New Gear Ability, Weapons Coming to ‘Splatoon 2’ in December

By Stefanie Fogel

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Nintendo’s colorful online shooter “Splatoon 2” is getting an update on Wednesday, Dec. 5, the development team announced on Monday.

The update adds a brand new gear ability to the game called “Main Power Up,” which improves the performance of a player’s primary weapon. The improvements vary from weapon to weapon, said in a video posted to Twitter. Slap the ability onto a Scattershot and it will increase shot accuracy while firing when jumping, for example. “Main Power Up” can be found on some of the gear sold at shops or on the SplatNet shop once the update goes live. It can also appear as an additional ability when gear levels up.

Two other gear abilities — “Bomb Defense Up” and “Cold-Blooded” — are getting tweaked as well. They’re being rolled into a single ability called “Bomb Defense Up DX.” Gear with these two stats will be updated after the patch, along with the ability chunks and drink tickets associated with them.

“This new ability will have the full effects of both ‘Bomb Defense Up’ and ‘Cold-Blooded’ combined,” Nintendo said. “That means, attached this ‘Bomb Defense Up DX’ ability will give you the effects you had when you attached either ‘Bomb Defense Up’ or ‘Cold-Blooded’ all at once.”

The Dec. 5 update is the last one to add new weapons to the game, Nintendo said. There are eight total — the Ballpoint Splatling Nouveau, the Nautilus 79, the Custom Explosher, the Bioblobber Deco, and four mystery weapons from the Kensa Collection.

Nintendo said it will continue to hold Splatfests after the update and adjust game balance until July.