Sting Ray

The Sting Ray is a special weapon in Splatoon 2.

Splatoon 2
When activated, it allows the Inkling or Octoling to fire a continuous laser that shoots through walls. To balance this, its turning is slow and delayed by 0.7 seconds. However, the user can stop firing the weapon to move the camera freely. When not firing, the player can see silhouettes of opponents on the map. The player can then continue firing.

The Sting Ray shoots a laser-like beam of ink that pierces walls, which deals 1.8 damage per frame while it makes contact with a player. While it has excellent range and can hurt players hiding behind cover, the beam is narrow and easy to evade. Players using the Sting Ray can move normally while firing it, but they turn very slowly when doing so. After about three seconds, the Sting Ray's range gets larger and it moves even slower. This is reset after the player stops firing or turns into a squid or octopus.

When the Sting Ray is readied, the silhouettes of opponents become visible through walls as if Thermal Ink was active, ostensibly for ease in targeting.

Use

 * Before starting the Sting Ray, it is advised to keep a safe distance from battles, as firing a Sting Ray too close to an enemy can leave one vulnerable to attack.
 * The Sting Ray has poor ink coverage, and is generally better for splatting enemies.
 * The player can change into squid or octopus form while using the Sting Ray, allowing more mobility. This can help to escape from Tenta Missiles or other players. However, it is impossible to Super Jump while the Sting Ray is active.

As a Sting Ray user

 * The Sting Ray excels on stages that are long, narrow, closed, and relatively flat, especially Port Mackerel and Walleye Warehouse. A Sting Ray can also come in handy on both closed stages and large stages, depending on the mode. The wider and more open a stage is, the less effective the Sting Ray will usually be.
 * Using the Sting Ray on an enemy player either riding the Tower or carrying the Rainmaker, or on the Rainmaker shield, allows better objective control. If a team has a lead near the end of Tower Control or Rainmaker and one of its members has a Sting Ray, they can focus on building up their Special gauge to provide an instant win. Note that if the Rainmaker carrier is hiding in their ink, the user cannot see the Mode Icon Ranked Battle 2.png Ranked Battle symbol on their screen.
 * The Sting Ray is less effective against an enemy carrying a Power Clam than against a Tower rider or Rainmaker carrier because of the greater mobility of the former. A single Sting Ray will also have trouble stopping multiple Power Clams.

Versus a Sting Ray user

 * The most effective way to counter Sting Ray is to prevent it from being fired. Recognize which player(s) on the enemy team have a Sting Ray in their weapon sets and focus attacks on them when making a Tower or Rainmaker push.
 * The is an effective special against the Sting Ray. A properly launched and piloted Inkjet can splat an enemy Sting Ray user while being relatively safe from the beam.
 * are a quick way to either counter or dissuade a Sting Ray user if the attack is anticipated. The Sting Ray user will be forced to either delay or interrupt the Sting Ray to avoid getting splatted by the missiles.
 * Quickly swimming away from the Sting Ray's beam is generally the best way to avoid getting splatted without using Specials, as users turn relatively slowly while the Sting Ray is active.

Demonstration
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOHWM2tFP74

Trivia

 * Sting Ray is made by the brand.
 * The Sting Ray's English name is a reference to the real life marine animal of the same name. It could also be a reference to a ray gun, which would shoot a laser-like projectile.
 * The Sting Ray appears to be based on a water jet cutter, particularly a gas powered one, hinted at by the ambient sounds the weapon makes when not firing.