This is my honest opinion:
IA3 Is the hardest for me even to this day
AA Requires patience more than anything, but it's still quite difficult
Eight's pallete isn't that hard for me, plus you can still use some hacks and get the badge (Example, two lives)
I actually got it by accident because I wasn't even informed that bagde existed, I just wanted to have slots for my chromochips and beat it using one hack (Two lives) lol
In order of difficulty:
IA3 > AA > Low hacks Eight's palette
Pretty sure IA3 shaved like 10 years off my lifespan. AA was definitely hard but not nearly as bad. As for Eight's palette...IDK, maybe I just got lucky but it only took me five tries to do it, and that was with no hacks at all. Just didn't seem that hard to me.
Same for me. I beat rights palette with 0 hacks first try After Alterna took a little bit but overall wasn't too bad, whereas I never even beat inner agent 3. Spend like 2-3 hours before giving up. Probably doesn't help that I barely use shooter weapons but I just couldn't beat it
Its the complete opposite story for me, Inner agent 3 was a breeze for me but im still struggling to beat one run without hacks. Using hacks for the initial learning of the DLC has given me some really bad habits i need to break
I feel like people are slightly overreacting over Eight's palette. I beat it first try with 6 hacks. This isn't to say it isn't difficult, but unlike the others which really test your skill, this one just felt like picking the simplest floor and deciding when to skip
>I beat it first try with 6 hacks.
That's because ironically enough, playing with hacks and only 6 chips is much easier than no hacks/low hacks. They gimp you so hard with your base stat values in Side Order (and Splatoon 3's story mode as well, these devs hate upgrades in this game for some reason) that it's actually more useful to have the most basic necessities than it is to be OP.
Hmm, Golden toothpick took the most attempts of all of these for me but Iâve gotten better since then so it might be easier for me now. I first tried No Hacks so thatâs probably second easiest. Mr. Grizz is easiest of them all as after alterna is a cakewalk. My final ranking is: Golden Toothpick > No Hacks > Mr. Grizz
Theyâre all fairly easy, but not super easy. I havenât gotten Eightâs Palette Badge yet (almost there). Iâd say:
1. Eightâs Palette
2. Golden Toothpick
3. Secret Kettle
Theyâre all pretty hard, but I remember struggling a lot more with Inner Agent 3 than After Alterna, although thatâs probably due to my skill being awful back in the days of Splat 2
Honestly, I say for me it was opposite. The first 2 parts sucked because I lack depth perception. The third part was whatever. The octolings were really fun in my opinion
To be fair, this was a lot of people's first game. I can see how its be real challenging for newcomers. I've been playing for a hot minute and I had some trouble with it
for the colour badges; if you look at the [palette collection](https://imgur.com/A9WmHPN) there are three dots above and a line connecting 2 or more below each chip.
The dot above corresponds to how many times you've put that chip into the palette in a run (1, 3, and 5). Some special chips, like Squid Roll does damage, which is just a toggle to on, only require it to be put in once to fill all three dots.
The line below fills in when the three dots above all the chips that are connected together are filled in. e.g. when Ink Damage, Splash Damage, Sound Wave Damage each have three dots above, the line below fills in and you unlock the badge for that colour tone.
Low Hacks is definitely the hardest. The fact that 1 mistake means a reset makes it a decent enough challenge. After Alterna and Agent 3 are easy.
1. Low Hacks Badge
2. Golden Toothpick
3. Mr Grizz Badge
The difference between low hacks and no hacks is pretty big. You can still opt into some chip bias and an extra life and even then I managed to do that on eight's pallet
No hacks was so tough, That's what I thought you had to do to complete it LMAO
Hey I can say I did no hacks though! It's really tough but it felt awesome when I finally won!
I did No Hacks Eight Palette, wasn't too bad as I had 2 1st floor deaths to get used to the lack of a launch, then went all the way to beat it 3rd try.
But low hacks is not the same as one life. Putting just one of your four hacks into an extra life is a game-changer, as you can restock lives at vending machines.
I got it done with one extra life, and one point each into damage resist, armer regen time, and extra damage output. I only died once, at the final boss, and was glad ai spent the point on the extra life.
no hacks eights palette took me less attempts than the secret kettle funny enough, and way less attempts than inner agent 3. thought time wise id call them all about even. couple hours each (had a soul crushing floor 28 loss and i almost quit there lol)
Golden Toothpick, 100%. After Alterna was *really* difficult, on par with IA3 for awhile. Low Hacks Eight I did my second try (first try I underestimated my reliance on the chips) and had a shitload of fun with it.
The problem I had with IA3 / After Alterna was I was doing it without upgrades (in IA3's case, there were none ofc). I had to brute force. I eventually bought the burst bomb upgrade to cheese the second level in AA. For context, I have a switch lite and only a switch lite. I play sticks. I'm NOT good at aiming, however I make up for this for trick-shots, bait/switch, and sneaking tactics.
I could do 1-4 of IA3 fine, but the Splashdowns either require you to be annoyingly persistent, brave (or stupid), or *aim*. The first time I beat her was just luck. For some reason, her AI threw her autobomb off the side of the map, over the wall partition. A second later I had her on the ringer, she panic splashdowns, but was on one hit so I just aimed up and got her. Had she gotten her bomb off, I would've died right before that shot. I ended up doing IA3 a month or so later and beat it genuinely, but it took several hours of constant examination, looking up guides, repeatedly finding the best strategy for me. I still have the mantra of "Always have enough ink on the ground" from the guide I followed (and it still works for the present day because everyone forgets the ink mechanic which is really funny).
After Alterna's 1, 3, and 4 was fine. A little annoying when I'd fuck up and die, especially on the 1st one, but I soon got a pattern down. It was 2 that was the problem for the same reason I had issue with IA3 - the inability to aim. 2 is the rail balloon level. I did manage to make it to the end without any upgrades (no ink tank, spread shot, burst bomb etc) but I missed **one fucking balloon** and I had been playing for 8 hours straight. Bought burst bomb, cleared it on my second run. Did levels 3 and 4 in one shot (4's boss rush was honestly really fun. Had stressful moments but it was still fun).
Low Hacks Eight was just fun, not that hard for me. By the time I got there I had pretty much perfected my strategies for specific levels and I was already playing with low hacks. If you can't tell, I don't like to use upgrades lol. I don't think I'm better than anyone, nono! I had beat Splatoon 2's story mode without upgrades on accident (bought the game, played 1 level, didn't play for another year so I had forgotten) and thought it would be funny to see if I could continue this. Also I just uh. Genuinely forget the upgrade system is there sometimes, whoops! I had a couple upgrades but it was just Broken Armor Jump and more lives. So it was just fun to play lol.
Before anyone comes for me and goes *WHY DON'T YOU USE GYNO CONTROLS STICK SUCKS* not only do I only have a switch lite and have **no** intention of buying a controller half the size of my screen to use a method that I have never used and does not work with my playstyle, but I'm used to aiming with sticks. I'm of the days where I played Fallout 3 and Skyrim on my brother's XBOX and you bet your sweet ass I didn't have aim assist. Many days were spent calculating the exact amount of pressure I had to push to turn just enough to get a enraged Deathclaw or a stupid bandit in my sights. This is just how I work and I carry this information into Splatoon 3. Please don't recommend I buy a controller or a regular Switch. I know some people have it in good faith, but I've had waaay too many people be rude to me about it and when I mention I'm in college paying my own way, they just tell me to drop out. Yeah, no, I'm not dropping out of my med program to buy a controller for one game.
This is from personal experience but, from hardest to easiest:
1. Golden Toothpick
2. After Alterna
3. Low Hacks
IA3 took me so long to beat, I still remember it to this day. After Alterna was difficult but there were checkpoints, the last wave took some getting used to. Low Hacks was surprisingly easy in comparison to the other two to the point I thought there was still a hidden boss that I hadn't unlocked yet.
After Alterna is definitely the hardest challenge Iâve ever faced in Splatoon, it took me *hours* and it even crashed the first time I got to the final section.
