Gear abilities, or simplyabilities, are special attributes that are placed on wearablegear in theSplatoon series. Each provides different effects inTurf Wars andRanked Battles, and the strength of said effects is usually based on the amount of the specific ability the player has.

Primary abilities

All pieces of gear come with exactly one specificprimary ability (also called themain ability, often colloquially referred to as simply "main"). Stackable main abilities provide 10AP each.

Titles beforeSplatoon 3, which allows replacing the primary ability withability chunks, do not allow changing the primary ability after obtaining the piece of gear it comes with. However,Splatoon 2 allows obtaining pieces of gear with an alternate primary ability: all pieces of gear that can be ordered viaMurch (which mostly consist of ones that can be purchased from in-game shops) can also appear on theSplatNet 2 shop with a different primary ability than their default ones. Gear obtained throughSalmon Run does not have a default primary ability and is instead randomly assigned from all abilities that can also appear as secondary abilities. Gear from the Nintendo Switch App SplatNet are randomly assigned primary abilities, but have a bias towards the brands more common ability.

All pieces of gear do not have primary abilities that match the gear'sgear brand's favored ability (except for a few, which were originally sold through SplatNet 2). As a result, achieving all slots on a piece of gear to be the same ability (colloquially called "pure" gear) is more difficult. However, if the player is under the effects of the drink whose flavor corresponds to the ability they want, that ability will automatically become a favored ability regardless of the brand of their gear.

Primary-only abilities and mutual exclusivity

Some abilities can only appear as primary abilities. These abilities are also tied to a certain type of gear (head, clothes, or shoes), making primary-only abilities on the same gear type mutually exclusive (e.g. the user can only have eitherObject Shredder orStealth Jump since both are exclusive to the primary ability slot of shoe items) and prevent the user from stacking them (e.g. the user cannot have more than one main ofTenacity since it is exclusive to the primary ability slot of headgear items).

The groups of mutually exclusive abilities are as follows:

Game	Headgear	Clothing	Shoes
	Comeback Last-Ditch Effort Opening Gambit Tenacity	Cold Blooded Haunt Ninja Squid Recon (ability)	Bomb Sniffer Ink Resistance Up Stealth Jump
	Comeback Last-Ditch Effort Opening Gambit Tenacity	Ability Doubler Haunt Ninja Squid Respawn Punisher Thermal Ink	Drop Roller Object Shredder Stealth Jump
	Comeback Last-Ditch Effort Opening Gambit Tenacity	Ability Doubler Haunt Ninja Squid Respawn Punisher Thermal Ink	Drop Roller Object Shredder Stealth Jump

Secondary abilities

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In addition to their primary abilities, all pieces of gear have up to three slots forsecondary abilities (orsub abilities,^[1] casually referred to as "subs" by most players), which are stackable and provide 3AP each.

The number of secondary ability slots that are present by default is equal to the number of stars (rarity) on the gear. If a piece of gear has less than three secondary ability slots, they can be added bySpyke orMurch with aSuper Sea Snail (or 30,000cash at level 20 or above inSplatoon) for each slot. Super sea snails can also be used to pay for all secondary slots to be rerolled.

All gear comes with empty secondary ability slots (unless obtained via ordering from another player via Spyke or Murch, which has a chance of inheriting the original gear's filled secondary ability slots). Secondary abilities on a piece of gear are obtained by getting experience points from online battles (except forPrivate Battles) while that gear is equipped. Higher rarity gear requires more points per slot, and each progressive secondary ability on the same gear requires more points to obtain than the previous secondary ability. InSplatoon 2, having a drink fromCrust Bucket actively increases gear experience points awarded by 50%, and while theSplatfests were occurring, theSplatfest Tee instead required 7,500 points per slot for a total of 22,500 points.

The following tables show the amount of gear experience required to obtain a secondary ability on a gear item of a given rarity. Numbers denoted with asterisks (*) represent secondary ability slots that must be added bySpyke orMurch.

