Splatoon 2 Weapons Guide - Best Weapons, Clothing and Gear

Splatoon 2 has a wealth of weapons for you to choose from, all of which are available for purchase from the Ammo Knights store run by Sheldon in Inkopolis Square, but only after you’ve reached the required level for each weapon. This Splatoon 2 weapons guide will walk you through the best weapons to unlock, as well as the best weapons to suit your own specific playstyle.

If you instead needed help with anything else in the game, then head over to our Splatoon 2 tips and tricks guides hub, containing all the information you need to dominate in Turf War online, or guides on how to beat every boss in Splatoon 2.

Splatoon 2 Best Weapons Guide

There are a variety of weapons available for purchase in Splatoon 2, and while we’ll run down every weapon in the game further below, for now we’ll be detailing the best Splatoon 2 weapon for every game mode.

Splatoon 2 Weapons - Best Weapons for Turf War:

• Tentatek Splattershot
• Splattershot Jr.
• N-Zap 89
• N-Zap 85
• Splat Dualies
• Aerospray MG

The reasoning behind these weapons is simple: you need to ink a lot of ground in Splatoon 2’s Turf War in order to win, and quickly. The Splattershots, Splat Dualies, and Aerospray MG all have a high rate of fire, able to ink lots of ground quickly, while the N-Zap 85 and 89 have better damage, as well as Suction Bombs, perfect for covering your surroundings in ink in one go.

Splatoon 2 Weapons - Best Weapons for Tower Control:

• Heavy Splatling
• Tentatek Splattershot
• Splat Dualies
• Splat Charger

You need to control the tower in order to get it to move in Tower Control, so getting your enemies off the tower is crucial. The Splat Charger is perfect for singling out enemies on top of the tower, while the Heavy Splatling and Splat Dualies are perfect for inking lots of ground in front of you, as well as dealing out solid damage to enemy Inklings.

Splatoon 2 Weapons - Best Weapons for Splat Zones:

• Tetatek Splattershot
• Splat Roller
• Octobrush
• Aerospray MG

In Splatoon 2’s Splat Zones, you need to control a number of specified areas at once, instead of the majority of the entire map like in Turf War. The Splat Roller and Octobrush are perfect for this, able to rapidly cover an area in ink, while the Splattershot and Aerospray MG can do the same job slightly less effectively, but dealing out more damage to opposing Inklings.

What are the Best Weapons in Splatoon 2?

Below, we’ve listed every Splatoon 2 weapon, as well as ordering them by group, placing all of the automatic Shooters together on their own, as well as Blasters and Chargers into their own groups. In each specific weapon group, we’ve ordered the Splatoon 2 weapons from best to worst, according to all our time spent with the game so far.

Splatoon 2 Weapons - Best Shooters in Splatoon 2

Here you’ll find every Shooter weapon in Splatoon 2 ranked from best at the top level, to worst down at the bottom level. This is all our opinion, of course, but every weapon near the top of the list is near essential in winning a game of Turf War.

• Tentatek Splattershot - .52 Gal - Wasabi Splattershot
• .96 Gal Deco - Splattershot Pro - Berry Splattershot - Cherry H-3 Nozzlenose
• Custom Jet Squelcher - Splattershot - L-3 Nozzlenose D - Forge Splattershot Pro - Splattershot Jr. - Aerospray MG - N-Zap 83 - Neo Splash-o-Matic
• .52 Gal Deco - N-Zap 85 - Splash-o-Matic - Dual Squelcher - .96 Gal - Neo Sploosh-o-Matic - N-Zap 89 - Custom Dual Squelcher - Sploosh-o-Matic 7
• L-3 Nozzlenoze - Aerospray PG - H-3 Nozzlenose D
• H-3 Nozzlenose - Jet Squelcher - Sploosh-o-Matic
• Aerospray RG - Custom Splattershot

Splatoon 2 Weapons - Best Blasters in Splatoon 2

Here, we’ll be ranking the best Splatoon 2 Blasters, ranking the complete weapon set from best to worst. Blasters are generally slower weapons than say, Shooters, but make up in firepower and damage what they lack in speed.

• Luna Blaster Neo
• Custom Range Blaster - Grim Range Blaster - Rapid Blaster Pro Deco - Luna Blaster
• Rapid Blaster Deco - Custom Blaster - Range Blaster
• Rapid Blaster Pro
• Rapid Blaster
• Blaster

Splatoon 2 Weapons - Best Chargers in Splatoon 2

Splatoon 2’s Chargers are best used for taking enemies out from afar, instead of actually covering the ground in your ink. They perhaps shouldn’t be used in modes like Turf War then, but Chargers can prove deadly in Tower Control and Splat Zones.

