Please read this first!

This guide pertains mostly to splatoon 3 because it's been too long since we've played 2 and you are probably the same.

Our friend who plays Splatoon competitively has said that the Bloblobber is a sort of flexible midline or backline weapon. I feel this is incredibly accurate. In some of my best games I have been able to pick up kills and assists at a comfortable range behind the frontline as well as control larger swaths of the map while providing a safe spot to super jump to. The Bloblobber has the ability to play both of those roles within a single game and do a host of more unique things outside of that.

I started playing the Bloblobber late into Splatoon 2, climbing up to S ranks just before the launch of Splatoon 3. For the year since, and certainly for a while after, I have been primarily playing with the Bloblobber, Dualie Squelchers, and Custom Splattershot Jr. I have gotten to and stayed in S or S+ rank every season. I have no competitive experience, so none of this guide will offer advice on how to play in a coordinated team. It is moreso a general guide for more casual play at a high level. I hope you enjoy.

**Main Weapon: Bloblobber**

*Overview*

There a lot of nuances to this weapon that make it hard to learn. I probably don't need to tell you that since it doesn't work like anything else in the game. It's projectiles travel slowly, in a path that can be controlled extremely precisely, and hits around corners in a way that no other weapon can. There are very many quirks to its behavior like how the blobs travel through grates and bounce at different heights depending on where your cursor and the floor is.

Maybe more than any other weapon, I recommend running around the training room with it to get a feel for how it works. Firstly, you should learn how to control the spread of your blobs. Standing still and not moving the aiming reticle will make a straight line, but moving yourself and the cursor can spread the blobs out so much that only 1 of them might hit an opponent. Moving the reticle up and down also has a very dramatic effect on how the blobs travel. As with all things, you will get a hang of it over time, but practicing in a controlled environment like the lobby will speed up the process dramatically.

When you shoot with the Bloblobber, it lobs 4 blobs that each do 30 damage, so you will need 4 to hit someone to kill. Already damaged opponents will take fewer shots, most likely. Though, because of how slowly the projectiles come out, it can take more than 4 shots, but that usually only happens in cases where your target is retreating. If all of your shots connect, you can 1 shot someone, but don’t count on it. Expect to fire 2-3 shots to kill someone, as long as you are hitting at least some of your shots.

Additionally, each blob will turf a little when it hits the ground, but the 1st blob paints a more solid line of turf. If you are just turfing, it doesn’t matter too much whether or not you spread your shots, but if there might be enemies hiding in the ink you should spread your shots to find them easier or at least discourage them from getting closer. The shooting animation is long and locks you out of swimming, making it very committal. The Bloblobber is okay at painting at your feet but with the slow animation it can be hard to get out of danger at a moment’s notice.

*Range*

Ideally, you want to be somewhere between mid and long range, but it becomes very easy to 1 shot when you are right next to people. The worst ranges by far are the preferred range of the Splattershot Jr, N-ZAP, or Dualies and so far away that your blobs can't reach or can be easily reacted to. Long range weapons like Chargers and Splatlings tend to be up on ledges which is extremely hard for the Bloblobber to contest with at any range.

At the Bloblobber’s preferred range, you can contest areas so effectively that you can get kills on accident, just by spamming from somewhere safe. It’s also very easy to get assists, since it’s exponentially easier to land a few shots than all 4 needed to kill by yourself. The more experience you have with controlling the blobs’ trajectory, the easier it will be to pick up kills and put pressure over lots of space. Particularly, look out for people who are overextending into your territory. They tend to have much fewer options, making them very predictable, and can be easily grouped up on by the rest of your team.

If you are engaging with someone at a very close range, you stand very little chance of getting away safely so stand your ground. (You could even get a kill after you die! Trading is better than just dying.) Try reading their movement as hard as possible. I find a lot of people try to exploit how good their weapons' movement is and how hard it is to track with the Bloblobber by running in a circle around you. If you see them starting to move or roll around you, lead your shots more than you ever would and aim towards where they'll end up after a roll or a jump.

Fighting in a place with a lot of walls makes it so much easier, because your shots can bound back off the wall and there are fewer places for your opponent to move. In a lot of these situations, you will be able to get 1 or 2 maybe 3 shots off before dying so clutch up. If you aren't ready for their movement or kill time, you will just die, so approach them very carefully and stay back if there are good short range weapons on the other team. To that end, you can also watch the top of the screen to see if they're dead or respawning to see if it's okay to push in. I encourage you to always be checking the top of the screen regardless.

For very long range weapons like Chargers and Splatlings, there really isn’t much the Bloblobber can do on its own. In some cases, you can kill them or at the very least pressure them by shooting up on whatever ledge they’re on. In doing so, you almost completely blind yourself to every angle and push up more than is safe for the Bloblobber. Thermal Ink helps a lot for this, since you will be able to see where they are as you aim your shots, but you will still be extremely vulnerable to anyone else nearby who you cannot see.

