Brandon powell net worth

This is going to be a little bit more on the serious than most posts on here, but I feel I can’t post this on splatoon because I will also preface that I don’t want to play this season because Stringer has been my favorite weapon, and now feels borderline unplayable. This will be a long read, so I appreciate if you read until the end, but I don’t expect you to.
For context of who is creating this rant, I was in S+7 rank last season making it with only Stringer. So now I’m currently in S rank. I also play Salmon Run more often than not, dabbling into PVP to spice things up every now and then.
BEFORE YOU COMMENT: Please for fuck sake don’t make any gross comparisons or invalidate anything I say unless they are actually good reasons. It’s rude, and I will ignore your comment if I notice it. Yes, I know Brellas still have their issues, but Brellas are moreso a victim of Splatoon’s bad net code, which this does not cover the same issue as the one I talk about here. I’m going to discuss more about why this specific season unknowingly decimated the weapon they try to constantly advertise to the public.

1. Backstory: Stringer Has Always Been a Bad Weapon

A lot of people don’t exactly know how this weapon works. That’s only fair, since there are no top players who bother with the thing. To put it briefly from my point of view, Stringer tries its best to be a kill assist tool, as well as attempt to provide area denial for certain areas from a distance. Because of this, Stringer can do well on Tower Control, but will struggle in basically every other mode.
Since landing critical hits from Stringer are terribly inconsistent, you’re generally encouraged to find nuanced ways to kill your opponents with the ground explosions and the arc the bullets create. Toxic Mist compliments this ability very well, while Killer Wail 5.1 is… meh. With the ability to shoot vertically or horizontally, it makes for a mid-to-back liner that requires creativity to get kills, which actually is incredibly fun to me.
However, this is also the reason the weapon is bad: because of the way damage is distributed, Stringer fails to consistently get kills when they were already well earned. A hit from all three dart explosions deals 84 damage. That sounds good right? Well, your opponent can just… shake it off in less than a second before you you get a chance to hit them again. I have been in situations where I have hit people well between 5-6 times in a single interaction(hitting with both the darts and explosions), just to die to the same guy I was just shooting at ACCURATELY for 5 straight seconds because he ran up and started shooting his Splattershot. Interactions like these are generally what leads to the downfall of a game.
Despite this, I have still found the weapon to be fun and would still play it regardless of the weapon’s flaws. Before I get into why I feel this season is unplayable for Stringer, I should probably explain the general matchup flow for Stringer before the new season.

1. Matchups

Generally, Stringer can do pretty well against weapons with average range and movement. There are some exceptions to this, like the fact that Stringers can usually safely apply pressure to Splatlings from a distance. Strangely, it’s significantly harder to apply pressure to chargers, as you usually need to make yourself vulnerable to a 1-hit KO every time you emerge from a wall while aiming.
So that being said, the counters to Stringer before Sizzle season are as follows: Range Blaster, all of the Ink Brush variants, Jet Squelcher(s), and Chargers. Let me go into a few specifics.
Range Blaster: Range Blasters generally want to threaten and intimidate back liners, which is fair since the weapon is very good at that. Generally If you get hit once by a range blaster and don’t notice where it is, it basically spells the end for you. However, there is a way you can fight back at the cost of compromising your position. If you try to swim closer and kill the Range Blaster with squiffs, you can actually take them down since they struggle to hit up close. For this reason I think this matchup is completely fair, while still favoring the Range Blaster.
Ink Brushes: Remember how I said Stringer is mainly about area denial? Brushes can completely ignore any trap a Stringer can set up just by running. Add the fact the most of them are out to flank me, and you have a matchup that is literally un-winnable unless you land a critical hit WHILE THEY’RE MOVING. You can’t run from them since they can just chase you down, with the only thing you can do is try to fight them in a pitiful attempt to deal a maximum of 60 damage(which most of the time it’s only 30 damage). Yes, this applies to all brushes.
Chargers: to dumb it down, it’s “one-shot or get one shot.” I have successfully won interactions with chargers in the past, but the precision required to even approach a long distance interaction with a charger, in comparison to what is required of the charger, simply isn’t worth it. It puts pressure on them allowing your team to move more, sure. But if you lose the interaction, which you basically always will, you leave your team with one less support weapon and a charger on the loose.

