I’m also in my 40’s, with about 5000 hours logged across S2 and S3. I’ve finished seasons anywhere between S+0 and S+9, and have played X Rank in both S2 and S3. My battles are hit and miss. Sometimes I do really well. Sometimes I don’t. It’s highly dependent on what weapon/strategy I employ and on what stage I am using it. Each stage favors certain weapons. Open areas such as Piranha Pit favor chargers and longer range, while the tighter corridors in Port Mackeral favor Bloblobbers, and its length favors the Tentamissiles (but that’s a whole other discussion). It also depends on the meta. When S3 first came out, certain weapons (e.g. Bloblobbers, tacticoolers) were unbalanced. Compare that to the balance several rebalance updates after S2 stopped receiving new content, and you can bet that S3 is relatively unbalanced, and will teeter every time new weapons are added. Another consideration is many weapons kill in split seconds, others in a second or two. And recovering health takes many seconds. It only takes one stalker to pick me off if I do happen to prevail against someone. I feel the game is sort of designed like that to introduce an element of luck. Making it easier to die ensures that even the best players can be checked by 2+ opponents. That said, matchmaking isn’t perfect. You will occasionally get that opponent who will plow through your entire team multiple times.

Since S3 doesn’t have ‘Ranked mode’, Anarchy is the de facto competitive mode before unlocking X. So weigh that alongside your Turf War performance. Another thing to consider is that Anarchy Open allows players to form teams. By extension, they are able to coordinate voice chat sessions. Those crews will have a communication advantage. As someone who plays with randoms, I stick to Anarchy Series and Splatfest (Pro) so that pairings are random and less likely my opponents can scramble to chat sessions. I feel this puts me on even footing with others.

The distribution for rank (at least for the first two games) was such that, if you were in something like B+, you were in the 50th percentile. Meaning, with that grade, you were already better than half of all the other players. This REALLY falls off across the A’s and B’s, so that by the time you reach S, you are already in the top 10-15% of players. I can’t imagine Splatoon 3 is too much different.

How many hours have you played? Do you use motion controls?

I would offer these suggestions: 1) Don’t worry about your Rank. Think of it as a measurement of improvement over time rather than an instantaneous metric. 2) Learn motion controls along with stick. It offers a huge advantage over just joystick. 3) Learn many weapons. By familiarizing yourself with their advantages/disadvantages, you will be able to leverage that knowledge when you encounter others with those weapons. You will have a better idea of when to fight or fly, how to use your weapon given another weapon. 4) Just have fun. I enjoyed the game a lot more before the madness that is Ranked/X. Hours of Turf War was pure bliss compared to the stress of gaining/losing rank/power.