Time for more experiment info:

SWIM SPEED x3 items - as measured by swimming from one end of the training area to the other.

Without: 10 seconds

With: 7 and a half seconds

So not much better but the difference will add up over larger distances. Good for ranked battles when you get killed a lot?

SPECIAL CHARGE x3

Generally takes -3 seconds off the special charge time. But with the 96 gal and Carbon roller it takes off -6 seconds and roughly the same for the Krak on Splat roller. Has virtually no effect on the Splattershop Jr. Interestingly, learning the special charge times (without) 3x special charge items equipped gets you some interesting stats.

The Tentatek Splattershot and Splattershot tend to take 2 seconds longer to charge vs the aerospray and Splattershot pro. The rollers tend to take longer than the guns to charge a special, it just feels easier because you aren't aiming. For instance the Carbon roller takes 20 seconds to fully charge a special, the Krakon roller takes 17 seconds but guns like the nzap takes 12 seconds, Jr takes 9 seconds, aerospray 12 seconds etc. The Splat roller is unique amonst the rollers I tried in that it charges in 14 seconds (for a killer wail) and with 3x Special charge items - 11 seconds. Useful info.

INK SAVER MAIN x 3 items

Now this is what I would recommend as an alternative to the utterly useless sub savers. Because it saves you ink on your main you have more left over for subs anyway so you get two benefits out of it and there are some tangible results.

Here's a huge one - With the Slosher you get to throw 17 buckets from a full tank. Add in a 3x ink saver main items and you get..... 28 buckets. It's hilarious, you can stand there in the training area and it feels like you never run out of ink.

The Splattershot Pro and the Jet or Dual Squelchers benefit the least from ink saver main x3. Only giving you 2 or 3 seconds more shooting time.

There are some huge variances in the results for adding 3x main but in general it's a great choice, with the Dynamo and Kraken roller you can get 9 seconds more rolling time, and 8 more with the Carbon roller. The 96 gal only gets a 5 second benefit, the aerospray nabs 7 seconds more.

These are all the tests I have managed thus far, I was trying to test respawn times but I need another item before I can.

Damage x 3 test - using the purple dummies in the training area from a couple of metres away

There is going to be some slack in the results because the dummies died rather quickly.

Results were rather interesting nonetheless. Let's start with the rollers, at close range all rollers took 3 flicks to destroy a purple dummy from up close except for the carbon roller which took 4 flicks. Now with the 3x Damage up items this had no effect on the Dynamo and Kraken rollers. But with the Splat and Carbon rollers it took one less flick to destroy a purple dummy.

The Slosher? 8 buckets to destroy a purple dummy, 6 buckets with 3x damage items.

WEAPONS WHICH HAVE NO EFFECT WITH 3x DAMAGE ITEMS APPLIED:

• 52 gal - 2 seconds
• Nzap - 2 seconds
• Tentatek Splattershot - 2 seconds
• Kraken - 3 flicks
• Dynamo - 3 flicks

Of the guns the Aerospray and Jet Squelcher took the longest to kill at 3.5 seconds each, no wonder you can stand point blank and shoot someone in the face and you die first, it only takes them 2 seconds to kill you but takes you 3.5 seconds to do them the same damage.

With 3x damage applied it brings the Aerospray down to 2 seconds which is the same as other guns WITHOUT any damage UP items. Yet only brings the Jet Squelcher down to 3 seconds so it's not worth using with the Jet squelcher, you're probably better off using Ink Main with that weapon. The 96 Gal, took 2.5 seconds to destroy a purple dummy which is half a second more than the 52 gal and the damage x3 only reduced this by 0.5 seconds. So the best idea is to use the range of the 96 and to stand well back or in an elevated position.

Once again the Splattershop Pro proves to be the most resistent to equipment changes with only about a quarter of a second difference shaved off with damage x3. And finishing off the results the Jr went from 3 to 2 seconds with damage x3.

Now my tests were carried out from the same close range, I will have to rerun the results for a further out range. Anyone out there still listening to these or am I wasting my time?

Tested the Damage x3 at longer range.

I used the left hand circle in the training area for this as this was the furthest range that the aerospray could fire from. Notably the Aerospray's loose accuracy meant it took 4 seconds to kill the dummy from further out than close range (3.5 secs) so get right in their face with this weapon.

WEAPONS WHICH HAVE NO EFFECT WITH 3x DAMAGE ITEMS APPLIED:

• 52 gal
• 96 gal
• Jet
• Nzap
• Splattershot Pro
• Tentatek Splattershot

Also a slightly further out range did not reduce their accuracy or damage inflicted, nice and reliable compared to the Aerospray and Jr etc.

The Splat rollers were interesting, the Carbon roller, Kraken and Splat rollers could not destroy the dummy from this distance from a full tank. The Dynamo could with 4 flicks, 3 with damage up x3 items and there was peripheral damage with the two side dummies destroyed too.

The Slosher took 7 buckets to destroy the target, one less than at close range and with 3x damage one bucket less.

The Jr took 4.5 seconds at range, 4 with 3x damage - useless unless you are close to someone.

