One of the best new things about Splatoon 2 is that it’s got co-op! The game as a whole is great, of course – read our review here – but if you’re a little worn down from a losing streak in the competitive multiplayer battles, you can sometimes head off to do a little hard graft for Grizzco, collecting power eggs and golden eggs from Salmonid that inhabit the murky seas somewhere else in this weird and wonderful world.
It’s a horde mode, in essence, but your haul earns you points toward a few lovely rewards, and it’s short and sweet at just three waves in length, so it’s well worth playing. However, if you’re not ready for the challenges you might face, it can easily catch you out, so here’s eight tips and tricks for success in Salmon Run.
Know When Your Shift Starts
It sucks, I know, but Salmon Run is only available at certain times, and you can’t earn those rewards if the game mode isn’t running!
Thankfully, you can check out when it’s going live in the game’s menus – bring up the X button menu in the Inkopolis Plaza, head across to Stages and then down to Salmon Run and you’ll be able to see the next five planned events. Bizarrely, it’s not featured in the Nintendo Switch Online app and SplatNet 2, which we’ve complained about already, so this is the only place to see this information.
On the plus side, Salmon Run is live quite a lot during the first week, with good long 12 to 24 hour windows in which you’ll be able to hunt salmonid on two different maps.
Learn How To Beat The Boss Salmonid
While you’ll be easily blasting your way through the basic Salmonid both big and small, it’s really the bosses that you need to watch out for as the main threats, and they come in a number of different forms, each one with a particular way to defeat them.
The Salmon Run tutorial runs you through how to defeat each one in turn, so you’re not going in blind, but it can all get very hectic, so you’ll need to quickly spot and deal with each one, whether it’s throwing bombs into Flyfish’s rocket launchers, shoot the pilot at the rear of the long Steel Eel, and so on.
Communicate With Your Team
Even if you’re not using voice chat through Skype, Discord or the Switch Online app, you can still communicate. Tap up on the D-Pad and you can ping other players with a “This Way!” and alert them to where the next boss is coming from, where the egg drop off point is, and so on.
Pull off a good kill and you might want to tap down on the D-pad to shout “Booyah!” while if you’re downed, these turn to little cries for help.
Grab Those Eggs Quickly!
You get power eggs from every Salmonid you kill, but the real aim is to do away with the bosses who each drop three golden eggs. You need to grab these and bring them back to a drop off point. There’s a quota to reach each round which isn’t that hard to achieve, but the more eggs you grab the better as it goes toward unlocking more rewards.
The only things to beware of are that the drop off point can change between waves, so it might be down on the beach or up on a platform, and smaller Salmonid will try and grab golden eggs and dash off back into the sea if you give them half a chance. Be quick, go as a group, grab them all and then you can focus on the next boss as soon as it appears.
Master All Of Splatoon 2’s Weapons
Salmon Run has a couple of maps that the mode will switch between, but they’re not the only things that change between scheduled sessions as you’re also forced to use loaned weapons by Grizzco. Four of these are featured in each Salmon Run session with players being randomly assigned one of the four at the start of each wave.
You need to be handy with all of the weapons in the game, especially the Splatcharger in close quarters, I feel. You also need to know when to use your two special attack charges and be a dab hand at throwing bombs to dispatch some of the bosses.
Remember, You Can Move When You’re Downed
This is maybe my biggest tip. Say it all goes wrong and you get splatted by the Salmonid, you can then be revived by your teammates if they shoot at a little life ring floating in the ink, which brings you back into the action.
But here’s the thing, you’re not completely helpless! You can move around and the Salmonid ignore you, giving you a good shot of getting back to a buddy to be revived. Not only that, you can even pick up golden eggs and slowly shuffle them to the drop off point.
Be Prepared For Fog, High Tide, Glowflies and Night Time
Salmon Run really knows how to kick your arse when it wants to, and can swarm you with enemies and bosses as you level up in the mode. Then there’s the changing tide height, which might restrict you to higher points or open up beaches to fight on, fog that can blanket the level, making it impossible to see anything more than a few meters away, and night time will see the Salmonid rush from all directions while shiny Goldie Salmonid appear constantly. Goldie’s drop eggs but are really easy to kill and come in enough numbers that this is the best time to grab tons and tons of golden eggs… if you can survive.
Night time can also bring glowflies, which will float around one of you and draw all the Salmonid towards that particular player. Will you defend them with your life? Use them as bait? It’s up to you.
Team Up With Friends
This is the simplest one. Team up with friends if you can, because you’ll know that they’ll try and have your back, and if they don’t, you might know where they live and can get revenge next time you see them!
Buddy up via the Friends section of Salmon Run, regardless of how many you are, because even if you don’t have four, the game will still try to matchmake to fill out the group.I’d avoid using the Nintendo Switch Online app, though, as I believe this creates a purely private lobby.
There’s a lot of fun to be had in Salmon Run, so here’s hoping these few tips help you get a leg up in the mode and earn you some tasty rewards from Grizzco for your efforts.
