Multiplayer games, especially Battle Royales, have always had trouble with cheaters. Brilliant titles like Apex Legends and Call of Duty Warzone became unplayable owing to the rise of hackers and have lost innumerable players so far.

From the looks of it, there has been a surge of hackers in Fortnite Chapter 3 Season 3 as well following the introduction of Zero Build mode.

Fortnite pros are encountering more hackers than ever in Zero Build tournaments

Fortnite caught a second wind with Zero Build as a ton of new players joined the community. Moreover, big names like Ninja, Dr. Disrespect, and Tfue returned to the game and appreciated the non-sweaty mode.

• Read More: Fortnite Creative 2.0: Release date, new features, and more

The developers then hosted Zero Build tournaments that received an overwhelmingly positive response initially. However, hackers have now plagued such tournaments.

SypherPK recently took part in the NA West Zero Build finals and he was well aware of the fact that some teams are abusing aim bot and wall hacks.

Soon after, the streamer reported that hackers eliminated him in the very first game. It is no surprise that this incident led to him quitting the cup. He asked Epic Games to work on a live bans feature or atleast a new anti-cheat system that is dedicated to competitive playlists.

Zero Build mode in Fortnite has helped in exposing cheaters

Previously, Fortnite compelled players to build which significantly increased the skill gap between newcomers and veterans. On one side, there were players with the skill set to make a skyscraper within 30 seconds. On the other end of the spectrum, there were beginners who struggled in every game because the SBMM system rarely matched them with equally skilled/experienced players.

Amidst such issues, we are witnessing the growing use of cheats and devices like the Cronus Zen. This allows cheaters to win more comfortably than ever, but naturally, at the cost of the ruined experience of every player they face.

Until Chapter 3 Season 1, it was harder to track cheaters because mechanics like building and editing were an integral part of the meta.

In contrast, aim and mobility are the deciding factors of a Zero Build game. Accordingly, players can now easily identify cheaters using aim bots and wall hacks.

• Read More: How to easily reach level 100 in Fortnite Season 3 using Reality Fruit and Weeds

Countless other players, streamers, and pros have similar opinions on the current state of Fortnite and Epic Games would certainly want to come up with a solution before the Cash Cups commence in Chapter 3 Season 3.

Fortnite Season 5 is nearly half over, with fans speculating on how the current season will play out. Streamer Ali ‘SypherPK’ Hassan thinks that Kevin the Cube will return before the season ends.

The Fortnite plotline is one of the most confusing, convoluted, and interesting plots in all of gaming. Unlike most other games that spell-out the story for you, Fortnite forces players to connect dots, pay attention to small clues, and create theories as to what the overall Fortnite plot includes.

We’ve seen so many red herrings, dead ends, and unanswered questions over the years that Fortnite has developed its story. At this point, it seems likely that Epic will never give us a concrete conclusion as to what all of this means, as each season seems to create more questions than it answeres.

One thing seems to be clear, however. The Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 seasons are connected. We had standard Season 1’a without many changes, some similar themes during Seasons 2 and 3, then the superhero skins of Season 4.

We’re now in Chapter 2 Season 5. Longtime Fortnite players will remember the Chapter 1 Season 5 theme of “Worlds Collide.” The same thing is happening this season, with Bounty Hunters and locations from the old map appearing in the exact same locations on the new one.

• Read More: SypherPK gives his opinion on how to fix the Fortnite shotgun meta

Most attentive Fortnite fans already know about this, but YouTuber and streamer SypherPK took the theory a step further. In a recent video, Sypher suggested that all of this is leading up to Kevin’s return later in the season.

Kevin the Cube first appeared in Fortnite in Chapter 1 Season 5. We’ve already had a ton of teasers that point to Kevin’s eventual return, from in-game hints to direct tweets from Creative Director, Donald Mustard.

Sypher touched on all of these points in his video, including a piece of information we hadn’t heard before, regarding the massive bunker in the southeast section of the Chapter 2 map.

