Is this screen burned into your eyeballs yet?
Shortly after the Squid Sisters stopped hosting Inkopolis News, a mysterious individual by the name of Mr. Grizz set up shop in a shady corner of Inkopolis Square. Grizzco Industries probably isn't the most legal of businesses, but he's nonetheless opened his doors to proven Turf Warriors to assist him with the dangerous job of collecting Golden Eggs. It's dangerous work, and no one really knows why he wants so many of these things, but all the fresh clothing and doodads he offers alongside the usual pay definitely helps ensure a steady stream of workers who are content to fight Salmonids without asking too many questions. Heck, operations in Inkopolis Square were so good, he was even able to open up new around-the-clock offices in the city of Splatsville and good ol' Inkopolis Plaza, which is all well and good considering the attacks on civilization known as Big Runs have started up around the time the Splatsville office opened to the public.
While there is much profit to be had working part-time for Mr. Grizz, many Grizzco employees consider the trends and conditions exemplified on this page to fall under "diminishing returns" at best, and an exercise in masochism at worst. In short, these combinations of Salmonids and natural phenomena are why hazard pay is (well, should be) a part of Grizzco.
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Boss Salmonids
Boss Salmonids are, as the name implies, stronger Salmonid enemies. There are multiple varieties of Boss Salmonid that, rather than simply running up to whack you and your co-workers to death with frying pans, each have a different behavior pattern and require certain methods to be splatted. They're also the ones that contain the Golden Eggs you actually need to pass each wave, which probably explains why they're so much harder to kill. But be they Goddamned Bats or Demonic Spiders, some of them are more frustrating to deal with than others, even before you get to the higher ranks.
- Introduced in Splatoon 2:
- Flyfish, end of sentence. Out of all the Boss Salmonids, Flyfish have it all. They're a flying enemy that changes locations every time they fire off an attack, meaning you are forced to ignore ground-level threats while trying to take it out. Its cockpit is immune to normal weapons, so you only have a limited vulnerability window in the form of its missile bays opening up for a short period of time, and unlike every other boss whose weak point can be attacked normally (or sometimes ignored with the right weapon class or enough brute force), you can only kill them with a Splat Bomb if you don't want to waste a special: one in each missile bay, so you better not miss that throw.note And even if you kill it perfectly in one go, it might still get off an attack. That attack we keep mentioning being the Evil Counterpart to Tenta Missiles, meaning if you fail at taking it out or can't reach it, a lot of the stage will get covered in toxic sludge very quickly. And if those are what alert you to that fact that one spawned in the first place, the nature of missiles means you can't at all tell where the Flyfish is firing from. Your only clue is that these enemies have a tendency to remain at the water's edge... which is also the most difficult and dangerous place to get to or be in, considering Inklings and Octolings have Super Drowning Skills. The list goes on. More than one is generally regarded as a run killer as soon as you hit Profreshional.
- Drizzlers, while they don't attack the player directly, can still be irritating. While they can be killed by any weapon, they also have long periods during which they are completely impervious to damage. And their attack is the Salmonid version in Ink Storm, caused by a little balloon they shoot out during their vulnerable phase. Just like in multiplayer, while this probably won't kill you on its own, it still limits mobility and deals constant chip damage that will make it all the easier for one of its comrades to do the job themselves. Thankfully, you can destroy said balloon and kill the Drizzler in one go if you're quick enough. But at higher difficulties, you'll only have time to do one of the two due to the amount of enemies your team is facing... which likely includes at least one other Drizzler, leaving you stuck in a toxic rain that slowing down everyone's movement while other Boss Salmonids are raining down their own attacks.
- Stingers target whichever player is furthest away from them with long-lasting, super-powerful Sting Rays that have infinite range and pierce through walls. And unlike the Sting Ray special that players dealt with at the launch of Splatoon 2, these enemy Sting Rays have the terrifying aim that would only become associated with the weapon towards the end of Splatoon 2's life. They also spawn and remain at the water's edge, which can be difficult to get to at higher difficulties. And if there are two Stingers on opposite sides of the stage? You're gonna have a bad time, you can't go after one without getting pinned down at the shore by the other.
- Introduced in Splatoon 3's own PvE mode, Salmon Run Next Wave:
- Flipper-Floppers aren't hard to deal with and go down laughably quickly, but their ability to instantly cover a large area in enemy ink, and to do it repeatedly if not taken out right away, can make them a real pain, especially if there are multiple on-stage at once.
- While Big Shots pose little threat on their own, they can cause a lot of trouble in tandem with other Boss Salmonids. Like Stingers, they don't move from the waterside after spawning, meaning you'll have to wade through a sea of Lesser Salmonids to get to them. Assuming you can even find them: like Flyfish, their method of attack doesn't give an actual tell for where they are. But unlike Flyfish, they're grounded enemies, so taking a glance at the sky doesn't help you figure out what shoreline you need to be fighting your way towards. Once you do locate and reach their cannon, you'll find that not only do they take an obscene amount of punishment before going down, they constantly retreat underwater to reload, becoming invincible in the process. On landing, the cannonballs they shoot generate shockwaves a la the Wave Breaker special that are weak and easy to dodge... but with everything else that Salmon Run throws at you, good luck keeping your concentration long enough to jump over them.
