Clam Blitz

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Clam Blitz

Clam Blitz
Type Online multiplayer mode
Players 2-8
Ranked Yes
Weapons All
Controllers Joy-Con

Nintendo Switch Pro Controller

Release Date 13 December 2017
“ Fill the enemy's clam basket! ”
— Objective quote seen before battle in Splatoon 2

Clam Blitz is one of the four Ranked Battle/Anarchy Battle modes in Splatoon 2 and Splatoon 3, alongside Splat Zones, Rainmaker, and Tower Control. Clam Blitz is the only ranked mode that was not in Splatoon.

History

Clam Blitz was announced on 21 November 2017 when Nintendo released a video showing the updates for the coming weeks.

On 13 December 2017 at 02:00 UTC, version 2.1.0 made Clam Blitz playable.

On 10 August 2022, Nintendo revealed Clam Blitz returns for Splatoon 3 for Anarchy Battles. This time the number of clams required to form a Power Clam is eight instead of ten.

Gameplay

The objective of Clam Blitz is to pick up clams, which are scattered around the stage, and deposit them into the goal near the opposing team's base. Once a player picks up ten/eight clams, it transforms into a Power Clam, which is used to destroy the barrier around the other team's goal when thrown towards it.

Collecting clams

At the beginning of the match, thirty clams are scattered all around the center of the stage and towards the teams' bases. They can be picked up by getting close enough to them. After picking up clams, they start to trail along behind the player in humanoid form and disappear when swimming. When standing still in humanoid form, the clams form a pyramid shape. A Power Clam is formed by picking up ten clams in Splatoon 2, and eight clams in Splatoon 3. Clams and Power Clams can be thrown by pressing A or L. Clams can be passed to any player on the field, but Power Clams are distinct to each team and can only be picked up by members of the same team. A Power Clam, when thrown to the ground, inks the ground. Picking up a Power Clam while holding regular clams will force the player to drop all of their regular clams. A player can only hold one Power Clam at a time and cannot pick up additional clams while holding one. A player that gets splatted while holding clams drops up to four clams in Splatoon 2, and three clams in Splatoon 3. It is possible to Super Jump to a teammate or a Squid Beakon and keep all held clams intact. If a player returns to their spawn point in Splatoon 2, all clams or Power Clam gathered will break. Throwing clams at the spawn also breaks them. After using certain specials like the Splashdown, Baller, Reefslider, or Kraken Royale, the player drops all clams they were holding.

Any regular clams or Power Clams disappear after ten seconds if not picked up. After a Power Clam disappears or enough clams have disintegrated, new clams appear on the stage at selected locations in groups of four/three.

Thirty clams, scattered around the stage.

Clams on surfaces inked with the player's team ink color appear as pulsating circular markers on the map and on-screen, and can be seen through walls. Power Clams are seen as bright pulsating circles in their corresponding team color, marked with the Ranked logo.

All players can see the position of both teams' Power Clams at all times on both the screen and the map, shown as a Ranked Battle symbol in white over their appropriate color. Once a player holds a Power Clam, it follows the player and can be seen even when swimming. A dropped Power Clam (or the one that spawns when the barrier regenerates) is similarly shown on all players' maps and screens in inverted colors (team color logo on white background). If the player is holding a Power Clam, or if the opponent's goal is open and the player is holding any clams, a marker shaped like a Power Clam in the opponent's color appears on-screen, showing the location of the opponent's goal.

Any friendly players holding clams have a numbered marker showing how many they are holding above their name. Also, the scoreboard on the top of the screen shows the total number of clams currently held by a team, with Power Clams counted as ten/eight clams, and each team member is marked with how many clams they currently hold.

Scoring

Breaking the opponent's basket barrier with a Power Clam immediately awards twenty points and lifts the team's basket, preventing the enemy team from scoring points. If several Power Clams hit the closed basket simultaneously, points are awarded for each one. Each regular clam thrown into a basket is worth three points, while a Power Clam is worth twenty. If a team's barrier closes with the same point total as the opposing team, the last team to score loses one point, a feature which is done to avoid tied scores.

The basket stays open for ten seconds. Throwing a clam into it extends the timer by three seconds, but cannot make the remaining time go over ten seconds. Throwing a Power Clam into an open basket resets the timer to ten seconds. When the barrier timer runs out, the enemy team's basket lifts to regenerate the barrier for ten seconds, while the scoring team's barrier drops immediately, making it easier for a counter-attack. If both teams have thrown a Power Clam at the goal, the team that threw the Power Clam first will score, and the other team's Power Clam will fall out of the barrier.

