Competitive:Octobrush Nouveau

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For information about Octobrush Nouveau, see Octobrush Nouveau.

Splatoon 3

Octobrush Nouveau

Octobrush Nouveau

Abbreviations NOcto, Noctobrush
Sub Squid Beakon
Special Ink Storm
Base damage 40 (Swing)
25 (Slide)
Base duration
Ink consumption 3% (Swing)
9% per second (Slide)
Special points 180p
Special depletion
Role Slayer/Support
Strengths Fast rolling, quick damage output
Weaknesses Range, lack of bomb, falloff rates, slow special

The Octobrush Nouveau was reintroduced in Drizzle Season 2023. In Splatoon 3, it comes with Squid Beakon and Ink Storm.

Use

The Octobrush itself is a frontline slayer.

  • It has 2 modes: Swinging and Rolling.
    • Swinging the brush will fling ink. Mainly used for painting and fighting.
      • This swing has AOE hitboxes, meaning it can damage enemies over cover or near a ledge, acting similarly to a Slosher.
    • Rolling will hold the brush to the ground and run fast. Mainly used for mobility, dodging shots, and crossing uninkable surfaces such as grates more quickly than other weapon classes.

Strengths

  • Like all Brush class weapons, its mobility in roll mode is its main advantage compared to other weapon classes, allowing it flexibility in positioning that many other weapons struggle to match.
  • Because it deals damage with multiple swings, it's effective in finishing off enemy players which have already taken damage from other weapons.
  • Octobrush's AOE hitboxes amplify its strengths when it has a height advantage over its opponents, particularly on maps such as Flounder Heights or Humpback Pump Track.

Weaknesses

  • Its short range makes it weak against longer-ranged slayers.
  • It lacks a bomb to set up traps at close range and pressure long-range anchors from behind cover.
  • Its ink flings lose damage over distance, increasing the amount of swings to splat from three to a more inconsistent four at longer ranges.
  • Due to its three-shot, it has a slower time to splat compared to other slayers. Its falloff exacerbates this issue further, meaning it has to be more creative in how it sets up fights against these other weapons to have an edge.

Squid Beakons

Squid Beakons are the main strength of this kit compared to its vanilla kit.

  • Squid Beakons can be used to quickly get back in the game after respawning.
  • Squid Beakons can also be used as a safe escape tool if the player is wearing enough Sub Power Up or Quick Super Jump gear abilities.
  • Place Squid Beakons in safe spots where enemies have to expose themselves and be vulnerable to destroy, such as behind your cover.
  • Compared to other weapons equipped with the Squid Beakon, NOcto can use its increased mobility due to roll mode to put Beakons in areas which are more difficult for the enemy team to destroy or advantageous for teammates to jump to, such as flank routes or below ledges.
  • Due to the ability of Squid Beakons to indicate the positions of enemy players in a certain radius around it on the overhead map, they can give an Octobrush player or their teammates an advantage in intel, informing them on where they can set up favorable fights, and detecting where more stealthy enemies may be hiding.

Ink Storm

Ink Storm can also come in handy.

  • As of Version 9.2.0, Octobrush Nouveau is the only frontline slayer weapon equipped with the Ink Storm special, meaning it is able to use the special far more self-sufficiently than most other weapons equipped with the special.
    • This also means it can take further advantage of the healing factor of the special, introduced in Version 6.1.0, to gain leverage in fights against other frontline weapons without team support.
  • Ink Storm can be used as passive painting or damage for control. It can be used on or near the Splat Zone or other map objectives, allowing the Octobrush player or their teammates to pursue enemies while it pressures them away from those areas.
  • Ink Storm can be placed in areas where enemy anchor weapons prefer to position themselves in order to displace them, making it easier for Octobrush or its teammates to move in more open areas.
  • Ink Storm can combo with the Octobrush Nouveau's damage. However, it does move slower than its roll speed, so the player will have to slow down or take more circuitous slide patterns to stay within the area of effect.
  • Ink Storm can also be used as a quick ink refill for when the player runs out of ink.

Gear Abilities

Due to having a particularly balanced set of basic traits, Octobrush has a lot of freedom in what gear abilities it can typically equip. What gear abilities are used may depend on a player's individual style, as the impact of respawn abilities such as Quick Respawn and Special Saver or ink efficiency abilities such as Ink Saver (Main), Ink Saver (Sub), or Ink Recovery Up are highly dependent on a player's personal preferences.

Advantageous Abilities
  • Because it is equipped with Beakons, allowing it to jump back into the fray quickly, Comeback is particularly strong as a headgear main ability.
  • Swim Speed Up is great as a sub or main ability, allowing NOcto to move into position more quickly for fights.
  • NOcto can afford to run more sub or main abilities of Sub Power Up or Quick Super Jump than most other weapons, enhancing it or its teammates' speed in super jumping to Beakons.
  • Ninja Squid, while it can negatively impact Octobrush's movement speed, is useful if one's gameplay is more dedicated to stealth over speed.
  • Stealth Jump is useful when Beakons are not on the map due to being broken by teammates or enemy players, allowing Octobrush to get back to the front lines while not being easily detected by the enemy team.
  • One sub ability of Ink Resistance Up is typically recommended for Octobrush, as its roll mode lacks the inherent ink resistance which Inkbrush has in its roll mode while moving through enemy ink.
Disadvantageous/Less Useful Abilities
  • Run Speed Up is effectively useless on Octobrush, since it has no effect on the speed of roll mode.
  • Special Power Up affords less of a direct upgrade to Ink Storm compared to other special weapons, as the increased duration of the special also increases the amount of time before Octobrush can resume charging another special.
  • Since the weapon doesn't fire shots or decrease in shot variance while jumping, Intensify Action has little effect on the weapon's abilities outside of amplifying Squid Rolls and Squid Surges.

Overall Gameplan

In order to maximize the supportive potential of this kit compared to its default kit, it should focus on placing Beakons in map locations which will quickly get respawning teammates into positions which are beneficial to maintaining control of the objective, as well as keeping track of enemy players on the overhead map. Since it lacks a bomb, it will benefit most from working with the ink coverage put out by teammates to get into advantageous positions for fights, while using roll mode to cover ground when out of range of enemy players or to evade damage from slower fire rate weapons such as blasters or chargers. When it has Ink Storm charged, it is best used in areas of the map where enemies are grouped or which are pivotal for earning points with the mode objective, such as the splat zone or tower path, to allow it or its teammates to move and fight more freely in these areas.