• Bamboozler 14 Mk III - Bento Splat Charger - Bento Splatterscope - Custom E-liter 3K Scope
• Fresh Squiffer - Kelp Splat Charger - Kelp Splatterscope - Custom E-liter 3K - Bamboozler 14 Mk II
• New Squiffer - Hero Charger Replica - Bamboozler 14 Mk I
• Classic Squiffer - E-liter 3K Scope - Splatterscope
• Splat Charger - E-liter 3K

Splatoon 2 Weapons - Best Rollers and Brushes in Splatoon 2

We’re bundling Rollers and Brushes into the same category since they both cover the same purpose. Rollers and Brushes are best at covering a wide area in ink, and very quickly at that. They’re best used for Turf War, but can definitely come in handy if you need to capture some ground in Splat Zones.

• Carbon Roller - Dynamo Roller
• Octobrush - Gold Dynamo Roller - Tempered Dynamo Roller
• Krak-On Roller - Octobrush Nouveau - Carbon Roller Deco - Permanent Inkbrush
• Splat Roller - Coro Coro Roller - Inkbrush Nouveau
• Inkbrush

Splatoon 2 Weapons - Best Splatlings in Splatoon 2

Splatlings are basically the gatling guns of Splatoon 2, able to deal out huge amounts of damage in one go, but require charging up for a few seconds before they can actually fire. They’re fairly good at all types of Splatoon 2 online game modes, dealing out solid damage and able to cover vast areas fairly quickly.

• Heavy Splatling Remix - Refurbished Mini Splatling - Heavy Splatling Deco
• Zink Mini Splatling - Custom Hydra Splatling
• Hydra Splatling - Mini Splatling
• Heavy Splatling

Splatoon 2 Weapons - Best Sloshers in Splatoon 2

We could have bundled in the Sloshers with the Rollers and Brushes category of Splatoon 2 weapons, as all three weapon types can cover a lot of ground quickly, making them ideal for Turf War. What sets Sloshers apart from the others is that they deal increased damage, meaning they can also be used for Ranked battles as well.

• Slosher Deco - Soda Slosher
• Sloshing Machine Neo - Tri-Slosher
• Sloshing Machine - Slosher

Splatoon 2 New DLC Weapons

A recent Splatoon 2 datamine revealed that a new weapon is in development for the game, named the Squeezer. Featuring a semi automatic mode of fire, the Squeezer is designed to take out Inklings at long range, which gives the player more options outside of the Charger range of weapons for long distance combat.

Previously, the Sploosh-o-Matic and Duel Squelchers were introduced into Splatoon 2 as free DLC by Nintendo, so it's highly likely that the recent datamined Squeezer will be added to Splatoon 2 for free in the future.

Later in August 2017, Nintendo revealed during Gamescom that a new weapon called the Bubble Blower would be making its way to Splatoon 2 in a free update on September 2. You can see the weapon in action just below, and it works best when you can group up with a teammate or two.

Splatoon 2 - Gamescom Announcement - Nintendo Switch

Watch on YouTube

How to Unlock Hero Weapons in Splatoon 2

If you're wondering how to obtain Splatoon 2's Hero Weapons, then we've got you sorted with our guide on how to unlock Splatoon 2 Hero Weapons, for use in the multiplayer mode of the game, as well as the single player campaign.

Splatoon 2 Clothing and Gear Levelling

Each piece of Splatoon 2 clothing, whether it be hats, masks, shirts, or boots, always comes with at least one ability attached. This ability can help boost an attribute of your Inkling. For example, it could help increase the rate your Special Ability charges at or decrease the rate at which you ink tank empties.

As you unlock better clothes and gear items, the number of ability slots on the item will increase, up to a maximum of four. The first gear ability for an item is always set, but every second, third, and fourth ability attached to an item is always randomised, meaning you can never guarantee what abilities your item may provide you with when you level it up.

To level up a gear item and unlock additional abilities for it, simply equip it, and head into any online battle, be this Turf War, Splat Zones, Tower Control, or Rainmaker. The level of a gear item will increase for every online battle you play, so if you have a clothing item that has additional, unrevealed ability slots, equip it and get splatting.

If you were wondering how to increase the ability slots for some of your lower-level pieces of clothing, then you'll have to get your hands on a Super Sea Snail. These are incredibly rare, and are only given to you by Judd the cat, once you hit Rank 30 in online play. Aside from this, the Super Sea Snails are said to be rewards for Splatoon 2's Splatfests, but we'll have to wait until after the Ketchup vs. Mayo showdown to find out for certain.

Once you have obtained a Super Sea Snail, head over to Murch in Inkopolis Square, and he'll let you trade one Sea Snail for one additional ability slot in a single piece of clothing, of your choice. This is great if you have a favorite gear piece that you find is outranked by a more powerful piece of clothing.

If you need help with anything else in Splatoon 2, then head over to our Splatoon 2 multiplayer tips and tricks guide, or continue to our DJ Octavio boss guide.

That’s every weapon in Splatoon 2 covered in detail, and hopefully we’ve given you a good idea of which weapon to use in the appropriate game mode, as well as which weapons generally rank above others.