Gear, in many ways, forms the core component of the Splatoon 2 experience. It all comes down to the time of gear you own and wear, the effectiveness of it in different situations, and the abilities it allows you to utilise in different situation.
You could see Gear as armor, a way for you to protect or perhaps enhance your attacking and defensive prowess in the ehat of battle. Each piece of gear grants you a main ability and then up to three sub abilities, so you can go into a match packing a heavy punch.
If your Inkling has slothes, shoes, and headgear, that’s as many as three main abilities and nine sub abilities that you can go into battle with. The opponent doesn’t stand a chance!
How To Buy New Gear
First thing’s first, you want to battle it out in Ink Battles and get your level up to level 4. That’s because merchants won’t sell you new gear and clothing until you reach this benchmark.
Shops will change their stock every day, with the available stock for purchase relative to your level on that specific day. Generally, your level is a reflection of the rarity of available gear: the higher your level, the more likely you are to be able to purchase super rare gear. So, when you first visit a store, the stock available is going to be common and not all that rare. Play more, and get more rare and powerful gear!
Understanding Gear
When you’re flicking through the different types of gear available, it’s important to understand what the board means and how the gear will be important to your loadout and approach to matches.
You’ll see that each gear will list a Main Ability that it’s compatible with. You’ll see this ability with a logo, and then the name of the ability next to it.
The Rarity of the gear is listed along the top in star form: one star means common, two stars means less common, and three stars means rare.
If gear has only one star, it only has one sub ability slot. Three stars and, you guessed it: three sub ability slots!
The gear’s brand will also be listed: brand determines what sort of abilities are compatible with that piece of gear.
Brands
Brand is pretty important in the world of Splatoon 2. Each different brand has two weighted abilities attached to it in the form of a common ability and an uncommon ability.
The common ability is fairly common at five times more likely to appear as a sub ability for a specific piece of gear. An uncommon ability is half as likely to appear.
What this means is that each ability has a “favoured” brand. Cold Blooded (Common Ability), for example, is five times more likely to appear on Annaki branded gear than all other gear. Special Saver (Uncommon Ability) is half as likely to appear on Annaki branded gear.
Let’s take a look at each brand and their corresponding ability likelihood.
Annaki
- Common Ability: Cold Blooded
- Uncommon Ability: Special Saver
Cuttlegear
- Common Ability: N/A
- Uncommon Ability: N/A
Enperry
- Common Ability: Sub Power Up
- Uncommon Ability: Ink Resistance Up
Firefin
- Common Ability: Ink Saver (Sub)
- Uncommon Ability: Ink Recovery Up
Forge
- Common Ability: Special Power Up
- Uncommon Ability: Ink Saver (Sub)
Inkline
- Common Ability: Bomb Defense Up
- Uncommon Ability: Cold Blooded
Krak-On
- Common Ability: Swim Speed Up
- Uncommon Ability: Bomb Defense Up
Rockenberg
- Common Ability: Run Speed Up
- Uncommon Ability: Swim Speed Up
Skalop
- Common Ability: Quick Respawn
- Uncommon Ability: Special Saver
Splash Mob
- Common Ability: Ink Saver (Main)
- Uncommon Ability: Run Speed Up
SquidForce
- Common Ability: Ink Resistance Up
- Uncommon Ability: Ink Saver (Main)
Takoroka
- Common Ability: Special Charge Up
- Uncommon Ability: Special Power Up
Tentatek
- Common Ability: Ink Recovery Up
- Uncommon Ability: Quick Super Jump
Toni Kensa
- Common Ability: Cold Blooded
- Uncommon Ability: Sub Power Up
Zekko
- Common Ability: Special Saver
- Uncommon Ability: Special Charge Up
Zink
- Common Ability: Quick Super Jump
- Uncommon Ability: Quick Respawn
