Gear ability

Gear abilities, or simply abilities, are special attributes that are placed on wearable gear in Splatoon and Splatoon 2. Each provide different effects, whose effectiveness is usually based on the amount of the specific ability the player has.

Primary abilities

Each piece of gear has a specific primary ability (also called main). In Splatoon, each piece of gear has only one possible primary ability; in Splatoon 2, there can be multiple instead of only one. Gear obtained through Salmon Run does not have a default primary ability and is randomly assigned from all abilities that are able to appear as secondary abilities. All gear that is purchasable in shops, and the default starting gear, regularly appear on the SplatNet 2 shop with different abilities than their defaults.

No gear in Splatoon and Splatoon 2 has a primary ability that matches the secondary ability favored by the gear's brand; (except for a few, which were originally sold through SplatNet 2). This is thought to be done to make acquiring gear with all 4 slots having the same ability (colloquially called "pure" gear) more difficult.

Primary-only abilities and mutual exclusivity

Some abilities can only appear as primary abilities. These abilities are also tied to a certain type of gear (head, clothes, or shoes), preventing the user from having more than one of those abilities. For instance, if a player equips Tenacity, they cannot also equip Comeback because both abilities are only available in the main ability slot of headgear items.

The groups of mutually exclusive abilities are as follows:

Game	Headgear	Clothing	Shoes
File:Splatoonlogo.png	Comeback Last-Ditch Effort Opening Gambit Tenacity	Cold Blooded Haunt Ninja Squid Recon (ability)	Bomb Sniffer Ink Resistance Up Stealth Jump
	Comeback Last-Ditch Effort Opening Gambit Tenacity	Ability Doubler Haunt Ninja Squid Respawn Punisher Thermal Ink	Drop Roller Object Shredder Stealth Jump

(The Splatfest Tee has to be worn during a Splatfest.)

Secondary abilities

All gear has 1, 2, or 3 slots for secondary abilities (also called subs), which are 0.3× as effective as if they were primary abilities. The number of secondary abilities that are present by default is equal to the number of stars (rarity) on the gear. Secondary ability slots on a piece of gear are unlocked by getting points by playing battles (except for private battles) while that gear is equipped. Higher rarity gear usually take more points to unlock slots, and each progressive slot on the same gear usually requires more points to unlock than the previous slot.

In Splatoon there are 13 possible secondary abilities; in Splatoon 2, there are 14. Brands that affect roll probability have a 5× chance of rolling its favored ability, and a 0.5× chance of rolling its unfavored ability. (Secondary abilities are assigned using random number generation (RNG).)

Probability of rolling multiple abilities of the same kind in a row in Splatoon

Amount	Favoring brand			Non-favoring brand
	Favored ability	Unfavored ability	Neutral ability	Any ability
One	30.303…%	3.030…%	6.060…%	7.692…%
Two	9.182…%	0.091…%	0.367…%	0.591…%
Three	2.782…%	0.002…%	0.022…%	0.045…%

In Splatoon 2, when unlocking slots, the probability of receiving a specific ability can be influenced with a drink ticket.

Probability of rolling multiple abilities of the same kind in a row in Splatoon 2

Favoring brand
Amount	Favored ability	Unfavored ability	Neutral ability
No drink ticket
One	28.57143%	2.85714%	5.71429%
Two	8.16327%	0.08163%	0.32653%
Three	2.33236%	0.00233%	0.01866%
With drink ticket (favored ability)
One	30.00000%	2.80000%	5.60000%
Two	9.00000%	0.07840%	0.31360%
Three	2.70000%	0.00220%	0.01756%
With drink ticket (unfavored ability)
One	20.58824%	30.00000%	4.11765%
Two	4.23875%	9.00000%	0.16955%
Three	0.87268%	2.70000%	0.00698%
With drink ticket (neutral ability)
One	21.21212%	2.12121%	30.00000%
Two	4.49954%	0.04500%	9.00000%
Three	0.95445%	0.00095%	2.70000%
Non-favoring brand
Amount	No drink ticket	Matching drink ticket	Mismatched drink ticket
One	7.14286%	30.00000%	5.38462%
Two	0.51020%	9.00000%	0.28994%
Three	0.03644%	2.70000%	0.01561%

Stacking

An overview of a few stackable abilities in Splatoon 2. Note the diminishing returns as more of the same ability is used.

