Three Category Spam

Three Category Spamming or known for short as 3 Cat Spam or Quick Switching is a tactic where a player quickly fires their one-shot weapon (or weapons that deal 2-3 shots at most) and then quickly switches to 2 other one or two shot weapons. 

The weapons used are usually Wall Break weapons, and the three main categories for three category spamming are Sniper, Special, and Backup.

This practice is also paired with spamming one-shot heavy weapons such as the Proton Freezer, using high mobility melees like the Double Cashback or at least something like the Steampunk Fists, and shotgun primaries such as the Ultimatum as a backup. The player also may Rocket Jump while doing this, albeit risking chances of being vulnerable after consecutive times of doing so due to self-damage.

History

The tactic existed since 2014 when the five-weapon-category loadout cell interface was introduced, but this tactic was rarely practiced back at that time and usually didn't involve three categories of weapons, but rather two, usually the Sniper (which was originally in the "Special" section) and the Heavy (formerly called "Premium") sections. This tactic would indirectly increase the fire rate by shooting, switching, and doing this task repeatedly. Fans originally coined the term "sniper spam".

Before delay mechanics, this combination of weapons was an example of a three category spam loadout

This tactic evolved into involving three weapons from three different categories which could take out the player in 1-2 shots and was popularized in 2018. Due to this tactic's popularity, the developers tried eliminating this tactic by requiring to wait until the weapon can shoot again. These mechanics are called Delay Mechanics.

Weapons Examples

Primary

• Ultimatum
• Viking
• Acid Shotgun
• Photon Shotgun
• Last Squeak
• Prehistoric Shotgun
• Undertaker
• Witchunter
• Mega Destroyer
• Assault Shotgun
• Last Kiss
• "Predator"
• Rhino
• Saturn
• Space Devastator
• Devastator
• Dino Slayer
• Christmas Spirit
• Gift Stitcher
• X-Mas Destroyer
• Heavy Shotgun
• Dragoneer

Note: You do need to be close range to Three Category Spam with a Shotgun (Unless you have Ultimatum or Viking which still both have a good range.)

Backup

• Exterminator
• Thunderer
• Alien Blaster
• Dual Anger
• Ritual Revolvers
• Dual Hawks
• Executioner
• Laser Cycler
• Triple Musket
• Sawed-Off Shotguns
• Shotgun Pistol
• Werewolf
• Lovebirds
• Red Twins
• Harpy
• Winged Revolver
• Hitman Exoskeleton
• Big BANG! Revolver
• Space Blaster
• Hypno-hunter

Special

• Laser Bouncer
• Reflector
• Necklace of the Ice King
• Poison Darts
• Poseidon Trident
• Witch Broom
• Portable Death Moon
• Alligator
• Snowball
• Charged Injector
• Neon Lightning
• Cyclops Sling

Sniper

• Sniper Dude
• Call of Sirens
• Harsh Punisher
• Underwater Carbine
• Overseer
• Block Rifle
• Laser Crossbow
• Prototype
• Laser Bow
• Alien Sniper Rifle
• Aphrodite Crossbow
• Anti-Champion Rifle
• Anti-Hero Rifle
• Sniper Exoskeleton
• Arahna Bite
• Ultra Beam
• Brutal Headhunter
• Gauss Cannon
• Prototype S
• Elephant Hunter
• Photon Sniper Rifle
• Railgun
• Demon Catcher
• Supercharged Rifle
• Third Eye
• Digital Sunrise
• "Sunrise"
• Comet
• Elf's Revenge
• Cold Silence
• Antivirus
• Morgana
• Frost Shot
• Portalium Rifle
• Laser Carbine
• Liquidator Z1
• Succubus
• Mister L.
• Electro Blast Rifle
• Last Hope
• Heavy Sniper Rifle
• Frosty Railgun
• Flag Keeper
• Magic Bow
• Mr. Squido
• Project 'Marlin'
• Scouter's Rifle
• Digital Drawing Pad
• Slender Touch
• Activity Neutralizer
• Laser Cat Rifle
• Hypno-Pursuer
• Anniversary Anti-Champion Rifle

Heavy

• Hurricane
• Armageddon
• Rocket Jumper
• Christmas Ultimatum
• Proton Freezer
• Royal Ashbringer
• Big Buddy
• Circus Cannon
• Destruction System
• Solar Power Cannon
• Storm of All Seas
• Dark Mage Wand
• Primal Beast
• Heart of Volcano
• Space Disinfector
• Rocket Crossbow
• Anti-Gravity Blaster
• Soda Launcher
• Wizard Wand
• Earth Spike Spell
• Pixel-Cola Refresher

(Because Cubic.Games added delay mechanics to the game, not all of the combinations above will work as well).