Amount of gear XP per slot inSplatoon
Rarity	Slot 1	Slot 2	Slot 3	Total
	1,000	3,000*	5,000*	9,000
	2,000	6,000	10,000*	18,000
	3,000	9,000	15,000	27,000

Amount of gear XP per slot inSplatoon 2
Rarity	Slot 1	Slot 2	Slot 3	Total
	2,000	6,000*	10,000*	18,000
	3,000	7,000	11,000*	21,000
	4,000	8,000	12,000	24,000

InSplatoon 2, the player can alternatively applyability chunks (which are specific to each secondary ability) to add or overwrite a secondary ability via Murch. Unless there are no remaining empty secondary ability slots after adding a secondary ability, adding abilities this way retains the previous amount of gear experience points. The required amount of chunks per slot depends on the number of existing copies of the desired secondary ability on one gear. The primary ability is not counted for this calculation. The amounts are:

• 10 chunks for the first copy;
• 20 chunks for the second copy; and
• 30 chunks for the third copy.

For example, a gear with three secondary ability slots has oneRun Speed Up and oneSwim Speed Up as its secondary abilities.

• 20 Run Speed Up chunks are needed to apply Run Speed Up to the empty third sub-slot since one sub of Run Speed Up is already present on the gear.
• 10Special Saver chunks are needed to apply Special Saver to the empty third sub-slot since no sub of Special Saver is already present on the gear.
• 20 Swim Speed Up chunks are needed to replace Run Speed Up on the first sub-slot with Swim Speed Up since one sub of Swim Speed Up is already present on the gear.

Rolling probability

InSplatoon, there are 13 possible secondary abilities; inSplatoon 2, there are 14.Gear brands that affect roll probability have a ×5 chance of rolling its favored ability and a ×0.5 chance of rolling its unfavored ability. Secondary abilities are assigned usingrandom number generation.

InSplatoon 2,drink tickets affect the probability of receiving a specific secondary ability when enough gear experience points are obtained after an online match. Drink tickets do not affectMurch's rerolling, unlikegear brands.^[2]

Examples

Here are some examples to help with interpreting the table:

InSplatoon 2, theAloha Shirt's brand isForge which is a favoring brand as it favorsSpecial Power Up, unfavorsInk Saver (Sub), and is neutral towards all other abilities.

• With no drink ticket or when rerolling viaMurch: The Aloha Shirt has a 2.332…% chance of rollingSpecial Power Up at least 3 times in a row, a 0.00233…% chance of rollingInk Saver (Sub) at least 3 times in a row, and a 0.0186…% chance of rolling any other specific ability at least 3 times in a row.
• With the Special-Up Smoothie drink ticket (boostsSpecial Power Up probability): The Aloha Shirt has a 9% chance of rollingSpecial Power Up at least 2 times in a row, a 0.0784% chance of rollingInk Saver (Sub) at least 2 times in a row, and a 0.3136% chance of rolling any other specific ability at least 2 times in a row.
• With the Sub-Saver Berry drink ticket (boostsInk Saver (Sub) probability): The Aloha Shirt has a 20.588…% chance of rollingSpecial Power Up, a 30% chance of rollingInk Saver (Sub), and a 4.117…% chance of rolling any other specific ability.
• With any other drink ticket: The Aloha Shirt has a 21.212…% chance of rollingSpecial Power Up, a 0.0449…% chance of rollingInk Saver (Sub) at least 2 times in a row and a 2.7% chance of rolling any other specific ability at least 3 times in a row.

Gear with a non-favoring brand has an equal probability of rolling any specific rollable ability. For example, inSplatoon 2, theArmor Jacket Replica has theCuttlegear brand, which does not favor any ability.

• With no drink ticket or when rerolling viaMurch: The Armor Jacket Replica has a 7.142…% chance of rollingSwim Speed Up.
• With a Swim-Speed Apple drink ticket (boostsSwim Speed Up probability): The Armor Jacket Replica has a 9% chance of rollingSwim Speed Up at least 2 times in a row.
• With any other drink ticket: The Armor Jacket Replica has a 0.0156…% chance of rollingSwim Speed Up at least 3 times in a row.