In general, the more a specific ability is used (stacked), the less the rate at which the effect it has is accumulated. The degree at which this occurs depends on the ability. (Hence, players may want to check if are stacking too much of the same ability.)

Splatoon

Spyke, who can be found in an alleyway in Inkopolis Plaza, will offer to re-roll secondary abilities or increase the number of gear slots in exchange for a   Super Sea Snail or  30,000 cash.

Some abilities have no effect for certain things. For example:

• Bomb Range Up has no effect for the following sub weapons: Ink Mine, Seeker, Splash Wall, Squid Beakon, Sprinkler.
• Run Speed Up has no effect on the run speed while rolling a roller.

List of abilities

Name	Description	Gear	Favored by	Unfavored by
Bomb Range Up	Makes thrown sub weapons travel farther.	Any
Bomb Sniffer	Enemy sub weapons appear on-screen as skull icons and non-lethal damage from them is reduced.	Shoes
Cold Blooded	Shortens the duration of position trackers.	Clothing
Comeback	Improves ink usage and recovery, swim and run speed, and special weapon charge rate for 20 seconds after respawning.	Headgear
Damage Up	Increases damage dealt with all weapons.	Any	SquidForce	Inkline
Defense Up	Decreases damage taken from all attacks.	Any	Inkline	Krak-On
Haunt	Tracks the enemy that splats the user and increases damage, defense, and run speed when the user themselves is tracked.	Clothing
Ink Recovery Up	Increases ink tank refill rate while in squid form.	Any	Tentatek	Firefin
Ink Resistance Up	Decreases damage, speed, and jump penalties when standing in enemy ink.	Shoes
Ink Saver (Main)	Decreases main weapon ink usage.	Any	Splash Mob	SquidForce
Ink Saver (Sub)	Decreases sub weapon ink usage.	Any	Firefin	Forge
Last-Ditch Effort	Improves ink usage and recovery as well as respawn time towards the end of a battle.	Headgear
Ninja Squid	The user is less visible while swimming, but reduces swim speed.	Clothing
Opening Gambit	Increases swim and run speed for the first 30 seconds of a battle.	Headgear
Quick Respawn	Decreases respawn delay.	Any	Skalop	Zink
Quick Super Jump	Increases Super Jump speed.	Any	Zink	Tentatek
Recon (ability)	Opponents and their weapons are seen on while at Spawn Point.	Clothing
Run Speed Up	Increases movement speed in humanoid form.	Any	Rockenberg	Splash Mob
Special Charge Up	Increases the rate at which the special gauge fills.	Any	Takoroka	Zekko
Special Duration Up	Increases the duration of special weapons and gives the Inkstrike and Killer Wail shorter cooldown times.	Any	Forge	Takoroka
Special Saver	Mitigates special gauge loss after being splatted.	Any	Zekko	Skalop
Stealth Jump	Hides the Super Jump landing marker, but decreases the speed of the jump.	Shoes
Swim Speed Up	Increases movement speed while swimming in squid form.	Any	Krak-On	Rockenberg
Tenacity	Slowly fills the user's special gauge when their team has fewer active players than the opposing team.	Headgear

Splatoon 2

Murch, who can be found in Inkopolis Square, has multiple services that can affect a gear item's secondary abilities:

Service	Effect	Cost
Increase Slots	Adds another slot to a or item.	1
Reroll	Rerolls all the filled slots on a piece of gear.	1
Scrub Slots	Resets all the gear slots to and provides one ability chunk for each removed ability.	2,000 ()  20,000 (other gear)
Use Ability Chunks	Places a specific ability in a specific slot. If an occupied slot is overwritten, one ability chunk of the removed ability will be provided. (The primary ability is not considered for the cost.)	Slots filled	Cost
		0	10
		1	20
		2, 3	30