Environmental Conditions and Events
- Higher-ranked Salmon Runners will face different event type battles from time to time. One of the most annoying is probably going to be 'Goldie Seeking' due to slight Unexpected Gameplay Change. Instead of normal horde battle for survival and taking out enemies, the players are tasked with shooting gushers (grates with spheres that explode into gushers of enemy ink when hit) that have light coming from them with supposedly the brightest being where a Goldie enemy will appear. The brightly shining enemy is the only way to get Golden Eggs during this battle, however enemies also pop out of gushers, which can eventually lead to them swarming the map in outrageous numbers if left unchecked. In situations where you have an online team, with one or more member not aware of the rules (although technically this and other higher difficulty Salmon run event battles are listed in the employee manual you get after completing the training) that type of battle is probably going to end up a loss, due to either not being able to find the Goldie soon enough to get the required eggs or misunderstanding how the battle works, shooting as many gushers as possible and being swarmed by mooks.
- It only gets harder in medium tide, where the number of potential hiding points for the Goldie increases compared to High tide. Worse, if it happens during Wave 3, your team will usually end up with a high quota to meet.
- The event was reworked to be much easier in Splatoon 3. Salmonids will only spawn from the water and the correct gusher, while the wrong gushers no longer spawn Salmonids, meaning there's no drawback to opening every one in sight.
- High Tide in Salmon Run greatly reduces the movement capabilities and retreat options for a team, making it even easier for Scrappers and Steel Eels to knock players to their doom, to say nothing of the damage caused by Flyfish and Steelheads.
- And that's not even mentioning the fact that, oh... Griller rounds have the possibility of occurring during these High Tides!
- As tides don't change after the third wave, if a King Salmonid happens to appear and high tide happened beforehand, you will have even less space due to how big the King Salmonid is.
- Did it turn nighttime? Are there Glowflies showing up? You're in for one shell of a ride. For the Rush event, Glowflies will swarm around one of the four players and Salmonids will go directly for that player. And there are far more Salmonids than usual, so if the targeted player isn't being protected by their teammates (due to lack of cooperation or understanding of how Glowflies work, or being knocked out), they will get splatted in short order. And if you get stuck with a low-fire-rate weapon such as the various Chargers while Glowflies surround you, may the gods help you.
- The Rush event was made even harder in Splatoon 3, as the brief few seconds between each group of Salmonids, meant so that players could easily collect the eggs, is gone, leaving the players facing an onslaught of rabid fish with no breathing room. Also, the brief grace period that prevents the hoard from attacking for a few seconds when the glowflies switch targets was removed.
Weapon Loadouts
Mr. Grizz provides a variety of weapon loadouts each time for reasons known only to him. While workers can be expected to perform admirably with the weapons provided, the following make the job much harder than it needs to be. Weapons are also balanced for standard 4v4 matches, with Salmon Run being an afterthought; weapons that are effective in the main game may still inspire only groans when they appear in the Salmon Run rotation. Splatoon 2
- One such setup for Salmon Run had the Inkbrush, Roller, Mini Splatling and Blaster. While the Roller and Splatling fared decently well, the blaster lacked its infamous OHKO against Salmonids, combined with its slow attack speed made it was far less useful in Salmon Run than normal matches, and the Inkbrush already has a niche as a quick but weak weapon whose fast and ambush-heavy style could already be harder to get a grasp on, but here its advantages were barely any use when the enemies know where you are at all times and take more damage than Inklings to bring down.
- Another horrible Salmon Run setup was an Octobrush, Heavy Splatling, Dapple Dualies and Goo Tuber. The brush is already a very underwhelming weapon in Salmon Run, being short range and still needing a good second and a lot of ink to kill any Salmonid, but usually it can slide by as an egg grabber if the other weapons can make up for it. The Dapple Dualies were usable but had short range, and their bonus of faster rolls didn't really make up for the lack of range against some boss Salmonid, and the Goo Tuber, as mentioned above, doesn't work well when its gimmick is hiding under ink and keeping its charge larger when space is already tight and you ink can quickly lose direct paths that force you to come out of ink, in addition to being slower to charge and shorter ranged to make up for that gimmick. The Splatling is okay if it has good backup and the one who rolled it is used to it, but being the only reliable long range in the arsenal means it had more than its fair share to cover for the rest of the team.
- Then came the loadout featured with the launch of the Lost Outpost map: The L-3 Nozzlenose, Splash-o-matic, Blaster, and Splat Charger. The Blaster seemed to fare better here than in other maps (but still contained many of its flaws, such as damage output and turf coverage), and the drawbacks of being a Charger in Salmon Run still persist, aside from being able to make escape routes up the outer sides of the building easily. The L-3 Nozzlenose was also rather difficult to use in some cases due to not being an automatic-firing weapon, which made the Splash-o-matic the only true shooter weapon of the pack.
- Which was subsequently topped in bad performance by the H-3 Nozzlenose, the N-Zap '83, the Heavy Splatling and the Inkbrush. The only new addition, the H-3, has a slower rate of fire compared to the L-3, and its slight boost in damage and range is not enough to compensate when the user is being swarmed by lesser Salmonids, despite the weapon being a viable boss-killer. The Inkbrush is still woefully inefficient in combat despite being able to sweep over Smallfries, so if the Splatling and N-Zap wielders don't know what they're doing or get overwhelmed, especially during Glowfly or Griller events, you're screwed seven times out of ten.
