At the time of writing, Splatoon 3 has reached its final “new” season – that is to say, there presumably won’t be any more feature updates that add new gear, emotes, and the like. That said, the game rotated between several different catalogs, some of which do have exclusive gear, and it’s possible that some of you are still missing out on catalog-only content. As the game starts to pick up for the last time just before the Grand Festival, we figured it’d be a good time to list off some tips and tricks to maxing out your catalog as soon as possible.
How to max your catalog fast
As mentioned earlier, each season of Splatoon 3 has its own catalog. If you press the menu button and head over to the catalog section, the game will tell you how long the current season (and therefore the current catalog) is available for. Essentially, your goal is for your catalog to reach max level, of which there are 100 per catalog total. Each time you level up your catalog, you will receive a specific reward. It can be an exclusive piece of gear, an emote you don’t have, or just a drink ticket or food voucher. Once your catalog is maxed out, you can head to the general store to swap it out for a new one. If you’ve already cleared one catalog during the current season, all subsequent catalogs you receive will only give you a mystery box every 10 levels as opposed to a unique reward for every single level. The mystery box generally only contains small amounts of money or drink tickets, so it’s not really worth filling up consecutive catalogs unless you want bragging rights at the end of the season.
You can earn points for your catalog just by playing the game. Turf War, Ranked Battles, and Salmon Run all contribute points, though Salmon Run contributes a very small amount. Basically, the first time you win a competitive match or Salmon Run shift, you will receive a “first win of the day” bonus that increases your catalog by one level. Winning one match per day is a very easy way to max your catalog faster! Otherwise, your best bet is going to be Turf War or Ranked Battles. With Turf War, you’ll earn a relatively low, but more consistent number of catalog points with each match. With Ranked Battles, if you lose, you earn less points than a Turf War. If you win, however, you will earn many more points than a Turf War match can get you. So it really comes down to your preference: consistency versus risk. You do still earn points if you lose a Ranked Battle, though, so the choice is yours. It’s also important to note that catalog points are multiplied during the last week or two of the season (Closeout bonus). These are usually announced by Deep Cut during the Anarchy Splatfest ahead of time. Likewise, catalog points often receive a multiplier during Big Run and Splatfest events.
In the meantime, if you’re looking for other Splatoon 3 guides as you max out your catalog, we have a full list of them here. Best of luck maxing out your catalogs!
Splatoon 3 is available now for Nintendo Switch, and you can check out the official site right here.