Murch

Murch is an NPC who manages a shop in Splatoon 2 and Splatoon 3.

Appearance

Splatoon 2

Murch is a sea urchin located in Inkopolis Square. His appearance is similar to Spyke from Splatoon with a few exceptions. Murch's spines are on the back of his head and are thicker and less sharp than Spyke's. He only has one eye in the middle of his head. He is clearly younger than Spyke, but seems to work on equal terms with him as hinted from text from receiving gear. He wears a black and white T-shirt with Inkling writing on it. He wears black pants that are rolled up to appear like shorts. His shoes are blue with high ankles. The soles are thick with a coral colored bottom. He is often seen playing on his green phone.

Splatoon 3

Murch can be found in Splatsville next to the battle lobby.

Behavior

Murch serves a similar purpose to Spyke from the original Splatoon. He is located on the right side of the online lobby playing on his Squidphone. When you speak to him once you've reached level 4 or higher, he will allow you access to his various services.

Murch allows you to manipulate your gear that you can use in online battles. His primary service is to allow you to order gear that other players in Inkopolis Square are wearing. It will become available the day after it was ordered. Only one piece of gear will be available per day, and if it is not picked up on that day, Murch will get rid of it. Ordering gear from Murch will cost much more than simply buying it in a shop, but it means that it can be much easier to get good gear early in the game.

Murch can also scrub gear. Scrubbing gear will remove all secondary abilities attached to the gear and return it to the player as ability chunks. When the player gets ten ability chunks of the same type, they can use them to attach the corresponding ability to any piece of gear, but doing it again for the same gear will cost 10 more ability chunks than the previous one, such as equipping Special Saver to the Marinated Headphones, as in the first Special Saver sub-ability costs 10 chunks, second costs 20, and third costs 30. Scrubbing costs 20,000 cash, or only 2,000 for the Splatfest T-shirt.

For gear that has a one or two star rarity, Murch can add extra ability slots to give the gear the maximum of three sub-abilities, but each extra ability slot will cost one Super Sea Snail a piece. Usually, a good chunk of Super Sea Snails can be earned from participating in Splatfests, but once at Level 30, one can be earned per level by speaking to Judd and Li'l Judd near where Marie stands over the entrance to Octo Canyon. The Super Sea Snails can also be used by Murch to re-roll the sub-abilities at one roll per snail, in case a player wants to have a different set of sub-abilities, but scrubbing the gear would be a better option to build up ability chunks to customize the gear to a player's liking.

In Splatoon 3, Murch's services have been overhauled because of the overhaul to gear in the game. Super Sea Snails can be used to increase the star value of gear, increasing the amount of experience gained on the gear after battles, making it much easier to collect ability chunks compared to spending it on scrubbing the gear for the chunks instead.

Table Turf Battle

Murch is possible to unlock as an opponent in Table Turf Battle, and he also has his own card and sleeve.

As an opponent

Murch

Map:

Lakefront Property

Unlock:

Reach Rank 24

Sleeve:

Deck

Facts and Trivia

Murch's name is a play on the word “merch”, which is short for merchandise, and “urchin.” This is a reference to how his services involve gear.
Murch is a sea urchin, likely referencing a 'street urchin'.
Since Murch looks much like Spyke, it may be possible for the two to be related somehow.
Looking at the empty shells of nearby Super Sea Snails and the way they act near him, it can be assumed that Murch eats them.
- The above also applies to Spyke, as they are both seen with empty shells of Super Sea Snails.
In Murch's past design concepts, he was drawn as different sea urchin species.