FreekNation Community Spotlight: Splatoon 3

FreekNation is all about working together to get better at the games we love! To celebrate the release of Splatoon 3, we asked three leaders of our FreekNation Splatoon community to share some of their essential tips to improving at the game as well as a little bit about themselves, why they love Splatoon 3, and where you can find their content to learn more! 

NEGUS

When did you start playing Splatoon? 
So I started playing Splatoon in 2015 in July right before the cats vs dogs splatfest.  

What do you love about Splatoon? 

I love the movement of Splatoon and the motions controls. No other game has this feeling like Splatoon when it comes to movement and how the controls feel.  

Best features new to Splatoon3? 

The best feature in Splatoon 3 has to be the new Special Crab Tank! It has to be my favorite special in Splatoon history. I love the ability to pressure long range weapons with specials.  

 
Tell us a little about your history/accomplishments in Splatoon. 

My history with Splatoon is I played competitive in Splatoon 1 and Splatoon 2 but outside of getting to top 8’s a few times I wouldn’t say that this is my biggest accomplishment. I was a TO in the Splatoon community for about 3 years and started an organization called Game Set Match (GSM). Which ran locals and majors out of Long Island New York at Aon Gaming. Having our event be sponsored by Nintendo is still one of my favorite moments.  

 
How do KF products improve your game at Splatoon? 

Kontrol Freek helps with my sweaty hands and being able to have better control over my right stick in Splatoon. A lot of times I slip off the normal stick, so the Omni has to be my favorite Performance Thumbstick for Splatoon! 

 
What advice do you have for aspiring Splatoon 3 players that are interested in competing, commentating, or creating content such as yourself? 

My advice for any new Splatoon 3 players aspiring to compete, commentate, or create content is to start now! I think that right now more than ever it’s important to catch people while the game has the most exposure. When it comes to content don’t doubt yourself and look to others for ideas and inspiration. It’s never too late to start your content journey! 

ThatSrb2DUDE 

Tell us about yourself: 

Hello! I am ThatSrb2DUDE but you can just call me DUDE! I am a Professional Splatoon Player and I have been a Content Creator on the internet for 10 years and a streamer for 7 years!   

When did you start playing Splatoon? 

I started playing Splatoon 7 years ago, day 1 of Splatoon 1's launch--a true OG!  

What do you love about Splatoon?  

The thing I love most about Splatoon is how unique of a shooter this game is. The concept of using your weapon as your source of Movement, Ammunitions and Map Control is genius. On top of that, it is one of the only shooter games that implements Motion Control in a Shooter that does it REALLY WELL. If you ever wanted to play Mouse and Keyboard in a Controller, Motion Control by far is the closest we will ever get to that feeling of precision and smoothness to that input  

Best features new to Splatoon 3?  

Has got to be the Replay/theatre mode. Having the ability to look back at all games and watch all the perspectives of any player is just an amazing way to just get better at this game. Allows you to really study mistakes and amend them in smart ways!  

Tell us a little about your history/accomplishments in Splatoon  

I have won 5 big in person Splatoon events! I was the UK Champion back in 2016 I've played a large amount of in person events and rarely have placed outside of the podium. Lost count of how many I have attended for the last 7 years but I feel I genuinely have accomplished a lot within my time competitively! Have a big focus on my content creation right now and I am very close to hitting 100k subscribers!  

How do KF products improve your game at Splatoon?  

KF products help me in Splatoon as it gives me more comfort and control over my right stick. It allows me to play on a higher sensitivity for this so I can be more accurate with how much in want to turn my camera. It also gives me more room over the stick which helps my bigger thumbs!  

What advice do you have for aspiring Splatoon players that want to compete on a pro-level for Splatoon 3?  

Make sure to use Motion Controls! It will give you more precision over the game and improve your overall movement by a lot! When you compete for the first time you may potentially be quite nervous but that’s a perfectly normal thing and it’s all good! You just have to remember that at the end of the day you are in this to have fun and you want to try to stay focused on your game and your teammates! Nothing to lose but the game and even if you do, take it as a lesson to further improve yourself for the next! Watch your replays and study how your opponents play! 

