Water Levels (high and low tides)

Water Levels (high and low tides) are a Known Occurrence in Salmon Run and Salmon Run Next Wave.

Description

Before a wave begins, the water level in the area will begin to rise or fall. When it rises, this is known as high tide, and when it falls, this is known as low tide. This mimics the real-world phenomenon of tides.

During high tide, the walking area will be more limited. In this small space, it can be easy to be overwhelmed due to multiple factors, including but not limited to the player or their teammates falling or being knocked into the water, losing access to walls facing the waters, or just simply being overpowered by so many enemies in a small space. Additionally, Big Shots and their cannons are never seen at all, likely due to the cannons needing distance to operate.

During low tide, a new area of the shore will be uncovered. When this happens, the egg basket will be in this area and Salmonids will only spawn in there. An additional occurrence known to accompany low tide on occasion is the Cohock Charge, where, during the wave, the only Lesser Salmonid that spawns will be Cohocks. In the event of this occurrence, Ink Cannon are provided to better handle the situation. In Salmon Run Next Wave, another possible low tide occurrence is the Giant Tornado. In this occurrence, the lower egg basket is blocked by a stone and players must carry Golden Eggs from a box on the shore all the way to the upper egg basket while fending off Lesser Salmonids that periodically fall from the sky.

The water level is telegraphed by the water-like overlay that appears over the bottom of the screen at the beginning of each wave for 5 seconds. When the overlay just reaches the bottom of the banner showing what weapon the player will be using, the tide is at its normal level. A lower overlay (nearly at the bottom of the screen) indicates a low tide, and a higher overlay (almost to the top of the weapon banner and the bottom of the green countdown) indicates a high tide.

The chance of a wave being at high and low tide is 20% each, while the remaining 60% is mid-tide.^[1] The tide level during a King Salmonid attack will match whatever level it was during wave 3.

Salmonid Field Guide

The following text is quoted from the Salmonid Field Guide.

Low Tide

When the tide goes out a large amount of land that is usually underwater will be exposed.
Salmonid warriors use this land as a staging ground from which to launch coordinated attacks.
During low tide, the egg basket will be near this newly exposed land.

High Tide

When high tide is in, there'll be much less land available.
The egg basket will be in its normal place.

Advice from Mr. Grizz

During low tide, you gotta get together and move, move, move down to that exposed land, kid!
During high tide—I don't care how hard it is—you gotta survive against those Salmonids!

Supplementary Information

The sudden and irregular changes in the water levels are a rare phenomenon found only in this area.
The cause is as yet unknown, and is the subject of much research throughout the academic world.

Gallery

The Salmonid Field Guide entry detailing Water Levels in Splatoon 3.
The Salmonid Field Guide entry detailing Water Levels in Splatoon 3.
Normal tide. The gray wavy overlay is touching the bottom of the weapon banner.
Incoming high tide. The overlay rises to the bottom of the large green number.
High tide. Note the sandy area (seen in the orange-inked photo) is submerged.
Incoming low tide. The overlay falls to the same level as the D-pad icon on the left.
Low tide. Note the exposed shoreline.

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning
Japanese	水位変化（干潮、満潮） Suii henka (kanchō, manchō)	Water level changes (low tide, high tide)
Dutch	Waterstand (eb en vloed)	Water level (ebb and flow)
French	Marées hautes et marées basses	High tides and low tides
German	Wasserstand (Ebbe und Flut)	Water level (ebb and flow)
Italian	Alta e bassa marea	High and low tides
Russian	Приливы и отливы Prilivy i otlivy	High tides and low tides
Spanish	Mareas (altas y bajas)	Tides (high and low)
Chinese (Simplified)	水位变化（干潮、满潮） shuǐwèi biànhuà(gàncháo, mǎncháo)	Water level changes (low tide, high tide)
Chinese (Traditional)	水位變化（乾潮、滿潮） shuǐwèi biànhuà(gàncháo, mǎncháo)	Water level changes (low tide, high tide)