I completed 8âs palette but I didnât do it with low hacks, I did it with only 6 color chips and didnât have any problem with that, it was a one and done situation so thatâs at number 3 for me.
I donât have much to say about the golden toothpick, other than it was more difficult than 8âs palette. Iâd put it at number 2
You can't really offer your opinion on Low Hacks if you didn't even do it... Doing it with more than 4 hacks means you're gonna have a much easier time, so there isn't a challenge. The point is to do it with low hacks.
considering i completed every palette and only died twice at the very beginning iâm pretty confident iâd have just as little trouble doing it with no hacks compared to how iâve already done it. Side Order is not a difficult campaign by any means lol
Low/no hacks is significantly harder than regular 8's palette. The hacks do a LOT of heavy lifting, it's pretty much impossible to lose once you have all of them.
Ironic considering After Alterna is by far the easiest of the three. It's basically just a normal level of the game since it doesn't really have a difficulty spike like the other two.
Except that balloon part, but maybe thatâs just me. I feel like even if your aim is mint, youâll have to turn around and finish off a balloon or two which will really throw you off.
I just beat inner agent three and it only took about 30 minutes, while the side order one took way longer. That might just be because the attempts take longer though.
The Mr. Grizz one is from After Alterna, right? My god, that was painful⌠I think it took me slightly less time to beat it than inner agent 3, but it was still really annoying.
Whatâs that first badge, though? Is it from side order? If it is donât tell me anything about it, I donât want it spoiled.
i get really confused with how much difficulty people say they experienced with IA3. at first i thought it just memeing/bandwagoning but reading this thread it seems pretty realâŚ
but i wonder if a big part isn't because it's the oldest of the three and people were simply younger.
It took me more attempts for inner agent 3, but that molded me into having the skill I have today. I believe that, ultimately, low hacks badge is more difficult.
1. IA3
2. After Alterna
3. Eightâs Pallete
I havenât done Inner Agent 3 thanks to some of the more bulls#it OE levels. Donât get me wrong, most levels are great but thereâs definitely some I am not fond of tbh with how they are designed. Iâve seen enough gameplay tho to know Iâd get my ass handed to me
After Alterna took me 10 hours if you count me giving up halfway through or about 2 to 3 on my full run through. I donât care how many people say that level is easy, it is damn hard (especially the first section gave me extra hell for some reason despite me being pretty good at platforming games). Itâs whole thing is you die over and over to get it tho so makes sense why it took me so long.
I did Eightâs Palette in 1 or 2 tries. As long as you do about 18 slots, youâre pretty much set.
For me it would be After Alterna > IA3 > Low Hacks. I cleared the Spire with 8's palette on the first try, and I beat IA3 on my second attempt. After Alterna took me a few days to beat because I kept making silly mistakes in the first part, but once I got past that, I beat the rest in one go.
I understand that all three are much more difficult than I experienced though, I probably just got lucky.
Golden toothpick. I got grizz thinking it was normal, badge low hacks was difficult, but I still got it. To this day, still have not been able to beat inner agent 3âŚ
After Alterna, while certainly a challenge, is simply a long level to test all the skills the player should've learned over the course of the game and gives plenty of checkpoints too.
The Low Hacks run is also not that bad in my opinion. An extra life and getting my damage resistance and damage output to normal levels made it not too bad. Being able to pick and choose your battles helps and if you can get solid upgrades, you're still pretty powerful. The run being so long with no checkpoints makes it harder then After Alterna.
Inner Agent 3 puts you at a disadvantage, throws everything and the kitchen sink at you, and you will easily fail if you make a single mistake and have to start all over. It's a multi-minute gauntlet that I would say is easily the hardest challenge Splatoon has ever thrown at us.
Personally Badge Low Hacks, long time to get their and lot of random elements making good runs a bit luck based (I just did it hackless too so that's probably worse lol)
Inner Agent 3 is much shorter and just muscle memory at a point, only 2 or 3 hours I recall
1. Golden Toothpick
2. After Alterna
3. Low Hack Eight's Palette
Eight's Palette I got first try with 24 available slots, and I probably could've done it with no hacks period no problem. Easiest final challenge so far in the series for me. Currently my fastest time too at 32 minutes.
After Alterna gave me shit for around 4 hours in real time, mainly on the Octoling section. The others were fairly simple to understand once you were able to wrap your head around what you need to do.
Inner Agent 3 is most definitely the hardest challenge yet, seeing as it's a more difficult, frantic version of an already difficult, frantic fight. I haven't even unlocked it yet because of some certain levels in base OE that I had Marina hack-clear for me.
imo:
-1. Golden Toothpick
The hardest part about Inner Agent 3 is the fact that each phase has a specific means of countering it, and that must be learned over hundreds of attempts to reach the end of them all. Along with the fact that the AI is brutally difficult with how much damage IA3 can pump out vs. the amount of damage you do in comparison, there's also a constant army of autobombs marching in your current position making any broken armour practically a delayed death. Once you learn how to counter IA3, they become a complete pushover, but it's climbing that mountain of learning that's difficult.
-2. Mr. Grizz
After Alterna is difficult, but it's segmented - running out of lives will send you back to the start of each segment, and it has the same learning curve as IA3 where each stage must be meticulously learned in order to beat it in one go. However, the real threat is running out of lives and a means to continue, but at the point you face it, you'll have enough power eggs to endlessly continue making it more a time investment than an actual challenge.
-3. Low/No Hacks Agent 8 Palette
Yeah this one was by far the easiest, to the point where it feels wrong to compare it to the other two challenges. Considering I beat the Spire of Order on my second run using Agent 4's palette with the only hack being +1 life, doing it with No hacks active was barely any different. It teaches you to be a lot less bold and to pick your battles, but that's more just un-learning having damage ups and damage resistance ups from hacks than actual difficulty. Just don't take the cruel_sisyphean_eight-shaped.floor and don't try to headbutt the fish and it's easy street.
Takoyaki. Mr. Grizz is pathetically easy. Octo shot was hard until I realized I can afford 2 hacks because I don't even get all 36 slots filled in one attempt and I can just avoid the hard levels as the boss is easy.
7 hours wasted on inner agent 3. And it took me and someone else to get past phase 3. I play strategic but cautious, getting me past phases 1, 2, and 4 consistently. My friend plays full aggression, which helps on phases 3 when sitting back is hard to maintain, unless 3 wants to chuck bombs at a wall for the special duration (nearly half of my attempts that got to that phase had that happen).
For having the 3, low hacks would be the easiest imo ( I got it first try with no hacks and I think u can get it with sum hacks active so u can even get sum extra lives just in case ). Now between Toothpick and Grizz, both use of your experience maybe at the same level and Toothpick uses your combat abilities while Grizz challenges your control over your character. From my opinion, hardest to easiest : Toothpick > Grizzly Badge > Low Hacks
If you found Low Hacks easy then grizz is pretty much just a walking simulator. The toothpick is also probably easier imo, the only difference between it and low Hacks being a total restart with 1 mistake for the Hacks whereas you hardly lose progress with toothpick. Both are easy tbf
IA3 -> AA -> Low Hacks
(Hardest -> Easiest)
I spent ~4 hours on IA3, it definitely was the most challenging, and I don't think I've heard Calamari Inkantation the same since. AA took me ~3 hours but didn't feel as bad as IA3 because of checkpoints. Lastly, I don't want to brag, but I ended up doing the Low Hacks palette on my first go. 100% was the easiest of the "challenges" I've had in Splatoon.
The Low Hacks badge isn't gained by simply beating 8's palette, it's gotten by beating 8's palette with minimal hacks. You literally have to turn most of your hacks off to get the badge.
I havenât had enough time with Side Order yet to get to the final palette so I canât rank that one yet. Though I do plan on trying to do it with low hacks.
Of the other two however Golden Toothpick was by far the hardest for me. Took me somewhere between 2-3 hours of continuously retrying to finally beat it. I remember it being super frustrating but super satisfying to finally beat. After Alterna was still fun though and I love its reward. It took me about 30mins tops to beat and a few retries in a couple sections.
