Competitive:Snipewriter 5H

Unofficial!

This article discusses content that is not part of the official Splatoon series but is part of the community or competitive gaming space.

For information about the Snipewriter 5H, see Snipewriter 5H.

First introduced in Splatoon 3 at the start of Chill Season 2022, the Snipewriter 5H is a new type of charger with the unique mechanic of loading five nonlethal rounds per full charge, allowing its user to hit more targets and turf more efficiently than conventional chargers. Its good mobility and supportive weapon set enable its user to team up with more mobile, aggressive teammates.

Splatoon 3

Splatoon 3

Snipewriter 5H

Abbreviations	Snipewriter, Pencil
Sub	Sprinkler
Special	Tacticooler
Base damage	40–68 (Partial charge) 68 (Full charge)
Base duration
Ink consumption	35%
Special points	210p
Special depletion
Role	Anchor/Support
Strengths	Range, turfing, larger hitbox, mobility, Tacticooler farming, five shots per charge, lower gear dependency
Weaknesses	High ink consumption per full charge, lower damage, longer charge time, unable to store charges, unable to pierce targets

The Snipewriter 5H debuted at Chill Season 2022 with a synergistically supportive weapon set, enabling its user to fill two roles within a team composition.

Use

The Snipewriter 5H's long range, thorough turfing, and Tacticooler enables its user to fill both the anchor and support roles:

• When fully charged, it loads five rounds, providing multiple opportunities to hit targets or turf surfaces:
  • Tap shots and partially charged shots only provide single shots that have less damage and range than those fired from a full charge. They can still be used to splat a weakened opponent at closer range. Otherwise, flee to safety – by Super Jumping if necessary – if pursued by rushing opponents.
  • After fully charging, releasing fires the first of five rounds. Each subsequent press of fires another round until you run out.
  • While each shot inflicts less damage than shots from other chargers, since Version 3.1.0, it can combo with a wide variety of other weapons, from one Splattershot shot to splash damage from some blasters and bombs.
• The Snipewriter 5H shares some characteristics with the Bamboozler 14 Mk I:
  • Its shots have a larger hitbox than those of most other chargers, making it easier to hit targets.
  • However, these shots cannot pierce targets. This also means that a teammate can body block your shots if either of you is not careful.
  • The Snipewriter 5H cannot store a charge while submerged in ink. Changing to swim form or using either the sub or special weapon will unload any unused rounds but will replenish the ink tank with 7% of the ink tank per remaining round (e.g., three remaining rounds will restore 21%, or 3 × 7%, of ink).
• The Snipewriter 5H's range matches that of the Splatterscope, enabling it to cover wide areas and long paths and pick off opponents using Inkjets.
• Its range and multiple rounds enable it to turf more safely than other support weapons (such as the N-ZAP '85) and more efficiently than other chargers, which also builds up the special gauge more quickly.
• The Snipewriter 5H provides good mobility during or after charging while either strafing or jumping, especially compared to most other chargers.

Even with its unique advantages, the Snipewriter 5H does come with other tradeoffs besides those already mentioned:

• The Snipewriter 5H's full charge has the highest ink requirement among all chargers. While this is offset by the low ink consumption per shot, your uptime will still be reduced.
• It requires 72 frames, or 1.2 seconds, to fully charge, which is longer than for most other chargers.
• Besides having nonlethal damage, it inflicts reduced damage against objects, particularly the Crab Tank and the armor of a Booyah Bomb user.
• Its ability to fill two roles on a team composition also puts extra responsibility on its user, which includes avoiding getting splatted. A Snipewriter 5H user's removal deprives their teammates long range support and Tacticooler and leaves them vulnerable to a wipeout, as the opposing team is free to push and position more aggressively.

The Sprinkler supplements the playstyle of a Snipewriter 5H user:

• While bombs provide instant burst turfing, a Sprinkler provides steady turfing over time:
  • Placing it around a less relevant part of the stage enables its user to devote their main weapon more to contesting more important areas.
  • Creative Sprinkler placement, especially on a difficult spot for opponents to reach, can continuously ink a contested area, providing passive area denial and forcing opponents to either go out of their way to destroy the Sprinkler or avoid the area altogether.
  • Its turfing output supplements that of your main weapon, which increases your Tacticooler output.
• If the surface upon which it is attached is inkable, a Sprinkler immediately forms a sizable spot of ink around its base. This can enable one to quickly climb short, inkable walls.
• If placed nearby the Rainmaker, a Sprinkler can help pop the Rainmaker shield (or prevent the opponents from popping it). It works most effectively when placed next to the Rainmaker just before its shield resets.
• A Sprinkler can also act as a light shield in a pinch, especially while fleeing from pursuing opponents.