Stacking

Players can use more of an ability (stacking an ability) to achieve stronger effects. For exact details on the effects of stacking each gear ability, seethe ability's article.

In general, the more a specific ability is stacked, the less additional effect is accumulated. The degree to which this occurs depends on the ability. To demonstrate this concept, the following charts show the stacking effects for some abilities. Note the diminishing returns as more of the same ability is used.

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  Splatoon

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  Splatoon 2

Splatoon

Spyke, who can be found in an alleyway inInkopolis Plaza, offers to increase the number of secondary gear ability slots (to a maximum of three slots) or reroll secondary abilities in exchange for aSuper Sea Snail (or 30,000 cash if the player is at level 20 or above and has no Super Sea Snails).

Some abilities do not affect certain things, and in-game descriptions do not inform players of these exceptions. For example,Bomb Range Up does not affect some bombs. Another notable example is thatRun Speed Up does not affect the run speed while pushing aroller.

List of abilities

Name	Description	Gear	Favored by	Unfavored by
Bomb Range Up	Makes thrownsub weapons travel farther.	Any
Bomb Sniffer	Enemy sub weapons appear on-screen as skull icons and non-lethal damage from them is reduced.	Shoes
Cold Blooded	Shortens the duration of position trackers.	Clothing
Comeback	Improvesink usage and recovery, swim and run speed, andspecial weapon charge rate for 20 seconds after respawning.	Headgear
Damage Up	Increases damage dealt with allweapons.	Any	SquidForce	Inkline
Defense Up	Decreases damage taken from all attacks.	Any	Inkline	Krak-On
Haunt	Tracks the enemy that splats the user and increases damage, defense, and run speed when the user is tracked.	Clothing
Ink Recovery Up	Increasesink tank refill rate only when submerging in ink.	Any	Tentatek	Firefin
Ink Resistance Up	Decreases damage, speed, and jump penalties when standing in enemy ink.	Shoes
Ink Saver (Main)	Decreasesmain weapon ink usage.	Any	Splash Mob	SquidForce
Ink Saver (Sub)	Decreasessub weapon ink usage.	Any	Firefin	Forge
Last-Ditch Effort	Improves ink usage, recovery, andrespawn time towards the end of a battle.	Headgear
Ninja Squid	The user is less visible while swimming, but reduces swim speed.	Clothing
Opening Gambit	Increases swim and run speed for the first 30 seconds of a battle.	Headgear
Quick Respawn	Decreases respawn delay.	Any	Skalop	Zink
Quick Super Jump	IncreasesSuper Jump speed.	Any	Zink	Tentatek
Recon (ability)	Opponents and theirweapons are seen on while at thespawn point.	Clothing
Run Speed Up	Increases movement speed in humanoid form.	Any	Rockenberg	Splash Mob
Special Charge Up	Increases the rate at which thespecial gauge fills.	Any	Takoroka	Zekko
Special Duration Up	Increases the duration ofspecial weapons and gives theInkstrike andKiller Wail shorter cooldown times.	Any	Forge	Takoroka
Special Saver	Reduces special gauge loss after being splatted.	Any	Zekko	Skalop
Stealth Jump	Hides theSuper Jump landing marker, but decreases super jump speed.	Shoes
Swim Speed Up	Increases movement speed while swimming in squid form.	Any	Krak-On	Rockenberg
Tenacity	Slowly fills the user's special gauge when their team has fewer active players than the opposing team.	Headgear

Splatoon 2

Murch, who can be found inInkopolis Square, has multiple services that can affect a gear item's secondary abilities:

Service	Effect	Cost
Increase Slots	Adds a secondary gear ability slot to a gear item to a maximum of three slots.	1
Reroll	Can only be used if the item has three filled secondary gear ability slots. It rerolls the three secondary ability slots on a piece of gear and provides oneability chunk of each replaced ability.	1
Scrub Slots	Resets all the gear slots to and provides oneability chunk for each removed ability.	Default	20,000
			2,000
UseAbility Chunks	Places a specific secondary gear ability in a specific ability slot. If an occupied slot is overwritten, one ability chunk of the overwritten ability will be provided. The number of secondary gear abilities already on the gear that match the desired secondary ability is used to determine the cost.	Slots Filled	Cost
		0	10
		1	20
		2	30

List of abilities

Name	Description	Gear	Favored by	Unfavored by
Ability Doubler	Doubles the effect of other abilities attached to the gear piece.	Clothing (exclusive toSplatfest Tee andits replica)
Bomb Defense Up DX	Reduces damage taken from sub weapons and special weapons. Shortens the duration of position trackers. Increases the minimum visible distance of white silhouette trackers.	Any	Inkline	Krak-On
Comeback	Improvesink usage and recovery, swim and run speed, andspecial weapon charge rate for 20 seconds after respawning.	Headgear
Drop Roller	Allowing the user to perform a directional roll upon landing with Super Jump by tilting during the Super Jump.	Shoes
Haunt	Tracks enemies who splat the user with white silhouettes and inducesRespawn Punisher penalty when splatting enemies tracked with this ability.	Clothing
Ink Recovery Up	Increasesink tank refill rate both when submerged and not submerged in ink.	Any	Tentatek	Firefin
Ink Resistance Up	Decreases damage, speed, and jump penalties when standing in enemy ink.	Any	SquidForce	Enperry
Ink Saver (Main)	Decreasesmain weapon ink usage.	Any	Splash Mob	SquidForce
Ink Saver (Sub)	Decreasessub weapon ink usage.	Any	Firefin	Forge
Last-Ditch Effort	Improves ink usage and recovery towards the end of a battle.	Headgear
Main Power Up	Raises performance ofmain weapons.	Any	Annaki Toni Kensa	Inkline
Ninja Squid	The user is less visible while swimming, but has reduced swim speed.	Clothing
Object Shredder	Increases damage dealt to non-player targets.	Shoes
Opening Gambit	Increases ink resistance, swim, and run speed for the first 30 seconds of a battle. Can be extended by splatting opponents while this ability is active.	Headgear
Quick Respawn	Decreases respawn delay if splatted repeatedly without splatting an opponent.	Any	Skalop	Zink
Quick Super Jump	IncreasesSuper Jump speed.	Any	Zink	Tentatek
Respawn Punisher	Increases respawn time and special gauge spawn penalty for the player and any enemy they splat.	Clothing
Run Speed Up	Increases movement speed in humanoid form.	Any	Rockenberg	Splash Mob
Special Charge Up	Increases the rate at which thespecial gauge fills.	Any	Takoroka	Zekko
Special Power Up	Raises performance ofspecial weapons.	Any	Forge	Takoroka
Special Saver	Reduces special gauge loss after being splatted.	Any	Zekko	Annaki Skalop
Stealth Jump	Hides the Super Jump landing marker from a certain distance away.	Shoes
Sub Power Up	Increases performance ofsub weapons.	Any	Enperry	Toni Kensa
Swim Speed Up	Increases movement speed while swimming in squid or octo form.	Any	Krak-On	Rockenberg
Tenacity	Slowly fills the user's special gauge when their team has fewer active players than the opposing team.	Headgear
Thermal Ink	Allows the player to track distant players hit with shots from their main weapon.	Clothing

Retired abilities

The following abilities were once present in the game but were later removed or replaced:

Name	Version Removed On	Description	Gear	Favored by	Unfavored by
Bomb Defense Up	4.3.0	Reduced damage taken by sub weapons and special weapons.	Any	Inkline	Krak-On
Cold-Blooded	4.3.0	Shortened the duration of position trackers. Increased the minimum visible distance of white silhouette trackers.	Any	Annaki Toni Kensa	Inkline

