Monday, 7 August 2017

Editorial: Tips on how to survive Splatoon 2's Salmon Run

Tips on how to survive Splatoon 2’s Salmon Run mode

          Splatoon 2 is in full swing, and with more and more people joining in the rush for Golden Eggs that is the brand new Salmon Run mode, I thought it’d be fun to take a break from industry-bashing this week to look at ways you can improve your performance and earn more rewards for use in the PvP multiplayer modes.

          One thing about this mode is made clear from the very beginning: Salmon Run is no joke. The more you play and the higher your level goes, the more your poor little squid kid will be crushed to the ground under an onslaught of beasts that show absolutely no mercy. Salmon Run’s hordes of boss monsters, alongside occasional special waves that include unusual creatures unseen anywhere else in the mode or a feeding frenzy that requires your whole team to be on their toes or risk losing everything.

          One of the biggest issues people seem to have with being successful is this mode is that they don’t know how to use the weapons that are randomly selected and handed out. A good way to alleviate this issue is to play and beat the Octo Canyon campaign. Each level in this mode gives you a different weapon to use, and by the time you’ve reached the end of the last world, you’ll be at least able to use each one of them. All of the base versions of the weapons supplied in Salmon Run are utilized at least once in Octo Canyon, including the more unusual ones such as the Blaster and Brush. If there’s a specific weapon you’re having trouble with, the campaign is a safe environment for you to get better at using it in action without worrying about other players.

          As for Salmon Run itself, after all the matches I’ve played of it there is one single truth that stands out among the rest. Cooperation is the key to victory. You and your other three teammates need to work together, or else you’ll likely lose before the first wave is over. If you aren’t using the Nintendo Switch voice chat app to play (and let’s be honest, why would you even bother using that), you’re given three ways to communicate with your teammates: “This way!”, “Booyah!” and if you’ve been splatted, “Help!”. “Booyah!” is only really used for congratulating your team at the end of a match, but it can also be a thank-you of sorts after a teammate saves you from a tight spot.

          The other two are much more necessary to an easier victory. Calling out “This way!” is one of the most important things you can do in the entire mode, as it instantly draws attention to yourself. It’s most often used to pinpoint the location of bosses (which is especially useful in waves with fog), but it can also be used to notify teammates when you’re surrounded by multiple bosses or a flood of salmonoids and need to be saved.

          Even more important than directing your team to where they need to be is calling out for help when you’ve been splatted. I’ve seen way too many matches end in failure because of some players that don’t bother notifying the rest of the team they need to be revived, leading to them slowly trudging back to who knows where and the rest of the team none the wiser that they’re down a squid. Calling for help immediately lets the entire team know not only that you need reviving, but exactly where you are on the map. Don’t worry about spamming it, because the more you say it, the longer your team can see your position and figure out the quickest way to get to you. Having more than one squid splatted at a time is incredibly dangerous behaviour, especially if the wave isn’t in the final countdown. If the rest of the team goes down because there isn’t somebody alive to save them, it’s all over. Letting your team know you’re down is vital to surviving the wave.

          Speaking of the wave, let’s talk about how to deal with the stuff you’re facing down. Before you can even attempt a multiplayer run, the game gives you a tutorial where you have to prove you can defeat each of the mode’s bosses. They all have unique enough designs that you can remember their individual weaknesses easily, but the real problem shows up when you have to deal with multiple bosses at once.

          Since they’re the ones carrying the golden eggs you need to complete the wave, it’s more important to focus on the bosses and only deal with the small potatoes salmonids if they’re really starting to pose a threat. But which boss do you take down if there’s more than one? In my opinion it’s more beneficial for you and your team to always try to kill the most dangerous boss on the map first before dealing with the others. While stuff like Drizzler and Scrapper are more annoying than dangerous, there’s no way you can easily return the golden eggs you get from them if you’ve got something like Flyfish or Maws on your tail. The more dangerous the enemy, the bigger threat it is to you finishing the wave, so it’s incredibly vital that you take care of them before they cause complete mayhem.

          There’s a lot more to Salmon Run that meets the eye, especially when variables like nighttime and foggy waves are thrown in. These are just a few basic tips that hopefully will make you better at the game. The real way to get better at egg collecting is to practice as much as you can, especially as the mode isn’t available all the time yet. While the waves get harder the more you play, you also get better at the mode.

          Seriously though, when can we play it 24/7 Nintendo?

Song of the Week

          Low Tide – Splatoon 2

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