Competitive:Rapid Blaster Pro Deco

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For information about the Rapid Blaster Pro Deco, see Rapid Blaster Pro Deco.

Splatoon 2

Splatoon 2

Rapid Blaster Pro Deco

Abbreviations	Rapid, Rapid Pro, Armor Rapid
Sub	Splash Wall
Special	Ink Armor
Base damage	17.5 (Splash) 35 (Blast) 85 (Direct hit)
Base duration
Ink consumption	8%
Special points	180p
Special depletion
Role	Support/Anchor Flex
Strengths	Long range, high damage, splash damage, zoning, safe pressure on mid to long ranged weapons
Weaknesses	Requires good accuracy and the ability to lead shots, mediocre turfing, struggles against Ink Armor, other HP object special weapons (e.g. Baller), Tenta Missiles, and high mobility shooters

The Rapid Blaster Pro Deco is the longest-ranged blaster along with its vanilla variant, giving it a defensive playstyle focused on support and poking opponents. Unlike said vanilla variant, this weapon has a kit that can fulfill the roles of being a supportive anchor.

Use

The Rapid Blaster Pro Deco can flex between the support and anchor roles:

• Its direct hit range of 180.852 DU easily exceeds that of short-ranged weapons, such as the Kensa Splattershot (116.99 DU), and barely exceeds that of a few medium-ranged ones, such as the L-3 Nozzlenose (141.36 DU).
  • Factoring in its splash damage radius of 33 DU gives it a splash damage range of 213.852, which is comparable to the ranges of other medium-ranged weapons, such as the Bamboozler (195.64 DU), Foil Squeezer's burst fire (187.39 DU), and Heavy Splatling (178.05-218.37 DU),. However, these weapons have significantly more splatting power and have decent DPS against a Splash Wall, so it is advised to find positions from which these weapons can be safely poked at rather than engage them directly in a one-on-one confrontation.
• Its shots travel slower than those of rapid-firing weapons — 14 units per frame versus 23 units per frame for the Dualie Squelchers, for example. This means that a Rapid Blaster Pro user has to lead their shots in order to be accurate.
• The Rapid Blaster Pro Deco suffers from jump RNG, a problem made worse with its long range - due to shot deviation and the long range, shots fired when jumping can end up farther from the mark than other blasters.
  • Waiting 25 frames – during the descent of a jump – will allow the outer reticle to shrink back and the accuracy to improve for up to 70 more frames.
  • Main Power Up reduces the shot deviation during a jump by up to 50%, in addition to increasing the blast radius by 5.9%.
• The Grim Range Blaster's damage – arguably its greatest asset – widely varies depending on whether a target is hit directly, and if not, how close to the shot's explosion the target is and whether the shot exploded on a solid surface:
  • 125 health points (HP) of damage per direct hit — enough to splat most opponents in one hit
  • 50-70 HP per hit of splash damage if the shot's explosion does not hit a solid surface
  • 25-35 HP per hit of splash damage if the shot's explosion hits a solid surface
  • Thus, when firing up a ledge or around either an obstacle or an opponent's brella shield for splash damage, avoid hitting solid surfaces to maximize damage.
• The Grim Range Blaster suffers a longer lag time after each shot compared to rapid-firing weapons, making it easily punishable after a miss:
  • The interval between firing and either morphing or using a sub weapon is 30 frames — far longer than the 4 frames of the Splattershot Pro.
  • Its firing rate is 60 frames between shots (1 shot per second) – far slower than the Splattershot Pro's 8 frames between shots (7.5 shots per second)
  • Therefore, unless attacking an opponent up a ledge or around either an obstacle or their brella shield, always go for direct hits.
• Besides its long lag after each shot, the Grim Range Blaster suffers from other drawbacks:
  • Its movement speed while firing (0.4 units per frame) is slow compared to most weapons of comparable range. Combined with the long lag after shots, the Grim Range Blaster is rather immobile and vulnerable to attack after each shot, so shots must be fired judiciously.
  • Its poor ink efficiency and turfing make it prone to getting surrounded by opposing ink if fired recklessly. Avoid overextending into the opponents' territory.
    • Burst Bombs and Swim Speed Up can help address some of the mobility issues, while Ink Resistance Up reduces the loss of running speed in opposing ink.
• While not as mobile as other slayer's weapons, the Grim Range Blaster can still be effective at flanking, and its high damage makes it devastating at sharking.
• The Grim Range Blaster operates best in areas and stages that are highly frequented – such as around the Tower – or less open, such as in an alley or beneath a short ledge, where an opponent has less room to avoid shots and outmaneuver the Grim Range Blaster user.