Kiver

Hello, I'm Kiver from France, former Mario Kart Wii Champion and now the current European Champion on Splatoon. As well as being a Pro Player who has always been playing at the highest level, I'm also an active content creator since 2019 through Splatoon 2 and now Splatoon 3!  

When did you start playing Splatoon?  

May 28th, 2015  

What do you love about Splatoon?  

Splatoon has some of the greatest mechanics ever made in a shooter game, being able to walk, run, swim at light speed or hide in your own ink in order to travel around the stage or sneakily hide is an awesome idea which allows a lot of different playstyles and so made me want to play this game even more as I love fast paced sports and video games! 

Best features new to Splatoon 3?  

I can think of two new features which I'm proud of:  

Replay mode which allows players to rewind their past matches and learn more about their in-game habits or their opponents. This is a great feature for players who can't record their own games.  

One of the newest tech named "Squid Roll" that allows players to leap and twirl out of their ink which can parry some shots. 

Tell us a little about your history/accomplishments in Splatoon. 

It's going to be a long story but I will get straight to the point! Basically, I started playing Splatoon in 2015 on the first entry with the french team "Koopa Clan" which was well-known in the Mario Kart community. Afterwards I joined "Creme Fresh" in November 2016 until I was approached by the Canadian organization "SetToDestroyX" also known as "Lazarus" nowadays in order to join a Splatoon team back in August 2017. My contract lasted a year until August 2018; therefore I joined the highest ranked European team named "Kraken Paradise" in September 2018 until December 2019. During 2019-2020, I was playing with both Kraken Paradise and my national team "Alliance Rogue" since Splatoon World Championship only allowed teams to have all four members from the same country so mixing up practice was quite a drag and so I decided to mainly focus on Alliance Rogue until Worlds 2019 ended. 

Regarding my tournament results, I have won 70 tournaments in Splatoon 2 but my most glorious victories were:  

August 21st, 2017 - InkStorm+ - SetToDestroyX This win meant a lot to me because it was my first tournament with this organization against some Japanese players as Japan is the strongest region in Splatoon.  

November 5th, 2017 - Squidstorm 2017 - SetToDestroyX It was my first time travelling to the USA, so I kept good memories as well as winning this tournament.  

January 21st, 2018 - Genesis 5 - SetToDestroyX We won and faced Team Olive, one of our rivals at an offline tournament in USA during a meta which gave me a massive disadvantage since all my main weapons were nerfed and no longer viable so it was the hardest Splatoon tournament of my life which exhausted me.  

March 10th, 2019 - European Championship 2019 - Alliance Rogue The year which I finally earned the European Champion title against Backsquids whom my team lost against back in 2018.  

November 2nd, 2019 - French Championship 2019 - Alliance Rogue Dominating the entire tournament at Paris Games Week 2019 in front of hundreds or maybe a thousand of spectators was truly satisfying.  

There are a lot more wins until now but these five are my favorite ones.  

How do KF products improve your game at Splatoon?  

KontrolFreek Performance Grips improved my game at Splatoon because Nintendo Pro Controller can be quite difficult to grab firmly due to its material, so this Performance Grip helped me a lot in term of consistency.  

What advice do you have for aspiring Splatoon players that want to compete on a pro-level for splatoon3?  

Type or write down notes when learning new skills, make plans for neutral, defense and offense phases, be open-minded when receiving constructive criticism and don't waste your time picking up weak weapons while knowing better options since this flawed pride of yours won't give you consistent results if you are actually willing to improve at the game. Be a great teammate! 

For more expert Splatoon 3 tips or to just watch some elite and entertaining gameplay, check out ThatSrb2DUDE, Negus, and Kiver on Twitch ! If you are looking for more controller tips for your favorite games, check out our other KontrolFreek Blogs. Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok to stay up to date on the latest gaming content and join our Twitch streams for opportunities to win free KontrolFreek and SteelSeries products!