A while back, we published a guide on how to beat Megalodontia in Splatoon 3 and it’s time to talk about the other King Salmonids – particularly, how to defeat Horrorboros in Splatoon 3’s Salmon Run mode.
Horrorboros is perhaps the easiest King Salmonid to defeat of the three currently available in the game. Unlike Cohozuna and Megalodontia, Horrorboros is a flying enemy that attacks from above. It opens its mouth and starts blowing up a green balloon that looks like one you’d see on a Steelhead enemy. Once the balloon is blown up, it will unleash a Booyah Bomb on the ground that inks and damages everything in its path. Fortunately, the attack itself is incredibly telegraphed and easy to avoid – it’s taking down Horrorboros itself that can sometimes be a little tricky. If you’re looking to take down this King Salmonid, then let’s get right into our Horrorboros guide.
Horrorboros guide: how to beat Horrorboros in Splatoon 3
As with all other King Salmonids, you’ll be given a Golden Egg launcher when Horrorboros spawns. The Golden Eggs dropped by other Boss Salmonids will then become your ammunition, and you can throw Eggs at Horrorboros to deal damage. It’s vulnerable everywhere on its body, but the balloon it blows up in its mouth is its weak point. You’ll want to go around defeating as many Boss Salmonids as possible and then launching the Golden Eggs they drop at Horrorboros’ mouth. When it takes enough damage, the balloon will burst and deal tons of damage to Horrorboros itself. Essentially, your goal here is to pop the balloon as fast as you possibly can. It’s a good idea to prioritize taking out Stingers and Flyfish here too, because there’s another way to damage Horrorboros: your main weapon.
The weapons you receive change in every Salmon Run rotation. If the current rotation only has short-ranged weapons, you’ll need to use Golden Eggs as your main damage source. However, if there’s a charger or long-ranged Splatling available, you can use them to damage Horrorboros’ balloon directly – and in many cases, this is faster than using Golden Eggs alone. E-Liter 4K is absolutely fantastic here, along with Hydra Splatling. Both deal incredible damage to Horrorboros, and Hydra Splatling in particular is so strong that it works for main damage against other King Salmonids, too. That said, if you see a rotation against Horrorboros with one of these weapons, you can be sure that it’ll be an easy defeat (as long as your teammates do their part).
Regardless of whether you win or lose against Horrorboros, you will receive King Salmonid scales based on your performance. Generally, you earn more scales the faster you defeat Horrorboros. The number also increases with your Salmon Run rank, with Eggsecutive VP earning the most. Gold Scales are exceedingly rare either way, so expect to see mostly Copper Scales with a few Silver Scales mixed in here and there. During most Big Run events, the number of scales King Salmonids drop is normally increased, making them great for scale farming.
Check out our Big Run guide if you’d like even more tips and tricks on navigating Salmon Run. If you liked our Horrorboros guide, we have a guide on beating Megalodontia too.
Splatoon 3 is available now for Switch, and you can find the official site right here. Happy splatting!
