As we know it, the world is going through a tough time with the Corona scare. Playing video games in a healthy environment is now one of the best options to keep yourself distracted from this Corona scare. As long as we are following the “dos and dont’s”, there’s not much we can do than kill time itself. For all you struggling Fortnite players, this is an opportunity for you to spend some time on the game and get better at it. We’ll help you get started with two simple drills that are required to turn yourself into a pro-Fortnite player.
In our previous blog, we’ve described the basics of box fighting and what it is all about. Unlike other creative 1v1 practice modes, box fighting is now an essential part of the game and dictates the tempo of any fight. A year back, grinding the long creative build battles was the goto practice routine for any player. Fast forward to 2020, pro players are spending more hours practicing box fighting than actually playing the “Battle Royale” game.
A perfect box fighting player can invite any high ground warrior into his turf and dominate the fight. The need to constantly check whether you’re running out of mats and panicking while trying to locate your opponent is completely taken off in the case of box fighting. With all this being said, box fighting only becomes easy once you’ve mastered the important techniques and strategies from inside/outside the box.
If you’re looking for the best ways to start practicing box fighting techniques, head straight to “creative mode” for custom practice arenas. There are creative maps that have low health zombies which act as opponent outside your box for you to practice edit/block/shot.
For this lesson, we’ll be using a map made by the creator “Selage” (a legend when it comes to creative maps). Here’s the code for the map: 7843-8702-4180
Edits you need to learn before you enter a box fight.
Window Edit: I know what you’re thinking, isn’t this the edit everyone dies to? Some of the worst box fighting plays include just placing a window and assuming the opponent is going to stand still while you take a shot. As much of a cliche as that sounds, windows edits have much more purpose these days. Let’s take a look at the practical use of window edits as opposed to the traditional dangerous methods.
Make sure you always place a window on the player’s right side ensuring he’s right up against the wall. This gives the player maximum cover irrespective of wherever the window is placed. With this approach, what you’re aiming for is to place the window first, take cover and then take your shot.
The fundamental still remains the same, you are editing a window right in front of your opponent but you are making use of the cover on the left of the window.
Another situation where you’d ideally perform a “window edit + reset combo” is when you want to confuse your opponent and catch him off guard completely. For this, just place a window and immediately reset the wall during real-time battle royale matches, this makes the wall weak and allows you to spray though quick for the finish.
Check out this post By NickEh30 showcasing this strategy. He does take a few shots in the process, but he then quickly adapts and repeats the strategy making sure he has enough cover on his left-hand side.
Remember, the key to pulling off a perfect window edit is to anticipate that your opponent will shoot and prepare yourself with enough cover. Unless you have enough cover pre-planned, do not go for a window edit. Another pointer never to forget would be to reset the wall after any window play.
Here’s drill focussed solely on “Edit, Shoot and Reset”. Ensure the player is close to the wall and on the left side of the window. Reset the wall after each shot irrespective of whether you land the shot or not.
Here’s what it should roughly look like,
The map code mentioned above has unique features you could test out while doing this drill, one of which includes spawning zombies in a box at 50 hp. Start off by testing this drill on 50 hp zombies and increase the difficulty once you’ve nailed your player’s movements.
As far as the basics of box fighting are concerned, this is a fundamental strategy and probably the first drill any player should master. Try getting this drill up-to-speed and you’ll naturally start making use of whatever cover is available before trading shots.
Drill Number 2: Top row edit.
A top row edit can be essential in both offensive and defensive situations. The edit is performed exactly as the name sounds, by selecting the three tiles in the top row.
For this drill, we follow the exact same pattern as the windows edit drill which is “edit, shoot and reset”. Starting the edit mid-way through a jump allows you to get a peek of where your opponent. Jump once again to take your shot and reset the wall as you land.
This strategy is often used to take first shots at your opponent and weakening him rather than just going for the finish. Timing your jumps accurately along with the edit is key in this drill. As easy as it may look, this will take some practicing to get it nailed right. Rushing with your jumps while practicing this drill isn’t what you should be doing, as “jump fatigue” comes into play after jumping thrice.
The defensive side of a “top row edit” would be the mobility it offers while box fighting. Speeding up this edit will allow a player to jump between boxes and reposition himself in another box easily. Here’s a scenario where you could rotate between boxes with ramps in them,
Conclusion
Box fighting is all about opening and resetting walls constantly. Making use of cover is what the average box fighter isn’t doing these days. Hence, in case you haven’t adopted any creative drills to improve your box fighting, try these two drills 5 minutes/day for a week and your teammates will notice the difference right away.
This is by no means the only two drills you need to know for box fighting, but these two are the ones you could definitely start off with.
Game safe and game smart!