When placed properly, a Splash Wall can provide great utility, even in stages and areas that are more open:

• Splash Wall provides strong protection against opposing fire, allowing its user to safely control space while turfing and farming Booyah Bomb.
• Any bombs thrown by an opponent that hit a Splash Wall will instantly explode, potentially splatting the Splash Wall's user or their teammates.
  • Refrain from either showering in or rushing through the wall until it is certain that the opponent has no bombs available in the area.
  • Do not throw a Splash Wall behind a teammate, as a thrown opponent's bomb can instantly splat them.
• Defensively, it can hinder the opponents' push, blocking both their movement and their fire.
• Offensively, a Splash Wall can restrain the opponents' movement, allowing its user and their teammates to push forward or gain map control.
• Throwing a Splash Wall behind an opponent can prevent them from fleeing.
• A Splash Wall can nullify a Brella shield — even a Tenta Brella shield.
  • If an opposing Brella user launches their shield, dropping a Splash Wall in front of it will cause both to negate one another, potentially denying a Rainmaker or Power Clam push.
  • At maximum, it takes 36-41% of the ink tank to launch a Brella shield and 60% to drop a Splash Wall. However, the Splash Wall can be deployed far more quickly, allowing its owner more time to reload ink or reposition themselves to a more favorable location.
• In Splatoon 2, the Tower will destroy any Splash Wall it collides into, meaning that it can no longer be used to stall the movement of the Tower itself.
  • However, a Splash Wall can still be used to stall opponents pushing ahead of the Tower and limit the opponents' movement around the Tower path.
  • Conversely, a Splash Wall may be placed onto the Tower to protect its user or their teammate while riding it. (Once again, watch out for the opponents' bombs.)

Ink Armor enables its user's team to either initiate a push, to recapture a Splat Zone for example, or maintain one, such as while locking out the opponent.

• Time the activation of Ink Armor carefully so that you and your teammates receive its protection before engaging the opponent.
• Try to activate Ink Armor when most or all teammates are active. Slayers, who risk getting splatted more often, benefit from Ink Armor more than anchors do.
• Upon activation, Ink Armor will protect its user and their teammates except for those either carrying the Rainmaker or using either Baller or Booyah Bomb.
  • Also, players protected by Ink Armor lose it upon gaining possession of the Rainmaker.
  • A support player, such as a Rapid Blaster Pro Deco in some compositions, is often expected to carry the Rainmaker while their slayer teammates provide protection up front while turfing a path of ink. Therefore, while Ink Armor will not protect the Rainmaker carrier, it will still benefit their teammates, so cast Ink Armor just before picking up the Rainmaker whenever possible.

Synergy

Because blasters are generally poor at turfing, their users will have to rely on their teammates to maintain map control. Not having enough turfing ability – usually from having too many blasters and chargers – presents its own set of problems:

• A team whose composition lacks enough turfing ability can be rendered immobile if the other team dominates map control.
• A lack of turfing also makes it difficult to alter the course of a game, even after wiping out the other team.

