Salmon Run Tips from an EVP Player

I've been a frequent salmon runner for 3 years and I wanted to share some tips n tricks I've learned so far. I am by no means the best player ever, the highest I've gotten to is probably around EVP 300, but I think other players might find this useful.

With that being said, please take everything I say with a grain of salt! 

Also, this isn't supposed to be a rule book to follow, just some things that might make your matches run a little smoother (and also a bit of a reference for myself). Happy reading!

General Tips

Divide and conquer

• Grouping together is really dangerous and can get the whole squad wiped in one go. All it takes is a stinger, flyfish, or steelhead to end the round
• If you see one player handling a boss and it seems like they're about to splat it, turn your focus to something else like eggs or other bosses. You (usually) don't need three people on one boss unless they're all spawning in one area or there aren't any other bosses to focus on

Salmonid priority

• I think it's really important to know which bosses you should take out first vs ones that can stay on the map while you do something else
•  My personal priority list is as such:

1. Flyfish - SPLAT IT AS SOON AS YOU SEE IT. DO NOT LET THIS THING LIVE FOR MORE THAN 10 SECONDS. EVIL!!!!
2. Stinger - also evil, can ignore walls and it's so ANNOYING
3. Steel Eel - if it's not chasing you, it's chasing someone else. splat it when you have the chance
4. Big Shot - not as bad as the others in my opinion, but can get bad if too many spawn 
5. Steelhead - just splat em when you can
6. Drizzler, Fishsticks - I usually splat it if there's more than one on the map. if too many spawn, it can make things a lot harder for you and your team
7. Slammin' Lid, Maws, Scrapper, Flipper-Flopper - I splat it when there aren't any other high priority bosses or if it's close to me
8. Lesser salmonids - don't ignore the lessers! they WILL swarm you, they can smell fear

Paint the walls

• Paint the walls in the beginning of the match. VERY useful for escaping swarms
• Having the walls painted can be the difference between surviving or sleeping with the chums (haha see what I did there?)

Be aware of your surroundings (game UI, sound queues, etc.)

• If you've been splatted, look out for splat bombs, specials, or your teammates trying to revive you! I know it sounds like "Yeah, duh" but I've had downed teammates move AWAY from me trying to revive them and I end up getting splatted in the process T-T
• Things to pay attention to: egg count, if your teammates are alive or not, boss salmonid sounds, etc.

Don't only focus on splatting bosses

• Please remember to put eggs in the basket! Taking down bosses is an important part of the gameplay but if you notice the egg count isn't going up as much, maybe switch to egg delivery

Know the role of your weapon

• For example, chargers: avoid large swarms of fish, support from afar, snipe from high areas, and stay away from the shore. This is because if you get surrounded, you have a higher chance of getting splatted
• Generally, if you have a fast shooting weapon and you can get out of swarms fast, moving to the shore is safer than other weapons
• Weapons with a slower shooting rate should try to stick to the center unless it's necessary
• If you have a painting weapon, Flipper-Floppers and lessers can be something for you to focus on
• If you get the explosher, FLYFISH IS YOUR ENEMY! LOB A SHOT INTO THE BASKETS TO SPLAT IT, NO BOMBS NEEDED

Luring enemies closer to the egg basket

• I recommend letting the enemies get closer to the egg basket before splatting them so you don't have to deliver eggs from the shore. However, don't let too many of them get too close and they end up swarming your team.

Using your specials

• Don't be afraid to use your specials in earlier waves! You didn't waste a special if it:

1. Saves your team from being wiped (ex: group revives, splatting swarms of bosses, splats shore enemies when your team is focused near the egg basket or otherwise)
2. Gets you a lot of eggs at once

Using "This Way!" and "Help!"

• If you see someone use "This Way," it either means FLYFISH, they need help with a boss, are getting swarmed, or there's a lot of eggs where they are. Please don't ignore these call outs! Go and check them if you have the time
• Please use "Help" when you're waiting to be revived! It let's other's see where you are. Sometimes I can't find downed teammates because there's so many fish everywhere and they're not using the help callout T-T

Night Waves

Glowflies

• Get to high ground immediately. You have two options here: 

1. Get to a platform with one path, or stay on the side of one path if there are multiple, focus your fire on the glowflies, one person who isn't being targeted can do egg delivery
2. Have the person being targeted stay on the wall (squid surge but don't release it and just make sure you don't get too low), focus fire on the fish below. THEY CAN AND WILL JUMP IF YOU DON'T SPLAT THEM FAST ENOUGH. One or two people can do egg delivery

• Either one of these methods, or more I didn't list are fine, but DO NOT BREAK YOUR FORMATION. As soon as someone starts running around the map, that spells doom for the round. The only time I would do this is: I'm being targeted, we have a lot of eggs, time is running out, so I would lead the glowflies away and around the map so my teammates have a chance to get eggs in

Grillers

• Same with glowflies, get to high ground as soon as you can. Chargers can take out grillers in 2 shots (I think). Painting weapons and high DPS weapons should help with the smallfries. They will swarm your team if there's too many of them
• If you end up in a similar situation like I described at the end of the glowflies section, leading the grillers away is also a viable option

Gushers

• Don't open gushers randomly! If the height of the gusher is low and there's not as much light, it means the goldie isn't in that area. Move to another area. The closer you get, the higher and brighter the gusher will be
• Rollers can place it down and stand in front of the goldie letting it splat itself. Very efficient and quick way to splat it

I think that's all I have for now! I'm open to adding things I should add, just let me know in the comments. 

Thank you for reading if you did,

Starry