If deployed properly, the Tacticooler can enhance a team's lockout or push, or counter the opponents' push:

• It is recommended to deploy your Tacticooler just before engaging the opposing team if at least two team members (including yourself) can collect a drink.
• In general, the most optimal Tacticooler location is either around the area your team is staging a lockout or along the objective's path through which your team is pushing:
  • Remember that, as a Snipewriter 5H user, you tend to position yourself behind your teammates, so advance closer to the frontline before you deploy your Tacticooler.
• While the cooler itself can be used as a temporary shield against opposing fire, its presence might invite opponents to fire sub or special weapons at its location.
• Do not forget to grab a drink for yourself! While mobile, aggressive weapon users tend to benefit the most from Tacticooler, a Snipewriter 5H user also has much to gain from it:
  • Both Run Speed Up and Swim Speed Up enhance your already good mobility, allowing you to more quickly strafe around opposing fire and pursue targets.
  • A maxed out Quick Super Jump ability helps you nearly instantly escape from bad situations or advance forward much faster.

Synergy

The Snipewriter 5H provides a few valuable components to a successful team composition: range, turfing, and Tacticooler. Its user will require teammates using aggressive weapons, at least one other efficient turfing weapon, a throwable bomb or two, and some displacement or aggressive special weapons:

• Filling the rest of the team composition with a good balance of skirmishers and slayers benefits the Snipewriter 5H user and maximizes the use of Tacticooler:
  • Short- to medium-ranged weapon users can capture turf more quickly than long-ranged weapon users.
  • Their main and sub weapons generally combo well with the Snipewriter 5H to confirm splats.
  • Their presence creates a protective shell around the Snipewriter 5H user, making it harder for opponents to reach them.
  • Including at least one other weapon that is efficient at turfing will lighten the turfing and map control load for the Snipewriter 5H user.
• Having at least one throwable bomb provides the team a means of poking, spacing, and active area denial.
• While Tacticooler is great for both starting pushes and repelling opposing pushes, it can neither displace or splat opponents by itself. However, it can complement – and be complemented by – special weapons that can either displace or directly splat opponents:
  • Trizooka, Crab Tank, and Booyah Bomb can target and displace–if not outright splat–specific opponents, such as the opposing anchor or support.
  • Triple Inkstrike, Ink Storm, and Tenta Missiles can force multiple opponents out of position.

Countermeasures

An opposing Snipewriter 5H user is often the heart of their team's composition, providing support fire, turfing, and a steady supply of Tacticoolers to keep their teammates active and fighting. Eliminating them will disrupt their team's ability to maintain pressure, but trying to reach and splat them can be a challenge.

