Everything New in the Splatoon 3 One-Year Anniversary Update

Splatoon 3’s one year anniversary is coming up in the beginning of September, and it comes with a pretty substantial free update to the game. In the coming weeks, you will notice some changes in the game as a new season, Drizzle Season 2023, starts. Since the update is so big, you might not have heard or seen everything that it includes. Here is everything new in the Splatoon 3 one-year anniversary update for you to enjoy.

New Stages

The new season of Splatoon 3 adds two new stages that will appear in rotation for Turf War and Anarchy Battle modes. Both are brand new stages that have never appeared in previous Splatoon games.

Crableg Capital is set in an urban area with lots of skyscrapers and grates used to travel around the stage. Shipshape Cargo Co. is set on an chilly, arctic cargo ship.

Additionally, there will be a returning Salmon Run stage from Splatoon 2. Salmonid Smokeyard will be added to the rotation along with new camo work suits.

New Gear Feature

A new feature is going to be added that allows you to adjust some of your gear in certain ways. In the update trailer, we can see two examples of how gear can be adjusted.

One example is that caps can be turned backwards. If you prefer wearing backward caps, you’ll be able to choose this when selecting gear. The other example shown is that shirts can be made oversized. This allows them to appear with a bigger fit, like shirt dresses.

We’ve never seen this type of gear adjustment in a Splatoon game before, so it’ll be nice to see how many options are available.

New Weapons

The new update will add new weapons to the game, each with their own sub weapon and special. So far, we only know about two of these weapons.

The first is called Dread Wringer. It’s a slosher-type weapon that looks like a mop bucket. The second is called Heavy Edit Splatling. As the name suggests, it’s a splatling-type weapon that fires rapid bursts of ink.

These weapons will be available to buy at Ammo Knights with Sheldon Licenses (earned by leveling up).

Last season, a total of 11 new weapons were added to the game, so we wonder if there are more coming in this update that haven’t been revealed yet.

Drizzle Season 2023 Catalog

Drizzle Season 2023 starts on September 1 and introduces a brand new catalog to work through. Like the previous four seasons, it will have 100 total levels, each level with a different reward.

Rewards will include new gear, decorations, stickers, emotes, titles and splash tags. You’ll have three months to finish this catalog before a new season begins.

Additionally, there will be a new Wandercrust journey in the Splatoon 3 section of the Nintendo Switch Online mobile app to work toward.

Anniversary Splatfest

The Splatfest that marks the one-year anniversary of the game has been revealed. This time, the question is who would be the best leader: Shiver, Frye, or Big Man?

This Splatfest pits each member of Deep Cut against each other. From September 8 through September 10, players will be able to choose a side and battle it out to see which character comes out on top.

You’ll be able to pick your team about a week before the Splatfest actually begins. In the week leading up to the competition, you can earn conch shells for each catalog level you achieve during the voting period and during the actual Splatfest.

It’s possible that the outcome of this Splatfest will play a role in the upcoming Side Order DLC story.

Next Big Run Event

The next Big Run competition will take place right before the Splatfest. From September 1 through September 3, you can team up with other players to fight swarms of Salmonids on one of the main stages.

Like the previous Big Run events, you are working alongside your teammates to collectively gather the most number of eggs possible in a round of three waves. The top 5% of players will receive gold trophies, the top 20% will receive silver trophies, and the top 50% will receive bronze trophies. Everyone in the bottom 50% will receive participation trophies.

These trophies will be able to be displayed inside your locker.

Deep Cut amiibo

Finally, three new amiibo figurines depicting the Deep Cut crew have been announced. Shiver, Frye, and Big Man amiibo will release later this year on November 17.

Like other Splatoon amiibo, scanning these three into your game will give you in-game gear that relate to each respective character. Usually, this includes a headpiece, a top, and a pair of shoes. We’ll have to wait and see what specific gear will be available for each of these three amiibo and how they enhance players’ battle abilities, so stay tuned.

There are three other Splatoon 3 amiibo figurines that released shortly after the game launched, and you can read about them right here.