New Splatoon 2 Patch Now Out, Nerfs Some Popular Weapons

Nintendo has deployed a new patch for its colorful Switch shooter, Splatoon 2. Update 5.3.0 arrived just ahead of this weekend's bonus Splatfest event, and it makes some balance adjustments to a variety of commonly used weapons in the game.

In particular, a handful of guns have received nerfs of varying degrees. Rolling with the Dualie Squelchers and Custom Dualie Squelchers now eats up 8% of your ink tank (up from 5%), and the hit detection between their normal shots and players has been "very slightly decreased," making it a little harder to hit opponents (although the guns' hit detection after rolling remains unchanged).

All three variants of the Bamboozler have also gotten a nerf; their ink consumption has been increased by approximately 20%. Meanwhile, ink droplets from the Splat Brella, Sorella Brella, and Hero Brella Replica now deal 16.2 damage (down from 18.0); following this tweak, Nintendo says the maximum damage dealt by a single shot from these three weapons is now 81.0 (down from 90.0). You can see the full list of balance changes below.

"As a result of closely observing the changes in weapon choice after ver. 5.2.0 was released, we made adjustments to certain weapons that were still being used often or were often used by players of the highest rank, even after the changes in weapon choice evened out," Nintendo explained in its patch notes for the update. "We've also made adjustments to improve those weapons that players started using a lot more often (and those with similar features) to give players more options. We plan to perform a long-term analysis after this update is applied and make adjustments based on that."

Although Nintendo has stopped hosting regular Splatfests in Splatoon 2, the company will hold another bonus event this week, from August 21-23. The theme will be another repeat from a previous Splatfest, in this case the age-old philosophical question: which came first, the chicken or the egg? Nintendo plans to hold at least two more bonus Splatfests in Splatoon 2 by the end of March 2021.

Splatoon 2 Ver. 5.3.0 Patch Notes

Weapon	Changes
Splattershot, Tentatek Splattershot, Kensa Splattershot, Hero Shot Replica, Octo Shot Replica	Reduced the amount of time it takes for shot spread (which is the gradual distance shots spread away from the target when firing continuously) to return to normal. Most Shooter-type weapons will have increased shot spread if you continuously fire. When you stop firing, the shot spread gradually returns to normal, but with this fix, we’ve reduced the amount of time it takes to return.
.52 Gal, .52 Gal Deco, Kensa .52 Gal	Extended the amount of time when firing continuously until shot spread reaches its max. Reduced the amount of time it takes for shot spread to return to normal. Most Shooter-type weapons will have increased shot spread if you continuously fire. When you stop firing, the shot spread gradually returns to normal, but with this fix, we’ve reduced the amount of time it takes to return.
Bamboozler 14 Mk I, Bamboozler 14 Mk II, Bamboozler 14 Mk III	Increased ink consumption by roughly 20%.
Dualie Squelchers, Custom Dualie Squelchers	Increased the ink consumed by rolling from 5% to 8% of the Ink Tank. Very slightly decreased the size of hit detection between normal shots and players, making it harder to hit opponents. There are no changes to hit detection between players and shots after rolling.
Splat Brella, Sorella Brella, Hero Brella Replica	Decreased damage dealt by each ink droplet from 18.0 to 16.2. Due to this change, the maximum damage dealt by a single shot has gone down from 90.0 to 81.0.