Splatoon 2: 8 Tips to Claim Victory in Salmon Run

The Salmon Run is one of the many modes in Splatoon 2 - and the only dedicated co-op mode where players can team up take on AI controlled Salmonid hordes of enemies.

This mode can be played online during certain times at Grizzco - as viewed by stage status in the menu (usually every few days for 12 hour intervals). It can also be played locally in The Shoal - though playing each way has differences.

In Salmon Run, team of two to four players will be tasked with fending off the advances of incoming fish enemies known as Salmonids. Among them will be difficult and deadly bigger enemies known as Boss Salmonids. When these Boss Salmonids die, they leave behind Golden Eggs that need to be collected by your team to fill a quota - which can be dumped back at the egg basket.

Your main goal for each of the three waves is to gather enough Golden Eggs to fill your quota and survive until the time is up - gathering more eggs will earn you greater point rewards, but can also be risky. If a player is splatted, their lifesavers can be hit by allies to revive them - but if all players are down, the game ends, and is considered a loss.

Each of the three waves will always be different - and many things can change, including the enemy types that appear, the location they attack from, and other random events that can raise the tide, trigger special enemies, and more.

The key to victory lies in adapting quickly to the enemy and knowing the best and fastest way to take down threats while working as a team.

EditOnline and Local Differences

When playing Online, Salmon Run is only available at certain times, at which point you will have to go through a brief tutorial to learn the basics. After this, you'll be able to join a lobby for whatever map and weapon selection is currently available. For each wave, you'll be given one of four random weapons to use. It's also possible that if nobody else joins, you'll be left to fight alone - which can be extremely difficult.

Surviving will earn you points, giving you frequent rewards with a daily bonus for hitting a certain point goal. As you progress and survive, your experience will grow leading to more dangerous missions - and you will be grouped with more experienced players. Losing Salmon Runs will lower your score, and you may be put back into a lower difficulty it you lose too much.

When playing Locally in The Shoal, you'll be able to configure a lot more options - such as which weapons each player can use for all three waves, which map to play on, and the difficulty, which follows the same curve as playing online, but you can set the exact difficulty %. Since it is available all the time locally, you'll earn rewards less often.

Completing enough Salmon Runs will eventually earn you rewards in different capsules, and even gear. These reward capsules can include:

• Coin Currency
• Food Tickets for increased money or xp gain usable at Crusty Sean's Foodtruck
• Ability Chunks that can be used with Murch to create custom gear effects.
• A piece of Gear that changes every month - and can be obtained multiple times (duplicates can be discarded in exchange for Ability Chunks). Known gear includes the Squiddor Polo (3-Star Shirt).

Boss Salmonids come in all types and can be very deadly if not prepared for. These bosses all have a weakness that can be exploited with quick thinking, and will drop 3 Golden Eggs upon defeat:

• Steelhead - This incredibly large and menacing Salmonid protects himself with used tires, and will launch bombs that he inflates on the top of his head - and they will explode taking out anyone near the blast. However, the bomb is also his weakness - and if enough ink hits the bomb while it inflates on his head it will take him out.

• Steel Eel - This large mechanical beast leaves a trail of impenetrable ink wherever it goes, and will chase players relentlessly - seeking to encircle and trap. However, the mechanical eel is actually controlled by a single tiny Salmonid at the tail who peddles the machine - and while one player attracts the head, others can attack the tail to defeat it.

• Scrapper - This Salmonid drives a mini-armored vehicle around and can't do much damage on its own, but can be a pain to deal with. If enough damage is dealt, it will break down, exposing its open back and preventing it from pivoting - leading to a quick demise.

• Stinger - An incredibly tall contraption built of stacked pots and pans with a single Salmonid on top using a Sting Ray weapon to pierce through walls over long distances to blast players and the ground alike - making frontal assault difficult. You'll need to charge it quickly before it can set up its blast and knock away the pots until it falls to ground level and then take it out.

• Maws - This giant Salmonid lurks under the ink - and can only be seen by moving bobber that creates a small slime trail. When it gets in range of a player, a brief green circle will flash before Maws leaps up to devour the target. Players must leap away to attack it while it pops up, or toss a bomb into the circle to let it chew on an explosion instead - instantly killing it.

• Drizzler - A reclusive and sneaky Boss Salmonid, this enemy will float on over using its shield like an umbrella. Once it lands, it cannot be attacked until it fires the cannon on top - which will send a bomb into the sky that will explode into a damaging raincloud (unless a player is quick enough to shoot it down). After firing, the Drizzler will be exposed for a few moments - giving you the chance to take it out.

• Flyfish - One of the more annoying Boss Salmonids if less unchecked, the Flyfish floats around on a jetpack and uses two giant coolers to launch Tenta Missiles at players all over the stage. The Flyfish is near impervious to most attacks - so players should instead coordinate to toss bombs into the open coolers while the Flyfish prepares to launch its missiles to blow them up. When both launchers are down, the Flyfish will crash down and explode.

EditRandom Events

The following events can happen at the start of each of the three waves, and can be combined with other Boss Salmonids or even other events on higher difficulties to make some truly challenging situations:

• High or Low Tide - Just before the start of a new wave, the water levels will either rise to only the highest platforms, or lower to reveal a larger shoreline - and may also cause the Egg Basket to change positions to accommodate to these new areas.

• Glowfly Frenzy - Instead of Boss Salmonids, only standard Chum will appear in large numbers, moving at faster speeds and targeting players with buzzing glowflies hovering around them. These players will need to go on the defensive and rely on teammates to help mow down incoming attackers.

