Zipcaster
The Zipcaster is a special weapon in Splatoon 3. It temporarily allows the user to stretch their arm to quickly grapple to walls, causing damaging explosions on impact.
Appearance
Activating the Zipcaster coats the user in team-colored ink. It also gives the user a "helmet" resembling their squid or octopus form and a "scarf" resembling their tentacle, both of which depend on the user's species. The user can also stretch their arms while in this form.
Splatoon 3
It appears in 5 Return of the Mammalians missions:
- 0106 Zip, Splat, and Jump
- 0405 Amusing a Bemused Muse
- 0506 Zipping over the Neighborhood
- 0511 Simply Zipcastic!
- Rocket 05 The Spirit Lifter: First Class
Description
When in the special's form, the user can stretch their arms with to grab onto far-off walls and travel quickly to the targeted spot, creating a small explosion of ink upon impact.
If the player hits a wall (even if it cannot be inked), they will stick to it. While stuck to a wall, the player can throw out another tentacle without letting go, or jump off the wall to gain extra height. Going into swim form or using a main weapon will unstick the player. The Zipcaster cannot stick to ceilings or floors.
The player can still attack with their main weapon (the sub weapon cannot be used as it is replaced by the Zipcaster's grapple), although both grappling with the Zipcaster and attacking with the main weapon depletes the special gauge faster. When the special gauge runs out, the player will jump back to where the special was activated, ending the special. Like the Inkjet, the return spot is visible to all players.
Version history
| Version | Adjustments |
|---|---|
| 1.2.0 |
|
| 2.0.0 |
|
| 2.1.0 |
|
Quotes
| “ | Transform into an ink-cloaked acrobat, and sling your stretchy arm to zip around the battlefield! Use to aim and stick to walls. You can still use your main weapon like normal with . When your ink runs out, your transformation will end, and you'll Super Jump back to your starting location. | ” | — In-game description
| ||
| “ | Zip and stick to distant walls with . | ” |
— O.R.C.A.'s description.
| ||
Sets
Badges
- Main article: Badge#Special Weapon Wins
Wining a certain number of battles with the Zipcaster will reward the player with special badges that they can use on their Splashtag.
| Zipcaster Badges | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
30 wins with Zipcaster | |
 |
180 wins with Zipcaster | |
 |
1,200 wins with Zipcaster | |
Gallery
-
-
-
An Inkling using the Zipcaster
-
-
-
Zipcaster in use, with landing icon visible
-
Icon in the special gauge.
-
An earlier version of the Zipcaster icon.
Strategy
For competitive tips about the Zipcaster
|
View the strategy page. |
Trivia
- When the special has almost run out, grappling again, then the special running out will cause the player to go to the grapple destination, but on the way and while super jumping back to the activation spot, the player's ink tank will run out, and 'low ink' will flash next to the player. However, once the player gets back to the activation spot, they will have full ink.
- When jumping down from the spawn drone a player can jump to an ineligible surface for the recall point. If they activate the Zipcaster, the first eligible surface they stand on will have the recall point placed there. This allows the player to reach spots only possible with the Zipcaster while it not being active.
- As the special runs out the ink that covers the player will slowly fade away.
