Suit up squid kid, Splatoon 3 has finally been released on the Nintendo Switch. Continuing the chaotic, colorful multiplayer gameplay of the previous entries, Splatoon 3 is packed full of content for fans to enjoy. Along with the normal multiplayer modes and campaign, Splatoon 2’s Salmon Run also makes a return. Acting as a cooperative PVE mode, players must collect Golden Salmanid Eggs to hit the quota set by Mr. Grizz. Featuring unique rewards, players will need to earn bronze, silver, and gold scales to exchange for unique rewards. Here’s how to unlock scales in Splatoon 3:
How to Get Scales in Splatoon 3
To get bronze, silver, and gold scales you need to damage the King Salmonid boss that occasionally appears at the end of a Salmon Run. The type of scales you earn will typically depend on your current Hazard Level. The higher Hazard Level you’re playing the better chance you’ll earn rarer scales upon defeating the King Salmonid. This doesn’t mean you cannot earn silver or gold scales at a lower Hazard Level, as I earned a few during my encounters with this boss. Your chances for rarer scales simply increase with your Hazard Level.
Keep in mind that this will not always appear at the end of this activity, as there is a bit of randomness to its arrival. However, you can get an idea of when King Salmonid will appear when you’re running around Mr. Grizz’s shop. In the top right corner of your HUD, you’ll see an image of the King Salmonid (shown above). This will slowly fill up orange as you complete Salmon Runs either with friends or just matchmaking with random users. The more this fills up, the greater a chance you have of fighting King Salmonid at the end of the third wave. Remember, filling this image up doesn’t guarantee an encounter with him, it simply increases the likelihood of an Xtrawave.
As for the fight itself, King Salmonid is big, slow-moving, and extremely dangerous up close. You will never want to be in the radius of its slam attack, otherwise, it will instantly kill you upon impact. He will also spawn a horde of smaller Salmonid and even some additional boss Salmonid when the wave starts. I recommend taking out the additional boss Salmonid first, as this will make focusing on the king much easier. This is going to be a group effort, as King Salmonid’s health bar is pretty big and will require a lot of shooting. For those using the roller, I specifically recommend you focus on clearing out the smaller enemies and keeping the arena coated in ink. While you can do damage, rolling into the king is a very fast method for becoming past tense.
After the king is vanquished, you will see what scales you’ve earned at the top of the Splatoon 3 Salmon Run recap screen. These can then be spent at the small store right next to where Mr. Grizz is in his shop. Some of these items will cost a lot of scales, so consider saving them until you know what you actually want.