- Next up was the rather questionable selection of the Clash Blaster, Sploosh-o-Matic, Slosher, and Splatterscope. While the Slosher is decent, the other three have rather glaring flaws. The Clash Blaster is rather poor at claiming turf and is subpar at eliminating targets, the Sploosh-o-Matic is extremely risky to fight with even if it inks lots of turf, as its shots cannot reach the head of a Steelhead before it throws its bomb and require you to get really close to knock off the cans of a Stinger (additionally making Griller rounds a bigger problem), and the Splatterscope has the misfortune of being a scoped charger, causing you to lose focus of your surroundings when you charge up. Combine this with the map you're forced to use these three weapons on (Lost Outpost) and players are bound to have quite some trouble staying alive.
- Ready for another horrid Lost Outpost setup? Carbon Roller, Dapple Dualies, H-3 Nozzlenose, and E-liter 4K Scope. Which the former two weapons can perform well, those last two weapons can easily break apart a team due to the H-3's aforementioned low shot count and the E-liter 4K being perhaps the worst Charger in a map where there is virtually no high ground to snipe faraway targets unless you have confident and skilled teammates that can help cover its weaknesses.
- Once again on Lost Outpost, players were blessed with yet another below average set in the N-ZAP '85, Rapid Blaster, Splatterscope, and the return of the dreaded Inkbrush. While the former two are decently strong in the right hands, users of the latter two weapons are no doubt crippled against the immense hordes of Salmonids- especially if they're unfortunate to face a Glowfly or Griller Wave.
- The October 4th-5th, 2017 Salmon Run session gave you both the L-3 Nozzlenose and the H-3 Nozzlenose. Heaven for the few who have learned how to use the Nozzlenoses and play to their strengths, but hell for everyone else. The other two weapons were the also complementary .52 Gal and .96 Gal, one of whom often became the keystone of their team.
- The October 9th-10th, 2017 Salmon Run session is all about the blasters: The available weapons were the original Blaster, the Luna Blaster, the Rapid Blaster, and the Clash Blaster. While a godsend versus Stingers, If you don't know how to use blasters, this session would've been near unplayable. Good luck if you happened to encounter an abundance of Steelheads, whose weak points are too high for the Luna Blaster and Clash Blaster to reach.
- The October 11th-12th, 2017 Salmon Run gives the Splattershot Pro, Splash-O-Matic, Splat Charger, and the squiddin' Inkbrush at Lost Outpost. Whoever has this last weapon is relegated to Egg recovery duty, since the weapon's myriad flaws have not been addressed in any capacity by this point; while the Charger performs poorer than the Shooters, it has its niches like busting Steelheads through the doors and paving lines through Lesser Salmonid, but if the Shooters go down, the difficulty spike may just be unbearable.
- November 20th-21st, 2017, had the Splat Dualies, the Tenta Brella, the Mini Splatling, and the Rapid Blaster on Spawning Grounds. While the Splat Dualies are good basic weapons and the Tenta Brella has amazing range (though its low rate of fire is a hindrance), those other two weapons can effectively make or break a team. The Mini Splaltling still retains the weapon class's problem of needing to be charged while also not having the range and quick shot of a Charger, and the Rapid Blaster is as underwhelming as ever, despite each shot traveling a decent distance.
- December 8th-9th, 2017 presented a trio of weapons that require rather high skill to use effectively. Aside from the Dualie Squelchers, these included the Luna Blaster, Bamboozler 14 Mk I, and Hydra Splatling on Marooner's Bay. The Luna Blaster and Hydra Splatling both slow the player's movement when being used, while the latter has it far worse, requiring lots of charge to be used and leaving the player wide open to attack if they charge up next to some Salmonids- turning Flyfish and Stingers into absolute nightmares despite a charged Hydra Splatling being able to mow down targets and knock away Stingers from a relative distance. Lastly, the Bamboozler has less range and power compared to other Chargers, requiring the user to get in closer to be able to land a hit.
- February 4th-5th, 2018 gave perhaps one of the worst loadouts ever to be graced in Splatoon 2 history: Dapple Dualies, Inkbrush, Range Blaster, and the Hydra Splatling on Spawning Grounds. The Dapple Dualies, while fairly strong and able to spread ink quickly, lack the distance of other shooters and Dualies, meaning attempting to take on Steelheads will be a severe issue (and you cannot pull off jumping shots unless you let go of the trigger before jumping). The Inkbrush returns with all the problems it had since launch- it's weak and cannot spread ink reliably without eating up almost an entire tank worth of ink. The last two weapons turn your Inkling into a Mighty Glacier, which is not ideal for Salmon Run since the number of threats painting over friendly turf is far more plentiful. The Range Blaster, despite its power, slows your Inkling to a crawl while firing and cannot cover turf as well as the Dapple Dualies or Inkbrush, while the Hydra Splatling, since it isn't joined by arguably better and easier to use weapons that help balance out its weaknesses of having a very long charge time that also decelerates the user's walking speed to a snail's pace while charging becomes much more worse in the long run despite the amazing rage, power, and speed each shot creates.