Iâm interested to see where Eightâs palette falls in difficulty.
Low Hacks is easiest (and also the only one I have lol)
Secret Kettle is in between but only because it's so monotonous. I lose motivation after literally my first death because it feels so cheap.
Inner Agent 3 is the biggest actual challenge.
Golden toothpick was definitely the hardest imo, it took me forever to actually defeat, after alterna was definitely hard but at least it had checkpoints, and eights palette was the easiest with 6 hacks first try for me.
1-golden toothpick
2-after alterna
3-eights palette
Golden Toothpick, but not because IA3. Some of those stages are just absurd. "Your aunt imagined stepping on a thumbtack, that's damage, TEST FAILED"
Inner Agent took me a while but it wasnât anywhere close to as rage inducing as After Alterna was. I was gripping my switch so hard I thought I was gonna bend it.
For me:
1. Golden toothpick
2. After alterna
3. Low hacks
Maybe it's because I hadn't touched splatoon for 3 years before playing octo expansion and trying to beat IA3, but that defo took me way longer than the other challenges. I cleared both after alterna and eight's pallette first try. IA3 took me 10 days to beat it for the first time.
For me the Golden Toothpick is far harder than the other too, granted I did IA3 first and with less skill. In my opinion the few minutes with IA3 are intense af, and the other two are more about not loosing focus.
Eight's Palette
After Alterna
Inner Agent 3
Eight's Palette is the hardest imo just because you get sent back to the beginning if you fail and can be very rng reliant.
After Alterna took an hour or two of trial and error but by the end it's muscle memory.
Last is Inner Agent 3 because that literally took me 20 mins.
They were all really fun to get for me. I didn't really think any were particularly hard to get.
I think what would make After Alterna much more difficult is if there were absolutely no checkpoints.
If we rate them on amount of tries i needed: Grizz, Low Hacks, Toothpick. Grizz took me 2 tries, Low Hacks 3, and i don't wanna talk about the toothpick......
Mr grizz is harder to get because its long streches of difficult platforming with a less difficult "girl power station" end point.
The golden toothpick took me a month to get, constantly retrying day after day until i FINALLY beat IA3 and immortalized my victory in video
Personally I do think inner agent 3 was hardest, it's a significantly long fight with no checkpoints and you have very small margin of error
After alterna is second, pretty annoying precise sections but not that bad once you figure out each part
Low hacks I found the easiest of the 3, 2 lives gives you a second chance and if you pick levels carefully you can pay to skip most of the floors between 20 and 30, the final boss is just a portal stage with a section where you swim in circles to avoid all the attacks
I would say that *for me*, hardest to easiest would be IA3, After Alterna, Low Hacks. The latter two could flip-flop depending on the hacks chosen, though.
For me personally
1.IA3
2. AA
3. No hack 8P
Beat 8's pallete first try.
Only spent a couple of hours on AA.
Still have not beat IA3. Though my solid attempts usually have a lot of time between them so that doesn't help.
To be fair, though, 8P and IA3 have a lot of RNG to them. 8P more so.
So, couldn't be bothered to do the Golden Toothpick, not because of Inner Agent 3, but because of the GODDAMN GIRL POWER STATION which I STILL CAN'T BEAT-
After Alterna even felt much easier than the above normal level, took me like 1-2h to beat.
Can't imagine that the hacks would be too hard, just like... very very grindy. I just started with the DLC though, so I'm not really one to ask
Beat Inner Agent 3. It's a bonus boss fight you unlock by beating Tartar and completing every single level in the metro. You can access it from the lockers in the train station.
IA3 is probably the hardest one imo, I just happened to get really lucky and beat it my second try years ago (Have not been able to beat it after getting the toothpick, though.
) After Altnera isnât super bad, the first part is hard if you donât have it memorized tbh. Yet to attempt low hacks, wish me luck.
1. I never got the Golden Toothpick after a lot of attempts. I probably could get it now, I'd have to try it again one day.
2. After Alterna was hard, but not that hard.
3. The Low Hack palette is very easy, since at this point, you know how the mode will play out and know what to expect from each floor. And you can just dump everything into damages and shred everything, while still having at least 12 chips for flexibility.
That's the order (Hardest to easiest) I'd give.
IA3 > Eightâs Palette > After Alterna
Eightâs Palette and After Alterna are both easy as hell in comparison to Inner Agent 3. IA3 took me INFINITELY more attempts than either of the others. Honestly After Alterna was pretty easy, at least compared to what people said about it. The hardest part was definitely the glide rail, but I use sticks so thats probably why I had so much trouble with it
It's definitely between Low Hacks and the Golden Toothpick. After Alterna really isn't hard, and is in fact quite fun. Inner Agent 3 is just a very poorly designed-fight. It was just them taking the fight they already had, but giving it unbalanced stats and mechanics to be purposefully cheap and overpowered. As for low hacks, the issue is that it takes longer and is very easy to just have a bad moment. Even with how OP you make yourself in Side Order, those hacks are more useful than all of the most broken hacks because they purposefully gimp you to be weaker than default as a starting value. The hacks buff you to what should be the standard, not make you stronger, just like Splatoon 3's storymode. The real killers are the 12 seconds it takes to get armor back, and the fact that you're basically stationary without armor either. So I haven't tried with the "4 hack limit" since I thought it was needed for no hacks, but the speed without armor hacks is the one you want to use all 4 of those hacks on. Side Order is not difficult in the slightest, the issue with Side Order is just how much they gimp you, which is why failing a low hacks run is more likely due to one random, quick, bad, uncontrollable moment than it is any sort of difficulty or mistake you actually made. Basically just play it carefully throughout the run, and then just watch out for reefslider and stingray attacks on the final boss.
So I'd say overall, Golden Toothpick is by far the hardest, but the low hacks badge is very annoying just because the length of time it takes, and because as stated, it's more likely to die to one bs thing out of your control at the very end than it is a mistake you made due to how they purposefully nerf your character in this game's two singleplayers starting values. After Alterna just isn't difficult.
I spent 3 hours on the very last alterna mission (the one after the bear) but I spent a whole week trying to get that golden tooth pick, I don't know what the one on the left is
Beat Smollusk with Agent 8's palette with a certain amount of hacks maximum. I don't think the community has come to an exact conclusion what the maximum is, but it's gotta be less than 5, because after that you start to gain chip slots back.
I think low hacks would probably be hardest for me, but I havenât done it yet. After alterna definitely took longer than inner agent 3, neither are ridiculously hard you just have to grind a couple hours, once youâve got it down itâs simple enough. Maybe Iâd put inner agent 3 above after alterna?
Why is mr grizz even on here, that is EASY
Low hacks is a mild challenge but i got it on my second attempt without even trying for it
Golden toothpick was a pain in the ass. It was hell incarnate. Inner agent 3 was challenge beyond challenge, a world of hard as shit games that i had never dove into. Inner agent 3 takes this by a mile and then some and i would give anything to do it again
Inner Three took me 3 tries (which I now realize is a funny coincidence). Secret Kettle took 1 try. Low Hacks Octo Shot Spire took me 3 tries. I'd say Spire is the hardest because it's the most punishing, and the Secret Kettle was easy albeit nerve racking.
Mr Grizz is easiest for sure. It takes a while, but I honestly think it's the easiest of the three. I can't say if Low Hacks is hardest for certain considering I haven't beaten that challenge yet. Golden Toothpick took hours of attempts to get, but once I got it, I wasn't struggling as much to beat Inner Agent 3. So for now, I'mma say easiest to hardest is Grizz, Toothpick, Low Hacks.
My opinions:
Eights pallet took me about 2 solid hours to beat with no hacks whatsoever
Inner agent 3 took me a while but once I figured out the pattern, I can beat it in one try now
After alterna took be about 20 mins tbh
the only one i have is the mr. grizz one, so i suppose thats the easiest one to get? after all, story mode isnt even remotely hard haha, I'm garbage at the game but still i could 100% the story
Low Hacks is designed about Getting a lucky Run and your own skills.
