Substantial changes implemented.
As of January 28, 2026, a new extensive update has been made available for Splatoon 3. New tweaks and gameplay mechanics have been implemented with the complete patch notes, available here:
Splatoon 3 | Ver. 11.0.0 Patch Notes: (Released January 28, 2026)
All changes apply to both Nintendo Switch 2 and Nintendo Switch.
Game Content Adjustments:
Changes to Multiplayer:
- Players will now gain a Flow Aura when they do well in battle, such as when they defeat opponents consecutively within a short period of time.
- The Flow Aura lasts for a short time.
- While their Flow Aura persists, its duration will be extended slightly whenever the player defeats an opponent or their teammates defeat an opponent that the player damaged.
- When a player gains a Flow Aura or extends the duration of their Flow Aura, the ground at that player’s feet will be inked with their color.
- While a Flow Aura persists, the Run Speed Up, Swim Speed Up, Ink Resistance Up, and Intensify Action abilities will be applied.
- Continuously getting assists with your allies or inking territory during battles will make it more likely to gain a Flow Aura when defeating opponents.
- When an ally or opponent has taken damage, that player’s approximate remaining health will now be displayed.
- Opponents’ remaining health will display for approximately three seconds immediately after taking damage.
- When the main part of an opponent’s body is not visible, such as when they are behind terrain or swimming in ink, their remaining health will not display.
- When things like Thermal Ink or the Point Sensor are revealing an opponent’s position, their remaining health will display even if the player cannot see them.
- Slightly decreased collision-detection size for players in swim form to make it harder for opponents’ attacks to hit.
- Expanded collision-detection size for each main weapon’s attacks to make it easier to hit opponents with attacks. Also made it so that the shorter the weapon’s shot flight distance, the greater the increase to collision-detection size will be.
- When attempting to jump a long distance with Super Jump while the Stealth Jump ability is equipped, increased the time required to make the jump by up to one second, depending on the distance.
- When jumping from near the player’s base to parts farther in, or vice versa, this will increase the jump time based on the distance.
- The increase is applied to the time spent flying through the air. This will not change the time spent on the ground preparing for the Super Jump.
- Adjusted the size of the circle indicating the explosion radius for the Reefslider to the radius of the area that deals 220.0 damage instead of to the radius inked.
- Specifications for some main weapons have changed.
Weapon Change Details L-3 Nozzlenose
L-3 Nozzlenose D
Glitterz L-3 Nozzlenose
- Increased the speed of shots by approximately 24% without changing the flight distance.
- Decreased the radius of the ink splatter at the point of impact by approximately 15%.
Dynamo Roller
Gold Dynamo Roller
Starz Dynamo Roller
- Increased the inking of spray droplets from horizontal and vertical swings.
- Adjusted the damage falloff rate due to distance to make it possible to deal damage of 100.0 or higher at greater distances than before.
- Increased the amount of ink consumed by horizontal and vertical swings by approximately 17%.
Blaster
Custom Blaster
Gleamz Blaster
- Reduced the time when movement is restricted after firing by approximately 1/30th of a second.
H-3 Nozzlenose
H-3 Nozzlenose D
H-3 Nozzlenose VIP-R
- Increased maximum damage from 44.0 to 45.0.
Splat Roller
Krak-On Splat Roller
Order Roller Replica
- Reduced the amount of time it takes for ink to begin recovering after a horizontal or vertical swing by about 1/30th of a second.
Heavy Splatling
Heavy Splatling Deco
Order Splatling Replica
- Increased the radius inked by spray droplets from shots by approximately 12%.
- Increased the radius of the ink splatter at the point of impact by approximately 12%.
Dark Tetra Dualies
Light Tetra Dualies
- Increased the speed of shots by approximately 19% without changing the flight distance.
Splat Brella
Sorella Brella
Order Brella Replica
- Reduced the amount of ink consumed when firing a shot by approximately 9%.
S-BLAST ’92
S-BLAST ’91
- Decreased the radius of the explosive damage for short flight distance shots by approximately 11%.
- Specifications for some special weapons have changed.
Special Weapon Change Details Reefslider
- Increased the radius of the explosion that deals 220.0 damage by approximately 20%.
- There are no changes to the radius of the area that deals 70.0 damage.
- Slightly raised the center point of the explosion to make it harder for opponents to avoid it using a small height difference.
- Decreased the radius inked by the explosion by approximately 7%.
- Decreased the maximum distance of the charge by approximately 19%.
- Points required for some special weapons have been changed.