If the barrier goes back up before the scoring team gets to 100 points, a penalty of half the points scored, rounded down, is imposed on the team, similar to the penalty for ceding control to the other team in Splat Zones. The total for this calculation includes the twenty points gained from breaking the barrier, as well as any points that made up for previous penalties. If a point was deducted for the barrier closing with a tied score, the penalty does not change (e.g. if the team only ended up scoring nineteen points, the penalty is still +10). Finally, a Power Clam for the team whose barrier got broken spawns by their goal and does not time out unless picked up. No additional Power Clams spawn if the previous one was not picked up and the barrier got broken and returned.

A bump to the basket barrier in Kelp Dome.

Several stages have a bump near the basket that makes it easier to score and measure the distance needed to score a Power Clam. The baskets and bumps have the Sorella logo marked on them.

Bump to the goal
Stage Bump to
the goal		 Stage Bump to
the goal
The Reef ✓ MakoMart ✓
Musselforge Fitness ✓ Walleye Warehouse ✓
Starfish Mainstage ✓ Shellendorf Institute ✓
Humpback Pump Track ✓ Arowana Mall ✗
Inkblot Art Academy ✓ Goby Arena ✗
Moray Towers ✗ Piranha Pit ✗
Port Mackerel ✗ Camp Triggerfish ✓
Sturgeon Shipyard ✓ Wahoo World ✗
Manta Maria ✗ New Albacore Hotel ✗
Kelp Dome* ✓ Ancho-V Games ✗
Snapper Canal ✗ Skipper Pavilion ✗
Blackbelly Skatepark ✗

*Kelp Dome has two bumps.

Bump to the goal
Stage Bump to
the goal		 Stage Bump to
the goal
Scorch Gorge ✓ Wahoo World ✗
Eeltail Alley ✓ Brinewater Springs ✓
Hagglefish Market ✗ Flounder Heights ✓
Undertow Spillway ✓ Um'ami Ruins ✗
Mincemeat Metalworks ✓ Manta Maria ✗
Hammerhead Bridge ✓ Barnacle & Dime* ✗
Museum d'Alfonsino ✓ Humpback Pump Track* ✗
Mahi-Mahi Resort ✓ Crableg Capital ✓
Inkblot Art Academy ✓ Shipshape Cargo Co. ✓
Sturgeon Shipyard ✓ Robo ROM-en ✓
MakoMart ✓ Bluefin Depot ✓
Marlin Airport ✓ Lemuria Hub ✗

*The bump at Barnacle & Dime has been removed of the map rework in version 8.0.0
*Humpback Pump Track has a formation similar to a bump but is not uniform at the base and does not match colors

Overtime rules

When time runs out and at least one team has scored, overtime begins when either:

  • The losing team has a Power Clam in their possession, or one on the field that has not yet disappeared.[a]
  • The winning team's barrier is still open.
  • The losing team's barrier is open but they were winning when it was opened.

Overtime ends when either:

  • The winning team scores.
  • The winning team's barrier closes.
  • The losing team loses all of their Power Clams before opening the winning team's barrier.
  • The losing team fails to open the winning team's barrier within twenty seconds.
  • The losing team takes the lead, giving them the victory.

If time runs out and neither team has scored, special overtime begins, lasting for three minutes and ends when either team scores with a 20-0 victory. Should neither team manage to score after three minutes of overtime, the team who formed the most Power Clams is chosen as the winner with one point; should both teams form the same number of Power Clams, then Team Alpha is awarded the victory. Take note that Team Alpha and Team Bravo are assigned randomly at the start of each match, and are not noticed directly to the players.

Passive Special Charge

Players' special gauges will fill automatically under certain conditions.

  • When one team is holding one or more Power Clams and the other team is not, the special gauges of the team holding one or more Power Clams will fill at 3p per second.
    • The Power Clam must be held by a player. A Power Clam on the field, including the Power Clam produced from the basket closing, will not count.
  • When both teams are holding one or more Power Clams, the special gauges of the losing team will fill at 3p per second.
  • When neither team is holding a Power Clam, the special gauges of the losing team will fill at 3p per second.

Badges

Main article: Badge#Battle

Winning a certain amount of battles will reward the player with special badges that they can use on their Splashtag.

Clam Blitz badges
100 Clam Blitz Wins
1,000 Clam Blitz Wins

Gallery

Splatoon 2

  • Clam Blitz

    Clam Blitz

  • Clams and a Power Clam.

    Clams and a Power Clam.

  • Inklings playing with a miniature version of the game.