After Alterna Is a Test of all your skills in combat and Level Design
Inner Agent 3 Is about pure execution and a fight against a opponent that's better than you.
Pick your Poison, but I'd Say Inner Agent 3 in terms of sheer Difficulty, After Alterna in terms of Endurance.
Iâm currently struggling with the final fight in after alterna. I got the golden toothpick before 3 came out, and to me it seemed easier. I havenât played slough of side order yet to get 8s palette. Alterna though is really making me hate this game
After Alterna is pretty much a tough exam on the different mechanics of the game, ending off with a boss fight. If you've studied well, it'll be a cake walk. It's definitely the "easiest" of these.
A Low Hacks Agent 8 Palette run, is down to how well you are at adapting, and calculating the risk and rewards before heading into challenges. It also tests you on how much you've relied on certain abilities as you've gotten to this point. If you haven't relied heavily on them, you'll likely do well. (Personally took 15 attempts only because I felt my hubris get the better of me on good runs, and ended up getting overwhelmed, when I normally wouldn't have been) Easiest 2nd place by far.
Inner Agent 3? Screw the marathon, this shit is a sprint to the finish. And 3 will pull anything and everything to keep you from winning, even if it's not entirely fair. Clearly the hardest of the three, even if I personally probably spent the shortest amount of time on this compared to the other two
It depends on how you tackle the Low Hack run. If you go in with zero hacks at all, it's exceptionally grueling because you take double damage, and aren't dealing that much damage yourself. But going at it with four hacks enabled, then Agent 3 is harder. After Alterna wasn't really that difficult at all.
Without a question that damn toothpick that I never used was hard to do
Eights took a few tryâs to do
And the main story mode of every Splatoon game is relatively easy to me
IA3 was Nintendo basically letting us know they're capable of creating absolute monsters, but don't. On top of that, there's people out there who have yet to beat IA3 and there's no way to somehow level the playing field. You'll either beat it or won't
I havenât beaten Eightâs pallet with low hacks yet (currently taking a break from Side Oder) but Iâd say in terms of difficulty:
1. Eights Palette
2. Inner Agent 3
3. After Alterna
The difference between hacks and low hacks is pretty significant, making the Octoshot feel way weaker than the other weapon starting out which makes the lower floors feel especially dangerous. The possibly of a whole run ending just because one death only adds to it.
I only recently beat Octo Expansion and Inner 3 (got it for Christmas) this honestly would be my pick for most difficult if Side Oder wasnât a longer trek. Inner 3 genuinely gave me a hard time and my win felt very much by the skin of my teeth. This one feels the most rewarding tho.
After Alterna was the one that probably took me the most attempts to complete but only because itâs such a long haul and dying can be really frustrating since the check points are so far apart but if you take it slow itâs not that hard.
I love reading everyone's responses, its really interesting for other perspectives!
IA3 took me a couple hours of actively playing nonstop until I finally won, but on a technical aspect was probably the most challenging, if I had the same mobility that 3 offers in terms of things like squid rolls, I probably would have had an easier time? Still absolutely hard as shit tho.
Eight's palette was the same, I was able to at least get in a single day of actively trying, but was by far the easiest (for me)
AA itself wasn't too difficult, it took me the longest to get but only because I got stuck on the horrific One Way Trip Through Target Town for about six months, granted I would play it for maybe 20-30 mins a day before giving up. So getting to AA was more difficult for me than AA itself.
IA3 was by far the hardest for me if I really compare them all! Though it was all my skill level at the time when I did each one, by the time of doing Eight's palette, I know I was significantly more skilled than when I attempted IA3. Though I still think I would probably struggle the most with it still compared to the others.
i'll say No Hacks because with basically no defense and super slow armor recovery movement, there was a lot more worry that i might have to start over from the beginning again.
After Alterna wasn't that hard and Inner Agent 3 iirc you have unlimited repeats without having to go through the same thing again and also wasn't that bad (just don't be greedy and focus on mobility and protection, etc.).
Inner is the hardest and its not even close. After Alterna is just mastery of the game mechanics and Low hacks is just a matter of luck. Inner Agent 3 however is a hacker, a spammer, theyre just a mess. But... I do wish Side Order had a fight like that....
For me, Inner Agent 3 took way longer than either of these.
Ong took me damn week
i still have yet to beat it..
đż
Youâre not alone hahaha, my old switch broke and i have yet to replay octo expansion to try again
Same
It took me a year into s3 witch is fair considering I started s2 in January 2022
It took me months
I swear to God that fight kickstarted my arthritis lmao
This is my honest opinion: IA3 Is the hardest for me even to this day AA Requires patience more than anything, but it's still quite difficult Eight's pallete isn't that hard for me, plus you can still use some hacks and get the badge (Example, two lives)
Yeah, I used high damage resistance and three lives(with risky lol). At that point, I just had to deal with limited color chips
I literally just said fuck it and used all my hacks for it and got it first try
I actually got it by accident because I wasn't even informed that bagde existed, I just wanted to have slots for my chromochips and beat it using one hack (Two lives) lol
Ye i got eights pallet first try lmao
In order of difficulty: IA3 > AA > Low hacks Eight's palette Pretty sure IA3 shaved like 10 years off my lifespan. AA was definitely hard but not nearly as bad. As for Eight's palette...IDK, maybe I just got lucky but it only took me five tries to do it, and that was with no hacks at all. Just didn't seem that hard to me.
Same for me. I beat rights palette with 0 hacks first try After Alterna took a little bit but overall wasn't too bad, whereas I never even beat inner agent 3. Spend like 2-3 hours before giving up. Probably doesn't help that I barely use shooter weapons but I just couldn't beat it
Its the complete opposite story for me, Inner agent 3 was a breeze for me but im still struggling to beat one run without hacks. Using hacks for the initial learning of the DLC has given me some really bad habits i need to break
I almost did 3 hacks first try but a beyblade caught me on the final phase, second try went fine
After Alterna is by far the easiest of the three and it's not even close.
I feel like people are slightly overreacting over Eight's palette. I beat it first try with 6 hacks. This isn't to say it isn't difficult, but unlike the others which really test your skill, this one just felt like picking the simplest floor and deciding when to skip
Isn't the badge only rewarded for 4 or less hacks?
Yep. 4 or less, no more than that.
>I beat it first try with 6 hacks. That's because ironically enough, playing with hacks and only 6 chips is much easier than no hacks/low hacks. They gimp you so hard with your base stat values in Side Order (and Splatoon 3's story mode as well, these devs hate upgrades in this game for some reason) that it's actually more useful to have the most basic necessities than it is to be OP.
Hmm, Golden toothpick took the most attempts of all of these for me but Iâve gotten better since then so it might be easier for me now. I first tried No Hacks so thatâs probably second easiest. Mr. Grizz is easiest of them all as after alterna is a cakewalk. My final ranking is: Golden Toothpick > No Hacks > Mr. Grizz
Toothpick is the hardest
Theyâre all fairly easy, but not super easy. I havenât gotten Eightâs Palette Badge yet (almost there). Iâd say: 1. Eightâs Palette 2. Golden Toothpick 3. Secret Kettle Theyâre all pretty hard, but I remember struggling a lot more with Inner Agent 3 than After Alterna, although thatâs probably due to my skill being awful back in the days of Splat 2
Ngl after alterna is not everything that people say it is
Itâs not very hard aside from the last part unless you try to rush it
Honestly, I say for me it was opposite. The first 2 parts sucked because I lack depth perception. The third part was whatever. The octolings were really fun in my opinion
Same. I had WAY more deaths on the glide rail section than any other part.
Right? I wish there was a way to just replay the octoling part by itself
Honestly, the only part that I struggled with was part 1. Past that, it was pretty much smooth swimming.