• Having a source of Tacticooler on your team can even the odds against an opposing Snipewriter 5H user's team:
  • Direct matchups between Snipewriter 5H users on opposing teams are determined by each player's skill, positioning, turf control, and the presence of any teammates.
  • The N-ZAP '85 provides as much turfing and Tacticooler output but trades range for mobility, allowing for a more aggressive playstyle when necessary.
  • The Tri-Slosher Nouveau is potent at splatting opponents but forces its user to decide between playing aggressively at the risk of reduced Tacticooler output or playing supportively at the cost of splatting potential.
  • The Heavy Edit Splatling is faster while running and is more effective at taking out short- and medium-ranged opponents but struggles against chargers.
• Users of other anchor weapons each have to confront an opposing Snipewriter 5H user differently:
  • The E-liter 4K has a one-shot splat, longer range, and the ability to store a charge but a longer charge time, less efficient turfing, and less mobility.
  • Both variants of the Splatterscope have a one-shot splat and a shorter charge time but less efficient turfing and less mobility.
  • Splatlings generally fare poorly against the longer-ranged, quick firing Snipewriter 5H and should avoid direct confrontations.
• Shorter-ranged weapon users should rely more on flanking or sharking to pick off an opposing Snipewriter 5H user.
  • Users of weapons with an AoE (e.g., blasters), a large hitbox, or an arc trajectory (e.g., sloshers) can exploit cover, such as beneath a ledge, to not only avoid the opposing Snipewriter 5H user's line of sight but also damage their opponent without having to expose themselves.
• With its high amount of HP, a Splash Wall or a Tenta Brella's shield can reduce the range of influence of an opposing Snipewriter 5H.
• Certain sub and special weapons launched at an opposing Snipewriter 5H user can briefly force them out of position and throw off their aim and charges.
  • While Toxic Mist does not damage the opponent, it drains their ink tank and cripples their movement, making them more vulnerable to a direct assault.
• The Trizooka is one of the few anti-Snipewriter 5H weapons that has a longer range. Even an indirect hit's splash damage weakens them enough to get splatted by another shot or a teammate's follow up attack.
• Clear out any nearby opponents (by either splatting them or forcing them to retreat) before destroying their Sprinklers.
• Keep an eye on the HUD to know when an opposing Snipewriter 5H user has their Tacticooler ready, and both watch for when it is deployed and listen to its jingle.
  • If you can splat–or at least trade with–the opposing Snipewriter 5H user just before they have their Tacticooler ready, then you could relieve your team of the pressure it would otherwise face from a fully enhanced opposing team.
  • Certain sub and special weapons can temporarily deny your opponents access to their Tacticooler (or splat them as they attempt to collect a drink) if it is ever misplaced.
  • Sharking around their cooler can also provide an opportunity to pick off opponents and remove their enhancements.
  • If your team does not have a Tacticooler ready (or has no Tacticoolers in its composition) when your opponents are under the effects of Tacticooler, then your team will need to win the first overall team fight outright, then win or trade the second overall team fight to prevent your opponents from sustaining a long lockout or push.
  • If positioned carefully, a Crab Tank can stall an opposing Tacticooler push, which can buy time for your team to respawn or prepare a counter-push of your own.

Gear abilities

Users of the Snipewriter 5H, a charger with an invaluable special weapon, benefit mostly from abilities that increase both special weapon output and duration, improve ink efficiency, and hasten escapes. Thanks to the Snipewriter 5H's lower gear dependency versus other Tacticooler-based weapons, its user will have little trouble fulfilling their specific needs.

Ink Resistance Up

Every player is expected to come in contact with opposing ink on many surfaces, which can both be damaging and reduce mobility. Ink Resistance Up delays the time when damage is taken from contact with opposing ink and partially offsets the reduction in mobility, the latter trait being crucial when fleeing rushing opponents.

AP	Mains	Subs	Run speed in opposing ink (DU/f)	Invulnera- bility time (frames)	Rate of damage (HP/s)	Maximum damage (HP)
0	0	0	0.240	0	18	40.0
3	0	1	0.334	10	12	38.0
6	0	2	0.394	15	12	36.2

Ink Saver (Main)

Even after its ink efficiency was buffed in Version 4.0.0, the Snipewriter 5H still requires over one-third of an ink tank to fully charge. Improving the main weapon's ink efficiency will increase its uptime, allowing its user to use their main and sub weapons more often and spend less time refilling their ink tank.

• Two secondary abilities or subs, which equal 6 ability points (AP), guarantees its user three full charges per ink tank. Even one sub, or 3 AP, improves the ink efficiency very close to the three-full-charge threshold.
• Even if using Last-Ditch Effort, increasing uptime from the beginning of a battle can pay off. If secondary abilities are not disabled (i.e., in certain tournament settings), one or two subs of Ink Saver (Main) are a great investment.

Last-Ditch Effort

The high ink consumption of a Snipewriter 5H's full charge is often too great to offset with Ink Saver (Main) alone without compromising other gear abilities. Even after receiving a nerf in Version 5.0.0, Last-Ditch Effort is still a cost-efficient means of improving overall ink efficiency, allowing its user to better maintain uptime in clutch situations.

• Last-Ditch Effort combined with two subs (6 AP) of Ink Saver (Main) provides a Snipewriter 5H user to fully charge their weapon four times when the game clock has 30 or fewer seconds left or, in an Anarchy Battle, either the opposing team's countdown has 30 or fewer points remaining or Overtime has begun.

Quick Super Jump

There will likely be moments when a Snipewriter 5H user will be forced to Super Jump to flee from rushing opponents. Quick Super Jump shortens the vulnerability time at the start of performing a Super Jump, increasing their likelihood of escape.