An out of position Charger or Splatling is extremely easy for Blobs to deal with though. They walk so slowly while charging or firing that 1 shotting them becomes exceedingly simple. As always, don’t overextend yourself; you might be able to kill them from farther away than you’d think just because of how committal their weapons are. This advice can apply to other Bloblobbers too.

**Kit Specific**

I don’t have a cohesive opinion on the Deco or anything in its kit yet.

*Sprinkler*

When you throw the Sprinkler, it will stick to whatever surface it hits. There are some surfaces that Nintendo doesn’t want you putting Sprinklers on and it will pop out of existence which is truly very sad. There are fewer of those in Splatoon 3 as opposed to Splatoon 2 though. Anyway, it will shoot tiny shots of ink around it in a circle. It will shoot very quickly at first and slow down over time, so try to throw them semi-regularly to keep them fresh. If left alone, they will turf more than most other sub weapons but have extremely limited offensive ability.

Don’t throw your Sprinkler on top of the Splat Zone or Tower while there are lots of people shooting at it. I see other people doing it a lot so I want to make that clear. Anyone with Object Shredder can destroy it in 1 shot so you might be wasting a good chunk of your ink tank on less turf than you would cover by just using your main weapon. Generally you want to stick your Sprinkler in places that are hard for your opponent to shoot so it sticks around longer.

You should also stick your Sprinkler in places that are high up and cover important parts of the map. Undertow Spillway and Manta Maria have long pillars near the middle of the map that are perfect for sprinklers. Get a Sprinkler up there whenever you get the chance, and don’t be afraid to stick a fresh one up there if you haven’t placed a Sprinkler in a while. Besides all that, you can just throw one in your spawn after you’ve died, to build up special a little faster.

On Rainmaker specifically, the Sprinkler becomes an absurdly good tool for popping the Rainmaker shield. It can be tricky to figure it out since the shield will destroy any Sprinklers you throw directly into it, but it won’t ever destroy Sprinklers that have already stuck to a surface. When the Rainmaker shield expands so that the Sprinkler is inside of it, every Sprinkler projectile will hit the shield. This lets any weapon with a Sprinkler passively contend for the Rainmaker shield or pump more damage into it than one person can usually do by themselves.

If you have the ink for it you should ALWAYS throw a Sprinkler on the Rainmaker after it’s been dropped. That way, it will stay inside the shield no matter what, the Sprinkler will be at max strength, and it is very hard for your opponent to react to. They probably won’t even see the Sprinkler since there is a large glowing effect where you should throw it, and the only way to destroy it is by throwing bombs at the shield. (I have not tested the bombs destroying Sprinklers inside the shield at all so I’m not sure how easy it is to do, but I am fairly sure it does happen.) You can also throw the Sprinkler just underneath the Rainmaker if it’s on a ledge, but that is mostly applicable at the start of the game and only on certain maps.

*Ink Storm*

When you use this special, you’ll get a projectile you throw like a bomb. (Don’t throw it into Ink Vacuums!) The Ink Storm will spawn centered on where that projectile lands and travel in the direction you threw the projectile. The Storm itself is an area of effect that does enough damage over time to kill anyone who stands still inside of it.

People will avoid staying in the Ink Storm, giving them much fewer places to be, and moving them in predictable ways. If the Storm racks up a little damage, they will die in fewer shots and won’t be able to move as easily. If you are pushing up, throw the Ink Storm a little ahead of you so it stays in front of you as you push. Similarly, throw it at your feet if the other team is pushing so it stays a problem for them. I also recommend using Ink Storm on the objective when most of your team is down, to stall the enemies and give space for super jumps.

This special is the best way to smooth out the Blob’s bad matchups in terms of range. Short range weapons will avoid pushing up through an Ink Storm, making them much easier to predict and snuff out.

I’ve also found that you can use it to push back annoying snipers. They die easily by standing in the Storm and running through it makes them very vulnerable. In most cases, they will have to back up, giving your team time and space to push up. In general, try to keep in mind where your enemies want to be and use the Ink Storm to make that significantly harder for them.

**Meta**

*Objectives*

I don’t have any advice for Clam Blitz lol. For the other ranked modes, Bloblobber does best on Rainmaker, Zones, and Tower in descending order. It varies a bit depending on the map and kit, but in general that’s what I’ve found.

As a side note for stages, Bloblobbers have a neat quirk where their shots travel through grates. If there are high up grates where Splatlings like to go, you have to be very precise when shooting at them. I recommend staying back until you can line up a shot and take them by surprise. Bloblobbers also tend to struggle with shooting up on ledges or being sharked. Every map has lots of ledges, so it is more of something to play around. 