“Here is the catch,” Sypher said when describing what ties all of this together. “If you overlay the Redacted Bunker on this map and compare it to where it was on the old map … Kevin the Cube spawned on the old map exactly where the Redacted Bunker is on the new map.”

This all led to Sypher’s conclusion: that Kevin will return to Fortnite by the end of Season 5 or “at the very least, at the beginning of next season.”

This theory holds up better than a lot of others we’ve seen, and most Fortnite theorists agree that we haven’t seen the last of Kevin.

With the midway point of Chapter 2 Season 5 approaching, we’ll be keeping our eyes peeled for any movement around that bunker, along with Kevin’s potential escape.

Sypher is best known for his educational commentaries, informative Twitch streams, and – of course – being one of the most innovative players when it came to using Traps in Fortnite. His reputation eventually led to the nickname, “The Trap King.”

“Today, I’m happy to announce that I have officially re-signed to stream exclusively on TwitchTV,” Sypher said in his announcement video. “I’m excited to keep doing amazing things with our community. I’ll see you guys on stream.”

Sypher has been streaming and making videos from a young age. The PK in his name stands for Player Killing from his Runescape days. From there, Sypher made a name for himself playing Elder Scrolls Online. He was one of the bigger creators in the game during the early days, before moving onto games like For Honor and Overwatch.

• Read More: Interview: SypherPK talks Season 5 wishlist, best/worst seasons & more

In late 2017, Sypher decided to make the switch to a new Battle Royale that had just come out: Fortnite. He sacrificed his dedicated viewership and took the hit on the chin – seeing the potential in the new game.

When more streamers began picking up the game, Sypher did what he needed to do to stand out. He began streaming early in the morning to gain a following in other regions. Any early fans of Sypher know how hard he worked to get where he is. He’s a true example of how the grind can pay off.

Now, two years later, Sypher is one of the most recognizable names in all of Fortnite – the biggest game on the planet.

The sky’s the limit for Sypher – both on Twitch and on any of his three YouTube channels. We look forward to seeing what milestones he hits next.

We sat down with the Trap King himself for an interview. The opportunity was sparked by his upcoming collaboration with the Klarna “Playing for Keeps” event. We get into that and a whole lot more, ahead. Enjoy!

An interview with SypherPK

Tell me about your partnership with Klarna “Playing for Keeps”

Klarna reached out and wanted to put together a cool show for the viewers where they can get involved. We’re trying to do a challenge where the viewers get selected to go against me.

I’m a pretty competitive gamer and really good at the game, so there are things Klarna is going to throw in to try to mess up my gameplay and allow people to get some wins on me. If they end up winning, there’s a magnitude of prizes they can get. The big thing is my gaming rig. That’s the big prize. If someone beats me in Fortnite, they’ll be worthy of it.

What’s the format? 1v1, Kill Race, Boxfighting?

They have a lot of different Creative Maps that they’re going to be experimenting with. Some of them are gonna be a little more competitive, some of them are gonna be, like, 90’s races, the Fall Guys map – mainly Creative Maps. That way, it’s a little bit more fun and less sweaty. It gives people more of a shot at actually beating me.

Onto trending Fortnite topics, it seemed like you felt as though Fortnite missed an opportunity with Fortnitemares. What are some changes that you would make to create the ideal Fortnitemares 2020?

They did a great job at bringing in zombies in a unique way. In the past, they only brought in zombies as NPCs and they were kind of annoying; they would get in the way a lot of times and weren’t fun to fight against. This time, the switched it up and made the players the undead ghosts.

The big problem is that when the hype of being a ghost wore off, people started backing out of the game once they died instead of playing it out. It’s also a little bit underwhelming when you get eliminated – knowing that your only options are to back out or to play the rest of the game as a ghost.

