Coach Axiom · 33k PRNo fight without entry
In solos you do not take a fight without entry damage. Pushing without hitting him first is already a bad start.
What first damage gives you
The first pump or the first hit puts you in control in most fights. You decide what happens next: push, keep the pressure on or disengage. He can only react. It does not guarantee the win. Even with first pump on him, the low player can still kill you.
What counts as entry
- 70+ damage: a good entry.
- A 30 AR hit: enough if he has no shield left after it or was already low. In offspawn most players are not full, so there it is enough more often.
- A 100+ beam before he can react: you take the fight with surprise, not out of nowhere.
The entry decides if you go in
Hit him for 25 while you are stacked and do not need the kill, and you stay out. Hit him for 125, and you go in and try to take the kill for the extra points, though even then you can decide not to. It always comes down to two questions. Are you stacked, and do you need that kill?
Taking 150 without entry
Push without entry and take 150, and the fight is lost even if you survive. You come out way down on HP, heals and mats, unless you still get the kill.
No mobility and no mats
In offspawn and midgame, starting a fight without mobility and mats is very risky. You need a very good entry and have to take him out in one go, otherwise his mats and mobility give him a clear advantage and he kills you.
Offspawn
Only run at someone with entry, or when you feel you outlooted him with better loot, heals and mats. A long push without entry burns your mats and ammo, and a few minutes into the game you can be left with no mobility, no mats, no heals and no kills.
Keep the advantage after your entry
Your entry usually puts you in control. If you give him room to counterdamage after it, you throw the fight away.
Pressure when you have the upper hand
You have the upper hand when he is low, from a first pump, a big pump or because you camped him. Then you have to pressure.
No free counterdamage
Bad pressure is when the low player can counterdamage you without you hitting him back. Then you are low too, you both heal up, the fight drags and it is not worth it anymore. If you have him almost dead, kill him right there and give him no chance to counterdamage.
Exit pieces
With the damage or HP advantage, you can play for exit pieces instead of jumping into his box. Pressure him on one side, predict that he comes out on the other, and open it up there with a cone and a floor edit. He runs into it and you kill him without risk, because he does not see it coming. If he is really low, go in more aggressively. Playing for pieces has to be quick. If it takes too long or does not work, the fight drags.
On a rotation
- All-in or leave it: do not shoot at everyone. Focus one player and follow him until you have him, or leave it. Hitting everyone without taking anyone is a half-committed play. You are not building and not getting in, so you can be shot from every side.
- Low on mats: look for the kill more aggressively. If you have little, going all-in for it is the right play.
- You have everything and do not need the kill: do not chase anyone. Get in first, then look for the kill, unless he is low or you made him low.
- Spraying is not a play: a play means you invest something, like a hidden Shockwave, and then play for the kill.
How a boxfight works
Up close, there is almost never a fight in the open without building. A lot has to happen for a fight to go without builds.
Fight or aim duel
- Up to about 25 m: a fight, in pump range.
- From about 40 m: an AR aim duel, not a fight. It only turns into one when someone shocks in and makes it close range. Otherwise both players avoid each other.
The cycle
One player gets first pump and pressures. The low player boxes up and tries to heal. If he gets the heal off, the fight starts over. If the other one keeps pressuring, the low player hits back with good edits, peeks and backpumps, both have to heal, and it starts again. Every round costs both of you heals and mats, so the faster you end it, the less you waste.
Buildfight or boxfight
- Buildfight: both players build against each other. Piece control, meaning your mats used efficiently and with a purpose, and good, well timed peeks decide it.
- Boxfight: one player sits boxed and passive, usually because he is low, scared or the weaker player, and the other pressures from outside. It comes down to how well the pressure forces mistakes against how well the boxed player counters with peeks.
Pump, AR, pump
If your pump only fires once and then makes you wait before the next shot, switching to your AR in between is not a mistake. The sequence is pump shot, AR spray, pump again if he is not dead by then.
Keep it quick
Close range fights should be quick, and 10 seconds is perfect. The longer a fight goes, the more players know where you are. If you fight long midmap, a third party comes more often than outstorm, because more players pass through midmap on their way deep. More on fight length in Third party.
Edits, peeks and 50/50s
Up close, a lot depends on whether he can shoot back right away. There are lots of reasons why someone shoots back late, and most of them come down to edits, peeks and camping.
- 50/50: one player exploits into the other's box or opens a bad edit. Both have the same angle and both can shoot at once.
- Good edit, good peek: you get an angle where it is hard or impossible for him to shoot back, so you get the damage advantage. A bad edit with no good peek means he shoots first. Think about the peek before you open the edit, and do not miss edits.
- He is waiting for your edit: if he predicts it or is already aiming at it and you open it anyway, you hand him the first pump. You still have a build piece in your hand, open the edit and only then pull out your pump, and by then he has already shot.
- You camped him: pump him for 100 from a camp and he first has to check where it came from, so he shoots back late, if he is still alive.
When a 50/50 edit is okay
You can open one when he most likely cannot one pump you, for example in offspawn, where nobody has a pump yet that does 200 in one shot. A simpler edit avoids that risk. With less HP than him, a 50/50 edit is a last resort for when you really have no mats left. When you are low, do not open an edit against someone who is full, because you lose that trade.
Take his low wall
If his wall is low, take it and force him into a new box. If you leave it low, he heals. Do not do it when you are low yourself.