CoconutTank
Member
It's a superset of gear customization from Splatoon 1, so you still have gear which can have 1 main ability and up to 3 sub abilities that can be filled in at random (and I think rerolling slots is also still an available option). In Splatoon 2, there are a few new services:How does customizing gear perks work this time around?
1) Merch can wipe gear and install abilities
Whenever you have Merch wipe an article of gear (hat, shirt, shoe), all sub abilities on the gear fall off and leave an empty slot that you can refill. Any abilities that fall off become chunks that you keep. Whenever you have 10 chunks of an ability (such as 10 Ink Recovery chunks), you can spend those chunks to have Merch directly install said ability into an empty slot in your gear. This means that, while there's still some effort and randomness involved in getting abilities in the first place, you can make actual progress and eventually slot the abilities you want. To me this is a big improvement over talking to Spyke and hoping to reroll into exactly the abilities you want.
2) Annie's online shop
Annie's online shop is found in the Splatoon 2 section of the Nintendo Switch Online app on smartphones. In this shop, you can order special rare gear which has a different main ability, and even main abilities which don't normally appear in said gear type. For example, Stealth Jump is normally a shoe only main ability, but sometimes Annie will sell a hat that has Stealth Jump. I'm not quite sure what the schedule is like for Annie's shop, but what she provides is random. This can let you further customize your ability allocation and your personal appearance; If you like a particular shirt and want it to have a different main ability, Annie's shop may eventually sell a shirt with that main ability (though I'm not sure if there are limitations to what main abilities will show up on gear).
I think this is all accurate, but if anyone has questions or corrections, please let me know!