We saw Warzone implement a system where the undead could come back into the game as normal players. I think Fortnite could have had its own unique twist on allowing the undead to return. It would give players an incentive to keep playing rather than backing out or charging at the first player they see to get into the next game.

What’s on the SypherPK wish list for Season 5?

More unique items, for sure, but I’d definitely like to see some game-changing things introduced to Season 5 like we’ve seen in previous seasons. In past Fortnite seasons, we’ve had implementations that really change up the game. Like when they first introduced Reboot Vans, when they first introduced Siphon, fishing, vehicles, picking up players.

These are all very memorable changes that really shook up the game of Fortnite and made it better. We haven’t really seen big, significant changes like that in a while.

• Read More: Donald Mustard confirms Zero Point created Chapter 2 island

I would like to see a more revamped competitive system. Arena, right now, feels like a glorified Pub with Siphon. It doesn’t really feel like a true ranked mode. I would like to see a true ranked mode in Fortnite.

I’d like to see some sort of mechanic where, when you get eliminated and thirsted, you have a second chance of coming back. I’d like to see a revamp of the Reboot system; core-changing mechanics to really shake-up Fortnite. It’s been a while since we’ve have some significant changes to really alter the pace of the game.

You mentioned adding a true ranked system to Fortnite. What are some changes you’d make to the current Arena system to bring it more in line with a “true” ranked system, as you say?

I would change the whole point system. I would introduce a more traditional ranking system like we see in other games. You know, Bronze all the way up to Masters with actual weight on the games that you’re playing – where you truly feel like you can de-rank and gain rank while you’re playing based off of placement and kills.

At first, it was kind of hard to compare because there weren’t battle royales with solid ranking systems that made sense. You could compare it to Overwatch and CS:GO but those are different game modes.

• Read More: World Cup Winner Aqua issues apology following Fortnite ban

After having experienced Apex Legends rank system – they have a traditional Bronze to Apex Predator – their ranking system actually incentivizes you to play smart and play for the win. Every game feels like it matters.

Fortnite’s current point system – once you know what you’re doing, it’s hard to lose points. You’re always gonna be gaining points. Once you make it to Champs, players are just W-keying and they don’t really care about that particular match – and neither should they because there’s no real weight to it.

An actual ranking system with a better scoring system that punishes players who die off spawn and really rewards players who get placements and eliminations would be fantastic. A leaderboard to flex your rank would also be fantastic.

Fortnite might have the biggest skill gap of any game in existence. Did you see that coming? The ceiling of how good someone’s mechanics could be in Fortnite?

I didn’t see that as a possibility until they really fleshed-out the Creative System. Initially, the only way to gain skill in Fortnite was to actually play the game. When you play a battle royale – especially when you’re not that good – your progress is extremely slow. You can spend 10 minutes looting and farming and you might die to the first player you see. You just spent 10 to 15 minutes in a match and you barely gained any knowledge.

• Read More: BallaTW on competitive integrity, format changes, org signings & more

Once they fleshed-out Creative and Playground, players could now just focus on the gameplay and mechanics. Really quickly, after that, we saw the skill gap start shooting up and reaching levels that we’ve never seen before. Even today – people are still pushing the limits of building and editing in Fortnite.

Do you have any theories as to why the competitive Fortnite player base is so young when compared to other esports?

I actually have a very strong theory, in my opinion, as to why that is. Some people initially thought that it came down to brain processing speed. The young guys have a fresh brain and they’re able to play Fortnite at that level. I don’t think that’s the case.

There are so many esports out there and, so far, age 30 seems to be the time when pro players stop being able to keep up with the young guys. In Fortnite, it’s like 14-18 (years old) a Fortnite player’s prime, whereas in other competitive scenes it might be 18-22.

