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Treat yourself to a dab emote with the Splatoon 3 battle pass

The sweetest reward one could wish for

an image of an inkling dabbing in the Splatoon 3 catalog Image: Nintendo
Ana Diaz (she/her) is a culture writer at Polygon, covering internet culture, fandom, and video games. Her work has previously appeared at NPR, Wired, and The Verge.

Splatoon 3 has all sorts of neat tricks up its sleeve: a refreshed battle lobby to splash around in, lockers you can decorate with ancient statues, and now, dabbing.

The latest installment of Nintendo’s whimsical shooter adds elements that fans might be looking for. The dab comes as part of the new emote feature, which allows you to pick a dance or character animation that your character will do after winning a match. Among these options is a dab emote, so you can dab on all the losers when you win.

It’s funny watching my character slant their arms and and tuck their face into the pit of their elbow. The dab has long been a staple of elementary-aged kids trying to prove their coolness, and now, you can do it in a Nintendo game. Oh, how times have changed!

Fans online noted the introduction of the dab in the game’s new battle pass-like system called the catalog. One person tweeted, “If you wanna dab in Splatoon 3 you gotta fucking EARN IT,” because the emote unlocks at catalog level 98. However, unlocking it shouldn’t be all that difficult for regular players. The game’s battle pass-like system gives players a few months to play enough online matches to increase catalog level and unlock additional items. It takes a consistent 9500 experience points to level up. (This is completely separate from your rank and overall level, which progresses more slowly over time.)

The Splatoon 3 catalog is currently in “Drizzle Season 2022,” which will end on Nov. 30. So fans have just a few more months to get their dab. The battle pass awards all sorts of other goodies new and longtime Splatoon fans, while also being a great place for newly minted Splatoon 3 fans to start.

The next level of puzzles.

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