#version 4.4

Turns out it was very easy for me to grab these myself, luckily, so here's all the official LINE stickers they just released!

Translations of the Japanese in each sticker under the cut, in case anyone's curious:

Neutering Henry Wu.

Hello everyone! Patch 4.4 is releasing in just a couple of hours from now, so I thought I’d take the time to go over the changes coming along with it, as well as my personal thoughts on them. Keep in mind that for a lot of stuff, we lack very precise numbers, so I generally can’t go into specifics, though I’ll try my best regardless.

Starting off the patch, Kelp Dome is getting a renovation. There’s very little information on what exactly has changed, but it’ll most likely be in the style of the changes to Starfish Mainstage, The Reef and Blackbelly Skatepark last year, aiming to give the losing team more ground to work with in order to make a comeback.

The first set of changes to weapons in this patch are that a large number of Shooters will now be able to transition more quickly from swimming to shooting. It varies exactly how much faster from weapon to weapon, but it’s generally 1-2 frames faster. The weapons affected are Sploosh-o-matic, Splattershot Jr., Splash-o-matic, Splattershot, .52 Gal, .96 Gal, N-Zap, Splattershot Pro and Jet Squelcher (and all of their variants). This is a nice little quality of life change that will make playing Shooter feel a bit quicker and more responsive.

Additionally, Jet Squelcher now also gets reduced shot deviation while on the ground when using Main Power Up, in addition to its current effect. This change sounds potentially pretty scary, depending on how well it scales. Might be worth tossing on a main or two, if it has a meaningfully large impact.

L-3 Nozzlenose now paints the area around its feet more consistently. That’s another nice quality of life change that will serve to make it a bit easier to move around while firing for the smaller of the noses.

Flingza Roller is getting some pretty substantial changes, now reaching maximum speed while rolling half a second quicker, increased movement speed while readying a vertical flick with 11%, and the damage falloff of vertical flicks will now be less severe, with the range at which the flick deals 100+ damage being increased by 5% as a result. These are a lot of very nice buffs for what is generally considered one of the weakest weapons in the game, though it remains to be seen if this is all it needs to carve out a space of is own in the meta.

Squiffer, E-litre 4K and E-litre 4K Scope now get increased ink coverage from Main Power Up, in addition to the current effect of increased range. It remains to be seen how effective this is, but if it’s anything like Main Power Up on the Bloblobber it might make Main Power Up a really strong contender for your gear slots.

Undercover Brella now gains more benefits from using smaller amounts of Main Power Up. Not a lot to say here, really. Might make it worth running a couple of subs on your Undercover builds if you can find the space for it.

Ballpoint Splatling got hit with some pretty severe damage nerfs, dealing 4 less damage in short-ranged mode and 2 less damage in long-range mode. These changes really sting, as they mean Ballpoint will no longer be able to reach 33.3 damage using Main Power Up. Combine this with the Special point changes it received as well (more on that later) and it’s clear to see that they really intended to take this weapon down a peg, which shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone who has been keeping up with competitive Splatoon 2, as the Ballpoint Nouveau has been really dominant since it’s release.

For the final set of weapon changes, we’re dealing with the Splat Dualies, Tetra Dualies and all of their variants, all of whom now have smaller hitboxes on their shots. This change does not affect shots fired when standing still after dodge-rolling. It would seem to me that Nintendo thinks the Dualies are a bit too accurate on the move and are aiming to change that.

With weapons done with, we move onto Special Weapons:

Tenta Missiles can now start moving like normal 15 frames (a quarter of a second) faster after firing. This change seems to encourage using your Missiles in the heat of battle, which makes sense when you consider that most weapons with Tenta Missiles are rather aggressive and short-mid ranged. (Might still wanna round a corner first, though.)

Booyah Bomb received some hefty buffs, dealing 32% more damage and painting the area it lands on better. In addition, it now paints the area around the user’s feet when thrown, and the armor you get while charging now stays on you for an additional 15 frames longer after you throw the bomb. The Bomb also disappears half a second faster, but it also expands a lot quicker to compensate, resulting in it covering the same radius as before. All of these changes serve to make Booyah Bomb a much more deadly and immediate threat to everyone around the place you throw it. Additionally, it painting around your feet as you toss it and the armor staying active longers means you’re now less vulnerable while charging the bomb, and gives you more of a fighting chance in case someone decides to rush you.

The final Special change is another set of beefy buffs, this time to the Ultra Stamp. It now moves and turns better while continuously stamping, deals an additional 10 damage on the shockwave emitted when slamming down the stamp, and the shockwave around the stamp can now also destroys enemy shots and bombs, just like the stamp itself. Finally, you can now transition from a mid-air swing to continuously stamping 4 frames quicker. All of this is great stuff for the Ultra Stamp, making it a lot better at blocking shots and chasing down foes while being harder to outmaneuver.

There’s only one change to Abilities this time around, and that’s Ink Resistance Up now blocking damage from standing in enemy ink a lot longer. With 3 Mains and 9 Subs it’s now active 9/60 seconds longer than before. You probably won’t run a full setup of it, but this change will make it a lot more effective, and that’s always a positive. Might be worthwhile running a bit of it if you enjoy playing vulnerable weapons like Explosher or Splat Charger.

Finally, we have the Special Points changes, all of which are very heavily focused on weapons that are popular in the high-ranked metagame, to some extent or another:

H-3 Nozzlenose D: 200 > 210

Kensa Sloshing Machine: 170 > 190

Explosher: 200 > 210

Custom Explosher: 190 > 200

Ballpoint Splatling Nouveau: 200 > 230 (Yeowch! That’s one of the nastiest Special Point nerfs in the history of the game, and makes Ballpoint Nouveau one of only two weapons to have a 230 point requirement for its Special, alongside the Tentatek Splattershot!)

Global's will be on June 18, 12:00 PM(UTC), and it seems likely that the stream will focus exclusively on the upcoming game version with Miku (Version 4.4, I assume it'll be numbered as).

Mainland China's will also be on June 18th, but an hour earlier, at 11:00 AM (UTC). The announcement mentions that this stream will cover:

Global collaboration with the super-popular virtual singer Hatsune Miku

Chapter 6 main story teaser

Summer Seaside Live event announcement and previews of upcoming new characters

Special rewards across three major versions

A collaboration was announced between P5X and Hinemos (a sake brewer). I'm always interested to see what flavors/choices they make for featured characters in food-related collabs, so here's the three they posted (these are Google-translated despite being in Japanese, because I don't know enough about sake to translate accurately, haha):

Wonder:

A red-hued sake that balances a mellow sweetness with a crisp finish A bottle distinguished by its striking red color. The flavor offers a crisp finish underlying its gentle sweetness. It embodies the protagonist's hidden passion. 8% Alcohol | Sweet

Phoebe:

A cloudy sake that gently embraces the palate It is light and airy, with a flavor reminiscent of amazake. A subtle acidity lingers in the finish, creating a taste with a solid core and impressive depth. 6% Alcohol | Sweet

Joker & Wonder:

A thank-you letter from the Global operations team was posted on the official accounts today; there isn't much substance to it, but they do seem to say they're going to share "more information" in relation to the people who were disappointed that Global's anniversary was a Hatsune Miku collaboration, rather than a main story update or collab with other Persona games.