Guide · Strategy
INKWAVE Strategy Guide — Ink, Movement and Turf Control
The numbers and habits that win INKWAVE matches: ink and health mechanics, movement, turf control, weapon matchups, stage reading and the three bot difficulties.
Key facts
- Turf decides the match; splats only win you space
- Enemy ink slows you to 1.9 m/s and can never splat you on its own
- Swimming refills your tank at 42 ink per second and heals at 60 health per second
- A splat costs the victim 5.5 seconds and halves their special gauge
- Bots react in 0.55 s on Chill, 0.32 s on Fresh and 0.17 s on Fierce
Turf War is decided by ground, not by splats. Two teams of four paint the arena for three minutes, and the team holding more turf when the clock stops wins. Splats matter only because they take a defender off the floor for 5.5 seconds. Players who paint constantly and fight for space beat players who chase the kill feed.
What the score actually measures
- The match lasts three minutes by default, with a 90-second option.
- Every square metre painted counts as one point of turf; the result is the fraction of the arena each team covers.
- The last ten seconds are counted down, and a warning sounds at one minute.
- A tie is resolved by the game itself; there is no draw screen to argue with.
The numbers behind every fight
| Stat | Value |
|---|---|
| Health | 100 |
| Run speed | 6.0 m/s |
| Swim speed | 11.8 m/s in your own ink |
| Speed in enemy ink | 1.9 m/s |
| Enemy ink damage | 20 per second, capped at 40 total; it stops at 1 health |
| Health regeneration | 22 per second, 60 per second in ink, after 1.3 seconds out of damage |
| Ink tank | 100 units |
| Ink refill | 42 per second swimming, 9 per second in kid form after 0.9 seconds |
| Respawn | 5.5 seconds, then 1.6 seconds of spawn protection |
| Super jump | You are invulnerable in flight |
Two numbers change how you should play. Enemy ink cannot kill you by itself — it stops at 1 health — so escaping through enemy ink is better than standing still. And swimming refills your tank almost five times faster than standing in kid form, so the ink is the reload.
Movement habits
- Ink your escape route. You swim at almost twice your run speed, but only on your own colour. Paint the way back before you push forward.
- Swim, do not run. Cross open ground in ink, and hop out firing.
- Climb the walls. An inked wall is a ladder; reach the tower, the gantry or the houseboat roof from an angle the other team is not watching.
- Jump out of ink for height. A jump from inside your ink rises higher than a jump from the floor, which clears water gaps and ledges.
- Super jump back in. After a respawn, open the map (hold Tab or M) and fly to a teammate instead of walking to the front. You are invulnerable in flight.
Turf control
- Paint before you fight. The team that owns the floor owns the fight; on your colour you move faster, reload and heal.
- Take the middle early. The first minute is a race for the centre. Do not overextend past your own paint.
- Use bombs on dead ground. A Splat Bomb paints ledges, roofs and corners your weapon cannot hit.
- Break a stalemate with a special. A Tidal Slam takes a tower, and an Ink Tempest flushes a lane.
- Watch the score bar, not the splat count. Keep the bar moving in your colour, especially in the last minute.
Weapon matchups
| Weapon | Range | Fastest splat | Play it like |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spritzer | ~12.5 m | 3 shots | Paint the mid-ground and contest everything |
| Swell Roller | Close | One roll or point-blank flick | Ambush from corners; paint lanes on the way |
| Glint Charger | 11–27 m | One full charge | Hold long sightlines; never get caught up close |
| Popper Blaster | ~10.5 m | One direct hit | Fight around cover; burst the ground behind it |
| Twinfin Dualies | Close | 4 shots | Roll into fights, not away; the roll tightens the spread |
| Tidebucket Slosher | ~9.5 m | Two head hits | Attack over cover and up ledges from below |
| Gyre Splatling | ~15 m | 4 shots | Hold an angle; spin up before the enemy arrives |
Range decides most duels. If you cannot close the gap, paint around it and let the other player come to you. Fight on your colour whenever the choice exists.
Read the stage
Every stage has an identity, and the map guides cover each one:
- Tidewater Plaza — an open plaza with a central tower. Win the tower and you see most of the arena.
- Kelpline Terminal — vertical play, grate catwalks and a gantry with un-inkable steel sides. Route knowledge beats raw aim.
- Halyard Marina — a car ferry splits the middle, and the water gaps are squid-only jumps that splat you if you fall.
- Cargo Terminal — online only, a truck lane between container blocks. It rewards a squad that holds the lane together.
Beating the bots
| Difficulty | Reaction time | Aim error | Sight radius |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chill | 0.55 s | Wide | 16 m |
| Fresh | 0.32 s | Moderate | 21 m |
| Fierce | 0.17 s | Small | 26 m |
Fierce bots start firing from further away, retreat when a fight turns, and use bombs more often. They still make mistakes under pressure. Paint the flanks, hit them from an angle they are not watching, and force them to cross your ink instead of duelling in the open.
Common mistakes
- Running across enemy ink when a quick paint pass would open a path.
- Chasing a splat into a 2v1 while the other team paints behind you.
- Hoarding a full special until the last twenty seconds.
- Walking back from spawn instead of super jumping to a teammate.
- Forgetting the online room rules on Cargo Terminal, where bots never fill in.
Keep reading
- Weapons — every kit, with exact numbers
- Specials and Splat Bombs — get more from the gauge
- Boss Battle guide — a different kind of fight
- How to Play — controls and rules
