Splatoon 2 Version 5.1.0 Update Coming January 8, Following Update In April 2020

Nintendo of America has released the patch notes for Splatoon 2’s upcoming version 5.1.0 update.

The update, scheduled to release on January 8, 2020, adjusts the specifications for some main weapons. Nintendo says they will continue to monitor online gameplay and adjust weapon stats, with the following update planned for April 2020.

Full patch notes below:

Ver. 5.1.0 (Releasing January 8, 2020)

Changes to Multiplayer

• Specifications for some of the main weapons have been changed.
  

  Weapon	Change
  Splattershot Tentatek Splattershot Kensa Splattershot Hero Shot Replica Octo Shot Replica	Decreased ink consumption by roughly 8%.
  Luna Blaster Luna Blaster Neo Kensa Luna Blaster	Decreased amount of time after firing before being able to take further actions by roughly 4/60 of a second. Decreased ink consumption by roughly 17%.
  L-3 Nozzlenose L-3 Nozzlenose D Kensa L-3 Nozzlenose	Increased ink consumption by roughly 15%. Reduced the effect of the Main Power Up gear ability. Changed the amount of gear ability required to deal up to 33.3 damage from 1.8 times to 2.4 times the amount of the primary gear ability. Each secondary gear ability is worth 0.3 of the primary gear ability.
  Splat Charger FIrefin Splat Charger Kensa Charger Hero Charger Replica	Slightly narrowed the area covered by ink droplets from fired shots.
  Bamboozler 14 Mk I Bamboozler 14 Mk II Bamboozler 14 Mk III	Reduced the effect of the Main Power Up gear ability. Changed the amount of gear ability required to deal up to 99.9 damage from 4.1 times to 4.4 times the amount of the primary gear ability. Each secondary gear ability is worth 0.3 of the primary gear ability.

• Specifications for the following special weapons have been changed.
  

  Special Weapon	Change
  Splashdown	Extended the area within which damage is dealt upward. This change makes it easier to deal damage to mid-air opponents from even a moderate distance. There is no change to the damage area for opponents standing near but lower than the epicenter of the blast. Increased damage dealt to opponent Ballers by roughly 21%.
  Baller	Decreased duration of active time from roughly 7 to roughly 6 seconds.

• Points required for using specials have been changed for certain main weapons
  

  Weapon	Before	After
  Tentatek Splattershot Octo Shot Replica	210	200
  Octobrush Herobrush Replica	180	170
  Enperry Splat Dualies	210	200
  L-3 Nozzlenose	190	210
  L-3 Nozzlenose D	180	200
  Bamboozler 14 Mk I	180	200
  Soda Slosher	200	210
  Tenta Camo Brella	200	210

• Downloading the latest update will prevent matching with players at the Shoal that are using previous update data.With this update we have made adjustments to the abilities of certain weapons to effectively hold the line of battle or to ink turf from afar. However, we have limited these adjustments in such a way that they should not affect weapon selection for players experienced with using these weapons.

  Following this update, we plan to consider similar adjustments for many other weapons going forward. Additionally, we will continue to watch for and analyze weapons that appear to have few or no drawbacks, and that also perform well against all other weapons.

  We plan to distribute the next update in late April 2020.