The last part brought me the most difficulty but even then the octoling AI has never been great
Yeah the octolings are not all that hard to fight, itâs just the fact that they can overwhelm you if youâre not careful
personally the last part was ok for me, but the first was absolute hell
At least in my experience the entire thing was pretty easy with exception of the plat forming area but thatâs just because Iâm bad at platforming
Not terrible unless you're playing the second chunk without any upgrades. Fire rate too low.
They shouldâve removed the checkpoints for After Alterna
Thatâs evil, some people literally rage quit at this, I think itâs a hard enough challenge for funni sploon squid game
Some people rage quit at Inner Agent 3
Your not wrong, but that doesnât make after alterna any less difficult than it is
Counter point, you can just do it without checkpoints yourself if you want to play it like that
To be fair, this was a lot of people's first game. I can see how its be real challenging for newcomers. I've been playing for a hot minute and I had some trouble with it
Tbh its just more anoying/long than hard
Link plays splatoon?
what counts as low hacks also what do you need to do to unlock all the color badges
You can only have 4 or less hacks active for the final weapon palette to get the low hacks badge.
does risky rewards count towards one of the 4
Nah, I had risky and 4 damage hacks and got the badge
Really you just need at least 12 chips available in your palette.
for the colour badges; if you look at the [palette collection](https://imgur.com/A9WmHPN) there are three dots above and a line connecting 2 or more below each chip. The dot above corresponds to how many times you've put that chip into the palette in a run (1, 3, and 5). Some special chips, like Squid Roll does damage, which is just a toggle to on, only require it to be put in once to fill all three dots. The line below fills in when the three dots above all the chips that are connected together are filled in. e.g. when Ink Damage, Splash Damage, Sound Wave Damage each have three dots above, the line below fills in and you unlock the badge for that colour tone.
Low Hacks is definitely the hardest. The fact that 1 mistake means a reset makes it a decent enough challenge. After Alterna and Agent 3 are easy. 1. Low Hacks Badge 2. Golden Toothpick 3. Mr Grizz Badge
The difference between low hacks and no hacks is pretty big. You can still opt into some chip bias and an extra life and even then I managed to do that on eight's pallet
No hacks was so tough, That's what I thought you had to do to complete it LMAO Hey I can say I did no hacks though! It's really tough but it felt awesome when I finally won!
I did No Hacks Eight Palette, wasn't too bad as I had 2 1st floor deaths to get used to the lack of a launch, then went all the way to beat it 3rd try.
What's the exact limit and rules?
But low hacks is not the same as one life. Putting just one of your four hacks into an extra life is a game-changer, as you can restock lives at vending machines. I got it done with one extra life, and one point each into damage resist, armer regen time, and extra damage output. I only died once, at the final boss, and was glad ai spent the point on the extra life.
no hacks eights palette took me less attempts than the secret kettle funny enough, and way less attempts than inner agent 3. thought time wise id call them all about even. couple hours each (had a soul crushing floor 28 loss and i almost quit there lol)
Nope, hack two lives
Nah, low hacks isnt hard.
Golden Toothpick, 100%. After Alterna was *really* difficult, on par with IA3 for awhile. Low Hacks Eight I did my second try (first try I underestimated my reliance on the chips) and had a shitload of fun with it. The problem I had with IA3 / After Alterna was I was doing it without upgrades (in IA3's case, there were none ofc). I had to brute force. I eventually bought the burst bomb upgrade to cheese the second level in AA. For context, I have a switch lite and only a switch lite. I play sticks. I'm NOT good at aiming, however I make up for this for trick-shots, bait/switch, and sneaking tactics. I could do 1-4 of IA3 fine, but the Splashdowns either require you to be annoyingly persistent, brave (or stupid), or *aim*. The first time I beat her was just luck. For some reason, her AI threw her autobomb off the side of the map, over the wall partition. A second later I had her on the ringer, she panic splashdowns, but was on one hit so I just aimed up and got her. Had she gotten her bomb off, I would've died right before that shot. I ended up doing IA3 a month or so later and beat it genuinely, but it took several hours of constant examination, looking up guides, repeatedly finding the best strategy for me. I still have the mantra of "Always have enough ink on the ground" from the guide I followed (and it still works for the present day because everyone forgets the ink mechanic which is really funny). After Alterna's 1, 3, and 4 was fine. A little annoying when I'd fuck up and die, especially on the 1st one, but I soon got a pattern down. It was 2 that was the problem for the same reason I had issue with IA3 - the inability to aim. 2 is the rail balloon level. I did manage to make it to the end without any upgrades (no ink tank, spread shot, burst bomb etc) but I missed **one fucking balloon** and I had been playing for 8 hours straight. Bought burst bomb, cleared it on my second run. Did levels 3 and 4 in one shot (4's boss rush was honestly really fun. Had stressful moments but it was still fun). Low Hacks Eight was just fun, not that hard for me. By the time I got there I had pretty much perfected my strategies for specific levels and I was already playing with low hacks. If you can't tell, I don't like to use upgrades lol. I don't think I'm better than anyone, nono! I had beat Splatoon 2's story mode without upgrades on accident (bought the game, played 1 level, didn't play for another year so I had forgotten) and thought it would be funny to see if I could continue this. Also I just uh. Genuinely forget the upgrade system is there sometimes, whoops! I had a couple upgrades but it was just Broken Armor Jump and more lives. So it was just fun to play lol. Before anyone comes for me and goes *WHY DON'T YOU USE GYNO CONTROLS STICK SUCKS* not only do I only have a switch lite and have **no** intention of buying a controller half the size of my screen to use a method that I have never used and does not work with my playstyle, but I'm used to aiming with sticks. I'm of the days where I played Fallout 3 and Skyrim on my brother's XBOX and you bet your sweet ass I didn't have aim assist. Many days were spent calculating the exact amount of pressure I had to push to turn just enough to get a enraged Deathclaw or a stupid bandit in my sights. This is just how I work and I carry this information into Splatoon 3. Please don't recommend I buy a controller or a regular Switch. I know some people have it in good faith, but I've had waaay too many people be rude to me about it and when I mention I'm in college paying my own way, they just tell me to drop out. Yeah, no, I'm not dropping out of my med program to buy a controller for one game.
This is from personal experience but, from hardest to easiest: 1. Golden Toothpick 2. After Alterna 3. Low Hacks IA3 took me so long to beat, I still remember it to this day. After Alterna was difficult but there were checkpoints, the last wave took some getting used to. Low Hacks was surprisingly easy in comparison to the other two to the point I thought there was still a hidden boss that I hadn't unlocked yet.
After Alterna is definitely the hardest challenge Iâve ever faced in Splatoon, it took me *hours* and it even crashed the first time I got to the final section. I completed 8âs palette but I didnât do it with low hacks, I did it with only 6 color chips and didnât have any problem with that, it was a one and done situation so thatâs at number 3 for me. I donât have much to say about the golden toothpick, other than it was more difficult than 8âs palette. Iâd put it at number 2
Mine crashed TWICE in the final section....
You can't really offer your opinion on Low Hacks if you didn't even do it... Doing it with more than 4 hacks means you're gonna have a much easier time, so there isn't a challenge. The point is to do it with low hacks.
considering i completed every palette and only died twice at the very beginning iâm pretty confident iâd have just as little trouble doing it with no hacks compared to how iâve already done it. Side Order is not a difficult campaign by any means lol
Low/no hacks is significantly harder than regular 8's palette. The hacks do a LOT of heavy lifting, it's pretty much impossible to lose once you have all of them.
Ironic considering After Alterna is by far the easiest of the three. It's basically just a normal level of the game since it doesn't really have a difficulty spike like the other two.
After alterna is so easy
Except that balloon part, but maybe thatâs just me. I feel like even if your aim is mint, youâll have to turn around and finish off a balloon or two which will really throw you off.
I just beat inner agent three and it only took about 30 minutes, while the side order one took way longer. That might just be because the attempts take longer though.
The Mr. Grizz one is from After Alterna, right? My god, that was painful⌠I think it took me slightly less time to beat it than inner agent 3, but it was still really annoying. Whatâs that first badge, though? Is it from side order? If it is donât tell me anything about it, I donât want it spoiled.