- February 15-16th, 2018's Lost Outpost weapon loadout managed to cram in not one, but two Splatlings to make movement and attacking difficult. The regular Heavy Splatling and its big cousin, the Hydra Splatling, are here to bring the salt out of any Inkling that cannot handle the moderate to severe speed drops of each weapon while charging, especially on a map with more cramped areas. Not even the inclusion of two good weapons for attacking and inking with (the N-Zap '89 and the Slosher respectively) help out much in the long run.
- March 1st-2nd, 2018 had an arguably even worse layout than the one on Feb 4th: Sploosh-o-matic, Blaster, Splat Roller, and Goo Tuber on the Salmonid Smokeyard. Each weapon already had significant drawbacks on their own in other layouts, however all four of these weapons together meant no one player could sufficiently cover for the weaknesses of the others. This lack of balance lead to nightmarish and brutal rounds that meant you got team wiped every five out of six attempts.
- The March 10th-11th, 2018 Salmon Run hits the Smokeyard again and keeps the curse rolling with the Hydra Splatling, the Dark Tetra Dualies, the Splattershot Pro and the Carbon Roller. Between the Dualies' lack of range, the Splatling's abysmal charge rate, and the Carbon Roller's lack of weight, the Splattershot Pro has to carry the weight of the world in consistent performance, and in a place like the Salmonid Smokeyard, that particular user getting more than ten Inkling body lengths away from their teammates is an invitation for lots of bad mojo. High Tide + Grillers + SAO Abridged tier intelligence with this loadout? Good luck — you'll need it!
- Returning to Lost Outpost, March 20th-21st, 2018 brought in a grand total of three "power" weapons, weapon types that are not suited for Salmon Run as a whole. The Tenta Brella, the Sloshing Machine, and once again, the dreaded Hydra Splatling. All three of these weapons suffer in one way or another, with the Sloshing Machine not being able to cover much turf, the Splatling's abysmal charge being too fatal of a flaw to make up for the amazing fire rate and range it provides (alongside no other weapon that can cover its weaknesses), and the Tenta Brella's low fire rate. That last weapon? The Sploosh-o-Matic, the only non-charging, non single shot weapon in the loadout, which is the only one that's good at spreading ink. However it's short range and low accuracy forces it to get up and close to bosses (especially Steelheads) and put itself at risk of danger, and it also struggles to paint the various high outer walls that surround the main interior area and provide escape routes for themselves and others to take.
- March 24th-25th, 2018 had the Sloshing Machine, the Rapid Blaster Pro, the L-3 Nozzlenose, and the Bamboozler Mk I, all of them beginner-unfriendly weapons. This was a shift dominated by Wave 1 team wipes due to one or more participants not really understanding what to do with the weapons they were given. At least the stage was Spawning Grounds, the easiest and most straightforward one.
- April 18th-19th, 2018 brings workers to Marooner's Bay with a loadout consisting of nothing but average to outright questionable weapon choices. Carbon Roller, Blaster, the infamous Hydra Splatling, and the classic Goo Tuber.
- April 26th-27th, 2018 gives a nasty loadout for the Salmonid Smokeyard consisting of the Rapid Blaster, the Sploosh-o-Matic, the L-3 Nozzlenose and the Hydra Splatling. Joy.
- July 3rd-4th, 2018 on Spawning Grounds brings with it a below-average set of weapons that seems to have trouble overall keeping the Salmonids under control. The Splattershot Pro, the Clash Blaster, the Splatterscope, and the newly-introduced Explosher. The Splattershot Pro, despite its increased offenses, range, and accuracy over the standard Spalttershot, does not function well at taking back turf thanks to its low rate of fire, the Clash Blaster also doesn't ink well even with its decent strength and lacks range, the Splatterscope continues the trend of scoped Chargers not being as useful as their un-scoped counterparts, and then there's the Explosher. Even though it can paint walls and floors extremely well, it chews through lots of ink per projectile and despite the added bonus of knocking away multiple Stinger segments and being the only weapon (aside from the Grizzco Slosher) that can destroy Flyfish with standard projectiles, it comes at the cost of needing at least three hits on Steel Eels and Steelheads and doing suboptimal damage to Scrapers and Drizzlers.
- Random Weapon sessions. If you don't get a good Shooter, Dualies, or a rare Grizzco weapon, you're bound to wind up with a Scrappy Weapon. Goo Tuber? Dynamo Roller? Inkbrush? H-3 Nozzlenose? They're all here and ready to cripple you one wave after another. Multiple players can even wind up with the same weapons, to the point where a team will have nothing but Chargers and Rollers.
Splatoon 3
In Splatoon 3, more balancing effort was put into weapons for Salmon Run, with a variety of weapons (especially slower-firing ones) having their damage output buffed in Salmon Run in particular. In addition, various main and special weapons get specific balance changes for Salmon Run specified in the patch notes. Unfortunately, the increased number of main weapons in Splatoon 3 somewhat counteracts this change by allowing for rotations with weapon sets that are annoying in new and different ways from the predecessor.
