Megalodontia is Splatoon 3’s newest King Salmonid, and it made its very first appearance in last weekend’s From here on out, future Salmon Run rotations will rotate between Cohozuna, Horrorboros, and Megalodontia as the active King Salmonid. Today, we’re going in-depth on the best strategies to use during the battle – plus how to get Megalodontia to spawn at all.
How to spawn a King Salmonid in Splatoon 3
Well, it isn’t as simple as “spawning it”, per se. After each individual session of Salmon Run, your King Salmonid meter in the top-right of your screen will fill up a bit. This meter is only visible while you’re in the Grizzco lobby. After several consecutive Salmon Run sessions, your meter will max out. From this point on, there’s roughly a 1 in 4 chance that that King Salmonid will appear after the end of Wave 3. In short, once your meter is full, do your very best to clear Wave 3 of any sessions you play – that’s the only time a King Salmonid can spawn. Only one kind of King Salmonid typically spawns during any given rotation. Make sure you check which King Salmonid is appearing via a schedule – that way you can be sure you’ll fight Megalodontia.
Once you encounter a Megalodontia, your King Salmonid meter is emptied regardless of whether you won or lost. From there, you’ll need to play more Salmon Run to fill up the meter again and repeat this process. The good news is that you’ll earn Bronze, Silver, or Gold King Salmonid scales whether you win or lose. Though the amount of them you earn does vary depending on how quickly you clear the boss.
How to defeat Megalodontia
Megalodontia in Splatoon 3 is essentially a giant Maws. It targets a specific player and then appears out of the ground. Its range is absolutely huge, but it’s signified by a ring that appears around the targeting player. When Megalodontia makes its attack, it eats everything in its radius – other Boss Salmonids included. If you’re the player being targeted, you’ll want to try your best to lead Megalodontia to an area with a high concentration of Boss Salmonids. That way, you’ll defeat them all at once, and you can use the Golden Eggs they drop to launch your attack.
On the back of Megalodontia’s head is a big red weak point with a bandage covering it. When you retrieve a Golden Egg from a Boss Salmonid, you’ll want to launch it directly at this weak point. If you’ve been given a powerful long-ranged weapon – Heavy Splatling, Heavy Edit Splatling, and Hydra Splatling come to mind – it’s totally okay to attack the weak point without a Golden Egg, too. In fact, this might deal even more damage over time! But basically, you’ll want to defeat a bunch of Boss Salmonids and then use their Eggs to attack Megalodontia’s weak point.
Though that’s the general gist of the fight, there are a few other tips to include here. For one, Megalodontia’s weak point is opposite of where it’s facing. If you lead it away from your fellow crewmates, its weak point will likely face them. That being said, this separates you from your team and makes you more difficult to revive, so keep that in mind. Another note is that you can survive Megalodontia’s attack if you’re invincible, such as from a Kraken or respawn invincibility. In this case, you’ll simply be launched high up into the air.
That should be just about everything for Megalodontia in Splatoon 3, then! Follow these guidelines and you should be well-equipped to take on Splatoon 3’s newest challenge. As mentioned earlier, we wrote up a Big Run guide for Splatoon 3, and though Big Run isn’t active at the moment, the tips are still good for future events, so feel free to check that out when you get a chance.
