This article was originally written for TheNintendoVillage.com, a website I founded and ran from 2018 to 2021.

In order to keep the game as balanced as possible before this weekend’s Chicken vs Egg Splatfest, Nintendo have dropped another update for Splatoon 2.

The update features tweaks to a handful of primary weapons, following analysis of highlevel gameplay from a number of players. Here’s what Nintendo had to say about the update, and the full patch notes:

“As a result of closely observing the changes in weapon choice after ver. 5.2.0 was released, we made adjustments to certain weapons that were still being used often or were often used by players of the highest rank, even after the changes in weapon choice evened out.
We’ve also made adjustments to improve those weapons that players started using a lot more often (and those with similar features) to give players more options.
We plan to perform a long-term analysis after this update is applied and make adjustments based on that.”

Version 5.3.0

Splattershot / Tentatek Splattershot / Kensa Splattershot / Hero Shot Replica / Octo Shot Replica

Reduced the amount of time it takes for shot spread (which is the gradual distance shots spread away from the target when firing continuously) to return to normal.

Most Shooter-type weapons will have increased shot spread if you continuously fire.
When you stop firing, the shot spread gradually returns to normal, but with this fix, we’ve reduced the amount of time it takes to return.

.52 Gal / .52 Gal Deco / Kensa .52 Gal

Extended the amount of time when firing continuously until shot spread reaches its max.
Reduced the amount of time it takes for shot spread to return to normal.
- Most Shooter-type weapons will have increased shot spread if you continuously fire.
- When you stop firing, the shot spread gradually returns to normal, but with this fix, we’ve reduced the amount of time it takes to return.

Bamboozler 14 Mk I / Bamboozler 14 Mk II / Bamboozler 14 Mk III

Increased ink consumption by roughly 20%.

Dualie Squelchers / Custom Dualie Squelchers

Increased the ink consumed by rolling from 5% to 8% of the Ink Tank.
Very slightly decreased the size of hit detection between normal shots and players, making it harder to hit opponents.
- There are no changes to hit detection between players and shots after rolling.

Splat Brella / Sorella Brella / Hero Brella Replica

Decreased damage dealt by each ink droplet from 18.0 to 16.2.

Due to this change, the maximum damage dealt by a single shot has gone down from 90.0 to 81.0.

Source: Nintendo