InSplatoon 3, most of your gameplay and tactics are going to revolve aroundhow and where you ink turf. But don’t forget that it’s not just the way that you ink that matters– knowing the stage you’re inking up is pretty important too.
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While the general consensus is that Splatoon 3’s maps have become overly linear, there are still maps on the roster that you can find great success on that make for great turf war and anarchy battlegrounds. Whether you’re playing casually or competitively, for fun or rank, it’s a good idea to know which maps you’ll do the best on.
10Inkblot Art Academy
Inkblot Art Academy is a returning map fromSplatoon 2, which is a great map in all its forms. On turf war, the map has one central pillar that’s a great hill to hold to keep control of midstage traffic, as well as keep your enemies pushed back.
In anarchy modes, the stage varies: on tower control, clam blitz, and rainmaker, two platforms replace the central pillar on both sides of the map, which create great cover and allow for a variety of approaches when trying to push through your enemy’s defenses. Splat Zones resemble the turf war stage and set the zone around the central pillar to make holding it more difficult.
9Sturgeon Shipyard
Sturgeon Shipyard comes back from Splatoon 2 in a more streamlined form but still has all the strategic bonuses you need for the game. On turf war, the variety of different types of cover and routes to midstage give you a way to circumvent chargers using the rising platforms, but you won’t be completely safe.
The map changes in minor ways between anarchy modes but is compelling on all four due to the way the stage shifts throughout the game. The tower control route for the tower is especially well-designed, as it forces the defending team to deal with enemies from their weaker approach.
8Makomart
Makomart jumps straight out of Splatoon 2 in most of its old glory. The stage has flank routes for days, cover, and a difficult-to-punish spawn area without sacrificing any particular weapon’s ability to play well. Turf War on Makomart is a delight as you run around the aisles of this store, skirmishing and taking control of its various quadrants.
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Makomart is just as good on anarchy and is one of the best places to jump in on open or series. The rainmaker is a particular delight on this stage, as there are a number of ways to get to the first podium, making defense and offense feel like a carefully articulated tango.
7Hagglefish Market
Hagglefish, a map that dropped on launch, is a great map to play if you want both sunshine and a fun time. Aside from the umbrella platform that borders the midstage, this map has very few flaws that hurt its ability to make any mode fun. Turf war is a blast, with fights typically occurring down the two side alleys and on the middle platform to maintain three lanes of control.
Anarchy battles are somewhat of a mixed bag. The best way to get value out of Hagglefish is by playing on Tower or Zones, as the checkpoint is a little too close in rainmaker, and the basket is a bit too difficult to get to in clam blitz. Regardless, all four modes are still genuinely fun on this map, if a little harder for some.
6Scorch Gorge
Scorch Gorge, the picture of anarchy, is one of the most fun maps on Splatoon 3; there are plenty of ways to get to midstage, a great amount of space from spawn to the center, and good cover to play with. Turf war gives you the opportunity to embody anarchy through guerrilla warfare, hopping around corners to kick squids and octopuses back where they came from.
Anarchy on this map can be really great, with a lot of room for error for both teams. The first rainmaker podium is placed at a perfect distance, the tower moves on a great path, the zone is perfectly sized, and the clam basket is in a fair place. The only real issue with this map is itsspawn platform needs to be isolated– it’s a little too easy to get punished as it is.
5Eeltail Alley
Eeltail Alley is a fairly linear map with only a few ways to get to mid, but the way that it saves itself from being put with its linear siblings is by offering dozens of places to block line of sight, allowing for more complex and intense standoffs. Turf war on this map is fun enough but it doesn’t compare when playing anarchy battles here.
Rainmaker is a standout here, offering two equally difficult routes to try to blow through. This map requires more than just a good runner to get holdable’s like clams or the rainmaker through; you need to have a particularly good offense to tear open a hole in your enemy’s defenses.
4Flounder Heights
Flounder Heights is the closest thing we’ve got to a perfect map in Splatoon 3; it’s nonlinear, has ways to circumvent the midstage, and every mode you’re able to play on it has interesting routes you can use to flank or make sneaky runs to the clam basket. Turf war is just as fun, creating battlegrounds with pockets made by the dwarfed towers from Splatoon 2.
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One of the most fun parts of this map is dunking the rainmaker on the lower podium, which is placed right next to a tower just begging you to jump off of it. The grates underneath the midstage verify that you can never get avalanched since, at any point, you can come from below or behind and stop enemy momentum.
3Brinewater Springs
Brinewater Springs is tiny; it’s like a miniature Warhammer version of a Splatoon map.This should make it a bad map, but its design actually makes this claustrophobic stage feel less cramped and more action-packed. In turf war, consistency becomes key as failing to hold the midstage could roll you back to your spawn, but you can turn the tables on your enemies in the same way.
Because the map is so small, all the routes to things like podiums and clam baskets are way closer together, meaning playing as a team is crucial to staunch your enemy’s flow. Thankfully, because one of the drops from spawn gets you to the midstage in a matter of moments, death is less punishing overall.
2Museum D’Alfonsino
Museum D’Alfonsino is back with its rotating platforms to give Splatoon 3 a bit of class in its design. One of the more uniquely designed ares, D’Alfonsino is a great map on all modes because the only place to get to easily is the midstage. You have flanks and drops to get down to where the action is, but you need to bundle up an advantage if you want to safely push into your enemy’s base.
Even adding ramps to your spawn platform doesn’t ruin this in anarchy, though, because they are placed so far away from the places you’d want to get to that you may get picked off before taking advantage of the new path. This map encourages careful pacing rather than bolting and therefore prefers a steady offense over a rush.
1Undertow Spillway
Undertow Spillway is a Splatoon 3 original that, unsurprisingly, is extremely linear– the thing that saves this map is the forms of cover that turn the spillway from no-mans-land into trenches from which you can challenge chargers and splatlings. But blocking so much line of sight doesn’t disablea back liner; you just have to be more discerning with where you choose to focus your crosshairs.
This map also has one of the most interesting alternate routes for the rainmaker, as well as one of the closest clam baskets, making it a great map to play if you love playing fast and loose. Tower and Zones also have some of the best designs, encouraging a healthy back and forth rather than constant domination.