Version 4.3.0

In version4.3.0, the following ability replacements took place:

• All existing gear slots and ability chunks forBomb Defense Up andCold-Blooded were replaced withBomb Defense Up DX.
• Gear items available in shops that hadCold-Blooded as the main ability changed toMain Power Up.
• The following exclusive gear items that hadCold-Blooded as the main ability changed toBomb Defense Up DX:
  • Fringed Loafers
  • Gray FA-11 Bomber
  • Pearlescent Crown

Splatoon 3

Per theSplatoon 3 Splatfest World Premiere, the abilities listed below feature in the game.Bomb Defense Up DX andMain Power Up do not return^[4], being superseded bySub Resistance Up andIntensify Action respectively.

New toSplatoon 3,Murch can replace the primary ability of a piece of gear for 45ability chunks. This also gives the player 6 chunks of the replaced ability. Installing primary slot-only abilities requires 15 and gives 2 chunks of three specific abilities (for a total of 45 and 6 chunks, respectively). For theSplatfest Tee, the installation cost is reduced to 6 chunks (for non-exclusive abilities) or 2 chunks of three abilities (for primary slot-only abilities).

List of abilities

Name	Description	Gear	Favored by	Unfavored by
Ink Saver (Main)	Decreases amount of ink consumed by your main weapon.	Any	Splash Mob Toni Kensa	SquidForce
Ink Saver (Sub)	Decreases amount of ink consumed by your sub weapon.	Any	Firefin Annaki	Forge
Ink Recovery Up	Increases ink-tank refill rate.	Any	Tentatek	Firefin Z+F
Run Speed Up	Increases movement speed in Inkling or Octoling form.	Any	Rockenberg	Splash Mob
Swim Speed Up	Increases movement speed in swim form.	Any	Krak-On	Rockenberg
Special Charge Up	Increases special-gauge fill rate.	Any	Takoroka	Zekko Emberz
Special Saver	Reduces special-gauge decrease after getting splatted.	Any	Zekko Z+F	Skalop Annaki
Special Power Up	Upgrades your special weapon.	Any	Forge	Takoroka
Quick Respawn	Reduces respawn time after getting splatted repeatedly without splatting any opponents.	Any	Skalop	Zink
Quick Super Jump	Increases Super Jump speed.	Any	Zink	Tentatek
Sub Power Up	Upgrades your sub weapon.	Any	Enperry	Toni Kensa Barazushi
Ink Resistance Up	Reduces damage taken and improves mobility when walking through enemy ink.	Any	SquidForce	Enperry
Sub Resistance Up	Reduces effects and damage from sub weapons.	Any	Inkline	Krak-On
Intensify Action	Makes Squid Rolls and Squid Surges easier to do and steadies your aim when firing after jumping.	Any	Barazushi Emberz	Inkline
Name	Description	Gear	Component chunks
Opening Gambit	Boosts your speed while moving for the first 30 seconds of battle.	Headgear
Last-Ditch Effort	Boosts ink-recovery rate and weapon-ink efficiency for the last 30 seconds of battle.	Headgear
Tenacity	Fills special gauge automatically if your team has fewer active players than the enemy.	Headgear
Comeback	Boosts some of your abilities for a short time after respawning.	Headgear
Ninja Squid	Leaves no trace when swimming in inked ground but slightly reduces swim speed.	Clothing
Haunt	Once you've respawned, reveals the position of the players who splatted you.	Clothing
Thermal Ink	Allows you to track distant players hit with shots from your main weapon.	Clothing
Respawn Punisher	Increases respawn time and special-gauge spawn penalty for you and any player you splat.	Clothing
Ability Doubler	Doubles the effect of other gear abilities attached to this gear.	Clothing (exclusive toSplatfest Tee)
Stealth Jump	Hides your Super Jump landing point from distant players.	Shoes
Object Shredder	Increases damage dealt to all non-player targets.	Shoes
Drop Roller	Tilting the Left Stick during a Super Jump lets you perform a roll in that direction when landing.	Shoes

Gallery

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  Locked ability icon fromSplatoon.