*Gear*

13 AP Ink Saver Main (1 main, 1 sub)

Thermal Ink

Object Shredder

9 AP Swim Speed Up (3 subs)

6 AP Special Charge Up (2 subs)

3 AP Quick Super Jump (1 sub)

3 AP Ink Resistance (1 sub)

3 AP Special Saver (1 sub)

This is what I run for the default kit. I’m still working on a loadout for the Bloblobber Deco, but I think this kit still works good enough for it. The rest of what I have written pertains specifically to the standard kit, unless specified. Having exactly that much Ink Saver Main is very important because it gives you 15 shots on a full tank as opposed to 12. Depending on your playstyle and level of experience, you might want to run Last Ditch Effort, or even Respawn Punisher. I think that Thermal Ink and Object Shredder are much more important for the Bloblobber, or at least my playstyle. As for the other abilities, feel free to have more or less for whatever works for you.

*Thermal Ink*

Yes, I think that it is so important to run this that I am making it its own section. This ability got significantly buffed from Splatoon 2 to the point where I do not think there is a good reason not to use it. 

With Thermal Ink, you will be able to see opponents through walls for a little while after hitting them with your main weapon. (It only works with your main weapon!!) It is distinct from most other effects that reveal people such as the Points Sensor, because only you get to see the effect. There is no indicator for your teammates or the enemy you hit. You also cannot see anyone who is swimming in their own ink, only while they’re standing.

It is ridiculously common for the Bloblobber to hit just a few shots and for the damaged enemy to run behind cover. The effect also lasts way longer than you’d think; sometimes I can even see people with Thermal Ink after respawning and super jumping back to the front. This means that you will have partial wall hacks for a good portion of any given game. I cannot understate just how useful that amount of information is for a weapon that can freely move between different positions, is particularly vulnerable at certain ranges, relies on reading where enemies are going, and can kill people from behind walls. Using this information effectively, you can get more kills and provide a safe spot for your team to jump to more than you would normally.

This all isn’t even to mention the applications that Thermal Ink has with team play. You can give callouts for the positions of enemies that don’t even know you can see them, and easily keep track of where enemies are to decide if it is safe for your team to push in. Though, I have never played with a full team on a call before so I am not familiar enough with it to say anything more than this.

**Advice for Fighting Against a Bloblobber**

This feels like a betrayal of my values but I will give you these generational secrets to defeating my people. The extent that you can exercise these tips is a bit different for each weapon and I am in no way qualified to say how it is different for all of them. Bloblobbers are pretty rare to run into, regardless.

1. Move unpredictably. This does not mean move as much as possible. If you run around in a circle all the way behind me without shooting me, I will start leading my shots to account for that and you will be putting yourself in a crazy dangerous position. Sometimes, standing completely still is your best course of action. (I felt so bad about it but I have basically just walked right up to a very predictable Bloblobber player by moving left a little bit then right a little bit and 1 shot them with my own Bloblobber.) A good Bloblobber will try to predict where you are going and most people like to move around a lot, so they will aim off to the side of you. Mix up how you move just like you would in a fighting game.
2. Kill them as soon as possible. Bloblobbers can 1 shot you and they are very easy to spam with regardless. The longer they stay alive, the better they can predict how you are moving and start racking up damage. If you focus as hard as possible on the Bloblobber player, there is very little they can do to fight back. The Bloblobber is slow to fire and only paints your feet when you first swing it but locks you in that animation until all of the blobs have been lobbed. They should be very easy to kill as long as you keep your reticle on them.
3. Watch their shots. They travel so slowly that you can react to them at most ranges, meaning you can just dodge their attempts at shooting you. You might be able to notice patterns as well and predict how they are going to shoot, such as if they like straight shots or spread shots. If you don’t know where they are or can’t reasonably fight back, and you see a lot of blobs, don’t bother trying to contest that.
4. Very few people play with this weapon. There’s a good chance that the Bloblobber player is just trying out the weapon for the first time. In that case, they are probably too busy worrying about how to use the dang thing to notice that you’re shooting at them. From what I know of competitive, practically nobody uses this weapon so there are very few resources on how to use it at that level outside of cursory overviews. This is all to say that most Bloblobber players will not be doing anything very complicated and are probably too focused on one thing or another to put up much of a fight.
5. Here’s a matchup tierlist (I’ll try to keep it up to date.)
1. da linky

- Cat Ipsum -

Rub my belly hiss swipe at owner's legs sniff catnip and act crazy growl at dogs in my sleep sit on the laptop for hiss at vacuum cleaner i like to spend my days sleeping and eating fishes that my human fished for me.

Head nudges eat my own ears. Hey! you there, with the hands why can't i catch that stupid red dot, shed everywhere shed everywhere stretching attack your ankles chase the red dot, hairball run catnip eat the grass sniff, or roll over and sun my belly curl up and sleep on the freshly laundered towels.