'Splatoon 2' Version 5.1 Update

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Nintendo announced a new balance update is coming to Splatoon 2 in 2020 and it will change how certain weapons perform.

Per a tweet from Nintendo Versus - the company's official competitive sports account - Splatoon 2 is rolling out a small update that will adjust several weapons. This new update (version 5.1) drops on January 6, 2020.

This is Splatoon 2's first update since October, with Nintendo announcing in the patch notes that fans can expect another update in April 2020.

Here are the entire patch notes for Splatoon 2 Version 5.1:

splatoon 2 new dualies — Splatoon 2 is getting another big update. Nintendo

SPLATOON 2 VERSION 5.1 PATCH NOTES

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.

Splatoon 2 is available now for Nintendo Switch.

What do you think of the latest update to Splatoon 2? Let us know in the comments section.

'Splatoon 2' Version 5.1 Update - Patch Notes

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