AP	Mains	Subs	Vulnerabi- lity frames	Vulnerabi- lity time (s)	Total Super Jump time (s)
0	0	0	80	1.333	3.633
3	0	1	58	0.967	3.267
6	0	2	50	0.833	3.133
10	1	0	44	0.733	3.017

• While every player is recommended to have at least one sub (3 AP) of Quick Super Jump, a Snipewriter 5H player would be more inclined to have two subs (6 AP) to increase their survivability, which better ensures that their team will have a long-ranged presence and a constant Tacticooler supply.
• If secondary abilities are disabled (e.g., in certain tournament settings), then it might be worthwhile for a Snipewriter 5H player to devote one of their three primary abilities to Quick Super Jump since their team role requires them to avoid getting splatted more so than other weapon users.

Special Charge Up

Having a Tacticooler ready when needed can be the difference between sustaining a long, productive lockout or push or withdrawing as too many players get splatted. Therefore, it would be in a Snipewriter 5H user's best interest to reduce their special gauge requirement for Tacticooler.

AP	Mains	Subs	Special gauge requirement (p)
0	0	0	200
10	1	0	184
16	1	2	176
22	1	4	170

• The frequency of Tacticooler usage is generally more important than its duration per use since not every player who receives its enhancements will survive its entire duration. If you have to decide between Special Charge Up and Special Power Up, prioritize Special Charge Up.

Special Power Up

Whenever your team is enhanced with Tacticooler, opponents might attempt to stall your push with longer-ranged main weapons, bombs, or certain special weapons, such as Crab Tank. To counter this tactic, Special Power Up increases the duration of Tacticooler's effects with Special Power Up, which reduces the chance of the effects wearing off too early.

AP	Mains	Subs	Tacticooler effects duration (s)
0	0	0	17.000
6	0	2	19.017
10	1	0	19.983
16	1	2	21.200

Competitive history

When the Snipewriter 5H was released after its introduction in Chill Season 2022, competitive players were less than enthusiastic about it. The Splash-o-matic and Sloshing Machine, equipped with the Crab Tank and the Booyah Bomb respectively (both of which Snipewriter 5H had trouble damaging), were prevalent in the meta, and Tacticooler – initially thought to be powerful at the start – proved to be underwhelming. However, the Snipewriter 5H's weapon set had great synergy, which would serve it well as further updates arrived and the meta shifted.

However, the changes from Version 2.1.0 (released the following January) to Version 4.0.0 (released before June that year) would aid both Snipewriter 5H and Tacticooler, nerf both Splash-o-matic (and its sub and special weapons) and Sloshing Machine, and buff both Ballpoint Splatling and Inkjet. The overall rise of the Ballpoint Splatling and its Inkjet, along with the drop of the Splash-o-matic and Sloshing Machine, made Tacticooler weapons more attractive as a means to reduce the impact of an Inkjet. The Snipewriter 5H had the bonus of already having a good matchup against both the Ballpoint Splatling and its Inkjet. However, other Tacticooler-based weapons, particularly the N-ZAP '85 and the Tri-Slosher Nouveau, were still favored in the west at this point.

It was not until Version 4.1.0 that western competitive players began to consider Snipewriter 5H in their compositions. Ballpoint Splatling and Inkjet each received a nerf. However, Snipewriter 5H's use in the late-June 2023 edition of Area Cup in Japan demonstrated its strengths, encouraging western competitive players to consider adding it to their compositions. Two official Nintendo competitions in the west, the Splatoon 3 Championship 2023 in North America and the Splatoon 3 European Championship 2023, featured the Snipewriter 5H being used.

From Version 5.0.0 (released at the end of August) to Version 6.1.0 (released near the end of January 2024), a nerf to Last-Ditch Effort and subsequent increases to special gauge requirements for the N-ZAP '85, Tri-Slosher Nouveau, and the Heavy Edit Splatling have further helped Snipewriter 5H become arguably the most meta-defining weapon in the game. Typically, a competitive team will run one of three compositions: (a) the Snipewriter 5H with three frontline weapons, (b) an alternative anchor and an alternative Tacticooler-based weapon with two frontline weapons, or (c) an alternative Tacticooler-based weapon with three frontline weapons. In the ninth edition of Area Cup, a top competitive Splat Zones-only tournament, two of the top four, four of the top eight, and seven of the top sixteen teams used the Snipewriter 5H in their compositions. Likewise, in the Splatoon 3 World Championship 2024, four of the six competing teams used the Snipewriter 5H at least once. Even after Version 7.2.0 increased the special gauge requirement for Snipewriter 5H, it is still expected to provide a steady supply of Tacticooler thanks to its great turfing output.