The Rapid Blaster Pro Deco has great range and decent poking ability, but is vulnerable to being rushed down. Be sure to include some mobile, shorter-ranged weapons in the team composition. Otherwise, a team with too many longer-ranged weapons will have major drawbacks:

• The lack of mobility will make it difficult for such a team to mount a push.
• The reduced ability to battle in close range will make the team vulnerable to a well-timed flank or a well-positioned shark.

The Rapid Blaster Pro Deco's lack of lethal bombs – particularly either Splat or Suction Bombs – generally necessitates its user's teammates to equip weapons that include them. Lethal bombs provide their user's team a couple advantages over another team that has no lethal bombs in its composition:

• Their one-hit-splat offers its user's team chances of instantly gaining a numbers advantage, from which a game-winning push can arise.
• Their lethal explosion provides space for its user's team to either push into an area held by the opponent or stall an opponent's push.

Multiple Ink Armors used by the same team do not stack. Therefore, it would be redundant for a team to have more than two Ink Armor users.

• In general, when two Ink Armor-based weapons are on a team, the user of the more aggressive weapon should activate Ink Armor first, freeing them to engage the opponent without potentially losing both a potential Ink Armor and special gauge progress. Because this weapon is not particularly quick at turfing, they should generally wait for another Ink Armor-equipped teammate to activate their armor first then follow up with their Ink Armor as the first one wears off.

Countermeasures

• To engage an opposing Grim Range Blaster user with a shorter range weapon, try to catch it off guard through either careful flanking or sharking, better positioning, or wise use of bombs. Do not forget that the Grim Range Blaster user also has Burst Bombs as their disposal.
• Even weapons with ranges comparable to that of the Grim Range Blaster should rely on better mobility to get into its blindspot (the area where indirects can't connect) as being inside the blindspot forces the user to either hit a direct or rely on burst bombs - which aren't always accessible - to survive. Both variants of the Dualie Squelchers can easily rush into the Grim Range Blaster's blindspot but may struggle when fighting it outside of it.
• The Splat Brella and Kensa Undercover Brella and their variants cannot sufficiently protect their users from the splash damage of the Grim Range Blaster, but can occasionally predict where a Grim Range Blaster will shoot to move in a way that makes the shot hit the shield instead of going around it and dealing indirect damage.
• Whenever possible, exploit the Grim Range Blaster's poor ink efficiency and turfing by surrounding it with ink. Sub weapons and teammates can help accomplish this.
• It is preferable to engage an opposing Grim Range Blaster in a more open area – where there is more room to outmaneuver it and surround it with ink – than in a closed area. If this is not possible, remain farther back on a ledge or further around a corner to avoid splash damage.
• A long-ranged weapon, such as a charger or most splatlings, can attack an opposing Grim Range Blaster user from long distance with impunity. However, once the Grim Range Blaster user gets close enough, their one-shot-splat can spell the end for their slower firing opponent.
• A competent Grim Range Blaster user is likely capable at both flanking and sharking:
  • Keep track of all four members of the opposing team – which ones are present, which ones are splatted, and which ones are back at their spawn point.
  • Check the map periodically for opposing ink forming around flanks to anticipate a flanking attack.
  • To prevent sharking, check suspicious puddles of the opponents' ink, preferably with a thrown sub weapon.
  • Weapons that track opponents, such as Point Sensors, temporarily prevent an opponent from sharking and makes them an easier target for long-ranged teammates to pick off.
• When pursued by a Grim Range Blaster, using almost any sub weapon (except for Squid Beakons) can either delay their pursuit or deter them from chasing.
• Be mindful of both when the opponent has Tenta Missiles ready and when the missiles are launched:
  • If an opponent attempts to launch them when nearby you, splat them quickly to reduce or even cancel their deployment.
  • When the opponent deploys their Tenta Missiles, avoid getting close to teammates - even when not targeted, as a targeted player crossing paths with a teammate might cause the other to get injured or splatted.
  • Whenever targeted by opposing Tenta Missles, unless actively engaging an opponent, only move enough to avoid damage and reduce the amount of turfing by the Missiles.