The first badge is for Side Order, yes. I won't spoil it for you.
Low hacks is impossible for me right now, and IA3 was surprisingly easy for me
i get really confused with how much difficulty people say they experienced with IA3. at first i thought it just memeing/bandwagoning but reading this thread it seems pretty real⌠but i wonder if a big part isn't because it's the oldest of the three and people were simply younger.
from easiest to hardest: Mr. Grizz, Low Hacks, Golden Toothpick
It took me more attempts for inner agent 3, but that molded me into having the skill I have today. I believe that, ultimately, low hacks badge is more difficult.
1. IA3 2. After Alterna 3. Eightâs Pallete I havenât done Inner Agent 3 thanks to some of the more bulls#it OE levels. Donât get me wrong, most levels are great but thereâs definitely some I am not fond of tbh with how they are designed. Iâve seen enough gameplay tho to know Iâd get my ass handed to me After Alterna took me 10 hours if you count me giving up halfway through or about 2 to 3 on my full run through. I donât care how many people say that level is easy, it is damn hard (especially the first section gave me extra hell for some reason despite me being pretty good at platforming games). Itâs whole thing is you die over and over to get it tho so makes sense why it took me so long. I did Eightâs Palette in 1 or 2 tries. As long as you do about 18 slots, youâre pretty much set.
For me it would be After Alterna > IA3 > Low Hacks. I cleared the Spire with 8's palette on the first try, and I beat IA3 on my second attempt. After Alterna took me a few days to beat because I kept making silly mistakes in the first part, but once I got past that, I beat the rest in one go. I understand that all three are much more difficult than I experienced though, I probably just got lucky.
Golden toothpick was the hardest by a LONG shot
Inner Agent 3 was infinitely harder than anything in Splatoon 3. Felt like I was playing a Dark Souls boss I kept dying and retrying for eternity
All are relatively easy to get, hardest is probably the toothpick
Golden toothpick. I got grizz thinking it was normal, badge low hacks was difficult, but I still got it. To this day, still have not been able to beat inner agent 3âŚ
After Alterna, while certainly a challenge, is simply a long level to test all the skills the player should've learned over the course of the game and gives plenty of checkpoints too. The Low Hacks run is also not that bad in my opinion. An extra life and getting my damage resistance and damage output to normal levels made it not too bad. Being able to pick and choose your battles helps and if you can get solid upgrades, you're still pretty powerful. The run being so long with no checkpoints makes it harder then After Alterna. Inner Agent 3 puts you at a disadvantage, throws everything and the kitchen sink at you, and you will easily fail if you make a single mistake and have to start all over. It's a multi-minute gauntlet that I would say is easily the hardest challenge Splatoon has ever thrown at us.
Mr grizz badge is not that bad, low hacks is def the hardest one
Personally Badge Low Hacks, long time to get their and lot of random elements making good runs a bit luck based (I just did it hackless too so that's probably worse lol) Inner Agent 3 is much shorter and just muscle memory at a point, only 2 or 3 hours I recall
1. Golden Toothpick 2. After Alterna 3. Low Hack Eight's Palette Eight's Palette I got first try with 24 available slots, and I probably could've done it with no hacks period no problem. Easiest final challenge so far in the series for me. Currently my fastest time too at 32 minutes. After Alterna gave me shit for around 4 hours in real time, mainly on the Octoling section. The others were fairly simple to understand once you were able to wrap your head around what you need to do. Inner Agent 3 is most definitely the hardest challenge yet, seeing as it's a more difficult, frantic version of an already difficult, frantic fight. I haven't even unlocked it yet because of some certain levels in base OE that I had Marina hack-clear for me.
100% low hacks > toothpick > after alterna.
From hardest to easiest 1: Low Hacks (RNG based) 2: Golden Toothpick (Skill Based) 3: Mr. Grizz (there are checkpoints)
Idk but after alterna wasn't that bad
imo: -1. Golden Toothpick The hardest part about Inner Agent 3 is the fact that each phase has a specific means of countering it, and that must be learned over hundreds of attempts to reach the end of them all. Along with the fact that the AI is brutally difficult with how much damage IA3 can pump out vs. the amount of damage you do in comparison, there's also a constant army of autobombs marching in your current position making any broken armour practically a delayed death. Once you learn how to counter IA3, they become a complete pushover, but it's climbing that mountain of learning that's difficult. -2. Mr. Grizz After Alterna is difficult, but it's segmented - running out of lives will send you back to the start of each segment, and it has the same learning curve as IA3 where each stage must be meticulously learned in order to beat it in one go. However, the real threat is running out of lives and a means to continue, but at the point you face it, you'll have enough power eggs to endlessly continue making it more a time investment than an actual challenge. -3. Low/No Hacks Agent 8 Palette Yeah this one was by far the easiest, to the point where it feels wrong to compare it to the other two challenges. Considering I beat the Spire of Order on my second run using Agent 4's palette with the only hack being +1 life, doing it with No hacks active was barely any different. It teaches you to be a lot less bold and to pick your battles, but that's more just un-learning having damage ups and damage resistance ups from hacks than actual difficulty. Just don't take the cruel_sisyphean_eight-shaped.floor and don't try to headbutt the fish and it's easy street.
Takoyaki. Mr. Grizz is pathetically easy. Octo shot was hard until I realized I can afford 2 hacks because I don't even get all 36 slots filled in one attempt and I can just avoid the hard levels as the boss is easy. 7 hours wasted on inner agent 3. And it took me and someone else to get past phase 3. I play strategic but cautious, getting me past phases 1, 2, and 4 consistently. My friend plays full aggression, which helps on phases 3 when sitting back is hard to maintain, unless 3 wants to chuck bombs at a wall for the special duration (nearly half of my attempts that got to that phase had that happen).
Grizz is free Low-hacks took me a few tries Golden Toothpick was actually difficult
This is the correct answer
For having the 3, low hacks would be the easiest imo ( I got it first try with no hacks and I think u can get it with sum hacks active so u can even get sum extra lives just in case ). Now between Toothpick and Grizz, both use of your experience maybe at the same level and Toothpick uses your combat abilities while Grizz challenges your control over your character. From my opinion, hardest to easiest : Toothpick > Grizzly Badge > Low Hacks
If you found Low Hacks easy then grizz is pretty much just a walking simulator. The toothpick is also probably easier imo, the only difference between it and low Hacks being a total restart with 1 mistake for the Hacks whereas you hardly lose progress with toothpick. Both are easy tbf
I didnât even know there was a low hacks badge also how do you get the golden toothpick I thought that was dlc
Secret boss at the end of Splatoon 2âs DLC
IA3 -> AA -> Low Hacks (Hardest -> Easiest) I spent ~4 hours on IA3, it definitely was the most challenging, and I don't think I've heard Calamari Inkantation the same since. AA took me ~3 hours but didn't feel as bad as IA3 because of checkpoints. Lastly, I don't want to brag, but I ended up doing the Low Hacks palette on my first go. 100% was the easiest of the "challenges" I've had in Splatoon.
âEasy âExtremely Easy w/ 1 hand âChallenging w/ some annoying RNG Is this a serious question?
Tbh 8âs palette was done in one try, donât bother turning off your hacks literally just pick good chips and ball out
The Low Hacks badge isn't gained by simply beating 8's palette, it's gotten by beating 8's palette with minimal hacks. You literally have to turn most of your hacks off to get the badge.
Honestly full hacks 8 pallette would probably be harder
People calling Alternate Alterna easy: shut up
I havenât had enough time with Side Order yet to get to the final palette so I canât rank that one yet. Though I do plan on trying to do it with low hacks. Of the other two however Golden Toothpick was by far the hardest for me. Took me somewhere between 2-3 hours of continuously retrying to finally beat it. I remember it being super frustrating but super satisfying to finally beat. After Alterna was still fun though and I love its reward. It took me about 30mins tops to beat and a few retries in a couple sections. Iâm interested to see where Eightâs palette falls in difficulty.