1. Sizzle Season

Firstly, thank you if you read this far. I know I had to give a lot of information before telling you the actual problems with this season, so I appreciate your patience. Unfortunately, I feel the information I had to dump was necessary to allow people to understand the general struggle of this weapon since it doesn’t have any known representatives. Now then, the problems with the season:
3a. The New Weapons
After talking about the weapons that counter Stringer, I think you can see where this is going. The most popular new weapons feel like an un-winnable, and they’re EVERYWHERE. And based on the positive reception towards the new kits, they’re not going to slow down anytime soon. Since this is a subreddit for venting, I kind of want to go why you can’t fight any of the following.
S Blast ‘92: Remember when I said you could counter Range Blaster by attempting to fight it up close? Not an option anymore. The close shot is ENORMOUS, so it eliminates the counter play you could’ve possibly had to begin with. The only thing you can do is shoot them before they get close, but the gap to get close enough to secure a kill for S Blast is tiny. This basically forces Stringers to never interact with them under any circumstances.
Painbrush: Yep, just another brush that’s impossible to hit. With the added fact it has RANGE now. The two new main weapons feel like specific insults to Stringers.
Wiper Deco: This is honestly a problem just in general, but the amount this weapon refuses to interact while helping the rest of their team forces me to constantly be on the lookout for beacons and missiles, while never actually finding the source of it. Add that to the fact the main weapon is already good(not necessarily a counter), and I am forced to be on the move constantly.
Splatling Deco: Remember how I said that you can usually safely apply pressure to splatlings? What would happen if we gave it a barrier to keep it safe and a panic button? The splash wall isn’t much of a deal since I can just shoot over it, but if I hit the splatling and it doesn’t kill, they just panic and use Kraken. Now I’m the one under free pressure for not being… precise enough? With an inconsistent weapon? Haha, skill issue, laugh it up. Fuck this thing.
The other weapons feel like I can stand somewhat of a fighting chance against them, and they definitely have solid enough kits to at least be an even matchup. My issue is that the weapons listed above are FAR more popular, and are WAY worse for Stringer. Will this change in a few weeks? Possibly. But with how they’ve been received, I doubt it.
3b. The New Stages SUCK
This is not a Stringer exclusive problem, but the design of these are very bad for Stringer in general. For some godforsaken reason, a charger can reach me over the gap on Barnicle and Dime when I’m on the OPPOSITE SIDE, but I can’t reach them.
Humpback Pumptrack is just flank points galore, and I die for not covering multiple players at the same time. I can’t play in the center since I’d be susceptible to attacks from all directions.
Add this with the new problems with matchups, and what the living fuck do I do??
3c. A Buff… I Don’t Think That’s Enough
When I’ve talked to people and try to explain Stringer, I’m usually asked “how could it be buffed?” I’ve said that the buff would need to be an overhaul to even stand a chance against the meta as well as other casual weapons, but is that enough? I don’t think making the main weapon better will change the fact that I’m still being hard countered by the community’s favorite weapons that I’d see every time I play PVP. The buff it would need to change the matchups would need to be absurd, and I don’t want to break what makes Stringer feel like a special weapon. Though, even if it doesn’t counter the weapons that I’ll be forced to fight, here’s what I would change to add consistency:

• Direct Dart Damage(charged): 35 -> 40
  
• Dart Explosion Damage: 28 -> 32
  
• Apply more ink to the ground at full charge by 30%(why am I currently spending more ink for LESS paint?)
  
• Anyone hit by direct hits cannot heal for 4 seconds.
  

These changes, as mentioned earlier, are just to make the damage more reliable and consistent. The buff that prevents healing is mainly to make sure you at least have enough time to attempt at least one follow up attack on your target, as well as being equally as threatening as other support/back weapons.
The full charge buff is more of a logical buff. You actually cover LESS ink by charging the move up completely, and I feel that doesn’t make sense. I feel the added paint would give additional incentive for players to shoot full charge shots more often, as they’d get more meter from the shot. After all, Stringer is probably the easiest of the back line weapons to approach.
The increased damage is to match up with how much damage chargers do, making it so landing a critical hit will score 120 damage. Triple explosions are not a guaranteed one hit KO, but the damage increases from 84 to 96, making the weapon more threatening from a trapping perspective.

1. It DESPERATELY Needs A New Kit

If buffs don’t get added, I can at least live with a new kit. They don’t have to counter any of the mentioned above specifically, but there needs to be more ways to play Stringer. This ends where I talk about the issues. Thank you for reading this far(if you actually read everything). With that being said, here are some of the kits I made up. Until Stringer has been fixed in some form of fashion, I’m gonna play Salmon Run. Y’know, an actually well designed game.
Here are some kits I came up with.

• Squidforce Tri-Stringer: Fizzy Bomb, Wave Breaker

This kit would be a more aggressive kit and especially good at threatening players hiding behind walls, as well as comboing darts with Fizzy Bomb, or using Fizzy Bomb to threaten certain movement options. Wave Breaker would help the Stringer locate stragglers and continue to threaten them from a distance with arc shots and Fizzy Bombs again. Generally, Stringer also benefits from specials that allow it to fight immediately, which Killer Wail 5.1 actually does get correct.

• Tri-Stringer Nouveau: Point Sensor, Big Bubbler

This kit would be more supportive and defensive, while also providing a good amount of poking opportunities after revealing each player’s location. Big bubbler mainly serves to protect against weapons that have enough range to poke at it, such as chargers and range blaster. If those weapons aren’t on the opposing team, the stringer can try to provide a good jump point for their team.
Rockenberg Tri-Stringer: Splash Wall, Ink Storm
This also a fairly aggressive kit, making it so you can threaten back liners by placing a wall in front of you, and then forcing the enemy to scatter using Ink Storm. As an added bonus, it will probably be easier to see your enemies in an ink storm, so you can try to shoot darts to either pick them off, or trap them inside by trying to read their movement.
P. S. If anyone says “Just play a different weapon lol🤓,” I’ll answer that now: No. Other weapons haven’t been fun for me in PVP. I tried shooters(Splash-O-Matic, Tentatek, Hero Shot), rollers, sloshers and splatanas. The only mildly fun class was Splatana, but that’s just because of how fun they are to use in Salmon Run(again, better game mode).