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  Locked ability icon fromSplatoon, no background.

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  Diagram of abilities and brands inSplatoon, which brand favors and unfavors each ability.

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  Diagram of abilities and brands inSplatoon 3, which brand favors and unfavors each ability.

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  Promo image of the abilities inSplatoon 2.

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning
Japanese	ギアパワー Gia Pawā	Gear Power
Dutch	Effect (Splatoon 2 & 3) Eigenschap (Splatoon[5])	Effect Attribute
French (NOE)	Bonus (Splatoon 2 & 3) Capacité (Splatoon)	Bonus Capacity
German	Effekt	Effect
Italian	Abilità	Ability
Russian	Свойство Svoystvo	Ability
Spanish	Potenciador	Strengthener
Chinese (Simplified)	装备能力 zhuāngbèi nénglì (Mandarin)	Equipment Capability
Chinese (Traditional)	裝備能力 zhuāngbèi nénglì (Mandarin)	Equipment Capability
Korean	기어 파워 gieo pawo	Gear Power
Portuguese (NOE)	Habilidade[6]	Skill
Internal	GearPower[7]

Primary (gear) ability (Splatoon 2 & 3) Base Ability (Splatoon[8]) Language Name Meaning  Japanese 基本ギアパワー kihon gia pawā Basic Gear Power  Dutch Hoofdeffect (Splatoon 2 & 3) Basiseigenschap (Splatoon[5]) Main effect Base attribute  French Bonus principal Main bonus  German Haupteffekt Main effect  Italian Abilità originale (Splatoon 2 & 3) Abilità di base (Splatoon[9]) Original ability Basic ability  Russian Основное свойство Osnovnoye svoystvo Main ability  Spanish Potenciador principal Primary strengthener  Chinese (Simplified) 基本装备能力 jīběn zhuāngbèi nénglì (Mandarin) Basic Equipment Capability  Chinese (Traditional) 基本裝備能力 jīběn zhuāngbèi nénglì (Mandarin) Basic Equipment Capability  Korean 기본 기어 파워 gibon gieo pawo Basic Gear Power  Portuguese (NOE) Habilidade Principal[6] Primary Skill

Secondary (gear) ability (Splatoon 2 & 3) Extra Ability (Splatoon[8]) Language Name Meaning  Japanese 追加ギアパワー tsuika gia pawā Additional Gear Power  Dutch Extra effect (Splatoon 2 & 3) Extra eigenschap (Splatoon[5]) Extra effect Extra attribute  French Bonus additionnel Additional bonus  German Zusatzeffekt Additional effect  Italian Abilità extra Additional ability  Russian Дополнительное свойство Dopolnitel'noe svoystvo Additional ability  Spanish Potenciador secundario (Splatoon 2 & 3) Potenciador desbloqueable (Splatoon[10]) Secondary strengthener Unlockable strengthener  Chinese (Simplified) 追加装备能力 zhuījiā zhuāngbèi nénglì (Mandarin) Additional Equipment Capability  Chinese (Traditional) 追加裝備能力 zhuījiā zhuāngbèi nénglì (Mandarin) Additional Equipment Capability  Korean 추가 기어 파워 chuga gieo pawo Additional Gear Power  Portuguese (NOE) Habilidade Extra[6] Bonus Skill

References

External links

• Splatoon ability calculator
• Splatoon 2 ability calculator
• Splatoon 2 ability effect tool
• Dead link:Splatoon 2 popular abilities and gear loadouts. Data is pulled fromstat.ink, which generates data from a small sample of theSplatoon 2 player base.
• Splatoon 2 gear loadouts and ability effect calculator. Anyone can submit loadouts. The loadout featuring thetop 500 crown appears first, then the premier league players' builds, and then the rest. The most recent saved appears around the top within each group.