"Woomy Darwinism" is my new favorite Splatoon-related expression.

Please note that Gem is not saying "Don't use your favorite weapon if it's low tier. You need to use a top tier weapon" He's just saying that players have to acknowledge the fact that some weapons are objectively worse than others, and that's ok.

This is very good timing and a good topic, chess analogy is perfect. I'd say for turf war that survivability is more important then paint. If you paint well but can't stay alive you die in the last 20 seconds and lose the game anyway. Turf has always favored survivability + paint.

As a beginner myself, whenever I hear other beginners ask "What weapon is good for beginners?" I never interpreted it as "What weapon sees results quickly vs other beginners?"

I always interpreted it as "What weapons can teach me fundamentals + can be comfy to use for a while?" In that sense I'd say that the Clash Blaster also fails as a beginner weapon.

Some things I need to remember when a competitive player puts out information on weapons/playstyles/all that:

--They are not rejecting you as a person.
--They are not rejecting you as a player.
--They are not teasing, mocking, or bullying you.
--They are not calling you "lesser" of anything for not being their ideal.
--They are actually trying to help you.
--They care that you win and not lose.
--They care that you learn.
--They care that you enjoy yourself and have fun.
--They care and don't mind that you might think differently.
--They also like stupid comps because MEMES
--To each their own!

Thanks again Gem for such a great video.

I think of the term "Viable" not as "how good it is by its own", but as "how strong it is in many situations".

Viability measures how strong weapons are against others. The stronger the weapon against other weapons are, the better it is to use, the more viable it can be for many players. Any weapon can be "good" in the right hands, but not all weapons can be "strong" in certain situations. Some players think Clash Blaster and Bloblobber are good, but the weapons are weak against stronger weapons like the Meta weapons we know.

Hence, viability is more of finding better value than standalone strength.

As a brella player (splat brella and tent) you have to admit your weapon is bad sure you could play something else that is significantly better but when you are in love with a weapon class I don't care how low tier it is I just wanna play it

This video reminded me of my favorite flc quote "You don't understand, as long as you just avoid [extremely common situation], it's busted"

I don't understand why people get upset when their main get's called a low tier.
As someone who plays splattershot pro (yes vanilla), I think good matches with it are all the more satisfying.

You should show how much you understand the game at a top level by doing a standing backflip

Probably another good way to explain tier lists is, if all players are as close as possible to the same skill level, higher tiers will give you the best chance to win. This is true for all tier lists for all kinds of games.

One other thing I wanted to mention is that you focused a lot on "as you get better, your opponents get better", but you didn't really mention that your teammates also get better, which also matters a lot.  For example, a weapon type that I would say tends to underperform at lower ranks are support weapons, because the teammates will likely not capitalize on that support effectively.  Generally speaking, when playing with poor teammates, you have to be prepared to do whatever needs to be done, because you can't assume that your teammates will be able to do their own jobs (this inherently favours generalist weapons over specialists), but with better players you can focus more on playing to your weapon's specific strengths and (usually) trust others to compensate for your weaknesses, which does make the game feel quite different.

I think a big part of the problem w/r/t weapons is that the maps are just kind of bad design wise. When it's just single lanes feeding into a little arena with few flanks the game starts to shake out worse weapons because smart play stops being able to save them

I think the most important thing to learn about Tier Lists is that, while every tier placement has to have some form of subjectivity (watch any of Gem's tier list videos and you'll hear "I don't really think..." or "I feel like..." with every placement), their evidence is always objective. People don't "feel like" Crab Tank is a strong special, they have watched many tournaments and seen many players with high X scores or multiple tournament placements or even scrim wins that succeeded more often by using it!

And that, alongside that, a weapon being low tier isn't just equivalent to "the weapon is bad" and that's the end of the story. I've always found it more helpful to think of it as... "no one's found a really good use for it yet". Really think about it! If someone won a tournament tomorrow with the Aerospray MG and they had this fantastic strategy and maybe used this cool mechanic that people hadn't seen before or realized existed, we would adjust our tier lists.
I'm not saying that that's going to happen; in fact, take note of the fact that it hasn't happened! But we didn't get to "Splash is the best weapon in the game" because it seemed pretty good compared to everything, we watched it win MULTIPLE TIMES using fantastic strategies and unique mechanics!


