Splatoon 3 update out this week (version 5.0.0), patch notes

Nintendo just delivered the full, massive patch notes for the Splatoon 3 version 5.0.0 update.

The update will accompany Drizzle Season 2023, which will include new content and features. That means a new catalog, new stages, new weapons’, and more. You can read a bunch more about it here.

Outside of content, many changes are planned to multiplayer Splatfests, and more. Expect a bunch of bug fixes as well.

Here’s the full rundown of the update:

Splatoon 3 update version 5.0.0 patch notes

Season and Catalog Changes

• Added data for Drizzle Season 2023, which starts September 1st, 2023. This includes:
  • A new catalog, including new gear, titles, banners, decorations, stickers, and emotes.
  • 2 new battle stages: Crableg Capital and Shipshape Cargo Co.
  • 2 new main weapons.
  • 8 new sets of existing main weapons paired with different sub and special weapons.
  • A returning Salmon Run stage from the Splatoon 2 game: Salmonid Smokeyard.
  • 12 new Tableturf Battle cards.

Changes to Gear

• Introduced the “Adjust Gear” feature to wear selected headgear and T-shirts in new ways.
  • Select any supported gear from the Equip screen and press the Y Button to adjust it.

Changes to Multiplayer

• Added 3 songs that play during battles.
• New main weapons have been added.
  • These weapons will be available in the shops at the start of Drizzle Season 2023.

  Weapon	Details
  Dread Wringer	A slosher that fires two bursts of ink with each swing. By changing direction while swinging, you can fire ink in two directions.
  Heavy Edit Splatling	A splatling that can fire at high speed. It has a longer charge time, but when fully charged, it fires faster than other splatlings.

• New weapons have been added.
  • These weapons will be available in the shops at the start of Drizzle Season 2023.

  Weapon	Sub Weapon	Special Weapon
  Gold Dynamo Roller	Splat Bomb	Super Chump
  Octobrush Nouveau	Squid Beakon	Ink Storm
  Custom Goo Tuber	Fizzy Bomb	Ultra Stamp
  Sloshing Machine Neo	Point Sensor	Trizooka
  Bloblobber Deco	Angle Shooter	Kraken Royale
  Dread Wringer	Suction Bomb	Reefslider
  Ballpoint Splatling Nouveau	Ink Mine	Ink Vac
  Heavy Edit Splatling	Curling Bomb	Tacticooler
  Sorella Brella	Autobomb	Inkjet
  Inkline Tri-Stringer	Sprinkler	Super Chump

• Specifications for some main weapons have changed.
  

  Weapon	Change Details
  Splat Brella Sorella Brella	Reduced the recovery time for brellas lost as a result of being launched or broken from 6.5 seconds to 5.5 seconds.
  Undercover Brella	Reduced the recovery time for broken brellas from 4.5 seconds to 4.0 seconds
  REEF-LUX 450	Narrowed the spread angle when fired without charging by approximately 30%. Narrowed the spread angle when fired while charged one level by approximately 29%.

• Specifications for some special weapons have changed.
  

  Special Weapon	Change Details
  Killer Wail 5.1	If there is no target it can lock onto in the area of effect, it will now lock onto the target last in the area of effect. Added a display indicator and sound effect to clarify the locked-on target when the lasers are fired.
  Zipcaster	Now possible to attach closer to the ground than before. Increased the damage dealt by the explosion from colliding with the ground. The radius of that explosion has increased by approximately 50%.
  Tacticooler	Extended the cooldown time for the special gauge after placing a Tacticooler from 7.5 seconds to 10 seconds.

• Specifications for some gear abilities have changed.
  

  Gear Ability	Change Details
  Tenacity	Increased the speed at which the special gauge fills while the conditions are met.
  Last-Ditch Effort	Reduced the maximum amount of effect for the ability increase while the conditions are met from the equivalent of 2.4 primary abilities to 1.8 primary abilities. Secondary abilities are the equivalent effect of 0.3 primary abilities.

• Points required for some special weapons have been changed.
  

  Weapon	Before	After
  N-ZAP ’85	180	190
  Annaki Splattershot Nova	200	210

• When X Power, Challenge Power, Anarchy Power, or Splatfest Power calculations are complete, if the results exceed the maximum value for the initial calculated results value, a small amount of the excess value will be added to the calculated results.
• Made it so that in Challenges where rankings are sometimes announced, such as Monthly Challenges or New Season Challenges, battles will not end as no contest when a player disconnects immediately after the start of the battle when either team is comprised of a group of four members.
  • This change is to prevent wasting Challenge time with no-contest battles due to the other team disconnecting.