It makes for a nice read, but since most differences are so minimal, I don't think I'll change my gear much based on your findings.  But again, I enjoy reading this and appreciate the time and effort you clearly put in it.

Some Western Splatoon Players Would Prefer Not To Compete With Japan:

Online technicalities causing tension?

Reports have recently surfaced via Japanese video game blogs that certain clusters of Western Wii U owners do not enjoy playing Nintendo's competitive online squid shooter Splatoon with players from Japan. Some have even taken to social media to demand that Nintendo enforce regional servers for the game.

The reason for this is because of the alleged "lag advantage" Japanese players have, generally making players from Japan the most feared, ruthless and unstoppable squids on the battlefield. It would also seem that Japanese Splatoon players are among the best in the world, which could also be why there is so much belly-aching coming from the west.

For many video game enthusiasts worldwide, issues such as this are simply the shortcomings of playing games online with people who live on the other side of the world. Perhaps Nintendo really does need to step in at this point and review Splatoon's online service?

Let us know in the comments if you have had any seriously troubling issues with the online portion of Splatoon so far, and what your own feelings are on this matter. Should regional servers be introduced? Do you think Japanese players really have an advantage, or is this just a case of people getting beaten and trying to find an excuse?

The issue seems to be that the servers are based in Japan so the Japanese have a lag advantage, with faster ping speeds?

I don't like playing with Japanese for a variery of reasons, firstly their names aren't translated, I'm playing against a bundle of random Kanji. Might as well be playing against bots. I like to build grudges - oh Hankzero killed me? Well he's boned now, I'm gunning for him! etc.

Also I tend to be either the only westerner or in the minority of westerners in a match. Feels kinda lonely. Then the majority of assholes I have encountered in Splatoon matches who do ridiculous, annoying shit like jumping from ink and back CONSTANTLY - are Japanese.

There are some insanely good crack shot Japanese players and when paired against them it can simply be, not fun to play. I didn't log on for a match to be non-stop killed from respawn within an instant.

But in terms of lag, yes there have been quite a few, many actually, occasions where I will die and I look round and think, what? How did? Nothing happened? How could he shoot me through a wall? Etc etc and lag is the problem there against them. Dying irrationally because someone has a faster net connection is... weird.

Nintyfan17 said:

Sometimes playing against one Japanese player I killed them it turns out we killed each other but I didn't die on the screen until a couple seconds after I killed them.

I second this.  But to say it's an unfair disadvantage.  For all we know they suffer from the same issues.

Yoshi_Prime said:

Had to log in to let people know: the lag advantage does exist. I've played about 300 hours of this game, more than half of it with nearly exclusive or exclusively Japanese players, and the lag advantage (or lagvantage) is horribly real. I've lost count of how many times I've died because someone hit me when they weren't anywhere near me, or how many times I've killed someone only to watch them kill me after death. It's not a matter of "getting good", as some have postulated. This is clearly a case of those being closer to the home servers having the advantage. There are enough American players to where I know there can be region servers.

This.

Like I said above, I get killed out of nowhere when there is no one near me or when I'm clearly behind a corner or wall. Or I kill them and a couple of seconds later die by their hand?

ledreppe said:

I've noticed getting splatted by someone 5 sec's after splatting that player has become more common.

TechJunkie69 said:

I regularly destroy most anyone no matter where they are from, but the lag is still annoying. Japanese players especially seem like they have instant transmission (DBZ reference) jumping around me like crazy. And often there are splats where I just splatted them and 3 seconds later I'll just splat with no one around with the camera focusing on the recently splatted enemy.

Basically what happens is their character has the appearance of super speed on our side of things and our characters stand still like a tree while they get a free splat on their side. I also question that they are better. Obviously there are always those that have no life outside of gaming and can play and hone their skills all day long, every day, but outside of those players who I'll willing go toe to toe with, they suck just as bad as any other player I splat.

That said, the last 2 months since I bought the LAN adapter, issues have been at a minimum, japanese lag still being and issue though improved.

Mogster said:

The amount of ignorance as to how serves work in this thread is unreal >.< do you guys seriously not get that being further from a server = more lag? That's why games like League of Legends have regional servers.

I'm not saying that would necesarily be the best option for Splatoon, but please, try to show some understanding has to how online play actually works. Tip: there is a lot more too it than 'git gud' as a lot of people seem to be saying.

JamesCoote said:

People are just being racist.

Jesus.

I know Japanese players they sometimes just wait in their own ink and pop out of nowhere to one hit KO people.

I'm calling bollocks on the whole Japanese advantage thing.  "Oooh, they see us just standing around so they can easily splat us".  then why do most people report being splatted by someone they killed a few seconds ago?  And if there truely are only servers in Japan, then shouldn't that render any game extremely laggy, regardless of if there are Japanese players?  I'd say it's more reasonable to assume that the game will determine who is from what continent, and will host the game on the server closest by the majority of participants.  In which case the Japanese are subject to the same disadvantage when they're in a game with more westerners.

Foolz said:

Has it even been confirmed that the game uses dedicated servers?