Octobrush Nouveau
The standard Brush, with wide horizontal swings that land even with rough aim. It has more range and damage than the Inkbrush and none of the Painbrush's slow startup, so it's the most reliable Brush in close fights. Its range is short and ink efficiency isn't great, so the basic idea is to get in range by lurking or ambushing from the side or behind.
Strength by modeTier and score (win-rate points vs. an average weapon).
| Mode | C–A | S–S+2 | S+3 and up | X Battle | Regular |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Splat Zones | A +1.6 | A +1.7 | B +0.1 | A +1.8 | — |
| Tower Control | S +3.2 | S +2.9 | A +2.4 | S +2.4 | — |
| Rainmaker | S +3.2 | S +2.5 | A +2.4 | S +2.2 | — |
| Clam Blitz | S +2.8 | S +2.8 | A +2.7 | S +2.2 | — |
| Turf War | — | — | — | — | A +5.1 |
Best stages / Worst stages
Tower Control
Rainmaker
Turf War
Strengths
- One of the widest swings of any weapon, so it catches fast-moving enemies without precise aim
- Splats in 3 hits up close, and can get splats from a bit farther away than the Inkbrush
- Switches quickly from swinging to brush-dashing, and brush-dashing gets you around fast even on grates
- High burst painting that covers big floors at once, so it can help paint the zone
- The base version's Suction Bomb helps pressure high ground and deal object damage, and Zipcaster lets you leap right up to long-range weapons
Watch out for
- Shorter range than the Splattershot Jr. and a slowish TTK, so it loses to many weapons once they're aiming right at you
- Big damage falloff; a bit farther away it takes 4 or more hits
- Poor ink efficiency; you run dry easily after a bomb or a lot of brush-dashing
- Brush-dashing is slower than the Inkbrush's and gets slowed by enemy ink, so charging in on brush-dashing alone is risky
- Bad at cleanly painting narrow paths, and hard to reach enemies who back off to max range and shoot while retreating
Tips
- Learn the 3-hit range (about 1.4 test-range lines) by feel in the test range, and close in to that distance before swinging
- Swim to get around, and brush-dash only over enemy ink or on grates
- After a fight, sink into your ink to refill and get ready for the next ambush. Your ink is especially low right after throwing a Suction Bomb
- Jumping swings from a ledge tend to lose damage, so get as close as you can before swinging
Common gear
Ninja Squid, Swim Speed Up, Comeback, Drop Roller, Special Power Up, Ink Saver (Main), Special Saver, Stealth JumpThis kit
An assist-focused kit: Squid Beakon helps your team return to the front, and Ink Storm paints the ground to support teammates (less splatting power than the base version).Recent changes
- 11.0.0: System change for all weapons: main weapons get bigger hitboxes against players (the shorter the range, the bigger the boost), squid form gets a smaller hurtbox, and the game adds "Flow Aura" (a temporary power-up when you keep performing well) plus a remaining-health display (source 12)
- 11.1.0: Main weapon: about 10% less ink per swing (source 13)
- 11.2.0: Special change, Zipcaster: about 33% less ink used when zipping (Octobrush, Orderbrush Replica) (source 14)
- 11.1.0 Reaction: Ink use per swing went down, but the JP wiki says ink efficiency still isn't great even after several efficiency buffs, and ink-related gear is still recommended (source 1)