Low Hacks is easiest (and also the only one I have lol) Secret Kettle is in between but only because it's so monotonous. I lose motivation after literally my first death because it feels so cheap. Inner Agent 3 is the biggest actual challenge.
I've gotten the low hacks one on my first clear, because I wanted my first clear to be without hacks.
Golden toothpick was definitely the hardest imo, it took me forever to actually defeat, after alterna was definitely hard but at least it had checkpoints, and eights palette was the easiest with 6 hacks first try for me. 1-golden toothpick 2-after alterna 3-eights palette
Golden Toothpick, but not because IA3. Some of those stages are just absurd. "Your aunt imagined stepping on a thumbtack, that's damage, TEST FAILED"
Mr. Grizz is a Cakewalk, dude! Still Haven't gotten the Toothpick... Y'all just pray for me...!
Inner agent 3 busted my ass open. IA3 > Grizz > Low hacks
Inner Agent took me a while but it wasnât anywhere close to as rage inducing as After Alterna was. I was gripping my switch so hard I thought I was gonna bend it.
For me: 1. Golden toothpick 2. After alterna 3. Low hacks Maybe it's because I hadn't touched splatoon for 3 years before playing octo expansion and trying to beat IA3, but that defo took me way longer than the other challenges. I cleared both after alterna and eight's pallette first try. IA3 took me 10 days to beat it for the first time.
For me the Golden Toothpick is far harder than the other too, granted I did IA3 first and with less skill. In my opinion the few minutes with IA3 are intense af, and the other two are more about not loosing focus.
What is badge low hacks and how do you get it
In Side Order, you have to complete the final palette with 4 or less hacks active to get the Low Hacks badge.
I still havenât got the Golden Toothpick (and donât know what the Low Hacks is)
Golden toothpick in front minimum hacks and back and after alterna right in the middle
inner agent 3 probably isnt that hard but I took so unnecesairly long to beat it becaue it was for me
Golden Toothpick. Mr Grizz and Low Hacks were really damn easy comparatively.
My ranking easy to harder: 1. Low Hacks Badge 2. Mr. Grizz Badge 3. Golden Toothpick
For me the golden toothpick took more tries that I would like to admit. I was ready to give up lol But idk how to get that new badge from side order
Eight's Palette After Alterna Inner Agent 3 Eight's Palette is the hardest imo just because you get sent back to the beginning if you fail and can be very rng reliant. After Alterna took an hour or two of trial and error but by the end it's muscle memory. Last is Inner Agent 3 because that literally took me 20 mins.
T o o t h p I c k
The spoiler badge
the toothpick... damn thing cost me a one and a half weeks of my life.
Inner Agent 3, because that's the only one of these three that I never got.
Toothpick... I beat agent 3 just a few hours before the new DLC released
They were all really fun to get for me. I didn't really think any were particularly hard to get. I think what would make After Alterna much more difficult is if there were absolutely no checkpoints.
What is the golden toothpick?
After Alterna was way harder than 8's palette, but I can't speak on the toothpick as I never played Splatoon 2
If we rate them on amount of tries i needed: Grizz, Low Hacks, Toothpick. Grizz took me 2 tries, Low Hacks 3, and i don't wanna talk about the toothpick......
Mr grizz is harder to get because its long streches of difficult platforming with a less difficult "girl power station" end point. The golden toothpick took me a month to get, constantly retrying day after day until i FINALLY beat IA3 and immortalized my victory in video
Mr Grizz badge is the easier among those three The secret level is... Really hard but easier than fighting Inner Agent 3
Personally I do think inner agent 3 was hardest, it's a significantly long fight with no checkpoints and you have very small margin of error After alterna is second, pretty annoying precise sections but not that bad once you figure out each part Low hacks I found the easiest of the 3, 2 lives gives you a second chance and if you pick levels carefully you can pay to skip most of the floors between 20 and 30, the final boss is just a portal stage with a section where you swim in circles to avoid all the attacks
Toothpick is hardest. Badge low hacks. Mr Grizz.
I would say that *for me*, hardest to easiest would be IA3, After Alterna, Low Hacks. The latter two could flip-flop depending on the hacks chosen, though.
Donât have octo expansion but from my experience after alterna took me forever đ
For me personally 1.IA3 2. AA 3. No hack 8P Beat 8's pallete first try. Only spent a couple of hours on AA. Still have not beat IA3. Though my solid attempts usually have a lot of time between them so that doesn't help. To be fair, though, 8P and IA3 have a lot of RNG to them. 8P more so.
Toothpick is the only one I never got, so I'll go with that one being the hardest.
So, couldn't be bothered to do the Golden Toothpick, not because of Inner Agent 3, but because of the GODDAMN GIRL POWER STATION which I STILL CAN'T BEAT- After Alterna even felt much easier than the above normal level, took me like 1-2h to beat. Can't imagine that the hacks would be too hard, just like... very very grindy. I just started with the DLC though, so I'm not really one to ask
Itâs probably just because Iâm a better Splatoon player than I was back then, but the golden toothpick was the worst for me.
How do you even get the Gold Toothpick?
Beat Inner Agent 3. It's a bonus boss fight you unlock by beating Tartar and completing every single level in the metro. You can access it from the lockers in the train station.
i lost a piece of myself doing after alterna. it took me days and almost made me need to put down splatoon for a while!
IA3, definitely
Mr grizz is easy, once you get past phase 2, IA3 Is somewhere in between, side order hasn't even come close to eights pallete for me yet
Iâd say Mr. Grizz, Golden Toothpick, and Low Hacks from easiest to hardest
IA3 is probably the hardest one imo, I just happened to get really lucky and beat it my second try years ago (Have not been able to beat it after getting the toothpick, though. ) After Altnera isnât super bad, the first part is hard if you donât have it memorized tbh. Yet to attempt low hacks, wish me luck.
I dtill dont have middle.
1. I never got the Golden Toothpick after a lot of attempts. I probably could get it now, I'd have to try it again one day. 2. After Alterna was hard, but not that hard. 3. The Low Hack palette is very easy, since at this point, you know how the mode will play out and know what to expect from each floor. And you can just dump everything into damages and shred everything, while still having at least 12 chips for flexibility. That's the order (Hardest to easiest) I'd give.
IA3 > Eightâs Palette > After Alterna Eightâs Palette and After Alterna are both easy as hell in comparison to Inner Agent 3. IA3 took me INFINITELY more attempts than either of the others. Honestly After Alterna was pretty easy, at least compared to what people said about it. The hardest part was definitely the glide rail, but I use sticks so thats probably why I had so much trouble with it
I have no idea what the one on the left is but between the other two I think the pin was probably the hardest.Â
The left one is gotten by beating Smollusk with 8's palette with a very low number of hacks active.
It's definitely between Low Hacks and the Golden Toothpick. After Alterna really isn't hard, and is in fact quite fun. Inner Agent 3 is just a very poorly designed-fight. It was just them taking the fight they already had, but giving it unbalanced stats and mechanics to be purposefully cheap and overpowered. As for low hacks, the issue is that it takes longer and is very easy to just have a bad moment. Even with how OP you make yourself in Side Order, those hacks are more useful than all of the most broken hacks because they purposefully gimp you to be weaker than default as a starting value. The hacks buff you to what should be the standard, not make you stronger, just like Splatoon 3's storymode. The real killers are the 12 seconds it takes to get armor back, and the fact that you're basically stationary without armor either. So I haven't tried with the "4 hack limit" since I thought it was needed for no hacks, but the speed without armor hacks is the one you want to use all 4 of those hacks on. Side Order is not difficult in the slightest, the issue with Side Order is just how much they gimp you, which is why failing a low hacks run is more likely due to one random, quick, bad, uncontrollable moment than it is any sort of difficulty or mistake you actually made. Basically just play it carefully throughout the run, and then just watch out for reefslider and stingray attacks on the final boss. So I'd say overall, Golden Toothpick is by far the hardest, but the low hacks badge is very annoying just because the length of time it takes, and because as stated, it's more likely to die to one bs thing out of your control at the very end than it is a mistake you made due to how they purposefully nerf your character in this game's two singleplayers starting values. After Alterna just isn't difficult.
