Ink (インク) is the main projectile used in the games Splatoon, Splatoon 2, Splatoon 2: Octo Expansion, and Splatoon 3, as well as a way of transportation. It comes in a variety of colors and is stored and measured with the player's Ink Tank.

Ink can ink walls and the Ground, and can go through Grates. However, Ink cannot ink on Glass, or go through Barrels. It allows players to camouflage themselves in squid form and ambush enemies. Ink can allow players to recharge their ink tank while they are in squid form. Glass, grates, and certain surfaces can't be splattered by ink.

Purposes

Ink can be used in a variety of ways such as being used as a projectile.

After getting hit by enemy ink enough in some way, depending on the weapon used, an Inkling or Octoling will get Splatted and will later respawn. With the Haunt Ability, if you get Splatted, your teammates can see who killed you on the map.

Ink can also be fired at the ground, walls, and other surfaces. Once a surface is inked, Inklings and Octolings in squid/octopus form can swim through it, allowing them to traverse the land very fast. When staying still in the Ink, squid form Inklings, and octopus form Octolings, can hide and ambush enemies and when moving they will only create small ripples. With the Ninja Squid Ability, you make no ripples, at the cost of less speed in squid/octopus form. You can only swim in ink that is your own color. Entering ink of a different color results in the Inkling/Octoling moving slowly and steadily taking damage, but never enough to splat them.

In Hero Mode, Ink is used in even more ways. Ink Railings allow for fast transportation while in squid form, as Inklings can swim from one end of the railing to the other. Ink also must be used to open crates to get Power Eggs, Sardinium, Scrolls, Keys, or Armor.

The main way to recharge ink to use is to swim in ink already splattered on the ground. Ink can also slowly regenerate when weapons are not in use.

Colors

In multiplayer, both teams of Inklings or Octolings use one of the following colors:

• Magenta
• Orange
• Yellow
• Lime green
• Emerald
• Turquoise
• Blue
• Purple
• Red-orange
• Sky blue
• Light blue

In Splatoon 3, they added a master melon colour, which is a reddish-pink.

Lemon Tea vs. Milk Tea

During the Lemon Tea vs. Milk Tea Japanese Splatfest, the colors used differed from regular Turf War colors:

• Yellow
• White beige

Octo Valley

In Octo Valley, Inklings use several other colors inaccessible in Multiplayer. Colors with identical names have different shades from their Multiplayer versions.

• Orange
• Yellow
• Green
• Pastel green
• Cyan

Octo Canyon

In Octo Canyon, Inklings use several other colors inaccessible in Multiplayer. Colors with identical names have different shades from their Multiplayer versions.

• Blue
• Green
• Marigold
• Purple
• Soda
• Pink
• Turquoise
• Yellow

Hero Mode (Splatoon 3)

In Splatoon 3’s Hero Mode, you use these colours:

• Yellow
• Orange
• Light blue
• Dark blue
• Light teal
• Green

The ink in Octo Canyon used by both the player and the Octarians contain glitter.

Salmonids

Salmonids use these colors:

• Dark green

The Salmonid ink in Splatoon 3 seems to be a bit more blueish. It also has a slime-like texture and a bit of a glow at the ends.

Agent 8

Agent 8 uses these colors:

• Dark fuchsia
• Peach
• Grape

Octarians

Octarians use these colors:

• Dark fuchsia (Octo Valley and Octo Canyon)
• Turquoise (Octo Expansion)
• Marbled Pink, Orange and Blue (Return of the Mammalians)

Octarian ink in the Octo Expansion has a wavy effect in it.

Fuzzy Octarians use ink that is marbled in Pink, Orange, and Blue, which are the colours of the Fuzzy Ooze.

Salmon Run

In Salmon Run in Splatoon 2, players use the following three colours:

• Orange
• Pink
• Blue

Splatoon 3’s Salmon Run: Next Wave has six different ink colours, which are:

• Light purple
• Neon yellow-green
• Sun Yellow
• Pink
• Orange
• Blue (lighter than Salmon Run in Splatoon 2)

Images gathered by krak-on-splat-roller on tumblr.

Special Colors (Splatfest Exclusives)

• White Beige (Team Milk Tea)

Images from various sources on Miiverse.

Trivia

• While ink in Splatoon resembles paint, Inklings and Octolings shoot ink simply because they are squids/octopus.
• Teams in Splatoon and Splatoon 2 are always a contrasting color with the other team, such as yellow against purple.
• As of Splatoon 2, an Inkling's or Octolings' ink color is random online, and in Hero Mode it depends on the chapter.
• The White Beige ink is only used in the 3rd Japanese Splatfest for the Milk Tea Team. (Splatoon)
• Ink in Splatoon that is splatted onto walls does not count towards the score in Regular Battles or Ranked Battles.
• It is revealed in the Sunken Scrolls, the Ink goes away after every Turf War.
• Ink colors in Ranked Battles have slightly different shades from ink in Regular Battles.
• The fact that Splatoon lacks red ink may be to avoid the thought of it being blood. Similar restrictions are applied to brown, black, and white colors.
  • However, it was used during the following Splatoon 2 Splatfests:
    • Mayo vs. Ketchup Splatfest (white vs. red).
    • Pocky Chocolate vs. Pocky Gokuboso (red vs. lavender).
    • Salsa vs. Guac (red vs. olive)
    • Hero vs. Villain (red vs. blue)
    • Super Mushroom vs. Super Star (red vs. gold)
  • Splatoon 3 is the only game in the series where red ink appears outside of Splatfests.
• The in texture for the Chaos vs. Order Splatfest seems to be metallic.

Gallery