    Inklings playing with a miniature version of the game.

  • Clams

    Clams

  • Clams following an Inkling.

    Clams following an Inkling.

  • The map, showing the location of each clam that is on friendly ink.

    The map, showing the location of each clam that is on friendly ink.

  • An Inkling dropping their clams after getting splatted.

    An Inkling dropping their clams after getting splatted.

  • A Power Clam behind an Inkling.

    A Power Clam behind an Inkling.

  • A clam bouncing off the protective barrier around the goal.

    A clam bouncing off the protective barrier around the goal.

  • A Power clam being thrown at the goal.

    A Power clam being thrown at the goal.

  • The goal's barrier exploding after being hit with a Power Clam.

    The goal's barrier exploding after being hit with a Power Clam.

  • The goal without a protective barrier.

    The goal without a protective barrier.

  • The goal with its barrier intact.

    The goal with its barrier intact.

  • Concept art of Power Clams and the goal.

    Concept art of Power Clams and the goal.

  • Artwork

    Artwork

  • Mode icon

    Mode icon

  • The mem cake of a clam.

    The mem cake of a clam.

Splatoon 3

  • Mode icon

    Mode icon

  • Locker decoration of a clam.

    Locker decoration of a clam.

  • Locker decoration of a Power Clam.

    Locker decoration of a Power Clam.

  • Locker decoration of a Clam Blitz trophy.

    Locker decoration of a Clam Blitz trophy.

Trivia

  • The Power Clam resembles an American football and has clams inside of it. Additionally, the goalpost supporting the barrier and basket resembles an American football goalpost.
  • There are only two scenarios in which a team can have a non-zero score below twenty points.
    • If both teams have broken the opponent's barrier once, but have not scored any further clams, the last team to score will lose one point upon the first team's barrier closing (leading to a score of 20-19), to prevent a tie.
    • If neither team breaks the other team's barrier after eight minutes, the team which formed the most power clams (or, in case of this being tied, Team Alpha) will be granted a point (leading to a final score of 1-0).
  • The maximum number of clams that can be on the field while not held by players is fifty.
  • At some time early in development, it appeared that splatting an opponent who was carrying clams would cause them to drop a maximum of six clams, instead of a maximum of four.
    • This can be seen during the version 2.0.0 update trailer, at the 1:05 mark,[1] where the green Inkling (carrying eight clams) is seen dropping six clams upon getting splatted.

Names in other languages

Clam Blitz
Language Name Meaning
Japan Japanese ガチアサリ
Gachi-asari		 Competitive Japanese-littleneck
Netherlands Dutch Schelpenstrijd Shell battle
CanadaFrance French Pluie de palourdes Clam rain
Germany German Muschelchaos Clam chaos
Italy Italian Vongol gol Clam goal
Russia Russian Устробол
Ustrobol		 Clamball
SpainMexico Spanish Asalto Almeja Clam Assault
China Chinese 真格蛤蜊
zhēn'gé gélí (Mandarin)		 Real clam
South Korea Korean 랭크 바지락
raengkeu bajirak		 Rank Manila-clam
Clam
Language Name Meaning
Japan Japanese アサリ
Asari		 Japanese-littleneck
Netherlands Dutch Schelp Shell
CanadaFrance French Palourde
Germany German Muschel
Italy Italian Vongola
Russia Russian Устрица
Ustritsa		 Clam
SpainMexico Spanish Almeja Clam
China Chinese 蛤蜊
South Korea Korean 바지락
Bajirak		 Clam
 Internal VS_Obj_11 [2]
Power Clam
Language Name Meaning
Japan Japanese ガチアサリ
Gachi-asari		 Big asari
Netherlands Dutch Superschelp Super shell
CanadaFrance French Super palourde
Germany German Powermuschel
Italy Italian Super vongola
Russia Russian Круть-устрица
Krut'-ustritsa		 Cool-clam
Mexico Spanish (NOA) Almejón Big-clam [b]
Spain Spanish (NOE) Superalmeja Superclam
China Chinese 真格蛤蜊
South Korea Korean 랭크 바지락
raengkeu bajirak		 Rank Clam
 Internal VS_Obj_10 [2]

Notes

  1. ↑ Including the free one gained from the barrier coming back up
  2. ↑ The suffix -ón is used to describe a noun that is large. In this case, they added -ón to the word almeja meaning "clam".

References

  1. ↑ YouTube YouTube: Splatoon 2 - Huge Holiday Updates! - Nintendo Switch
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 GitHub Leanny on GitHub
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