- Shortly after the launch of the game, the weapon set for September 16-17, 2022, gave players a taste of near-impossible waves. This set consisted of the Tri-Stinger, Clash Blaster, Dynamo Roller, and Mini Splatling. The Tri-Stinger, while serviceable in PVP, has almost zero crowd control ability in Salmon Run and lacks the ability to one-shot anything apart from Smallfry and Chums, which still require the user to get close and take time to charge a shot.note The Dynamo Roller burns ink extremely quickly and deploys extremely slow despite its ability to roll over Lesser Salmonid, meaning that using it for more than a few seconds or performing swing attacks will leave its user completely defenseless. The Clash Blaster, despite its high fire rate, lacks the range and firepower needed to take on crowds from a safe distance without being overwhelmed, and the Mini Splatling suffers for much of the same reasons. Combined with the new release and several new players being unfamiliar with the mode, it left plenty of players losing multiple ranks, if not being kicked out of Profreshional altogether.
- October 3-4, 2022 graced players with a brutal lineup: Luna Blaster, L-3 Nozzlenose, Ballpoint Splatling, and Rapid Blaster Pro. The first problem is the lack of any normal shooter weapons and while the Rapid Blaster Pro can perform decently enough, the other three all have the same glaring flaw — a slow to mid-slow firing rate (or in the Splatling's case, needing to charge in order to get any shots off), which will go poorly just based on how the mode works. Even worse was the stage: Sockeye Station, which is easily the smallest stage in the game, and will only get smaller in High Tide rounds, meaning that the weapon's slow firing rate is going to result in the stage getting swarmed rapidly.
- October 6-8, 2022 introduced the sluggish set of Glooga Dualies, Slosher, .96 Gal, and Hydra Splatling. The dualies and shooter of the dynamic have a slower rate-of-fire compared to most others in their weapon class, while the Slosher fares decently but — by the nature of the class — doesn't have fast or far-reaching damage output. The Hydra Splatling is the one that struggles the most, as while it is an oppressive beast in other modes, it fares poorly in Salmon Run without teammates that can cover it while charging. This loadout is damned by no individual weapon being terrible, but by them having terrible synergy with each other that can make keeping waves at bay incredibly difficult. Compound that with the stage chosen this rotation being Spawning Grounds, which can be miserable to maneuver and defend during High Tide due to half of the stage being grates that players can't ink or swim across, and you've got a recipe for disaster.
- October 31-November 2, 2022 gives us the Hydra Splatling, H-3 Nozzlenose, N-ZAP '85, and Inkbrush on Spawning Grounds. Of the four weapons, the N-ZAP is the only one that is useful in most situations - the other three have glaring downsides. The H-3 has good damage, but its fire rate - namely, the short period of time in-between bursts where you can't do anything at all - leaves you insanely vulnerable if you let yourself get surrounded, and its inking capacity is abysmal. The Hydra, as expected of the Hydra, packs an insane punch if you can get revved up... although, with all the Salmonids encroaching on your position, you'll be hard pressed to find time to do so. And the Inkbrush's damage output and range is laughably weak, even with the admittedly-valuable niche of being able to cross Spawning Ground's grates much faster than the other three weapons to gather distant Eggs. If even one teammate isn't pulling their weight, or if the stage is inked up too much by the Salmonid, it'll be very difficult to make a comeback, and if you end up on a High Tide wave, it'll take all your ability just to survive. Admittedly, this set does make short work of Cohozuna... if you can survive all three waves.
- November 15-November 17, 2022 has one of the worst shifts yet: the Dapple Dualies, Ballpoint Splatling, Dynamo Roller, and Bamboozler 14 Mk I. Every single one of these weapons has a crippling weakness: the Dapple Dualies have really short range, the Ballpoint Splatling takes time to charge up and keeps switching between short range and long range, the Dynamo Roller is extremely slow and loses ink quickly, and the Bamboozler is weak and can't pierce enemies like the other Chargers. All of this combined results in a combination of weapons that have a hard time covering ground and are easily overwhelmed. For one last kick in the teeth, the shift took place on Spawning Grounds, which is widely considered the hardest Salmon Run stage in Splatoon 3.
- November 25-November 27, 2022 gives us the Glooga Dualies, Inkbrush, Squiffer and Heavy Splatling on Spawning Grounds. All four weapons have problems getting around the map and dealing damage, whether that be from the Inkbrush or Glooga Dualies' short range, the Heavy Splatling's slow mobility and both it and the Squiffer suffering from a charging requirement, making it very easy for players to end up swarmed even on a normal round.
- November 27-November 29, 2022 gives the N-ZAP '85, Sloshing Machine, H-3 Nozzlenose and Hydra Splatling on Sockeye Station. While the N-ZAP and Sloshing Machine are decent, they are both bogged down by having to support the slow firing rates of the other two weapons, and with Sockeye Station being among the smaller stages in Salmon run, means that unless the players who got the N-ZAP and Sloshing Machine are amazing with their weapons, the stage will be swarmed very quickly.
