What are Splatoon gear perks called?

Splatoon gear perks are called abilities. They are passive gameplay effects attached to wearable gear, helping players modify statistics and play style.

Abilities can improve traits such as movement speed, ink efficiency, swim speed, respawn time, special duration, or resistance to particular effects. Gear is divided into headgear, clothing, and shoes, and each item can carry ability slots.

The main ability is the prominent perk assigned to an item, while secondary abilities fill smaller subslots. Players can eventually customize these slots using ability chunks, and unwanted abilities can be removed through in-game services.

A common mix-up is confusing abilities with weapons, sub-weapons, or special weapons. Those are parts of a player's combat loadout; abilities are passive bonuses provided by clothing and accessories. The system makes fashion strategically important, since two visually similar outfits can support very different builds.