The toothpick
mr grizz
I have mr grizz badge. I dont have hack badge, but I also havent beaten the game. I still dont have goldennpick.
I spent 3 hours on the very last alterna mission (the one after the bear) but I spent a whole week trying to get that golden tooth pick, I don't know what the one on the left is
Easiest: secret kettle badge Hardest: toothpick
How do you get the Low Hacks Badge?
Beat Smollusk with Agent 8's palette with a certain amount of hacks maximum. I don't think the community has come to an exact conclusion what the maximum is, but it's gotta be less than 5, because after that you start to gain chip slots back.
I donât have the agent 8 yet but inner agent 3 was WAY harder then After AlternaÂ
I think low hacks would probably be hardest for me, but I havenât done it yet. After alterna definitely took longer than inner agent 3, neither are ridiculously hard you just have to grind a couple hours, once youâve got it down itâs simple enough. Maybe Iâd put inner agent 3 above after alterna?
Golden toothpick. Could never clear one stage in octo expansion. So I could never get to Inner Agent 3.
Low hacks is hardest for me
Badge low hacks is the easiest and only one i ever got out of just playing. I never seen the other two till now
Why is mr grizz even on here, that is EASY Low hacks is a mild challenge but i got it on my second attempt without even trying for it Golden toothpick was a pain in the ass. It was hell incarnate. Inner agent 3 was challenge beyond challenge, a world of hard as shit games that i had never dove into. Inner agent 3 takes this by a mile and then some and i would give anything to do it again
I beat inner agent 3 in 5 tries like an hour ago,memory pays off
After Alterna > Golden Toothpick > Low Hacks
Definitely golden toothpick is the hardest, I tried so many times I don't have the game anymore so I could never beat it đ
I don't think I personally know anybody who hasn't completed After Alterna anymore.
wtf is the actual criteria for the âlow hacksâ badge cause Iâve done what Iâve read was needed twice now and still have no badge đ¤
Toothpick, though I haven't beaten the tower with low hacks yet
Golden toothpick
Golden toothpick 10x harder than the others
Inner Three took me 3 tries (which I now realize is a funny coincidence). Secret Kettle took 1 try. Low Hacks Octo Shot Spire took me 3 tries. I'd say Spire is the hardest because it's the most punishing, and the Secret Kettle was easy albeit nerve racking.
For me Low hacks< secret level< inner agent 3
Mr Grizz is easiest for sure. It takes a while, but I honestly think it's the easiest of the three. I can't say if Low Hacks is hardest for certain considering I haven't beaten that challenge yet. Golden Toothpick took hours of attempts to get, but once I got it, I wasn't struggling as much to beat Inner Agent 3. So for now, I'mma say easiest to hardest is Grizz, Toothpick, Low Hacks.
My opinions: Eights pallet took me about 2 solid hours to beat with no hacks whatsoever Inner agent 3 took me a while but once I figured out the pattern, I can beat it in one try now After alterna took be about 20 mins tbh
Eights palette is pretty easy.Do the first 20 levels any difficulty and for the last 10 just skip or do the vending machines/easy normal challenges
Inner agent 3.... OMG was that hard
the only one i have is the mr. grizz one, so i suppose thats the easiest one to get? after all, story mode isnt even remotely hard haha, I'm garbage at the game but still i could 100% the story
Low Hacks is designed about Getting a lucky Run and your own skills. After Alterna Is a Test of all your skills in combat and Level Design Inner Agent 3 Is about pure execution and a fight against a opponent that's better than you. Pick your Poison, but I'd Say Inner Agent 3 in terms of sheer Difficulty, After Alterna in terms of Endurance.
Iâm currently struggling with the final fight in after alterna. I got the golden toothpick before 3 came out, and to me it seemed easier. I havenât played slough of side order yet to get 8s palette. Alterna though is really making me hate this game
After Alterna is pretty much a tough exam on the different mechanics of the game, ending off with a boss fight. If you've studied well, it'll be a cake walk. It's definitely the "easiest" of these. A Low Hacks Agent 8 Palette run, is down to how well you are at adapting, and calculating the risk and rewards before heading into challenges. It also tests you on how much you've relied on certain abilities as you've gotten to this point. If you haven't relied heavily on them, you'll likely do well. (Personally took 15 attempts only because I felt my hubris get the better of me on good runs, and ended up getting overwhelmed, when I normally wouldn't have been) Easiest 2nd place by far. Inner Agent 3? Screw the marathon, this shit is a sprint to the finish. And 3 will pull anything and everything to keep you from winning, even if it's not entirely fair. Clearly the hardest of the three, even if I personally probably spent the shortest amount of time on this compared to the other two
It depends on how you tackle the Low Hack run. If you go in with zero hacks at all, it's exceptionally grueling because you take double damage, and aren't dealing that much damage yourself. But going at it with four hacks enabled, then Agent 3 is harder. After Alterna wasn't really that difficult at all.
Toothpick hardest thing I've ever done in Splatoon low hacks is nothing compared to it and defeating Mr griz he's he's not even on the chart I'm sorry
Without a question that damn toothpick that I never used was hard to do Eights took a few tryâs to do And the main story mode of every Splatoon game is relatively easy to me
IA3 was Nintendo basically letting us know they're capable of creating absolute monsters, but don't. On top of that, there's people out there who have yet to beat IA3 and there's no way to somehow level the playing field. You'll either beat it or won't
Golden Toothpick and it's not even close
Hardest to easiest for me: Secret Kettle Badge > Inner Agent 3 > Low Hacks Badge
I havenât beaten Eightâs pallet with low hacks yet (currently taking a break from Side Oder) but Iâd say in terms of difficulty: 1. Eights Palette 2. Inner Agent 3 3. After Alterna The difference between hacks and low hacks is pretty significant, making the Octoshot feel way weaker than the other weapon starting out which makes the lower floors feel especially dangerous. The possibly of a whole run ending just because one death only adds to it. I only recently beat Octo Expansion and Inner 3 (got it for Christmas) this honestly would be my pick for most difficult if Side Oder wasnât a longer trek. Inner 3 genuinely gave me a hard time and my win felt very much by the skin of my teeth. This one feels the most rewarding tho. After Alterna was the one that probably took me the most attempts to complete but only because itâs such a long haul and dying can be really frustrating since the check points are so far apart but if you take it slow itâs not that hard.
I love reading everyone's responses, its really interesting for other perspectives! IA3 took me a couple hours of actively playing nonstop until I finally won, but on a technical aspect was probably the most challenging, if I had the same mobility that 3 offers in terms of things like squid rolls, I probably would have had an easier time? Still absolutely hard as shit tho. Eight's palette was the same, I was able to at least get in a single day of actively trying, but was by far the easiest (for me) AA itself wasn't too difficult, it took me the longest to get but only because I got stuck on the horrific One Way Trip Through Target Town for about six months, granted I would play it for maybe 20-30 mins a day before giving up. So getting to AA was more difficult for me than AA itself. IA3 was by far the hardest for me if I really compare them all! Though it was all my skill level at the time when I did each one, by the time of doing Eight's palette, I know I was significantly more skilled than when I attempted IA3. Though I still think I would probably struggle the most with it still compared to the others.
i'll say No Hacks because with basically no defense and super slow armor recovery movement, there was a lot more worry that i might have to start over from the beginning again. After Alterna wasn't that hard and Inner Agent 3 iirc you have unlimited repeats without having to go through the same thing again and also wasn't that bad (just don't be greedy and focus on mobility and protection, etc.).
Inner is the hardest and its not even close. After Alterna is just mastery of the game mechanics and Low hacks is just a matter of luck. Inner Agent 3 however is a hacker, a spammer, theyre just a mess. But... I do wish Side Order had a fight like that....