My theory is pretty simple. Fortnite has only been out for three years. The most important mechanics in Fortnite are building and editing. After that comes decision making and aim. Decision making and aim can be transferred from other games. The things you can’t transfer from any other game are the building and editing mechanics. And those are the most imporant mechanics in Fortnite

So, in the past three years, only people who have had time to grind a significant amount to improve their building and editing are gonna be top players in Fortnite. The only people who can do that are younger kids who have fewer responsibilities. The older you get, the more things that will be on your plate.

There are some people who are older – 24, 25 – that we’ve seen do well in the World Cup. Most of those people are pro players from other games like we saw with Psalm, who also had the time to grind the game of Fortnite.

The (average) 20-year-old, when Fortnite came out; most of them were working, in school, had other responsibilities – weren’t able to put those hours in that the younger kids were able to put.

Why do you think so many people love to say, “Fortnite is dying,” when we all know that it’s not?

Let’s say that you’re a Fortnite viewer/player and your favorite streamers were Ninja, Courage, TimTheTatMan, Tfue. A lot of the time these communities are revolving around streamers and their communities, as well.

If those were your favorite streamers, you might think, ‘well, Fortnite is surely dying,’ because none of those people play Fortnite anymore, their communities have moved past Fortnite, and none of their friends play Fortnite.

The reality is that there are so many people who are getting into Fortnite and so many people who are still playing Fortnite. They put out record numbers six months ago. The game is not dying, however there are communities that have been built around the game that have moved on, giving members of that community the impression the game is dying.

Favorite Fortnite Season?

I think my favorite Fortnite season was in between Season 7 and 8 when Siphon was in public matches. The was the most fun I’ve had on Fortnite. 7 and 8.

Least favorite Fortnite Season?

Season X is definitely one of my least favorites, but after experiencing the content drought of Chapter 2 Season 1, I would say that was my least favorite. That whole season lasted 4+ months and they only added the Harpoon. So that was probably my least favorite season.

Favorite Fortnite event

The Black Hole. For sure.

Sypher will be streaming the Klarna event tomorrow, October 27. Tune in to watch him compete with his fans and viewers for massive prizes, including Sypher’s own gaming setup. You can find him on Twitch at Twitch.tv/SypherPK and on Twitter @SypherPK.

The Fortnite trickshotting community is all too aware of another strategy involving Crash Pads and Iron Man’s gauntlets. You can use these two items together to get an extreme amount of height. Some players even happen upon this glitch accidentally.

Streamer and YouTuber, Ali ‘SypherPK’ Hassan, put a spin on this strategy during a recent stream with his younger brother, JuniorPK. The two of them used the same Crash Pad strategy with an added wrinkle: Wolverine’s Claws.

• Read More: Ninja calls 100-player Fortnite tournaments ‘not playable’

As many of you know, Wolverine’s Claws give players a speed boost when they use the item. When you combine this effect with the Repulsor Gauntlet and Crash Pad strategy, it sends you further than you could imagine.

Using the Gauntlets, dropping them, pulling out the Claws, and landing on a Crash Pad was enough to send Sypher from Misty Meadows all the way to Coral Castle. We would have kept going, too, if he didn’t hit a cliff edge in front of him.

Is this a practical strategy? Probably not, but trickshotters are going to have a field day with it. It also makes for a pretty entertaining clip. Do you think you can pull it off? If you get it, we’ll give you a shout-out on Twitter @FortniteINTEL, so send us your attempts!

The problem arose when Season 1 extended several times, eventually becoming the longest season in Fortnite history. Season 2 followed and, while there were a few changes this season, it was far from the weekly updates to which we became accustomed in Chapter 1. Season 2 soon became the second-longest season in Fortnite, adding to the problem of boredom within the community.

SypherPK has spoken on this topic quite a bit and revisited it during a recent stream and subsequent YouTube video. He briefly touched on skill-based matchmaking but focused most of his criticism on the pacing and loot pool in Seasons 1 and 2.

