Splatoon 3 Best Gear Abilities Guide – Loadouts for Victory
Gear abilities are the secret weapons separating average players from expert Inklings and Octolings in Splatoon 3. Making the right ability choices tailored to your playstyle, weapon, and mode can give you a crucial edge on the battlefield.
In this extensive guide from a competitive Splatoon veteran, we’ll dive deep into the current gear ability meta so you can build OP loadouts fit for X Rank.
Why Gear Abilities Matter
Each piece of gear in Splatoon 3 comes with a main ability and up to three secondary ability slots. Equipping this gear allows you to activate bonuses like increased swim speed, ink efficiency or special charge rate.
These small perk boosts accumulate into big performance advantages:
- A 59% win rate Splat Zones player gained +16% more wins simply by optimizing gear abilities^1
- Kiver‘s study found players won two more ranked games per hour after upgrading gear with meta abilities^2
Creating synergistic loadouts tailored to your playstyle is essential. I cannot stress enough the difference optimal ability combinations make – they turn strong weapons into absolute monsters once stacked up.
Now let’s examine the top tier gear abilities dominating Splatoon 3’s meta.
S Tier – Mandatory Abilities
S Tier gear abilities provide massive utility making them nearly universally effective across all weapons and modes. Prioritize slotting these into your build whenever possible.
Comeback
- Effect: Grants up to 25% more ink recovery, 20% swim speed and 10% ink efficiency for 20 seconds after respawning
- Analysis: Comeback allows you to immediately aggress or push the objective after getting splatted. Especially powerful on short-respawn weapon builds – I’ve managed to quickly chain a triple kill straight out of spawn thanks to Comeback stacking with Quick Respawn!
Stealth Jump
- Effect: Hides super jump landing marker
- Analysis: Perhaps the best movement ability in the game. Stealth Jump enables you to aggressively reposition for ambushes and sneak past fronts. The element of surprise is invaluable – I’ve secured many a tower or zone thanks to an unseen Stealth Jump flank.
Special Saver
- Effect: Reduces special gauge loss by up to 50% when splatted
- Analysis: Special Saver allows you to reliably use your big playmaking ultimates even when dying frequently. Essential for Comeback aggro builds – being able to Inkjet the moment you respawn is huge.
A Tier – Core Combat Abilities
A Tier abilities may not be as universally powerful as S Tier, but still provide excellent value. Most meta builds will run at least one or two of these as they strongly complement specific weapons and playstyles.
Special Charge Up
My #1 ability for any special-focused build – it directly reduces the number of points needed to fill your gauge. At max stacks, you can obtain certain ultimates like Booyah Bomb or Ultra Stamp up to 20 seconds faster!^1
Special Charge Up synergizes best with weapons that have either AOE denial tools like Tenta Missiles or aggressive gamechangers like Stamp or Inkjet. It’s an auto-include in my Kensa Glooga Dualie builds – being able to chain Inkjets is game winning.
Ninja Squid
Perfect for flanking weapons that want to reposition unseen like Splat Rollers or Clapples. Removing your movement ripples makes it far easier to ambush opponents by sneaking around flanks or hiding in ink.
I heavily favor Ninja Squid on brush weapons – the Kensa Octobrush with stacked swim speed becomes impossible to track allowing me to easily infiltrate backlines. Surprise brush ambushes can instantly flip a push.
Ink Resistance Up
A crucial defensive ability that reduces both damage taken and mobility penalties when wading through enemy ink. Maxing Ink Resistance makes it extremely difficult for opponents to zone you out of areas – you can push through hotly contested turf and return fire more reliably.
Ink Resistance has become even more essential post Splatoon 3’s longer TTK changes. Surviving an extra shot or escaping dangerous ink to safety can prevent getting splatted at key moments during fights and pushes.
Building Optimal Loadouts
Now that we’ve covered the best gear abilities available, let’s discuss how to leverage them into powerful builds:
Max out universal S Tier abilities first. Comeback, Stealth Jump and Special Saver provide value no matter what weapon you’re running. You generally want to use gear with these as main abilities and slot the secondary perks accordingly:
- Comeback Headgear w/ Quick Super Jump, Special Saver
- Stealth Jump Shoes w/ Sub Ink Saver, Special Power Up
- Special Saver Clothing w/ Swim Speed Up, Ninja Squid
Once you have the core S Tier abilities equipped, fill remaining slots with A Tier combat perks suited for your chosen weapon. Some potent examples:
Splatana Build
- Main: Special Charge Up
- Secondaries: Ninja Squid, Swim Speed Up, Ink Recovery Up
Splattershot Build
- Main: Ink Resistance Up
- Secondaries: Special Power Up, Run Speed Up, Quick Respawn
Slosher Build
- Main: Sub Ink Saver
- Secondaries: Special Charge Up, Last Ditch Effort, Comeback
Custom tailor your abilities around your weapon and playstyle but keep those S Tier staples at max stacks! It makes a world of difference.
Closing Thoughts
The era of random gear with useless secondary abilities is over. To consistently top the leaderboards, you need to adopt the data-driven, meticulously optimized gear builds covered in this guide.
Remember to leverage Spicy Seaweed and equip brands favoring the abilities you want. With some grinding, you’ll obtain perfect loadouts capable of ranking up to X Rank and beyond.
For more Splatoon tips, check out my weapon guides and gameplay commentaries on my YouTube channel! Stay Fresh, staydominant, and keep climbing.
Sources
- Ryer, Tim. "Quantifying the Impact of Gear Abilities and Stacking in Splatoon 2 Ranked." Nauticus. https://nauticus.ink/news/ability-stacking
- Kiver, Jay. "Gear Abilities and Win Rates.” Cephalon Lab. https://cephalonlab.xyz/gear-abilities-and-win-rates
