Box Fighting Basics in Fortnite

In this article, we’re going to go over one of the most important playstyles in Fortnite – Box Fighting.

This guide is intended for players that don’t know the concept and basics of box fighting in Fortnite. Let’s Begin!

Box Fighting is a playstyle/a technique in which players box themselves up and fight through boxes. This technique is very efficient and currently, the game’s meta. All professional players are box fight masters! Let’s dive into box fighting so you can also get to the next level in Fortnite.

In every box fight there are always two sides:

• The offensive side, the more aggressive side.
• The defensive side, the protective and more passive side.

Both sides are equally important!

Each side has its own methods, tricks and techniques to win the fight.

We’ll go through each one of them, but first, let’s cover up some basics about box fighting.

A box is when a player surrounds himself in 4 walls, a floor and a ceiling. A cone above the ceiling is optional, but most of the time players would place it for extra protection (It provides another layer above the ceiling).

Boxing up is the first thing you do in a box fight.

Boxing up should be as fast as possible. Start by doing it slowly and steady like this:

When you feel that you got it, start doing it faster and faster. A good speed of boxing up should look like this:

Now that you know what a box is, and how to box up properly, let’s continue to what box fighting is all about.

Box fights are all about staying protected from all sides while a player attacks his opponent or defends himself from an opponent that pushes him.

The main fight is on the box itself. Once a player got one of your box’s walls, it’s ceiling or its roof (cone), you’re vulnerable. That’s why most of the fight in box fighting is about taking walls and pushing a boxed-up player, or countering a pushing player from inside the box with smart moves and tricks.

Box fights are very fast-paced. It requires you to be aware of what’s going on and think fast, but also be mechanically skilled to outplay your opponent.

Lastly, it’s important to understand that box fights are very dynamic. Both of the sides (offensive/defensive) in a box fight can change mid-fight. You can be pushing another player to start a fight but end up boxing up and playing defensive after 15 seconds, then start another push.

Let’s start by covering the first side, the aggressive side of box fighting.

When pushing a boxed-up player, the first thing you want to do is to box up yourself too! You must make sure you’re fully protected – there might be another player that waits to 3rd party your fight, or your opponent that you’re pushing can box you up with his walls and trap you for an easy kill.

After you’re all boxed up, you’re ready to start the fight. Your main goal is to take control over your opponent’s box. The easy (and dumb) technique would be to spray the box with your AR or SMG. That would work with inexperienced players, but can easily be countered with turbo building (Holding Left Click). The average Fortnite player can counter box spraying easily and thus you wanna take one of his box’s walls. Replacing walls is a simple technique. You wanna break your opponent’s wall (mostly done with the pickaxe, but can also be done with your weapon), then immediately build a wall to replace it.

An example for a basic wall replace:

Note: You won’t always succeed in replacing your opponent’s wall, since he might be turbo building, which makes it 50/50 for you or him to replace the build. That’s why you always want to switch back to a weapon after trying to replace a wall!

When you do get a wall, the most basic move would be an edit, and then a shot followed by it. An example:

In this guide, we go over the basics of box fighting. It’s important to know that there are many different techniques to push a boxed-up player. For example, an advanced technique is “Mongraal’s Classic” that looks like this:

Now that you know the basics of attacking in box fighting, let’s learn some basics of protecting yourself in box fights.

The defensive side in box fights is tricky. You want to be able to counter your opponent’s moves while also trying to attack back and eliminate them!

As you should already know, the first thing to do is box up yourself as soon as you see or hear a player approaching.

Most players would start with spraying your box. A counter for that that is as simple as holding your wall by turbo building which looks  like this:

An experienced player would try to take your wall. As mentioned above, replacing walls is tricky. You should never depend on a wall to be replaced!

Example for 50/50 (‘coin flip’ mechanism):

The basic counter for a wall taking opponent is a bit hard to master. It takes advantage of the fact that the opponent is using his pickaxe to replace your wall. You want to edit your wall while the opponent tries to hit it. The edit would make him swing his pickaxe for nothing and give you an easy shot on him! Example:

Notice that right after you hit the shot, you want to immediately reset your edit and turbo build your wall again (in case the enemy tries to replace your wall again).

This counter is all about speed and timing. With training, you will be able to predict your opponent’s moves and time your edits right. Be careful, a wrong edit could give your enemy an easy shot on you!

Sometimes, your wall will be taken by your enemy. In this scenario, the most basic counter would be to jump out of your box and immediately box up again to gain back your control over your box. Example:

This move is mechanically challenging while also requires you to react as fast as possible.

Notice again that as soon as you box up you want to hold turbo build before you figure out what your opponent does.

Remember – You can change your playstyle (aggressive/defensive) mid-fight! Use your game sense and decision making to decide when to play aggressive and when defensive playstyle is better (health-wise, number of players nearby etc.)

Now you know the basics of box fighting in Fortnite! We learned how to push a boxed-up player, and also to defend ourselves from an enemy pushing our box.

These were only the basics of box fighting. There are lots of different techniques and ways to play box fights, some require you to predict your opponents and some require you to outplay the enemy mechanically.

We encourage you to dive in and learn more about box fighting in Fortnite. Stay tuned for more detailed guides from NOVOS to get better and be the best player you can be!

Use this guide’s knowledge in your game and watch the results by yourself!

Good luck and have fun gaming!