Crab Tank

The Crab Tank is a special weapon in. It is a piloted assault vehicle that can both rapidly fire ink shots and launch explosive ink blobs.

Appearance
The Crab Tank is a crab-shaped mech that can curl up into a ball. Its outer shell changes color to match the user's ink. It is armed with three turret-like cannons, one on each front limb, and one in the center of its body.

Splatoon 3
The Crab Tank can walk and strafe like players, or curl up into a ball to move faster and climb up walls, inking the surface as it moves, similar to the Baller. Like a real crab, the tank walks faster side-to-side than it does forwards or backwards. When climbing, the crab tank cannot move left and right, only up and down.

The Crab Tank has 500 HP and has varying damage multipliers against certain weapons:

In walking mode, the tank has two firing modes: pressing fires a ball of ink in an arc that pierces enemies and explodes on contact similar to the Explosher, while  fires a rapid stream of bullets from two turrets, similar to dualies. Continuously shooting with increases the Crab Tank's firing rate drastically; it starts with a fire rate similar to the .52 Gal, but the peak rate of fire is the same as the Hydra Splatling. Interrupting the continuous fire by rolling, using the cannon with, or letting go of will reset the fire rate to its starting point. The back of the tank, where the user sits, is a weak point accessible from above, behind, or the side. This weak point appears to have as much health as a player does, and the player is immediately splatted if the weak point is damaged enough. It is currently unknown whether resistance abilities such as Sub Resistance Up affect the weak point, and if the player retains any damage the weak point sustained once the special ends.

In ball mode, the Crab Tank can move in all directions freely and climb walls, leaving a path of ink behind itself. It can also deal a modest amount of damage to opponents by rolling over them. The tank's weak point is completely protected in ball mode. Although the Crab Tank turns and adjusts its aim very slowly while in walking mode, it faces in the direction of the camera when coming out of ball mode. Switching to ball mode and back to walking mode can allow it to turn more quickly.

The Crab Tank flashes red when its duration is almost up, warning the user the special will run out soon. Once the special ends, the crab tank will disappear and the player can move after a short delay. If the tank itself is destroyed, the player is ejected rather than splatted, and the special ends. Notably, the user will retain any remaining special charge if the tank is destroyed and the special ends prematurely.

It appears in 4 Return of the Mammalians missions:


 * After Alterna
 * Tread Heavily
 * Alterna Space Center Hangar
 * The Spirit Lifter: Steerage

Special Power Up
Equipping Special Power Up with Crab Tank increases its duration. The following table shows the duration, in number of frames, when stacking Special Power Up.

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

Strategy
For competitive tips about the Crab Tank

Trivia

 * Prior to the Salmon Run Next Wave trailer, the Crab Tank is primarily yellow with sections that change color to match the user's ink instead of the whole tank matching the user's ink.
 * The outside cannons resemble a style of juctioned exhaust headers mainly used in speedboat engines.
 * The Crab Tank's multiple legs, ability to turn into a ball, and twin machine guns make it similar to the Wrecking Ball mech from the game Overwatch.
 * If a Crab Tank user is tagged (by a Point Sensor for example), and rolls, their position tag will roll with Crab Tank.
 * In Salmon Run the attack acts as a bomb, allowing players to take down Flyfish and Mudmouths easily.
 * The Crab Tank was not added to any post-released main weapon until the Neo Splatana Stamper in Chill Season 2023.