A brand new weapon has entered the game and with that possibly a brand new way to play dualies. The glooga dualies caught everyone’s eyes when the Splatoon 2.0 update trailer was launched. However, are these dualies going to shake up the game, or will they be the 3rd weapon in a row of SPLASH or CRASH to fall flat.

The glooga dualies are a very interesting weapon sporting both more range and power than the standard splat dualies, but bullet velocity is a bit slower in return. The glooga dualies however have a unique feature over the other dualies, in that their roll mechanic increases the damage of each bullet. Similar to the way the hydra at max charge kills in one less shot, the glooga dualies are able to become the first and only 2 shot dualie weapon directly after performing a roll. This makes the glooga dualies a tremendously strong weapon if a player utilizes the roll mechanic well in firefights. Outside of firefights, utilizing the standard shooting mode is surprisingly decent at turfing ground for a longer range weapon. Top tier glooga gameplay will rely on the players who can stay within their own effective range and utilize the roll mechanic’s two shot perk to quickly deal with an enemies they encounter. By effective range I don’t mean the range in which the gloogas can hit a person but that in which you get the consistent 3 shot kill. The actual longest range that you can hit your opponent at has tremendous falloff damage meaning although you will be getting hitmarkers each bullet will only be doing about 18 damage making the gloogas a terrible 6 shot to kill. Obviously, there are gonna be times when you want to hold your position and keep enemies at a distance but remember moving up just a bit is where you want to be when going for kills. Also, the ink consumption of the weapon itself combined with the rolling mechanic means that the weapon is not very ink efficient and you will probably be using some ink saver or recovery perks as a result. Not the biggest deal as large amounts aren’t necessary, but you definitely want to consider it in your gear builds. Through all of this the gloogas do seem like an intriguing addition to the dualie class and require a further breakdown to determine where they fit in the current game.

Let’s get right into the kit breakdown starting with the sub weapon the ink mines. Overall, they aren’t as bad of a sub weapon as their reputation suggests, but do they fit the gloogas is the question. Ink mines are a supportive sub weapon great for those weapons that will be fighting from a bit of distance but struggle a bit up close and the chip damage of the mines can help you finish them off. They are also great to place in key areas either just to provide some extra ink coverage in the splat zone, on the tower for a little chip damage, or along crucial flanks to track any sneaky enemies. That being said, what do they provide for the glooga dualies, in actuality not very much. The gloogas are not the biggest threat at their max range, aren’t the worst weapon up close due to the ability to roll and 2 shot, and the extra damage of the ink mines does little to help at all unless you want to kill at an unreliable max range. The ink mines do not help you in any 1v1’s and as a sub weapon can often hinder you from playing more aggressively which the glooga dualies have the capability of doing.

More than anything ink mines do not allow one to sub strafe, while many other sub weapons like a bomb or point sensor can. Sub strafing is a vital technique to learn at the upper levels of Splatoon. If you are unfamiliar with the technique, I suggest clicking here for a video of ThatSrb2DUDE explaining it thoroughly before continuing Without the quick reaction and movement allowed by the technique the gloogas may lack against a lot of the other shooter and dualie weapons. Sometimes the dodge roll just doesn’t cut it because it isn't quick enough (except the dapples roll maybe). The ability to sub strafe would fill this gap allowing the gloogas to be a threat in almost every situation. Instead most of the high fire rate aggressive shooters may be able to take advantage of your lack of mobility as you may not be able to get that roll out in time. The end lag of the roll animation is also rather long and just having an extra mobility option with sub strafing would be tremendous in making the gloogas a powerful option. In my honest opinion, the sub of ink mine on the gloogas is a huge detriment to the gloogas. Probably the only sub that would have been worse on this weapon are beakons as they don’t really add anything to the semi-aggressive and versatile nature of the weapon either. In short, the ink mines take away more than they add to the glooga dualies, in fact I’d argue that just having the ability to sub strafe without a sub at all would be more beneficial to them than the ink mines are currently.