Changes to Salmon Run

• Added a new weapon, Grizzco Dualies.
• Made it so that different Grizzco weapons appear, even within the same shift, when a green ? mark is shown on the weapon.
• Added items that can be exchanged for fish scales.

Changes to Splatfests

• Made it possible to select different stages, even during the same time period, with Splatfest Battle (Open) and Splatfest Battle (Pro).
• Added a song that will play during Splatfest Battles.
• Made it so that the song playing in the lobby will change a certain amount of time after the Splatfest ends.
  • That song will play in the Splatsville and Inkopolis common areas as well as the lobby from the end of the Splatfest until the Splatfest results are announced.
• Added badges you can get based on the number of 10x Battles you participate in or win during Splatfests.

Changes to Tableturf Battle

• Made it possible to sort cards by “Rarity.”
• Changed the default sorting for Edit Deck and Test Placement to “Sort by Spaces.”

Changes to the Lobby

• Made it so that you will receive a notification when a friend uploads a battle replay.
  • By opening the notification, you can download the battle replay without entering a code.
  • These notifications will only be sent to friends.
• Made it so that friends and players in the same Pool will be notified when you get a rare prize from the Shell-Out Machine.
• Made it possible to use the Shell-Out Machine while in a Private Battle room, as long as you have not yet divided into teams.
• Made it so that when one player begins matchmaking and members have gathered but there is a communication error, matchmaking is automatically reattempted once instead of being suspended as a result of the error.

Other Changes

• Added approximately 160 decorations and 140 stickers to Hotlantis.
• Added approximately 80 Splashtag banners and 400 titles that you can get from the Shell-Out Machine, etc.
• Made it possible to start recon directly from the Stages screen on the main menu.

This update focuses on adding features for Drizzle Season 2023, which starts in September, and adjusting the balance of battles.

For battles, we’ve added new main weapons, powered up some special weapons, and made adjustments to certain weapons and gear abilities.

For special weapons, we’ve made adjustments to improve usability, and we’ve improved the Zipcaster in particular to make it easier to use in close-quarter fights while active.

Our next update is planned for the middle of Drizzle Season 2023 and should primarily focus on balance adjustments.

Bug Fixes

Fixes to Player Controls

• Fixed an issue that allowed players to climb unclimbable walls in rare cases when performing certain actions right after doing a Squid Roll off a wall.
• Fixed an issue where, when a player entered an inkrail while storing a charge shot, the light indicating the stored shot sometimes persisted on other players’ screens at the location where the player entered the inkrail.
• Fixed an issue where repeated, fully charged Snipewriter 5H shots at walls did not ink the walls as intended.
• Fixed an issue where player movement from a dualie Dodge Roll sometimes halted at the point where a grate meets the ground.
• Fixed an issue where brellas faced further downward than normal when opened while walking diagonally forward.
• Fixed an issue where, when defeating an enemy or assisting an ally in defeating an enemy while attempting to open the Undercover Brella, the brella’s durability sometimes did not recover.
• Fixed an issue where the position-indicator icon ceased displaying for the first Ink Mine placed after entering a stage.
• Fixed an issue where, when a player sent a Booyah! or This way! signal immediately after another player threw a clam or Golden Egg, the other player did not appear to take the Booyah! or This way! pose on the thrower’s screen.
• Made changes to lessen the frequency of an issue where if a player presses the ZR Button to fire a Trizooka shot, it sometimes seems that the next Trizooka shot won’t be fired if the player quickly presses the ZR Button.
• Fixed an issue where if a player continuously pressed the ZR Button to fire a Trizooka shot after firing a Trizooka shot, in rare cases, the shot would not be fired.
• Fixed an issue that caused the player to respawn with their special gauge slightly filled if they were splatted right after firing their third Trizooka shot, despite having used the entire special weapon.
• Fixed an issue that caused the player to respawn with their special gauge slightly filled if they were splatted right after throwing their third Triple Inkstrike shot, despite having used the entire special weapon.
• Fixed an issue that caused the lock-on cursor to be displayed for longer than usual if the player performed a Super Jump right after activating the Killer Wail 5.1 and locking onto a target.
• Fixed an issue where if a player aimed the Zipcaster down at the ground nearby, they wouldn’t be able to zip to that location, despite the sight making it appear to be a viable zip target.
• Fixed an issue that caused players who activated the Inkjet or Zipcaster near certain fences to be pushed off the stage when they returned to their original spot after the effect ended.
• Fixed an issue that caused the weapon and gear an enemy had equipped to be displayed in unintended locations when they got splatted while using the Zipcaster or trying for the Ultra Signal.
• Fixed an issue that sometimes caused players to get raised up if another player activated a Booyah Bomb nearby, allowing players to pass over higher obstacles than they should normally be able to.

