)

Badges
Wining a certain number of battles with the Imk Vac will reward the player with special badges that they can use on their Splashtag.

Strategy
For competitive tips about the Ink Vac