• Read More: Tfue showcases another Fortnite Henchmen chest exploit

The streamer discussed some of the items and weapons that were added to Fortnite – some of which broke competitive modes but were fun to use in public matches. He alludes to splitting the loot pool to keep the competitive integrity while making public matches a bit more random.

“One of the biggest issues, right now, for content creation is (that) a lot of these games play out the same way,” Sypher explained. “Every game feels very, very similar. I get similar loadouts, I fight similar players … when you don’t have the variety of items in the casual mode, it can start to become repetitive and boring.”

Sypher’s answer to this is to bring back these goofy items and weapons in casual modes. He specifically mentioned shield items as a primary contributor to the current pacing of Fortnite. Games are much slower when most players are still looking for shields when they leave their landing spots.

• Read More: Fortnite Device Event viewing guide

“There was a perfect balance,” Sypher said in relation to having a cluttered vs. boring loot pool. “And that balance was really achieved between the Seasons of 5, 6, 7, 8 – when we had a good amount of options but it wasn’t too crazy.”

As Sypher said, hopefully, Epic “flexes their creative talent” in Fortnite Season 3. We need something to add spice to each game and get away from the same loadouts and the same engagements. Many players got what they asked for when Epic slowed things down in Chapter 2, but their foot has been on the brakes long enough. It’s time for some gas.

The top-level players tend to know the best way to outplay an opponent. Every battle is a chess match of sorts – with players predicting an opponent’s next move and trying to keep all of their pieces in the best possible locations.

• Read More: Shroud gives his opinion on controller vs. KBM in competitive Fortnite

One popular editing strategy is to go for the top-three corner pieces of a wall. Editing these tiles allow players to stay protected until they leap for a quick shot and reset their piece. As is the case with any popular move, there’s a way to counter it.

It’s difficult to tell exactly what’s going on without knowing the counter that this player hits so let’s break it down. The player we’re watching knows that his opponent is going for one of those top-corner edits. He predicts it and throws a rotated ramp into his opponent’s box, trapping him. While the opponent is preoccupied with the ramp, the player edits a window and finishes the kill.

• Read More: This Fortnite Season 3 Battle Pass concepts could beat the real thing

SypherPK demonstrated this strategy in one of his recent videos. It’s a well-known counter in the competitive community, but a lot of players still haven’t seen it.

(9:51 for mobile viewers)

Rotating your ramp is the best way to consistently hit this counter, as you can see from the Reddit clip, above. As Sypher points out, however, you can complete this counter without rotating your ramp if you find the right angle.

• Read More: Grotto beef 2.0: Tfue, Scoped & Inno dismantle ZexRow, Mackwood & Calc

This might be old news to some of you, but there are a ton of players who didn’t know about the strategy. Editing a top corner is one of the most popular moves in Fortnite, after all, so it helps to know how to counter it.

Quite a bit happened following the reported removal of SBMM. Matches were filled with bots, which was disappointing to content creators like SypherPK, Tfue, and EmadGG. Sypher made a video on the topic, proving how many bots were in each match.

A couple of days later, Epic adjusted the SBMM system – as they told us they would. A sizeable chunk of bots was removed from this mode, which led many to believe that SBMM was back.

• Read More: SypherPK fires back at those blaming him for the return of SBMM

Fortnite Twitter turned on SypherPK for his criticism of the new system. They used the hashtag #f**kSypherPK to show their distaste for the streamer.

Everyone from Tfue to Ninja came to Sypher’s defense following this Twitter outburst. The angriest group appeared to be the trickshotters, who couldn’t spend 20 minutes setting up a shot on a bot, anymore.

After a couple of days playing the new Squads mode, it appears as though SBMM isn’t back in its original form. The skill discrepancy is still all over the place in Squads – there just aren’t as many bots.

• Read More: 5 most terrifying sounds in Fortnite (C2S2)

Sypher and crew noticed this as well and even completed a five-corner mythic weapon challenge. The addition of SBMM and the removal of bots are not the same thing, but they appear to have been confused.