Fixes to Multiplayer

• Fixed an issue that caused ink rain to continue falling for a certain amount of time after the end of a battle in rare cases if the Ink Storm was made at the same time that the battle ended.
• Fixed an issue in Clam Blitz mode that caused clams and power clams to disappear before they hit the floor when dropped from a certain height.
• Fixed an issue in Brinewater Springs that unintentionally allowed players to climb certain obstacles.
• Fixed an issue in Eeltail Alley that allowed ink to pass through certain walls when fired from the outer perimeter of the stage while using things like the Inkjet.
• Fixed an issue in Mincemeat Metalworks that sometimes allowed shots to pass through the terrain when fired at where it met certain walls.
• Fixed an issue in Hammerhead Bridge where it was sometimes possible to set Ink Mines on certain un-inkable floors.
• Fixed an issue in Museum d’Alfonsino in Tower Control and Rainmaker mode where it was possible to ink the floor under certain boxes, increasing the special gauge and adding points.
• Fixed an issue in Inkblot Art Academy in Rainmaker mode where foes behind certain thin walls sometimes took damage when a Rainmaker shot was fired at those walls.
• Fixed an issue in Sturgeon Shipyard where it was sometimes possible to set Ink Mines on certain un-inkable floors.
• Fixed an issue in Sturgeon Shipyard where it was not possible to swim on certain walls even when inked.
• Fixed an issue in Wahoo World where, while moving around the perimeter of the central high ground in swim form, it was possible to get on top of areas without places to stand.
• Fixed an issue in Wahoo World where players sometimes became unable to move when attempting to Super Jump while on top of the orange cones.
• Fixed an issue in Brinewater Springs where it was possible to see players on certain floors through the glass of display cases below the floor.
• Fixed an issue in Manta Maria where it was possible to get into unintended areas.
• Fixed an issue in Barnacle & Dime where some boxes placed on the stage were not displaying on the Turf Map.
• Fixed an issue in Humpback Pump Track where the appearance of certain walls did not change even when inked.

Fixes to Salmon Run

• Fixed an issue where players sometimes clipped into terrain when the position of a Reefslider’s explosion overlapped with a Scrapper.
• Fixed an issue where, when a player defeated a Scrapper in a single attack, the Scrapper sometimes appeared to other players to move as if sliding before being defeated.
• Fixed an issue where Flipper-Flopper rings sometimes overlapped with the sea, making them difficult to ink back.
• Fixed an issue in Sockeye Station where Maws sometimes got stuck at certain positions in the water and would not come out.
• Fixed an issue in Sockeye Station and Jammin’ Salmon Junction that sometimes caused players to clip into terrain when pushed by a Flyfish that appeared from certain positions.
• Fixed an issue in Gone Fission Hydroplant where Tenta Brellas’ launched brellas sometimes disappeared.
• Fixed an issue in Jammin’ Salmon Junction where Salmonids sometimes got stuck on walls during special Rush waves.
• Fixed an issue in Jammin’ Salmon Junction where Golden Eggs that appeared at certain positions sometimes got buried in walls.

Fixes to Splatfests

• Fixed an issue where, when Keep Going was selected after winning a 100x Battle or 333x Battle, sometimes the stages did not change even when the scheduled update time arrived.

Other Fixes

• Fixed an issue where selecting certain titles in certain languages caused the game to crash.
• Fixed an issue with title selection where shuffling and selecting a title at the same time, then selecting a new title would sometimes cause a different title to be displayed.
• Fixed an issue where, when a friend dropped in while players were playing Regular Battle, the screen for selecting whether to continue did not indicate that a player was waiting to join.
• Fixed an issue where pressing the L Button to open the menu at certain times while using a weapon in the lobby, Grizzco, or the Shoal sometimes caused the player’s controls and weapon-related animations to cease working properly.
• Fixed an issue in multiplayer Tableturf Battle where players were sometimes determined to be inactive and disconnected when they opened their own deck’s Card List after finalizing a card’s position, then waited for their opponent to finalize for a long time without input.
• Fixed an issue in Private Battles via the Shoal where players’ nicknames did not change, even if Use amiibo Username was enabled, if the player’s current equipment matched the weapons and gear recorded on the scanned amiibo.

All players on Switch can download the latest update for Splatoon 3 on August 30, 2023 in North America / August 31 in Europe.