Some folks would have you believe that adding a focus on vehicles somehow makes this chapter of Fortnite the worst yet. There’s a lot of talk that Epic has forgotten what Fortnite is, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. It’s some fans, I think, that have forgotten what Fortnite is supposed to be. Wrecked has been, by far, the best Fortnite I’ve played to date.
Not everyone wants cars to be nerfed
Did Ninja quit the game again this season? Well, don’t worry! He’ll flip a coin to decide if he’s back next season or not. Sure, the sweatiest players on Twitch might be complaining about changes. The rest of us seem to understand that this season rules. This is a game about change, and its the job of players to adapt. You’ll see tons of replies like this on posts that don’t even have anything to do with the vehicles.
How to deal with enemy cars
The fact is, every season of Fortnite has a theme, and that always means big changes. This is a game about having an open toybox to play with. That means new toys are coming and going all the time. Fewer cars have killed me so far this season than Water bending in any given play session last season. Cars aren’t broken, far from it. There are several strategies when dealing with them, and if people were more patient, they’d find that out.
The Nitro-powered rocket fists are perhaps the best weapon for dealing with cars. Not only can they knock a car off track, or even flip it into the air, but they’re great for maneuvering. A lot of people complain about Nitro boosting cars, but they seem to forget that they can also boost themselves. Doing so gives you a hell of a speed and endurance buff to make dodging cars and their weapons an absolute breeze. Combine those two, and you’re a car-smashing, air-dashing machine. Can you honestly tell me that anything about that sounds “unfun?”
Nevermind that cars have been in Fortnite forever. When I started back in Chapter 3, cars had parts you could equip to them. The only thing missing were the weapons. In reality, those vehicle weapons aren’t much better than having your teammates gun out the window anyway. But after Chapter 3, vehicles became boring. Even just the week before this chapter, I was talking to my squad about how much we missed throwing off-road wheels and cattle-catchers to cars. We missed the chance for customization and taking ownership of vehicles. It was a ton of fun in Chapter 3, and I’m so, so glad it’s back and better in Chapter 5.
If you want some more ideas on how to counter this new car meta, allow me to lend a few ideas. Are you running solo? If so, that means other solo people in a car need someone to operate their turrets. My experience is that hopping into an enemy car makes for fun bedfellows. Nobody seems to mind me helping take the gun to mow down our mutual enemies on the island.
Cars are the best distraction
I’ve found that, more often than not, cars are a better distraction than a weapon. One of my squadmates loves hopping out of a vehicle and taking a good vantage point. While I drive around to catch enemy fire, he picks them off from a short distance. In the screenshot here, you can see me pulling up in my sweet boss-car that I stole. While the bus’s owner was firing a heavy turret at me driving, my squadmate snuck up from behind. A couple magnum rounds later, and we have a new bus to add to our collection. (Then our other squadmate accidentally blew it up by hitting it with his car! Chaos!)
Dealing with cars is better with certain guns. The Huntress DMR is ideal for sniping drivers. The Magnum is a good tool for busting tires and doing massive damage to the vehicle. The rocket-bow is the best weapon for doing a great amount of damage and throwing cars off course. Again, all of that combined with Nitro works great. I would like to, again, recommend having a set of Nitro fists on hand at all times.
Epic Games did announce that they’re un-vaulting Boogie Bombs, which should help in the meantime. I’m curious if an unintended side effect will be boogie-bombing people to limit their movement and then hitting them with your car. It sounds like the EMP grenades from previous seasons will also be showing up soon, which will probably do a lot to ruin the car meta altogether. It’ll be a shame that Epic listens to the sweaty players who can’t adapt to change. So many of us are having a great time running into one another at full speed, then rocket-punching each other into oblivion.
