My guide on the .96 Gal

Hey everyone, CDS here with another guide. This would be my third, as I've previously covered the Inkbrush and the Sploosh-o-matic. For this time, I wanted to cover a long-range weapon I recently enjoyed playing a lot: The .96 Gal (I'll just name it Gal in this guide). I hope you enjoy, thanks for reading.

Edit: Thank you so much for the feature!

#GuideReview

Basics

As I already stated and shown in the image: the Gal is a long ranged shooter with a good damage output but rather slow fire rate. But despite that, I think it's still pretty good at inking, making it an overall solid go-to weapon if you're into shooters and want to focus on splats while also maintaing a good ink score. For special, we have ink armor, offering you some more offensive moves when used and as a sub, we have sprinklers, which I honestly have gotten a lot more respect for when using this weapon. More about special and sub usage in the later sections.

Build

My go-to build is shown in the second image. On long ranged shooters and also splatlings, I always like me some Ink Saver (main), since I want to have consistent shooting while facing the enemy. Still don't forget to always swim while you can to replenish your ink of course. Secondly, I like to use Special Charge Up. Spamming specials isn't something you should do, I know, before you start thinking that. But Ink Armor is a ive special which is good to have ready at all time, either for making a push or when you want to hit a quick refill on your ink tank. Lastly, the third slot is pure personal preference. I like to use Swim Speed Up in general, it's my favourite ability. But on the Gal, I sometimes like to switch it out for Ink Saver (sub) for more sprinkle usage or Main Power Up since it grants more damage, the effect most people want it to do (*looks at inkbrush*).

Duels

The golden rule: abuse your range when you can! You have no reason to close in on your opponent as long as you have the upper range. The only reason you're going for close-ups is against a charger or splatlings, which are best approached from the sides like always + with ink armor if you have it ready. Sometimes, just close in a tiny bit to get better aim, but just : you're not a Sploosh-o-matic.

Another thing worth mentioning is that you don't need to fire non-stop. While you're shooting with the Gal, you're quite immobile, having a bad time to move around to reposition your shots. Make sure you have ally ink covering your playground (perhaps use the sprinkler if needed) to get in the ink in order to quickly reposition yourself for the splat. Plus, it also helps to keep your ink up. I've had my moment where I was shooting from long range and was about to splat my opponent (a brush ) when I suddenly ran out of ink. Insert Deadpool quote: "Someone's not counting."

Game modes

The Gal is an overall viable weapon in all game modes (except CB depending on your playstyle).

Turf War sums up what I previously said: if you want to find a balance between inking and going for splats, the Gal can be a good weapon for you. Be sure to use your sprinkler for center stage etc or to distract enemies (it won't happen too often, but it is possible to get a sprinkler kill lmao). The Gal also provides you the upper range against most dualies, rollers, and inkbrushes, all weapons who can be very dangerous in the hands of a good player for invades etc.

Splat Zones is, like I've said many times, advanced Turf War in some way. So my advice is quite the same. The Gal is great for this mode if you're someone who guards the zones from the sides rather than getting in the zones with a brush or something. Of course you're going to use your sprinklers on the zones as a way of protection. If you happen to play with a friend, maybe ask them to take a weapon with inkmines to make the Splat Zone into a Hazard Zone. I am not going to say a lot about Ink Armor, because although I think it's good, I am not that good at using it. Just use it when you're either all defending the zones or when you want to claim them I guess.

Rainmaker is a pretty good go-to for the Gal as well. Every weapon is viable in rainmaker (except for the trashcan) as long as you know how to play it imo. But Gal is pretty good because of the sprinkler. I recently rewatched 'Rainmaker with a grain of salt' from ScottFalco again, and to quote CC: the sprinkler is basically another player inking the bubble.

Tower Control depends on how you play. If you're someone who guides the tower rather than riding it, the Gal is a good weapon for you. The sprinkler here is good to have a hazard on the tower and ink armor can provide to everyone when making a push. If you're someone who rides the tower, I suggest you go with a blaster instead.

Lastly Clam Blitz. This also heavily depends on how you like to play. As we all know, brushes (which I use 90% of the time in CB) and curling bombs are major tools in this mode, but that doesn't mean you'll only encounter said weapons. There are a lot of peeps who use ive weapins like brellas or splatlings to aid their teammates getting a dunk on the enemy basket. Probably stick with a weapon like that if you're not a brush in CB instead of the Gal. But honestly, CB is my worst mode, so take this one with a grain of salt and do what you do best bucko.

And that's it for this guide. Peace out.