Weapon Before After New Squiffer 200 190 Z+F Splat Charger 210 200 Z+F Splatterscope 210 200 Tri-Slosher Nouveau 210 200 Sloshing Machine 220 210 Splattershot Pro 180 190 S-BLAST ’91 200 210 Mini Splatling 190 200 Changes to SplatNet 3:
- Changed the used-weapon display under X Rankings to show the most frequently used weapon in X Battles for that mode during a certain period instead of the last used weapon.
- Due to this change, the weapon used to determine the top players for weapons will be changed in the same way.
This update focuses on making changes to battle-related systems and multiplayer balance.
Among the balance changes, the updates for the L-3 Nozzlenose and Dynamo Roller are not simple upgrades. Rather, they are performance changes to help those weapons’ unique properties stand out.
For the L-3 Nozzlenose, we raised the speed of shots to make it easier to utilize the weapon’s unique property: its ability to maximize power by successfully hitting opponents with its three shots. On the other hand, we lowered its inking ability to make it more difficult to fight by lying in wait without proactively approaching opponents or fighting in ways that rely on the rate of turnover for special weapons.
For the Dynamo Roller, in order to make each of its swings even heavier and more powerful than before, we expanded the area of inking and the area that allows players to defeat opponents with one swing, and also increased the amount of ink consumed.
As for the other main weapons, we have made changes to make them easier to use or to emphasize unique traits among weapons with similar properties.
For the Reefslider special weapon, we improved its ability to defeat opponents by expanding the area of the explosion capable of defeating opponents in one hit, as well as making it harder to avoid the explosion using a small height difference. On the other hand, we reduced the maximum distance of the charge and decreased the area inked to make it harder to rely on the strategy of taking back Splat Zones using the ink from the explosion by pointing it toward a Splat Zone from a safe area and then charging.
Because this update includes changes to the multiplayer system that go beyond simple multiplayer balance changes, we anticipate that it will have a bigger impact on gameplay than the average update. For that reason, the next update will be sooner than normal and will focus on changes to multiplayer balance.
Bug Fixes:
Fixes to Player Controls:
- Fixed an issue where, when the Undercover Brella’s canopy broke at the same time as the player switching equipment to their special weapon or the Rainmaker and defeating an opponent, sometimes the brella would enter a state where the canopy recovered immediately no matter how many times it was broken.
- Fixed an issue where, when a player in an unstable wireless environment performed a dualie Dodge Roll from swimming on a wall, sometimes the player who performed the Dodge Roll would disappear on other players’ screens.
Fixes to Multiplayer:
- Fixed an issue where, when landing things like ink or bombs on certain positions, sometimes the inking on the player’s screen was drastically different from the inking on other players’ screens.
- Fixed an issue in MakoMart in Clam Blitz mode where it was possible for players to linger on top of the goal.
- Fixed an issue in Bluefin Depot in Splat Zones mode and Clam Blitz mode where it was possible to climb on top of certain terrain using unintended methods.
- Fixed an issue in Urchin Underpass where the electronic bulletin board in the center of the stage and its supporting pillars blocked things like Ink Storm and Tenta Missiles.
- Fixed an issue in Urchin Underpass where, when certain walls were hit with great momentum, the player was sometimes treated as if they had left the stage and were defeated.
About Splatoon 3:
Ink, swim, and splat in the freshest shooter around – Enter 4-on-4* ink-slinging battles in this colorful action shooter packed with style and attitude. As a squid-like Inkling, quickly cover your surroundings (and opponents) in ink with wild weaponry and swim through your own color to sneak and splat. Dive into the fresh fun with family and friends and make waves as a team. Get splatted by an opponent? No sweat! The goal in Turf War is to cover the most ground, so respawn and jump back into the inky action.
Keep it current with rotating items, seasonal catalogs, and special events – Variety is the spice of an Inkling’s life, so check out shops daily for a changing array of gear that is as fashionable as it is functional. Timed events like Splatfests bring different types of chaotic competition and content updates add even more weapons and stages. Earn points to get in-game items from season-specific catalogs to dress up your own personal locker and show your style.
Use inky new abilities and weapons to compete, cooperate, or clear up the mystery of the Fuzzy Ooze – Dynamic new moves like the Squid Surge and Squid Roll will help you and your fellow Inklings cover more ground and avoid enemy ink. Take aim with the bow-like Stringer and get slash happy with sword-like Splatanas—these new weapon types join an arsenal of fresh special weapons and sub weapons, too. Work together to collect Golden Eggs and fend off brand-new swarms of invading Salmonids in the co-op Salmon Run mode. Tackle a solo adventure alongside a Smallfry companion to solve the mystery of the Fuzzy Ooze in the offline story mode.
Source: Nintendo
