Splatoon 3 - Grand Festival - Part 1 (feat. Tentatek Splattershot)

It is finally time, time for the last event in Splatoon 3. (You can tell because there’s a sign next to Marigold at the concert grounds that says “Thank You, Someday, Sometime.”) This is the Grand Festival, where all three bands featured in the series have come together to perform in the same place: Callie and Marie of the Squid Sisters, representing Team Past; Pearl and Marina of Off the Hook, representing Team Present; and Shiver, Frye, and Big Man of Deep Cut, representing Team Future. Me, I picked Team Future because I committed myself to that team back in Splatoon 1’s January 2016 Splatfest, and I dug up the Sonic CD style “Team Future” panel for this thumbnail. And the principles I chose—that the best of the people of Earth is yet to come and that people will achieve their goals—I still hold by.

Since this is the last major event for Splatoon 3, I’ll also be using an iconic weapon of the series: the Tentatek Splattershot. This is a jack-of-all-trades weapon, around the middle in all stats: medium range, medium ink consumption, medium damage, medium inking, medium running speed, medium swimming speed. Like the regular Splattershot, this makes this weapon equally useful in all scenarios, but not the greatest at any of them. If you want to seek out an advantage, you’ll have to have superior skill and planning. Of course, whether the Splattershots wind up as a master of none or a master of all depends on the balance updates.

The Tentatek version of the Splattershot trades away the Suction Bombs and Trizooka for Splat Bombs and Triple Inkstrike. Currently, that puts it in a worse position in the competitive scene than the regular Splattershot due to the Trizooka being so valued. However, the Splat Bombs having a shorter detonation time (even shorter if you toss it at the ground to trigger it early as it’s rolling) can cause opponents to panic more, or you can even catch them by surprise. Splat Bombs can also detonate further than Suction Bombs due to that rolling, which is good for threatening people on high ground.

The Trizooka can splat people by surprise and has unparalleled speed, but the Triple Inkstrike is the much better weapon to claim turf by its better inking, as well as its opaque columns blocking opponents’ views (but also yours and your teammates’, so be careful about that) and blocking their shots. The fact that it’s lobbed like a bomb also makes it better suited to messing with people on perches, unlike the Trizooka’s more horizontal trajectory.

I find that the Tentatek Splattershot is good for all situations and is, actually, a more beginner-friendly version of the standard, unbranded Splattershot. Anyone can toss Triple Inkstrikes, and it’s very easy to contribute positively to your team in that way. Hence, my assessment of it is that Splatoon 3’s Tentatek Splattershot is a hybrid inking, battling, and support weapon, moreso than the unbranded Splattershot, and key to its effectiveness in battle is pivoting from one role to another as needed in a match.

1:16 - Match #1
Crableg Capital
Grand Festival Turf War (10x Battle)
Tentatek Splattershot
Color Scheme: Grand Festival
Song: “Ink Me Up” by Squid Sisters
Titles: Squidforcing (Good Guys)
It didn’t seem like we did too bad here, but things kind of went south at some point. Was this because it’s a 10x battle? Since the opponents had Danger! status for much of the battle, it might’ve been overconfidence.

4:57 - Match #2
Mincemeat Metalworks
Tricolor Battle (Attackers)
Tentatek Splattershot
Color Scheme: Grand Festival
Song: “Till Depth Do Us Part” by Deep Cut
Titles: none
This time, Tricolor Battles show up right from the start. At the time I was playing this, each rotation had a fixed stage, though it would become random 32 hours into the event. (The Grand Festival is 72 hours in all.)

8:39 - Match #3
Hammerhead Bridge
Grand Festival Turf War (10x Battle)
Tentatek Splattershot
Color Scheme: Grand Festival
Song: “Suffer No Fools” by Off the Hook VS Fire & Ice
Titles: none
I helped the team get off to a good start, though I just hung back and guarded the middle areas later on, in case someone slipped by without them realizing it. Looks like they were able to keep things under control on their own. Sort of.

12:22 - Match #4
Eeltail Alley
Tricolor Battle (Defenders)
Tentatek Splattershot
Color Scheme: Grand Festival
Song: “Blushing Tide” by Squid Sisters
Titles: none
The previous Splatfest video had a Tricolor Defenders match in Eeltail Alley too, though I knew not many people would guard the Ultra Beacon, so I did so. (Sorry about blocking the teammate towards the end.)

16:04 - Match #5
Brinewater Springs
Grand Festival Turf War
Tentatek Splattershot
Color Scheme: Grand Festival
Song: “Fins in the Air” by Deep Cut
Titles: Hi-Topped Syndicate (Good Guys)
There was something about one of the Dualies players on the other side who was ridiculously hard to catch at first but got progressively easier as the match went on.