- December 7-December 9, 2022 provides players with Splat Dualies, Mini Splatling, H-3 Nozzlenose, and the Snipewriter 5H. The first problem is that the Snipewriter was a brand new weapon, meaning that most players that ended up with it most likely hadn't even used it in Turf War yet, let alone the much more frantic Salmon Run. Beyond that, it also suffered from the usual problem that Chargers end up having-having charge up shots leaves players open to being swarmed. The other weapons don't help with the difficulty, with the H-3 Nozzlenose having a sluggish firing rate, the Mini Splatling, while able to charge faster than most other Splatlings, is also weaker than most and still has to charge and the Splat Dualies, while having a consistent firing rate, are also lower ranged, meaning there's a high chance they won't be able to hit things like Steelheads.
- December 9-December 10, 2022 brings the Splash-o-matic, Glooga Dualies, Bamboozler 14 Mk I and Tenta Brella on the Spawning Grounds. Right off the bat, it becomes clear that Splash-o-matic, the sole shooter of the group, will be the team's anchor and if the player using it isn't skilled to keep up, the team is going to be in for a rough time, as the Glooga Dualies are short ranged, the Bamboozler lacks other chargers' abilities to pierce the Salmonids' armor and the Tenta Brella suffers from a slow firing rate and having to fire the shield every time the player wants to hold it out.
- December 22-December 23, 2022 gives the REEF-Lux 450, Splatana Stamper, Bloblobber, and Goo Tuber and almost instantly, the flaws in the line up are clear-there's no shooter weapon and while the Bloblobber can perform decently in the right hands, the Goo Tuber is a charger (a weapon class that already is known to not prefer very well in Salmon Run) and it's gimmick of letting one hold a charge while hiding in ink means nothing when the Salmonids can sniff players out, the Splatana Stamper is short ranged and has a slow charging rate for the one long ranged move it does have and the REEF-Lux 450 is also short ranged while also suffering from low damage when uncharged. And while Sockeye Station is one of the easier stages to play on, good luck not getting swarmed on High Tide or Rush.
- December 30, 2022-January 1, 2023 gives a Marooner's Bay rotation with the Luna Blaster, Splattershot, Splat Charger and the Dynamo Roller. Of the four, only the Splattershot can deal consistent damage. The Luna Blaster is hampered by a very slow firing rate and low range, the Splat Charger needs to charge to do any consistent damage to bosses and the Dynamo Roller is beyond sluggish and takes a long time to swing, possibly letting a boss fire off another attack that could splat the unlucky user.
- January 1-January 2, 2023 gives L-3 Nozzlenose, Ballpoint Splatling, Splattershot Pro, and the Tenta Brella on Spawning Grounds. The Ballpoint is a technical weapon that needs its firing modes to be learnt for effective use in Salmon Run, which is not easy to do in a fast paced horde mode, while both the L-3 Nozzlenose and Tenta Brealla have a sluggish firing rate, which, again is not helpful when dealing with the hordes coming after, leaving the Splattershot Pro as the only true damage dealer.
- January 4-January 6, 2023 gives Inkbrush, Splat Brella, Explosher and Tri-Stringer on Gone Fission Hydroplant. Fish Sticks are the worst threat in this rotation since no weapon here can reliably splat them, and this loadout is a more technical one that freelancers struggle with. If the team can't utilize the Splat Brella. which must be on Lesser duty here, and the Explosher, which is one of the weapons that can splat the Flyfish's launchers, to their max, the team will be in for a rough time.
- January 9-January 11, 2023 gives Splattershot Jr, Undercover Brella, Sloshing Machine and Squiffer on Spawning Grounds, with all four weapons suffering from the same problem-low damage. The Splattershot Jr, Undercover Brella, and Squiffer have lower ranges, and the Sloshing Machine needs knowledge of tricks for using it well. While all of the weapons do have high mobility, that won't mean much when an ability to kill the Salmonids results in the stage getting completely swarmed.
- January 26-January 27, 2023 gives Splattershot, Octobrush, Sloshing Machine and Heavy Splatling on Marooner's Bay. Sloshing Machine is back with its tricks for its swirling shots, the Heavy Splatling, while able to shred through bosses, also is slow to charge and fire, and the Octobrush's weak damage and lack of solid turfing options pretty much forces it to serve as an egg carrier, meaning that only the Splattershot can reliably handle most bosses.
- January 27-January 29, 2023 gives Dapple Dualies, Carbon Roller, Splattershot Pro and the Hydra Splatling on Spawning Grounds. The rotation looks fantastic at first, but second glance reveals an extremely technical rotation where a player must know how to use each weapon perfectly to avoid getting splatted, as the Dapple Dualies will require a roll for DPS, which runs the risk of sending a player into the water on higher tides, the Hydra Splatling is slow and takes forever to charge and the Carbon Roller will struggle to hit anything, forcing the Splattershot Pro to handle most bosses.
- July 13 - 15, 2023 has the Dapple Dualies, Carbon Roller, Dynamo Roller, and Heavy Splatling on Gone Fission Hydroplant. With the exception of the Heavy Splatling, the entire loadout is balanced around direct head-to-head combat, meaning bosses that aren't easily accessible from a close range (like Steelheads and Stingers) suddenly become much greater threats. The Heavy Splatling itself requires a significant charge time, and leaves its user a sitting duck just before and after firing — meanwhile, the Carbon Roller is maneuverable but can only crush Smallfry, the Dynamo is reliant on backup from other, higher-DPS weapons (that it won't find here) to not be complete dead weight, and the Dapples are effectively melee weapons. Lest you think Xtrawaves will be a reprieve, the featured King Salmonid is the Horrorboros, which flies well beyond the reach of three out of four weapons and has a comparatively small weak point.