3 Cat Spammers use 85/100 mobility melee weapons such as Dark/Elder Force Saber, Katana, Heroic Epee, Pixel Stream Sword or Double Cashback for traversing the map. They may also use Heavy weapons for 3 Cat Spamming such as Solar Power Cannon, Christmas Ultimatum or Proton Freezer. With these weapons, they use them to Rocket Jump, even though they can inflict self-damage in the process.

If the enemy they hit is crippled they may finish them off with Automatic primaries such as Black Mamba, Golden Friend, Secret Forces Rifle, Future Police Rifle, Royal Fighter, Undertaker, Viking, Acid Shotgun or Ultimatum. Weapons that lack delays are used often with this tactic, albeit powerful delay-lacking weapons.

The delay of the weapon depends on the previously fired weapon's fire rate, so it would not be recommended to switch from the Ultimatum to delay weapons like the Exterminator, as the Ultimatum has an extremely low fire rate, and switching from that to the Exterminator will cause a time-consuming delay that will get you killed, unless you switch to a non-delay weapon and then immediately to Exterminator. (known as Melee Switch)

Counters

1. It is not recommended to fight 3 Cat Spammers with travel time weapons because they can easily dodge your shots due to most 3 Cat Spammers having very high agility.
2. Certain types of weapons are effective at dealing with 3 Cat Spammers, such as:
   • /// weapons can mess up 3 Cat Spammer's movements.
   • weapons can disorient 3 Cat Spammers.
   • weapons can protect you from them.
   • weapons with strong traction allows you to easily evade 3 Cat Spammers and make them have a hard time keeping up with you.
     • , , and to name a few.
     • Further more, equip a one-shot shotgun like to deliver a lethal shot to the 3 Cat Spammers the moment you land near them and high-damage sniper/heavy like to destroy them from afar or mid-air if you have good aim.
     • Note: This tactic is considered by some to be even more obnoxious than 3 Category Spam itself because of the unrivaled utility of weapons and their lack of any tangible weaknesses.
   • Weapons with strong + high damage like would suffice.
   • But so far, the bane of 3 Cat Spammers existence are / weapons as those 2 attributes will reduce their total damage in half. To suggest a few:
     • (Extra 20% )
     • /// (Sufficient damage, since most / weapon's damage are not very high)
3. If you don't have the above weapons, then resort to any weapon with high attack rate + high damage. Eg:
   • and weapons in general (preferably a highly-efficient one like ) can deal with with 3 Cat Spammers at any range, if you have good aim.
   • weapons in general are very powerful, easy to use, and can bypass all obstacles. However, due to their limited range, you need to get close to the 3 Cat Spammers.
   • Same case with , but much less effective because you need to charge up, which will leave time for the 3 Cat Spammers to quickly finish you off in a few shots.
4. Some gadgets that may be useful to deal with 3 Cat Spammers:
   • Use the Stealth Bracelet so you will not make your presence easily felt by 3 Cat Spammers whenever you stick yourself out of the cover.
   • Use the Barrier, Turtle Shell, or Royal Guardian to resist onslaughts from 3 Cat Spammers.
   • Use the Denied! to fight 3 Cat Spammers without worrying about dying to them.
   • Use the Jetpack so the 3 Cat Spammers have trouble targeting you and fly in random patterns to make it even harder for them to aim at you.
5. Ambush 3 Cat Spammers while they are focused on other players.
6. Try to avoid being on the ground considering the fact that 3 Cat Spammers rely on being higher than you.
7. In Deathmatch, outscoring them using certain loadouts that can hoard more points than usual is an effectual way to beat 3 Cat Spammers, since most 3 Cat Spammers can only use a limited range of weapons for their playstyle and are incompatible with most point-based weapon sets. Required items for such point-hungry playstyle (the more items you have, the more effective your loadout is):
   • Weapon sets that give additional points for any actions in a match (Arcane Summoner Set, Mafia Set, etc.).
   • weapons (, , etc.) or just about any solid weapon that fits into the aforementioned weapon sets.
   • Cape of Gifts
8. Since 3 Cat Spammers thrive in open spaces and their advantage is based on distance and height, it is recommended to play in close range maps such as Silent School to avoid their presence or at least their usual advantage is heavily negated by compact spaces and makes them susceptible to just about anything.
9. Or just being a 3 Cat Spammer yourself, it can be effective when countering. At this point, it's just a matter of skill level.

Trivia

• Despite this strategy requiring skill, it was met with a heavily polarizing results as it was generally frowned upon by the casual and conservative side of the community.
• It now takes significantly longer to switch weapons than it previously was for balancing purposes.
• There was a glitch where the player can do the three category spam with the Exterminator using the Comet.
  • It was patched in the 15.9.0 update.
• Occasionally, the game will feature a limited-time Brawl featuring three category spamming, where all delay mechanics on weapons were removed.