Gear ability

Gear abilities, or simply abilities, are special attributes that are placed on wearable gear in Splatoon and Splatoon 2. They provide different effects depending on the ability present and their strength is based around the number of copies if they are stackable.

Primary abilities

Each piece of gear has a specific primary ability (also called main) which cannot be changed. In Splatoon, each piece of gear has a set primary ability which never varies. In Splatoon 2, some gear (namely, gear obtained through Salmon Run) does not have a default primary ability and instead gets a random one generated from all the abilities available for that type of gear. In addition, all the starting gear and all the gear normally purchasable in shops regularly appears on the SplatNet 2 shop with different abilities than the normal ones.

By default, no gear in Splatoon or Splatoon 2 has a primary ability that matches the secondary ability favored by the brand that produces it. This is done to make acquiring gear with all 4 slots having the same ability (colloquially called "pure" gear) more difficult. However, SplatNet 2 gear is sometimes sold with a matching ability.

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, preventing the user from having more than one ability exclusive to that gear type. For instance, if a player equips Tenacity, they cannot also have Comeback because both abilities are only available in the main ability slot of headgear items. The groups of mutually exclusive abilities are as follows:

Because the Splatfest Tee has to be worn during Splatfest, every player will use the same clothing ability during Splatfest Battles.

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

Secondary abilities

All gear has 1-3 slots for secondary abilities (also called subs), which are weaker versions of the non-exclusive primary abilities. The effect is exactly three-tenths of a primary ability. The number of secondary abilities that can be present on a single piece of gear depends on the rarity (amount of stars) of the gear. The more stars there are, the more secondary abilities slots it comes with. Up to three secondary abilities can be present, meaning that the highest rarity is 3 stars. Secondary abilities are randomly chosen whenever a gear levels up, which happens when its bar is filled through battling. The points earned in matches go towards leveling it up. Higher rarity pieces of gear take more points to level up, even on the first slot, and each progressive slot on the same gear requires a larger amount of points.

Subs are rolled using random number generation (RNG).

There are 13 possible secondary abilities in Splatoon and 14 in Splatoon 2. Many brands make getting specific abilities either more common or less common. Brands that affect roll probability have a 5× chance of rolling a favored ability, and a 1/2× chance of rolling an unfavored ability.

In Splatoon, this means there is a 2/33 chance of rolling each of the 11 neutral abilities, a 1/33 chance of rolling the one unfavored ability, and a 10/33 chance of rolling the one favored ability. Brands that do not affect roll probability have a 1/13 chance of rolling each of the 13 abilities.
In Splatoon 2, this means there is a 2/35 chance of rolling each of the 12 neutral abilities, a 1/35 chance of rolling the one unfavored ability, and a 10/35 chance of rolling the one favored ability. Brands that do not affect roll probability have a 1/14 chance of rolling each of the 14 abilities.

Probability of rolling multiple abilities of the same kind in *Splatoon*
Amount	Favoring brand			Non-favoring brand
Amount	Favored ability	Unfavored ability	Neutral ability	Any ability
One	30.30303%	3.03030%	6.06061%	7.69231%
Two	9.18274%	0.09183%	0.36731%	0.59172%
Three	2.78265%	0.00278%	0.02226%	0.04552%

In Splatoon 2, an ability's likelihood can be influenced with a drink ticket. Doing so will give the corresponding ability a 30% chance of being rolled, with all other abilities retaining their relative likelihoods within the remaining 70%.

Probability of rolling multiple abilities of the same kind 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

Stacked abilities have diminishing returns, meaning that each additional ability of the same type will have a slightly smaller effect than the previous. Diminishing returns make it impossible for players to gain over-powered stats, and make it undesirable to stack too much of the same ability. Diminishing returns may be more noticeable on some abilities than on others; abilities that have a small maximum effect or a small base stat being modified may feel especially ineffective to stack. For example, Swim Speed Up has a small maximum effect of 25%, so diminishing returns may seem severe relative to the other abilities. A player may not even perceive an improvement past a certain point, like after 3 main ability slots of Swim Speed Up.

This encourages players to wear a variety of different abilities, rather than focusing on one ability.

Splatoon

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

In Splatoon, some abilities are ineffective with certain sub weapons and special weapons, offering no improvements.

Bomb Range Up has no effect on non-throwable sub weapons: the Ink Mine, the Seeker, the Splash Wall, and the Squid Beakon. It also provides no improvement for one throwable weapon, the Sprinkler.
Damage Up offers no further improvements after it causes a weapon to reach its damage cap.
Run Speed Up has no effect on the run speed while pushing a roller.
Quick Respawn has no effect on respawn time after drowning or falling, unless the player uses more than four secondary slots' worth of the ability.

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 within a certain distance 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 done 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 invisible when swimming, but has reduced 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 standing on one's Spawn Point and for 3.5 seconds after leaving it.	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	Decreases special gauge loss after being splatted.	Any	Zekko	Skalop
Stealth Jump	Hides the Super Jump target 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 players than the opposing team.	Headgear

Splatoon 2

Murch, who can be found in Inkopolis Square (normally to the right of Deca Tower and in the middle of the square during Splatfests), has multiple services that affect gear items' secondary abilities:

Name	Effect	Cost
Increase Slots	Adds another slot to a or item.	1	20,000
Reroll	Rerolls all the filled slots on a piece of gear.	1	20,000
Scrub Slots	Resets all the gear slots to and provides 1 Ability Chunk for each removed ability.	2,000 ()	20,000 (other gear)
Use Ability Chunks	Places a specific ability in a specific slot on gear. The target slot must be unlocked, but can be occupied. If an occupied slot is overwritten, 1 Ability Chunk of the removed ability will be provided. The price depends on the number of the same secondary ability already present on the gear. The primary ability is not counted for this calculation. The player is not prevented from overwriting a slot with the same ability (and the it is even counted for the price), resulting in a net loss of 19 or 29 chunks.	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 that gear piece.	Clothing
Bomb Defense Up	Reduces damage taken by blasts from sub weapons or special weapons.	Any	Inkline	Krak-On
Cold-Blooded	Shortens the duration of position trackers.	Any	Annaki Toni Kensa	Inkline
Comeback	Improves ink management and mobility stats 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.	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.	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 as well as respawn time towards the end of a battle.	Headgear
Ninja Squid	The user is invisible when swimming, but has reduced swim speed.	Clothing
Object Shredder	Increases damage dealt to non-player targets.	Shoes
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
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	Decreases special gauge loss after being splatted.	Any	Zekko	Annaki Skalop
Stealth Jump	Hides the Super Jump landing marker.	Shoes
Sub Power Up	Increases performance of sub weapons.	Any	Enperry	Toni Kensa
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 players than the opposing team.	Headgear
Thermal Ink	Allows the player to track distant players hit with shots from the main weapon.	Clothing