Published , by Sam Chandler
Published , by Sam Chandler
Splatoon 3 is a deceptively deep multiplayer game. Beyond just inking and painting turf, players can also craft builds using abilities. These abilities appear on the various articles of clothing including the headgear, clothes, and shoes. Learning these abilities and their effects will be key to unlocking your full potential and leaning in to your preferred playstyle.
In Splatoon 3, each item of clothing has four slots that can house an ability. There is one primary slot and three secondary slots. As you play Splatoon 3, you will unlock Ability Chunks, new clothing, and eventually the ability to start editing abilities and creating your own builds. The following tables list all of the abilities in the game.
| Abilities & Effects: Primary slot exclusive | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Slot | Ability Name | Effect | Cost |
| Headgear | Comeback | Boosts some of your abilities for a short time after respawning. | Run Speed Up Swim Speed Up Special Charge Up |
| List-Ditch Effort | Boosts ink-recovery rate and weapon-ink efficiency for the last 30 seconds of battle. | Ink Saver (Main) Ink Recovery Up Ink Saver (Sub) |
|
| Opening Gambit | Boosts your speed while moving for the first 30 seconds of battle. | Run Speed Up Ink Resistance Up Ink Saver (Sub) |
|
| Tenacity | Fills special gauge automatically if your team has fewer active players than the enemy. | Special Charge Up Special Saver Special Power Up |
|
| Clothes | Haunt | Once you've respawned, reveals the position of the players who splattered you. | Quick Respawn Ink Resistance Up Sub Power Up |
| Ninja Squid | Leaves no trace when swimming in inked ground but slightly reduces swim speed. | Ink Recovery Up Run Speed Up Swim Speed Up |
|
| Respawn Punisher | Increases respawn time and special-gauge spawn penalty for you and any player you splat. | Special Saver Sub Resistance Up Quick Respawn |
|
| Thermal Ink | Allows you to track distant players hit with shots from your main weapon. | Ink Saver (Main) Ink Saver (Sub) Intensify Action |
|
| Shoes | Drop Roller | Tilting the Left Stick during a Super Jump lets you perform a roll in that direction when landing. | Quick Super Jump Ink Resistance Up Intensify Action |
| Object Shredder | Increases damage dealt to all nonplayer targets. | Ink Recovery Up Sub Power Up Special Power Up |
|
| Stealth Jump | Hides your Super Jump landing point from distant players. | Quick Super Jump Intensify Action Sub Resistance Up |
|
| Abilities & Effects: Can be used in Primary & Secondary slot | ||
|---|---|---|
| Ability Name | Effect | Cost |
| Ink Saver (Main) | Decreases amount of ink consumed by your main weapon. | Primary: 45 Secondary: 10 |
| Ink Saver (Sub) | Decreases amount of ink consumed by your sub weapon. | Primary: 45 Secondary: 10 |
| Ink Recovery Up | Increases ink-tank refill rate. | Primary: 45 Secondary: 10 |
| Run Speed Up | Increases movement speed in Inkling or Octoling form. | Primary: 45 Secondary: 10 |
| Swim Speed Up | Increases movement speed in swim form. | Primary: 45 Secondary: 10 |
| Special Charge Up | Increases special-gauge fill rate. | Primary: 45 Secondary: 10 |
| Special Saver | Reduces special-gauge decrease after getting splattered. | Primary: 45 Secondary: 10 |
| Special Power Up | Upgrades your special weapon. | Primary: 45 Secondary: 10 |
| Quick Respawn | Reduces respawn timer after getting splatted repeatedly without splatting any opponents. | Primary: 45 Secondary: 10 |
| Quick Super Jump | Increases Super Jump speed. | Primary: 45 Secondary: 10 |
| Sub Power Up | Upgrades your sub weapon. | Primary: 45 Secondary: 10 |
| Ink Resistance Up | Reduces damage taken and improves mobility when walking through enemy ink. | Primary: 45 Secondary: 10 |
| Sub Resistance Up | Reduces effects and damage from sub weapons. | Primary: 45 Secondary: 10 |
| Intensify Action | Makes Squid Rolls and Squid Surges easier to do and steadies your aim when firing after jumping. | Primary: 45 Secondary: 10 |
The headgear, clothing, and shoes each have their own exclusive abilities that can be slotted into the primary slot. This exclusive ability cannot be applied in the secondary slot or in another piece of gear. The purpose of this is to provide an appealing ability that cannot be stacked. For example, Last-Ditch Effort is only available on headgear and cannot be put into clothing, shoes, or in a secondary slot.
The inverse is true of the other abilities in Splatoon 3. These are slot agnostic, meaning they can go into the secondary slot, primary slot, and even in other pieces of gear. This is useful if players want to stack a specific ability. For example, you could put Ink Recovery Up in every single available slot on your headgear, clothes, and shoes. The drawback to this is the diminishing returns on stacking abilities and that putting a non-primary ability into a primary slot costs 45 Ability Chunks.
The best course of action is to diversify your abilities. Try to utilize an exclusive ability in each piece of clothing and then supplement your playstyle with the other abilities. Keep in mind that creating a build will take a bit of work. You need quite a lot of Ability Chunks and will even need to boost the star power using Super Sea Snails to unlock new slots.
There are quite a lot of abilities in Splatoon 3 and each one has its own benefits. When you’re just getting started, don’t worry too much about them, but as you progress into the mid and then lategame, abilities will become more important. Be sure to check out our Splatoon 3 page for more help with all areas of the game.