So what subs would be beneficial to the gloogas? Pretty much any bomb would be the optimal choice for them, particularly splat, suction, and burst bombs, but the others would do too. Having a bomb does exactly what the ink mines don’t. You are more of a threat from all positions as you can drop a bomb at your feet if you feel an enemy is too close, pester them with burst bombs from far or in their face, and gain ground with possible bomb splats during the neutral game as both teams feel each other out. I believe burst bombs in particular are an interesting choice for the glooga dualies as 1 direct burst bomb and 1 rolling shot can in fact splat an enemy. Possible scenarios this would be handy in are if the enemy retreats after a burst bomb has directed them, one could roll forward and using the relatively long range of the gloogas be able to catch them before they are out of range. It also may be useful to use such a combo if an enemy rushes you down and you do not have enough ink for another burst bomb. Just roll to the side and finish them off fairly easily. A direct burst bomb and 2 shots in standard fire mode also kills quite effectively and can be used in similar situations. Yes these combos with burst bombs are situational, but they are a lot more realistic than the situations in which ink mines would help. Any bomb covers more situations for the glooga dualies than ink mines will.

The special weapon of the glooga dualies on the other hand does seem to be a solid choice. The inkjet allows the gloogas an extra punch in playing an aggressive role. Hold enemies off with the slightly longer range of the gloogas, or push them back utilizing the dualies roll and your inkjet. The inkjet adds a lot of variety to the way the gloogas can be played and makes them a fairly consistent threat from just about anywhere. It opens up the possibility of the weapon to push more effectively in instances where it may fall short otherwise. You also have the option of rolling upon landing after an inkjet into being a 2 shot weapon possibly catching someone camping your landing spot off guard. However, is it enough to redeem the awful sub weapon. In short, no. Sure it’s possible that with a mine explosion you may get that extra damage needed to kill in one less glooga or inkjet shot if at the right range or distance from the opponent. With a mine, the near hitbox of the inkjet shot, and the farthest hitbox of an inkjet shot one could splat their enemies quite handily, but this is a little too situational. You are hoping that the enemy falls into your ink mine which probably isn’t even in the right direction the enemy will retreat. Think about it, the most common responses from an enemy to an inkjet are either retreat back or try and kill the person while they aren’t focused on them. How many times do you actually have an ink mine placed behind an enemy that if they retreat they will get tagged? If they face rush you then sure that extra damage may be helpful if you can’t land a clean shot on the enemy, which can happen to anyone at times. The enemy would have to be rather foolish however to face rush an inkjet in the first place though as any truly skilled inkjet user would take advantage of the misplay. The inkjet itself is a fairly solid choice for the glooga dualies, however the sub weapon is just such a hindrance that the inkjet can’t compensate.

Overall I am surprisingly satisfied with the glooga dualies weapon itself, I could for sure see a dedicated dualies main make the weapon shine. The kit however is another story. If the glooga dualies had a bomb as the sub weapon I honestly would have predicted them to be the go to inkjet weapon in a time where inkjet is gaining popularity again. It may have outclassed the tentatek because of its lowered turf required for the special. It also would have been a stronger option over the splash-o-matic and enperry dualies as the overall weapon has more splatting potential over these weapons. However, these other weapons have far superior kits and all of which are also able to subs trafe making them in my eyes better choices overall. I personally have trouble grasping how one sub weapon can be so detrimental to a weapon overall, but here we are and here are the ink mines on the glooga dualies. Don’t get me wrong, the glooga dualies aren’t the worst weapon to choose in the world because of ink mines. It is more that why would you choose this weapon when similar weapons are often better in a larger number of situations.

The glooga dualies are so close to being a great pick, probably the closest of any weapon on the series yet, but the kit just falls short because of the ink mine. They aren’t going to affect the meta and at most only a handful of players will dedicate themselves to the weapon because it is just overshadowed by other choices. Every week I am pained more and more how these weapons could be so good if only they got better kits to go alongside them, and so the gloogas are no different. For the third installment in a row, I am going to have to give a weapon a CRASH. Nice try glooga dualies you were so close yet so far, and you are deemed a CRASH.