List of abilities

Name	Description	Gear	Favored by	Unfavored by
Ability Doubler	Doubles the effect of other abilities attached to the gear piece.	Clothing
Bomb Defense Up DX	Reduces damage taken from sub weapons and special weapons, and shortens the duration of position trackers.	Any	Inkline	Krak-On
Comeback	Improves ink usage and recovery, swim and run speed, and special weapon charge rate for 20 seconds after respawning.	Headgear
Drop Roller	Tilting during a Super Jump allows the player to perform a directional roll upon landing.	Shoes
Haunt	Tracks the enemy that splats the user with thermal ink.	Clothing
Ink Recovery Up	Increases ink tank refill rate.	Any	Tentatek	Firefin
Ink Resistance Up	Decreases damage, speed, and jump penalties when standing in enemy ink.	Any	SquidForce	Enperry
Ink Saver (Main)	Decreases main weapon ink usage.	Any	Splash Mob	SquidForce
Ink Saver (Sub)	Decreases sub weapon ink usage.	Any	Firefin	Forge
Last-Ditch Effort	Improves ink usage and recovery towards the end of a battle.	Headgear
Main Power Up	Raises performance of main weapons.	Any	Annaki Toni Kensa	Inkline
Ninja Squid	The user is less visible while swimming, but has reduced swim speed.	Clothing
Object Shredder	Increases damage dealt to non-player targets.	Shoes
Opening Gambit	Increases ink resistance, swim and run speed for the first 30 seconds of a battle.	Headgear
Quick Respawn	Decreases respawn delay if splatted repeatedly without splatting an opponent.	Any	Skalop	Zink
Quick Super Jump	Increases Super Jump speed.	Any	Zink	Tentatek
Respawn Punisher	Increases respawn time and special gauge spawn penalty for the player and any enemy they splat.	Clothing
Run Speed Up	Increases movement speed in humanoid form.	Any	Rockenberg	Splash Mob
Special Charge Up	Increases the rate at which the special gauge fills.	Any	Takoroka	Zekko
Special Power Up	Raises performance of special weapons.	Any	Forge	Takoroka
Special Saver	Mitigates special gauge loss after being splatted.	Any	Zekko	Annaki Skalop
Stealth Jump	Hides the Super Jump landing marker from a certain distance away.	Shoes
Sub Power Up	Increases performance of sub weapons.	Any	Enperry	Toni Kensa
Swim Speed Up	Increases movement speed while swimming in squid or octo form.	Any	Krak-On	Rockenberg
Tenacity	Slowly fills the user's special gauge when their team has fewer active players than the opposing team.	Headgear
Thermal Ink	Allows the player to track distant players hit with shots from their main weapon.	Clothing

Retired abilities

The following abilities were once present in the game but were later removed or replaced:

Name	Description	Gear	Favored by	Unfavored by
Bomb Defense Up	Reduces damage taken by sub weapons and special weapons.	Any	Inkline	Krak-On
Cold-Blooded	Shortens the duration of position trackers.	Any	Annaki Toni Kensa	Inkline

Version 4.3.0

In Version 4.3.0, the following replacements took place:

• All existing gear slots and ability chunks for Bomb Defense Up and Cold-Blooded were replaced with Bomb Defense Up DX.
• Gear items available in shops that had Cold-Blooded as the main ability now offer Main Power Up as the main ability instead.
• The following exclusive gear items had Cold-Blooded as the main ability and now offer Bomb Defense Up DX instead:
  • Fringed Loafers
  • Gray FA-11 Bomber
  • Pearlescent Crown

Gallery

• Diagram of abilities and brands in Splatoon, which brand favors and not favors each ability.

  Diagram of abilities and brands in Splatoon, which brand favors and not favors each ability.

• Promo image of the abilities in Splatoon 2.

  Promo image of the abilities in Splatoon 2.

Names in other languages

Ability	Primary ability	Secondary ability
Template:Foreignname	Template:Foreignname	Template:Foreignname

External links

• Splatoon ability calculator
• Splatoon 2 ability calculator