- On the opposite end of the overspecialized range issue, July 28 - 30, 2023 brings the Flingza Roller, Bloblobber, Jet Squelcher, and E-Liter on Marooner's Bay. Each of these weapons is long-ranged for its weapon class, with no fast options on this composition that can run around the ship to pick up eggs or deal damage especially rapidly. Furthermore, the Bloblobber and E-Liter are technical with unclear purpose compared to multiplayer as the Bloblobber lacks the chokepoints it is usually used to protect while the E-Liter, while it can be a big damage dealer, still struggles with a charge time and an inability to fire powerful shots quickly, making it easy to get splatted and swarmed.
- January 1 - 2, 2024 started the year on a sour note with the Squeezer, Bamboozler, Hydra Splatling, and Snipewriter on Spawning Grounds. Two Chargers that can't pierce with middling range and damage output, plus the slowest Splatling in the entire series, made for some truly abysmal turf coverage that the Squeezer wasn't capable of making up for on its own. The already challenging Rush waves were all but a death sentence, and even Mudmouth Eruptions could go sour quickly if too many of them were Smallfry spawners (not helped by Spawning Grounds' awkward layout). While it was perfect for taking out Horrorbori quickly, getting to the end of a wave to fight one of the beasts was inconsistent at best.
Locations
Introduced in Splatoon 2
- Lost Outpost in general is one of the harder Salmon Run maps. Compared to Spawning Ground and Marooners Bay, Lost Outpost is fairly flat with only a few small pleateus, giving you even fewer places to escape from that are not the outpost walls (which you can't attack from). The outpost walls also block line of sight and the narrow entrances makes it easy to get boxed in if you let too many Lesser Salmonids or god help you, multiple Steel Eels live. Outside has a lot of grates that will send you into toxic water if you even think of turning to squid form, and thus slowing you down if you need to go over them. And need we forget Glowfly and Griller waves, which are brutal as there's almost no high ground to escape to and the enclosed walls limit your view point.
- Marooner's Bay has a number of traits that make it one of the harder maps in Salmon Run. At normal tide, the basket is located at the top of a ship whose exterior has no inkable walls at all, aside from temporary propeller-activated pillars. Traveling from one side of the map to the other is also tedious because the only paths at ground level that connect to the opposite sides of the map are at the shore and a narrow passage that can easily lead to someone getting trapped. At high tide, the map becomes a long, thin strip that can easily be swarmed by Salmonids with no way to flank them. This makes it really difficult to reach Flyfish and Stingers on the other side due to all the Salmonids in the way, and Steel Eels become a huge menace due to their length, ability to block attacks, and their weak spots becoming much harder to hit.
- While the Egg Throw in Splatoon 3 makes it easier to transport Golden Eggs from the shore to the basket, there are several changes that make the map harder on high tide. The Sting Ray, which the player could aim to pierce Salmonids and reach Flyfish and Stingers on the other side, was replaced with the Killer Wail 5.1. While the Killer Wail 5.1 can also pierce enemies, it only targets up to three Boss Salmonids and moves aimlessly once they're gone, making it less reliable for clearing out Salmonids and prioritizing major targets. Slammin' Lids also make things worse at high tide since they can spawn enemies, block your shots, and position themselves over the grates, making it harder to bait them into falling down without getting yourself crushed in the process.
- If you can feel the shivers creeping up your back at the Ruins of Ark Polaris, know well that you're not alone. The basket is at the top of the central structure (unless it's low tide), meaning that you have to ink your way up the walls if you want to take the short route so long as there aren't ink rails nearby, and the salmonids can come from all directions too, meaning that while attacking from above is often a good idea, dropping in to get eggs without clearing the lower level first is likely to end with you getting dunked on. And the Great Zapfish forbid the Steel Eels overstay their welcome, because getting cut off on these small walkways is going to eat chunks off the clock if not horribly damn you outright.
- High Tide waves in Salmon Runs can range from fairly difficult to brutal. The sea level rises, turning much of the map into a Bottomless Pit and severely limiting your team's range of movement. Marooner's Bay, Lost Outpost, and Sockeye Station remain rather large, while Spawning Grounds, Salmonid Smokeyard, and Jammin' Salmon Junction shrink drastically in this format. If the Random Number God isn't on your side, you can end up with several of these in sequence, and if you get a Griller or Glowflies wave, you'll be in for one hell of a time.
- Spawning Grounds has a dead end that can easily lead to your team separating if a Stinger or Flyfish spawns there and lots of grate walkways that prevent players from entering squid form- thus crippling their movement and leaving them an easy target if they run out of ink to defend themselves with. The main island can also become crowded with an infestation of Salmonids, and Steel Eels in particular can block off parts of the map in no time flat while Steelheads and Drizzlers are able to cover a good portion of the island in enemy ink if the game decides to let a couple of them loose.