But lastly, I wanted to add that many times Gem has said "if your only goal is to win, you should probably pick a better weapon than [insert low tier]."
And I think that that phrasing is actually genius. Some of us-- hell, I'd say the vast majority of us if we really stretch the bounds of this community aren't in this JUST to win, and there's almost a strange reluctance to admit it despite how normal that is! A lot of us want to understand the current low tiers, or are having a lot of fun using a weapon that we'd only briefly considered a few years ago, or you're one of the people who say "that weapon might get buffed down the line, so it's an advantage if you learn it now!"... I mean, this video literally has a story of someone whose goal wasn't just to win, but to see how far an Aerospray could go. And hell, some of us really are chasing that "I'm gonna find out what makes the Undercover Brella good and I'm gonna find something that no one else has". If that's you... just go for it.

You should know a weapon's viability when you use it, not because "that means you shouldn't pick it", but because it helps you think about your goals!

Knowing when to stop using a weapon instead of making excuses for it is a sign of player growth.

I mained the Dapple Dualies for 3 until I tried to get into S+ and I absolutely was getting stuffed because of my range. I found myself unable to overwhelm people with my roll-spam because I’d hit a threshold where people would start abusing my range and lack of a bomb.

Soooo I had to swap. Went Dark Tetras and now I’m X 2200

"Yeah, but I got 5 kills and 11 deaths once! The Aerospray is an absolute beast of an aggressive weapon!"

"This is wrong because I won 6 times in a row and haven't been able to get close to that since with my REEF-LUX"

This is how you look if you use these arguments

I'm not exactly a top-level player, but I like to look at less viable weapons to try and understand them. I do want to get to X rank and optimize my play, but I also enjoy learning a weapon well enough that it will clarify the advice and information I hear about it. To be honest, even though it's a slim chance for a player with only partial understanding of high-ranked play, I also really like the idea of playing a part in discovering a new meta for a weapon, even if it's something with a really high skill ceiling, like some type of "point sensor Slayer" or something like that. But I still go for more viable weapons when it comes to focusing on improvement, because those weapons will provide more opportunities to make mistakes, as my weapon will less often be the cause of disadvantages. Improving will also give me a better understanding of the game, and therefore a better understanding of a weapon.

Amazing synergistic timing with ProChara’s
Tierlist video

I like this video cause like, a weapon can be better than others but also like if you do enjoy a weapon you can still get results. Its just a matter of you could probably get better results on a better weapon.

I decided very early on that I was going to be a tri-stringer main. I used it in the pre-release fest, it was the first weapon I bought. I powered through all the people telling me that it sucks and all the "one of seven tri-stringer users lol" memes. At first I barely did anything, I consistently scored middling to low. Over time though, my thoughts turned to instinct, and enough usage, things just clicked. I could determine my arrow's ranges without thinking about it, I could chip enemies away to splat or ink their feet so my teammates could get them. And in best case scenarios, I could nail a bullseye and one shot an enemy. The more I played it, the more I began to understand its flaws, how it was terrible at inking before it was buffed, how Toxic Mist is only marginally useful on it. And no matter how much I saw wrong with it, I stood by it. Maybe out of pride, maybe out of spite, not really sure at this point. And while I don't consider myself a master of the game or even the weapon yet (Hell, I don't even think I'm that good at the game period), it is still my most beloved weapon. But throughout my time with it, I noticed a strange thing with it on the tier scene. It was all over the place, my guess was because it was one of the two new weapon types and people hadn't found a niche for it yet. Generally the main consensus was that it "did a bunch of things okay but there is always better choices". Then later, it was claimed that it was "excellent for chip damage", and later still it was claimed as "one of the best object shredders". I think what I'm trying to say is that I've been all over the place with the Tri-Stringer and you mentioning how some weapons have a higher skill floor than others made me reflect the road I've taken with my weapon of choice. When things just sort of clicked for me, my win rate increased, my rank went up and I overall have had more fun. I know I got a long way still but even if unintentional, thanks for helping me gain the reflection I needed to realize where I am and the road still ahead of me.