Painbrush

The Painbrush is a main weapon in Splatoon 3, belonging to the brush weapon class. It is the first new entry in the brush class since the original roster from Splatoon.

The Painbrush was revealed on 16 May 2023 in the Sizzle Season 2023 trailer and was released on 1 June 2023.

Appearance

The Painbrush resembles a fan brush with a slit in its bristles. Its silver, metallic handle resembles a palette cup. On the handle near the bristles, the Nouveau logo can be seen, colored white.

Splatoon 3

Splatoon 3

Painbrush

Basic information
Category	Main
Class	Brush
Sub	Curling Bomb
Special	Wave Breaker
Special points	200p
Special depletion
Range	33 / 100
Damage
Impact
Fire rate
Charge speed
Ink speed	85 / 100
Mobility
Durability
Handling	60 / 100
Obtainable at
Level	14
Cost
Requirement
Added in	Sizzle Season 2023 (4.0.0)
Specifications
Weight
Base damage	30-60 (Splash) 30 (Roll) 75-150 ( SRNW Splash) 50 ( SRNW Roll)
Base duration
Ink consumption
Base range
Rate of fire
Muzzle velocity
Base accuracy
MPU effect
SPU effect
SPU effect
Other variant	Painbrush Nouveau

The Painbrush has Curling Bombs and the Wave Breaker. As a brush, when is pressed, it rapidly flicks splashes of ink in front of the user with higher damage and longer range compared with other brushes, but as a tradeoff it possesses a long windup on the first of a series of swings and a narrower spread of ink left on surfaces with each swing. If is held, the user will push the Painbrush along the ground, leaving a trail of ink as the user runs at a fast speed comparable to that of the Octobrush.

Data

• The Painbrush is a middleweight weapon.
• The matchmaking range is 13.1. The game's matchmaking system looks at a team's average matchmaking range value, and matches them against a team with a similar average.
• Ink consumption per second while sliding is 10.8%.
  • This stat can be changed with Ink Saver (Main).
• While sliding, the player's movement speed is set to 0.18 units per frame.
• After rolling, there is a 0.5 second cooldown before the ink tank starts refilling.
• Hitting an opponent while sliding deals 30 damage.
• While sliding, the Painbrush leaves an ink trail that is 2.2 units wide.

Flinging ink

• The ink consumption of 4.8% allows players to attack 20 times before needing to refill the ink supply.
  • This stat can be changed with Ink Saver (Main).
• When attacking, it takes 23 frames to start swinging the brush.

• The weapon can be swung every 15 frames (4 times per second).
• When attacking while moving, the player's movement speed is set to 0.024 units per frame.
• After swinging, there is a 0.83 second cooldown before the ink tank starts refilling.
• Attacks have a base damage of 60.
• For normal attacks, ink loses damage based on distance traveled. Ink starts losing damage at 5.0 units and stops losing damage at 13.0 units. The minimum damage is 31.
• If a glob of ink is in the air for more than 24 frames after being flung, it loses damage each frame until frame 45, at which point it will deal 50% of its original damage.
• Damage does not change based on the angle of the ink.

Version history

Version	Adjustments
4.1.0	▲ Reduced the amount of ink consumed when swinging the brush by approximately 25%. ▲ Reduced the amount of ink consumed when holding the Button to paint while moving ahead by approximately 25%.
5.1.0	▲ Reduced the amount of time it takes for ink to begin recovering after swinging the brush by about 1/6 of a second. ▲ The reduction in damage based on how far a shot travels before hitting an enemy has been adjusted, allowing the weapon to deal 50.0 damage/33.4 damage farther than it did before.

Quotes

Sheldon's Introduction If you like brushes but wish they had a bit more range and power, then you've got to experience the Painbrush for yourself! It's all thanks to a unique 90 degree rotation by the brush head, giving this weapon the most range of ANY brush out there. The trade-off is that each swing is a bit slower, but this is still a brush we're talking about. You'll be flying across the map, and you can use Curling Bomb to blaze your path. Add in the Wave Breaker special to light up your enemies, and you've got a potent set designed for speed and extreme range!

“

SRL Ballistics back again! The S-BLAST was and IS cool, but we can only watch the video so many times. Now we're on to the Painbrush, the biggest, heaviest, and NEWEST brush in the game! Please hold while we watch and analyze our new Painbrush video 2,479 times. And here it is in action! Note how the first swing is slow, but subsequent swings fling ink fast and wide. Plus, you can hold down the Button to advance quickly as needed. If battling is an art, this brush could be... an art tool? IDK. We're scientists, not artists.

”

— @SplatoonNA on Twitter

Badges

Main article: Badge#Weapon freshness

Reaching certain Freshness levels with the Painbrush will reward the player with special badges that they can use on their Splashtag.

Painbrush Badges
	4★ Painbrush User
	5★ Painbrush User

Gallery

• 

  Promo render

• 

  Japanese promotional image

• 

  The Painbrush's reveal from the trailer

• 

  Flinging ink with the Painbrush

• 

  The Painbrush showing the Nouveau logo

• 

  The top right card is for the Painbrush

• 

  2D icon.

• 

  The Tableturf card icon of the Painbrush.

• 

  Painbrush holographic sticker

• Model of the Painbrush rotating (link to file)

• The Painbrush in action (link to file)

Strategy

For competitive tips about the Painbrush

View the strategy page.

Trivia

• The Painbrush, along with the Splattershot Nova, Big Swig Roller, Snipewriter 5H, S-BLAST '92, Dread Wringer, and Heavy Edit Splatling, is not included in Return of the Mammalians due to being added post-release.
• The Painbrush is the only brush since the original Splatoon to have the ability to splat an enemy in two hits.

Etymology

Painbrush is a combination of the words pain and brush while also being a pun on paintbrush.

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning
Japanese	フィンセント Finsento	Vincent
Dutch	Kwistkwast	From either kwist ("annihilation, torture") or kwisten ("to squander") and kwast ("brush")
French	Épinceau écaïe	Écaïe (from "écaille" (fish scale) and "aïe" (ouch)) brush
German	Fächerfärber	Fan painter
Italian	Tonnoretto	From tonno ("tuna") and Italian painter Tintoretto
Russian	Веерокисть «Плюхассо» Veerokist' "Plyukhasso"	Fan brush «Splatasso»
Spanish (NOA)	Pincel abanico	Fan brush
Spanish (NOE)	Brocha abanico	Fan brush
Chinese	文森 Wén sēn (Mandarin) man4 sam1 (Cantonese)	Vincent
Korean	빈센트 Binsenteu	Vincent
Internal	Brush_Heavy_00	Brush is the respective class, Heavy means that it's heavyweight, and 00 means it's the first variant.