- Salmonid Smokeyard gets divided into two halves, each half connected only through moving platforms with fans that initiate when shooting them. The Salmonids can freely cross to the other side through the water with Stingers and Flyfish being able to snipe Inklings from the other island while the Inklings' own weaponry, aside from some Shooters, Chargers, and Splatlings, cannot reach the other island. Each island is also fairly small, and the Salmonids can easily overwhelm and coat them in ink if left unattended. Plus, careless players can end up falling into the Bottomless Pit, causing their teammates to fall in, or leaving them stranded on the other island when attempting to use the platforms.
Introduced in Splatoon 3
- Jammin' Salmon Junction has a very narrow basket area, and leaves you vulnerable to Steel Eels and Steelheads if not taken out first, and the whole stage gets worse during high tide, leaving only a narrow horizontal rectangle with two protuberant squares with no inkable walls or places to hide of any sort, and if you are unlucky enough to get a Glowflies rush or a Griller event, it's pretty much a death sentence as there's no places to hide and very easy to get overwhelmed by Boss Salmonids if you don't deal with them ASAP.
Big Run
- The first Big Run on December 9th-December 11th, 2022 was surprisingly kind on most fronts; in most cases, Wahoo World makes for a better Salmon Run map than it does a Turf War map, and it was even a random weapon rotation with the Grizzco Blaster. So, what's the catch? Due to Wahoo World's layout being un-conductive to a few events, it made certain waves unavailable and other waves more common as a result. Goldie Seeking, Mudmouths, Giant Tornado, and even Cohock Charges were unable to activate (note that of these, three of them are usually considered much easier than usual waves and even the potentially-threatening Cohock Charge gives the players purposefully-powerful ink cannons), leaving the only events to activate at night to be the Mothership (the only usually easy one), Fog, Grillers, and, most infamously, the Glowflies on Wahoo World. Wahoo World's layout placed players at the smack dab middle of the map, with four unique bridges for Chums to charge at, a whole lower area for Goldie's scattered eggs to fall down to, and the only (mostly, Salmonids could rarely push each other up and into them) safe areas on the map were out of Egg Throw range for the basket. You can see the problem. The result is that Glowflies waves were not only dis-proportionally harder than every other rare event, but somehow more common as well. It would not be uncommon for otherwise high-scoring runs to simply not get a Grizzco Blaster or a decent Roller, and get overwhelmed. This, combined with other factors, made getting high scores during Big Run a frustrating endeavor, with Glowflies usually signifying a dead run.
- Compared to Wahoo World's relatively mellow take on the event, the March 4 - March 6, 2023 Big Run on Inkblot Art Academy was notorious for how unforgiving it could be. On normal tide, Salmonids could spawn from pools of water only a couple of meters from the egg basket, usually turning the center of the stage into a sea of killer fish in seconds. This would be bad enough, but it also meant that if a Stinger or Flyfish decided to spawn from the Gusher on the opposite side of the map after the first 30 seconds or so, it was almost guaranteed to stay there for the rest of the wave, blasting workers with impunity. Certain Boss Salmonids like Fish Sticks or Slammin' Lids went up a few notches threat-wise due to just how little dry land there was. Low tide wasn't much better despite having the entire stage to work with, as the Egg Basket's central placement combined with all of the Gushers surrounding it meant Lesser Salmonids would still swarm it in very little time. The random nature of Big Run shifts means that you'd often get a loadout that wasn't equipped to deal with the Lesser Salmonid hordes and get swamped, resulting in a crew wipe. High tide, Rushes, and Grillers, though, were surprisingly easy, since the former had quite a bit of verticality that players could use to their advantage, and the latter two featured multiple locations that the Chums, Griller, and Smallfry were completely unable to reach without jumping.
- Undertow Spillway for the June 10th - June 12th 2023 Big Run was mostly a return to the more laid-back shifts of Wahoo World thanks to the multiple safe perching spots where players could climb to get away from the Salmonids... but Low Tide was another story. The basket was in the middle of the map, on the narrow raised ledge with sloped sides, creating a mass Guide Dang It! moment for players — you can hand-deposit eggs from the low ground even though it looks too far, and many were led to inefficiently throwing eggs into the basket, inking the wall to climb up, or jumping and having that split second of immobility in the air. The area around the basket was also very narrow, making you easy targets for Scrappers and Steel Eels. This is compounded by the spawn points for Salmonids; not only do they surround the basket on all sides, but the two opposite sides of the map are far apart, so shoreline units like Big Shots and Stingers became that much more difficult to deal with if they spawned in unfavorable ways. Thankfully, though, this Big Run didn't feature the Griller, and there were multiple solid places where players could gather to avoid the Chum during a Rush wave.
- Um'ami Ruins for the September 2nd to September 4th 2023 Big Run has the same situation as Undertow Spillway's Low Tide, except it is the main normal tide. Unlike Undertow, you can deliver eggs from the bottom without having to go up top. Low Tide meanwhile, has salmonids coming from the spawn point, and the low tide spawn section, so you'll be having to deal with salmonids coming from the spawn point and the low tide spawn point too.
- Barnacle and Dime for the December 2nd to December 4th 2023 Big Run is quite tame for most of the Big Run, thanks to a good amount of spaces to avoid Salmonids, but High Tide turns the basket area into a tight place where you can easily get pincered by the salmonids due to the spawns being quite close to the basket, and also the area is quite narrow, leaving you with little to no room to even get through.
