Function of the Fashion: Main Power Up
Hello everyone! It’s been cooking for a long time, but I finally feel like I’m ready to talk about Main Power Up. When it was first revealed, a lot of people were dreading it’s potential to become the Damage Up of Splatoon 2, and while it does increase the damage of a lot of weapons, it thankfully never becomes as powerful as Damage Up was. But how useful is it? That’s what I’m here to discuss.
Before I start, I wanna say something that, while always true, is especially pertinent now: This is not a definite, infallible guide. Main Power Up is still very new and as one of the biggest variables introduced in all of Splatoon 2,, is probably gonna take years to figure out fully. What I’m going to present to you are suggestions and observations from a lot of competitive players, including people I’ve asked personally. That said, let’s get started.
So what does Main Power Up (or MPU) do? Well, a lot of things, actually. It improves your main weapon in some way or another, with the improvements depending on your weapon. This includes things such as less spread while jumping, increased damage, increased range, better ink coverage and the list goes on (I Recommend you check out the Inkipedia article on MPU if you want to dig into that a bit deeper). It should be mentioned that in the case of weapons that get increased damage there is often a hard cap to how much damage you can deal in a single shot, after which additional points of MPU do nothing. How many points you need to reach the cap varies wildly from weapon to weapon, but we’ll get to that.
So what weapons benefit the most from Main Power Up? Quite a few, actually. Let’s start with the weapons that get increased damage from Main Power Up. While you might think that all weapons would want more damage, the truth is that for a lot of them the amount of damage increased per point is so poor that it’s not worth the effort. As for the weapons where increasing the damage is worthwhile? Well:
L-3 Nozzlenose: This weapon hits its damage cap with only six subs of Main Power Up, making it deal 33.3 damage with every shot for a total of 99.9 damage per trigger pull, making it a guaranteed splat on opponents who have taken any amount of damage, no matter how small. For such a small investment it’s a very powerful return.
H-3 Nozzlenose: The bigger of the noses, on the other hand, need to invest a whopping 3 mains and 3 subs to reach its damage cap of 49.9. While that is a bit excessive, 3 main slots still net you about 48 damage per shot, which is still very close to making it a guaranteed 2-shot splat. With the H-3 being rather gear-independent, it’s a good deal, though you can stick to 2 main slots for 46 damage if filling up all of them seems excessive to you.
Squeezer: The Squeezer needs 2 main slots of MPU to reach 33.3 damage while the trigger is held, which also results in the single-shot dealing 46.5 damage. This is a pretty good deal, so it’s worthwhile.
Carbon Roller/Splat Roller/Dynamo Roller/Flingza Roller: I’m rolling up all the Rollers in the same bunch here because their desire for MPU is very similar in scope. With increased damage, these weapons can splat from further away more consistently as the increased damage helps mitigate their drastic damage falloff at longer ranges. That said, you typically don’t want to run more than 2 mains or 6 subs at most, as the damage increase starts dropping off drastically after that point. The Splat Roller, in particular, does fine with just 1 main, the Dynamo doesn’t need more than 1 main and 2 subs at most, meanwhile, the Flingza and Carbon can go up to 1 main and 3 subs (or 2 mains) if deemed necessary. Regardless of Roller, you should run at the very least 3 subs of MPU, as anything below that is not worth it.
Hydra Splatling/Ballpoint Splatling: Both of these weapons hit their damage cap of 33.3 (when not fully charged in the case of the Hydra) with a measly 5 subs, allowing for more consistent splats more often, while also making partial charges better for the Hydra. This is a relatively small investment, and is very good as a result.
Bamboozler: Similarly to the H-3, the Bamboozler needs 3 mains and 3 subs to hit its damage cap of 99.9, an effective one-hit splat on anyone who has taken damage from anything, including standing in enemy ink. 3 mains and 3 subs is a lot, so settling for 3 mains will net you 97 damage per shot, while 2 mains net you 94. Try to stick to somewhere around there, as a result.
Glooga Dualies/Tetra Dualies: Both of these weapons like MPU, but they’re pretty flexible with it. As a result, you can kinda use MPU as a “slot filler” of sorts. Get whatever abilities you want first, and then fill up whatever is left with MPU. It is worth mentioning that 3 mains of MPU gives you enough damage with the Gloogas where shooting a regular shot and a roll-empowered shot combo for a 2-shot splat, but it’s not advised to go for that unless you feel confident in your aim.
Slosher: Okay, I’m including Slosher in this group on a technicality because it doesn’t get more damage directly, but rather gets less damage falloff on enemies who are on lower elevations. The Slosher is really good at utilizing angles and different heights in the stage to its advantage, so MPU allows it to more effectively pull those tricks. About one main is all you need to see a notable impact, too!
So that’s all the damage-increasing MPU weapons, but what about the weapons that don’t get more damage? Well, don’t worry, there’s plenty of those too:
Splattershot/.52 Gal/Ranged Blaster: All of these weapons get less spread while firing when jumping, allowing them to hit foes at the edge of their range more consistently. .52 Gal and the Ranged Blaster, in particular, suffer from horrible inaccuracy while jumping, which MPU helps mitigate. 1 main/3 subs is plenty enough for the Splatershot and .52 Gal, while the Ranged Blaster can go all the way to 2 mains if desired.
Squiffer/E-litre 4K/E-litre 4K Scope: These weapons get increased range from MPU, and while the extra range is very small, even at higher amounts, that range can make all the difference, especially for a weapon that is otherwise pretty gear-independent like the E-litre. As a result, it’s recommended you try to get as much MPU on these weapons as you can.
Bloblobber: The blobbiest lobber of them all gets increased ink coverage from MPU, and the effect is very drastic, to the point where MPU is basically a better version of Special Charge Up for this particular weapon. As such you really want to run as much MPU on the Bloblobber as you can, because of how powerful it is. If you want my personal take then I’d say that anything between 1 to 3 main slots is good enough.
Mini Splatling: Last, and actually least, is the Mini Splatling, which benefits from MPU by having the amount of time it fires after fully charging extended. This sort-of makes it a combination of Special Charge Up and Ink Saver Main, in a way, as you output more shots and gain more Special from every charge, while spending the same amount of ink. This makes it worthwhile to run at the very least 3 subs of MPU, as it’s just a nice quality of life ability in general.
And well, there you have it! As mentioned earlier, this is not a list of the only weapons to ever want MPU, but rather the most prominent ones and the ones most commonly discussed amongst higher-level players. Hopefully, this will give you a sense of direction when it comes to navigating the world of Splatoon 2 in 2019, and maybe inspire you to change up your favourite weapon build a bit? Remember that there’s no right way to play, as long as you’re enjoying yourself!
And to finish this whole thing off, here’s some of my favourite gear with Main Power Up on it:
Thank you for reading, and as always: Keep looking your best!
