Splatoon Update 2.9.0 (1 viewer)

[Jason]

On July 5th, 2016, Splatoon Update 2.9.0 will be coming out. Based on the given information I have, this is what the update contains.

Compatible amiibo Added:

• Now compatible with Callie and Marie amiibo.

Main Weapon Balance Adjustments:

• Dynamo Roller - When using the ink fling attack, decreased the central zone in which it was possible to splat an opponent with a single attack by 18%.
  
• Gold Dynamo Roller - Increased damage dealt when flinging ink to attack the barrier around the Rainmaker in Rainmaker mode by 12%.
• Tempered Dynamo Roller - Increased the time taken to begin recovering ink after an ink fling attack from 1.17 to 1.33 seconds.

Special Weapon Effect Duration Balancing:

• Bubbler -

- Decreased base duration (with no other gear abilities equipped) from roughly 5.0 to roughly 4.5 seconds.
- Increased the maximum extra duration added by gear abilities from 40% to 60%.

• Kraken -

- Decreased base duration (with no other gear abilities equipped) from roughly 6.0 to roughly 5.0 seconds.
- Increased maximum extra duration added by gear abilities from 40% to 60%.

Stage Adjustments:

• Ancho-V Games: Fixed an issue in Rainmaker mode, in which certain terrain wasn’t appearing correctly on the turf map when inked.

Multiplayer Bug Fixes:

• Fixed an issue that caused players performing a Super Jump while swimming through ink to appear to be sliding long distances to opponents.
• Fixed an issue that caused Ink Mines placed on enemy turf to occasionally be visible by opponents, whether or not they had the Bomb Sniffer gear ability.

Other:

• Adjustments have been made to make for a more pleasant gaming experience.

Sources -
Splatoon Update Ver. 2.9.0 - Weapon Adjustments | Nintendo Support
Splatoon Is Getting A New Update Next Week, Here’s What’s Included

What are your thoughts on this update? I personally think it's an interesting one with the Kraken and Bubbler nerf, as that will for sure increase the usage of Special Duration Up on Gear setups. The nerf and buff to the Dynamo Roller is also an interesting one if you ask me.

 

[Justin]

For starters (and as I pointed out before), I'm not sure if the Dynamo Roller variants are getting different nerfs/buffs, with the Gold getting the buff and the other two getting two different types of nerfs. However, it would make sense that they messed up on the translated version's format and made it look as if each Dynamo Roller variant was getting a different balancing, whereas they are all probably going to have the same thing since it wouldn't make sense to make the same main weapon more powerful than the other two (excluding kits). Dynamo is basically getting another nerf. The buff only is for one mode, and only for one specific thing - popping the rainmaker shield. It won't even do that much more damage, so yeah, you've pretty much got two nerfs here and a 2% buff.

It's nice that the invincibility specials got nerfed a bit, not making them completely useless but needing to run a main ability of Special Duration Up in order to retain similar statistics. The specials are still good, but the less time available on said specials may be crucial enough when trying to escape or trying to finish off a kill. Krakens will have to retreat faster. I know @Dreamy Luigi said most of the Kraken's effectiveness happens in the first few seconds, but that depends on the situation. Now, you need to retreat earlier, thus making your actual special worth even less than before unless you are really gready for the splat.

I'm unaware of the Ancho-V Games issue and I like that they finally fixed the skidding issue with super jumps; now you can actually kill someone effectively without them appearing to be skidding away. Definitely will see more kills on super jumping attempts (the ones where you jump out of a sticky situation either to your spawn or to a safe teammate).

 

[Dreamy Luigi]

-Dynamo: ink recovery nerf makes me think they're pushing a defensive/map control playstyle like they intended with the weapon. Width of kill nerf makes it harder to use and since the weapon is pretty rewarding, that's completely fine.
-Bubble/Kraken: most kills you get are from the moment you pop it but pushing the tower/chasing a Rainmaker is going to be harder now which is very good to hear, Kraken is pretty cheesy in Rainmaker and now you have 1 less second to chase someone with it down in Overtime or something like that. But outside of pushing the Tower/Killing the Rainmaker, it's not the big of a deal. I wouldn't run special duration on anything with it to be honest.

 

[SwtSkitty]

MY PRECIOUS KRAK-ON

NOO

 

[Dreamy Luigi]

So @Kaori and I tested out the weapons/specials affected in the balance patch and:

Dynamo- I didn't feel or notice the ink recovery nerf or the hitbox nerf, the RM sheild buff is a bit noticeable so continue to use your Dynamos in peace.
Bubble/Kraken- Slightly noticeable but you shouldn't have problems getting kills with it still, just a little bit less time to retreat when it's about to run out. I also tested out special duration on them and it does help significantly when you stack a lot of it.

So in general, all of these changes are minor tweaks and Dynamos, Krakens, and Bubblers are still very much viable to make use of in games.

 

[WarSquid]

You can't kill people with a bubbler @Dreamy Luigi you need to use your weapon (Bubbler is for Protection )

 

[Justin]

You can't kill people with a bubbler @Dreamy Luigi you need to use your weapon (Bubbler is for Protection )

He knows. He said he didn't notice much of a difference on both the Bubbler and Kraken and then went on to talk about only Krakens for that sentence. He knows the game, don't worry.