• The Fog - Often adding to other events, a dense fog will cover the entire arena for one wave, making visibility incredibly bad - especially when distant Boss Salmonids start raining in attacks from afar.

• Grillers - Instead of traditional Boss Salmonids, waves will consist of Grillers and small chum. Grillers are incredibly focused, and will target a single player relentlessly with a red laser. Their only weakness lies in other players managing to attack the fish at the back of the grill to expose more that can be inked to completely destroy the Griller.

• Cohock Charging - New enemies called Cohocks will attack in large numbers during a low tide, and you will need to use specially placed cannons to destroy them.

• Find the Goldie - For one wave, several Gushers will appear on the ground that you can shoot to trigger a torrent of ink. In one of these Gushers is hiding a Gold Salmon, and it's your job to find them in time.

• Mothership Invasion - In a very different attack, Boss Salmonids will be replaced by Salmon coming in from the skies - dropping in enemies from crates. These flying Salmon can be shot out of the sky to drop Gold Eggs, but a larger flying machine will try to attach to your Egg Basket to steal your hard-earned eggs.

The following tips and tricks may provide useful in completing a successful run, and maximizing your profit with you and your teammates. If you know of other tips - share them with us!

With out without voice communication - being able to indicate important things with your team can make or break a tough wave of enemies. Obviously if you are in a voice lobby or playing locally, you should be calling out where boss salmonids or eggs are - but when playing with strangers, don't neglect the "Over Here" and "Help" chat command. It's easy to get turned around and not see a Boss on the other side of the map or the eggs it has dropped, and it can also be hard to spot or notice a down player - so let your team know!

Like every mode in Splatoon, there's a need for inking the ground. It may seem like splatting Salmonids is more important, but depending on which weapon your wielding, inking territory is just as important. In order to quickly and efficiently get to and from Golden Eggs and the Egg Basket, you'll need to be sure there's always a clear path of ink to guide you. This can also include inking walls to create climable paths. This is especially important when dealing with Salmonids who will start obscuring terrain with their own ink, like Drizzlers and Flyfish. Be especially sure between waves to quickly ink the top floors back to your team's color.

In Online Salmon Run, you don't get to choose which weapon you get - which means you'll need to be quick to adapt - but more importantly, know what you need to do with each weapon. If you are given a Charger weapon, you won't be able to quickly mow down enemies, so instead focus on creating lanes for your team, or clearing corridors of Chum, and sniping Boss Salmonid who can be taken down with specific shots. On the other hand, having Rollers is great for quickly covering territory and mowing down smaller salmonids, but limited range makes fighting some Boss Salmonid a problem. Finding out the strengths and weaknesses of your weapon will help your team out immensely.

EditDon't Waste Specials, and Don't Forget Them

Unlike other Splatoon Modes, every player is given a random Special Weapon with exactly two uses - shown visually by little packs on your helmet. You don't need to get a certain amount of points to use them - but you can't recharge them. Therefore, knowing when to use them is very important - but wiping because you were afraid to waste them is even worse.

If you can, try and save Special Weapons for the final two waves, and make sure you don't double up and use one when someone else is already using theirs - unless things are really dire. attacks like Splashdown are great against Swarms of Chum, but worthless against enemies like Maws or the Flyfish. Meanwhile, the Inkjet is great and versatile for taking out targets up close and afar, just make sure you take off from a safe location you won't be overrun when landing again.

As you'll find in increasing difficulties, the time between Boss Salmonids will get shorter and shorter, and having to fight multiple bosses at the same time will usually lead to a team's wipe. With that in mind, you'll need to be quick to spot a Boss Salmonid as soon as they are announced, and defeat it before it can close in and start causing havoc. You never want to get to the point where you're dodging missiles from a Flyfish, a beam from the Stinger, AND bombs from the Steelhead all around your Egg Basket. By taking them out as they appear, you give yourself more breathing room to adapt to new threats.

Sometimes, whether you have less players or there are multiple threats to deal with - you might defeat a Boss Salmonid but not have enough people to collect and return all the Golden Eggs. At this point, its wise to have one player stay with the eggs while the others return to the basket. If eggs are left alone for too long, a lone purple-mohawk sporting Chum will appear to steal them all back, and you may just miss out on your quota.

However, if you are quick and the eggs are far away, you may be to return in time and splat the approaching thief. If you aren't hard-pressed to survive, you can also lure bosses like Maws all the way up to your egg basket and toss a bomb to quickly dispose of him and have an easy time dropping eggs off.

Some of the maps include areas with grates - often close to the Egg Basket. This means you'll need to be careful when trying to quickly get around - or risk falling to a lower level, which can be a death sentence during high tide. However, this can also help you, not only as means of making a quick getaway, but also because enemies abide by these rules too. If being chased by Maws and you need a breather - standing over a grate will render Maws unable to follow, as he must stay hidden in the ink, and will wait below you on firm ground instead.

Just because you get splatted, doesn't mean you get to quit yet. Even while stuck in your lifesaver, you can still move around, and more importantly - collect Golden Eggs. If you were splatted near a recently defeated boss, be sure to collect an eggs (you'll see it fitting comfortable in your little ring), and start making your way towards an ally or better yet - the egg basket. There are many times where the difference between meeting your quota and failing a wave and be solved by the one teammate waiting to deposit their egg - so don't let your team flounder around!

Let's block ads! (Why?)