Gear abilities

Gear abilities provide different effects in battle that benefit the player with their equipped weapon. This is a guide to gear abilities in relation to the weapon. Strategy, synergy, viability, and purpose may be written here.

Bomb Defense Up DX

Ever since its introduction in Version 4.3.0, Bomb Defense Up DX will not only reduce the damage taken from opposing sub and special weapons that are not one-hit-splat but will also reduce the duration of the tracking effects of certain opponent's sub and special weapons, such as Point Sensors and Ink Mines, allowing the user of this ability to evade detection more easily. Since the Rapid Blaster Pro Deco is prone to being attacked by bombs and Tenta Missiles due to it being an anchor, having this ability is great for improving its survivability. Just three ability points, or one sub, offer plenty of utility:

• The splash damage of most bombs is reduced from 30 HP to 28.6 HP. This reduction in damage provides two benefits:
  • It prevents its user from being exposed on their opponents' map by the splash damage of most single bombs.
  • Ink Armor will not break due to splash damage from a single bomb whose splash damage normally inflicts 30 HP of damage.
• The splash damage of near-misses from either Tenta Missiles or Inkjet, the minimum splash damage of bubbles, and the collision damage from Baller are all reduced from 50 HP to 48.3 HP, enabling one to survive two hits from any of these specific means of special weapon damage.

Ink Resistance Up

Any weapon, including a Rapid Blaster Pro user, can often come in contact with the opponent's ink on various surfaces, which can both be damaging and reduce mobility. Ink Resistance Up not only partially offsets the reduction in mobility but also delays the damage taken from contact with opposing ink:

Ability points	Mains	Subs	Invulnera- bility time (frames)	Rate of damage (HP/f)	Maximum damage (HP)	Run speed in opposing ink (DU/f)	Jump height in opposing ink
0	0	0	0	0.3	40.0	0.24	0.800
3	0	1	10	0.2	38.0	0.33	0.854
6	0	2	15	0.2	36.2	0.39	0.888

Ink Saver (Main)

The Rapid Blaster Pro Deco uses a large portion of the ink tank per shot. Ink Saver (Main) not only allows it to fire more shots per ink tank but also conserves ink for Burst Bomb use.

• Thirteen ability points, or one main and one sub, increases the number of shots fired with a full ink tank from twelve to fifteen.

Main Power Up

Main Power Up improves the Rapid Blaster Pro Deco's jump accuracy by up to 50%, in addition to increasing the blast radius of its shots up to 5.9%. While the increased blast radius has a small difference, the increased accuracy is valuable due to the weapon's long range, which allows shots to deviate farther from their intended target.

• 13 ability points, or one main and one sub, will improve the jump accuracy by 19.17%.

Quick Super Jump

Quick Super Jump decreases both the "charge" time before and the travel time of a Super Jump, helping its user escape unfavorable situations more quickly. There are some situations where a Rapid Blaster Pro Deco will have to jump back to spawn to avoid getting splatted and preserve its Ink Armor, and Quick Super Jump will help in this regard.

• One sub, or 3 ability points, of Quick Super Jump decreases the "charge" time by 22 frames, or 0.36 seconds.

Special Charge Up

Despite a 180p special gauge, the Rapid Blaster Pro Deco's poor turfing means that it will not have Ink Armor readily available like other support weapons, like an N-ZAP '85. Special Charge Up can help mitigate this issue.

• 6 ability points, or two subs, reduces the special gauge from 180p to 171p.
• 13 ability points, or one main and one sub, further reduces this to 162p.

Swim Speed Up

The Rapid Blater Pro Deco has trouble turfing and is vulnerable to being rushed down. Due to this, they can greatly benefit from Swim Speed Up, which enables its user to better maintain an optimal distance from an opponent, more quickly respond to an opponents' push, or even escape unfavorable situations.

• 16 ability points – one main and two subs – increase the swim speed from 1.92 DU/f to 2.14 units per frame.