Clothes in Splatoon 3 come in a variety of types and colors. There are t-shirts, jackets, sports jerseys, armor plated torso coverings, even power armor (though, the power armor requires an Amiibo). Clothes also provide abilities that improve the wearer's performance. Some of these abilities are exclusive to clothes, and cannot be gained from shoes or headgear.
The main place to get clothing is Man-o'-Wardrobe. Clothing can also be purchased at the SplatNet 3 shop and from Murch. Rarity is designated by the number of stars a piece of gear has — gear can have between 0-5 stars. A piece of gear has a primary ability, but gear gets secondary abilities as well. The number of stars plus one is how many secondary abilities a piece of gear can have; however, this stops at three stars. At that point, it begins getting an experience boost per star. Stars can be added by Murch, but it costs Super Sea Snails. Buying duplicate clothing at Man-o'-Wardrobe also increases its star level, but can cost a lot of gold.
This list will exclude gear gained from Amiibos, since they may not be available to all players.
10 Orca Bolero
- Brand: Toni Kensa
- Primary Ability: Ink Recovery Up
- Cost: 9,980 (14,970 at SplatNet 3)
Ink Recovery Up is easily one of the best abilities in the game. It increases the fill-rate of the player's ink canister; this works whether the player is standing or submerged in friendly ink. This allows the player to charge their special weapon faster and cover the area with more ink.
Toni Kensa brand clothes have a higher chance of getting Ink Saver (Main) as a secondary ability. The combination of Ink Recovery Up and Ink Saver (Main) will allow the player to spend more time splatting opponents, and less time refilling their ink. The price of this shirt is a bit high, but it's worth it.
9 Tan Retro Tee
- Brand: Tentatek
- Primary Ability: Ninja Squid
- Cost: 8,800 (13,200 at SplatNet 3)
Ninja Squid is a fantastic ability for players that enjoy roaming the map looking for opponents that made the mistake of going-off alone. With this ability, the player doesn't leave a visible trail when swimming through ink. The penalty for this added stealth is a slowed swim rate; fortunately, the Swim Speed Up ability can be gained from headgear and shoes.
The Tentatek brand's favored secondary ability is Ink Recovery Up. Ninja Squid will almost force players to spend a lot of time submerged in ink. If a player is submerged a lot, Ink Recovery Up will make the most of this by increasing their refill rate. The combination of these two abilities allow for rapid surprise attacks with powerful sub weapons.
8 Octo Jumper Away
- Brand: Takoroka
- Primary Ability: Swim Speed Up
- Cost: 3,000 (6,000 at SplatNet 3)
Nobody, in the history of Splatoon, has ever wished their character swam slower. Swim Speed Up is an ability the player will want on every piece of gear if possible. There are three abilities that increase the ability points for Swim Speed Up: Comeback, Drop Roller, and Opening Gambit.
Special Charge Up is the most probable secondary ability for Takoroka gear. Players using special weapons that are highly spammable, like Reefslider and Triple Inkstrike, will want some ability points in SpecialCharge Up.
7 Octosquid Tandem Tee
- Brand: SquidForce
- Primary Ability: Intensify Action
- Cost: 300 (750 at SplatNet 3)
This t-shirt gives players an extremely underrated ability: Intensify Action. This ability improves the steadiness of the player's weapons when firing mid-jump. Normally, weapons suffer an aiming penalty when fired after a jump; this ability improves aim substantially when ability points are added. Jumping and firing is a great way to increase weapon range.
SquidForce gear has a higher chance of getting Ink Resistance Up as a secondary. This pairs well with Intensify Action, as using Intensify Action will necessitate the player being on the front lines providing cover for rollers and sloshers.
6 Apex Sweater
- Brand: Krak-on
- Primary Ability: Thermal Ink
- Cost: 9,600 (14,400 at SplatNet 3)
This shirt screams early 1990s, but it's also not bad at helping the wearer blend in with an inked background. This isn't an ability; the color pattern simply acts like camouflage. Thermal Ink isn't a bad ability to have either. It prevents a weakened enemy from getting away by letting the wearer see them through surfaces. This makes pursuing them much simpler. Keep in mind that if tagged enemies are too close, they cannot be seen when hidden.
Krak-on gear gets Swim Speed Up as a secondary ability more than the others. As with Ink Recovery Up, it's best to have this ability multiple times.
5 Black Squideye
- Brand: Tentatek
- Primary Ability: Run Speed Up
- Cost: 500 (1,250 at SplatNet 3)
The Black Squideye is a familiar sight in Turf Wars. One reason for this is the low price, another is that it has Run Speed Up as a primary ability. It may be faster to get around swimming in squid form, but when the ink starts flying, it's time to surface and start using weapons. Moving faster makes it easier to avoid enemy ink, reduces the movement penalty for walking over enemy ink, and allows for more successful flanking attacks.
Ink Recovery Up is an ability that players will want more than once. Luckily, this shirt has it as the favored ability. This is a good piece of clothing for a team to all wear during Turf Wars and Ranked Matches.
4 Inkfall Shirt
- Brand: Toni Kensa
- Primary Ability: Special Charge Up
- Cost: 4,900 (9,800 at SplatNet 3)
How good are special weapons in Splatoon 3? They're so good that many players will gladly use a main weapon they don't really like for its accompanying special weapon. Sub weapons are good too, but can leave a player vulnerable due to their intensive ink use. The Inkfall Shirt will help the player fill their special's charge gauge faster.
Ink Saver (Main) is what this shirt will probably get as a secondary ability. This will help players charge the special's gauge even faster by reducing the need to refill the ink canister as often. This makes this a great piece of clothing for a support player that hangs back and spams their special weapon.
3 Squid Satin Jacket
- Brand: Zekko
- Primary Ability: Quick Respawn
- Cost: 9,200 (13,800 at SplatNet 3)
Players still getting the hang of Turf Wars might want to give this jacket a try. Quick Respawn reduces respawn time as long as the player didn't splat an opponent after the last time they were splatted. This ability is especially useful during Anarchy Battles.
The most likely secondary ability is Special Saver with Zekko gear. This ability reduces loss to the special weapon gauge after being splatted. This piece of clothing is another good one for support players who spend more time inking the ground than attacking opponents.
2 Hula Punk Shirt
- Brand: Annaki
- Primary Ability: Ink Saver (Main)
- Cost: 5,000 (10,000 at SplatNet 3)
This shirt made this list because of its potential ink-saving abilities. The primary ability Ink Saver (Main) will cause the main weapon to use less ink. This, as mentioned above, will help fill the special weapon gauge faster, and help spread more ink on the ground.
Along with Ink Saver (Main), this shirt has a good chance of getting Ink Saver (Sub) as a secondary ability. This will reduce the ink usage no matter what weapon is used. If combined with Ink Recovery Up, the player will be able to shoot more ink than the enemy, and recover much faster after using a sub weapon.
1 Sudadera Celeste
- Brand: Krak-on
- Primary Ability: Ninja Squid
- Cost: 3,650 (7,300 at SplatNet 3)
The element of surprise should not be underestimated. This is doubly true when there are puddles of ink everywhere that can be used for concealed movement. A great tactic is to use a weapon (sub weapons are good for this) that leaves a trail of ink as it travels. Using Ninja Squid, the player can then swim down this channel of ink unnoticed to emerge behind the enemy position.
The only problem with Ninja Squid is the slower swim speed. Krak-on gear negates this by having Swim Speed Up as the favored secondary. This covering provides Ninja Squid, as well as an ability to help negate its penalty all in one.
Splatoon 3 is out now for Nintendo Switch.