As you can see at the top of the article, data miner Hypex confirmed that all of the “data miners” claiming that SBMM was back weren’t truly able to tell. It appears as though the Twitter hatred toward Sypher was premature, misinformed, and misdirected – even if he was directly responsible for the removal of bots.

• Read More: Watch this competitive Fortnite player use an upside-down controller

Again, none of this is confirmed without a word from Epic. From reports and personal experience, however, it appears as though SBMM is not active in Squads. Hop in and try it for yourself.

The problem with Epic’s new SBMM-free matchmaking was the number of bots. SypherPK highlighted the problem in a couple of YouTube videos, even claiming that 60-90% of the players in some of his games were AI.

When Epic added SBMM back to Fortnite, some fans took to Twitter to blame SypherPK for persuading Epic on this front. Sypher was only showing people how many bots were in each game, but fans jumped onto the bandwagon with the hashtag “#f**kSypherPK.

• Read More: SypherPK fires back at those blaming him for the return of SBMM

Tfue discussed the topic of SBMM and bots during a recent stream. Like Sypher, he noticed how many bots were in Squads after the removal of SBMM. “Squads was trash without skill-based matchmaking,” he told his chat. “There was no players in your game!”

The streamer went on to sum-up Epic’s thought process with the removal of SBMM – seemingly accurately. “Fortnite’s like, ‘Oh, you want skill-based matchmaking removed? We got you. Let’s just fill the lobby up with f**kin’ bots, then the s**tters don’t get f**kin’ p**sed on and the sweaty players can think they’re good.'”

• Read More: Tfue claims that “competitive Fortnite is not a thing”

In response to his rant, one of Tfue’s viewers threw the trending hashtag into his chat: #f**kSypherPK. Tfue replied with similar aggression, “F**k SypherPK? How about f**k you, p***y. You suck. … You guys act like Sypher really has the f**kin’ power to change the game. Even I ain’t got that s**t.”

(0:18 for mobile viewers)

Tfue appears to be right on all fronts, here. Sypher doesn’t have as much power as chunks of the community thinks he does. The former had a dead-on description of Epic’s thought process with the SBMM removal, as well. They wanted to appease everyone, so they added a bunch of bots into the game.

• Read More: Skill-based matchmaking reportedly returns to Squads playlist

The #f**kSypher trend seems to be dying down, at this point. Most people know that Sypher has always advocated for the removal of SBMM and that he doesn’t have the power to make changes to the game. Tfue’s stance on this goes a long way to changing the minds of some young Fortnite followers.

We saw Epic briefly confirm the removal of skill-based matchmaking (SBMM) in an email to those with a creator code. They told us that they were still making tweaks to the system and are looking for community feedback.

• Read More: Is Party Royale teasing a Fortnite X Nintendo crossover?

Well, a week later, the tweaks are continuing as SBMM has been reportedly re-enabled in Squads. This comes after complaints of too many AI players in this mode, limiting the amount of fun that you could have.

All of the evidence for this is anecdotal, as was most of the evidence for the removal of SBMM. The games do seem to be back to ‘normal,’ however, with players of similar skill in our lobbies.

• Read More: Tfue and Benjyfishy stunned by this final zone in FNCS

Of course, this spurred a lot of complaints from the community. Many players took aim at SypherPK, who they assume was responsible for the change. We’ll cover his response to the backlash in a separate article.

Epic are, clearly, trying to take Fortnite back to the “fun” days of early Chapter 1 and away from the sweat-filled game that it has become. This will require multiple iterations of SBMM. We’ll have to be patient while they find a solution, even if that means a week or more of sub-par systems.

• Read More: 14-year-old Fortnite pro ‘wrongfully’ banned in FNCS Invitational

The team is trying to make Fortnite fun for everyone: new players, bad players, old players, returning players, and pro players alike. This will take time and this iteration likely isn’t the final one.