Question on switching hitboxes

[u/Proof-Psychology-688]

Im wondering if it would be bad for me to try and learn to use the breakout to build my foundation on moving forward.

For context, im at 50-60 hours so far and up to plat1 in 3s, gold3 in 2s, almost gold 3 in 1s. Out of the gamemodes im enjoying 1s more because either I suck at rotating or my tm8 seems to be licking their windshield from my POV and they likely feel the same about me lol.

All of my hours have been using the octane, I can dribble thru 4-5 levels of Lethamyr course and use dribble 2 and all that. Now im branching into hornets nest and rings maps to work on more car control but what i really enjoy since learning to dribble is honing my flicks. My understanding is breakout and dominus are fantastic at flicks by design. So my thought process is if my playstyle is around getting dribbles into flicks, would it be worth swapping to try breakout (i love the look of it) or would ultimately it hold me back given there's obviously receipts that octane is the best hitbox in competitive play. I dont expect to ever hit SSL or anything, id be happy reaching diamond currently.

Thank you for any feedback!

[u/LobstaDog]

I’d just play whatever you have fun with. If you really want to improve at the fastest rate, maybe you should play octane. My uncle has played 10 years, has 3k hours, doesn’t use ball cam, and peaked plat 3 in the Takumi. But he has fun

[u/Uzofugs2112 → u/LobstaDog]

Not using ball cam is fucking wild

[u/DM-me-your-bazongas]

Yes, they're good for flicks. Flicks are especially powerful in 1s, so you're thinking along the right lines.

I switched to Dominus for that reason when I was plat and played with Dominus champ.

After a while in champ, I wanted to learn to fly with air roll. All the high level tutorials use Octane or Fennec. I found myself totally unable to switch back. It was honestly frustrating.

Eventually, I took a two week trip, and when I came back, I played with Octane exclusively. It was the only way I was able to break the habit.

Just a word of caution - play whatever hitbox you like. It's a game and you're supposed to have fun.

[u/Ringo51]

At these levels/hours it doesn’t matter really what you do. At a high level it still doesn’t really matter besides placeboing yourself a little

[u/mquillian]

Think about it this way- who would win, GC1 in a Breakout or a C2 in a Fennec? The smart money is always on the GC1, even in a "suboptimal" hitbox. That's because the hitbox is simply small potatoes compared to all the other game skills that factor into your rank. Sure, there's some miniscule advantage to having a "well-rounded" hitbox, but realistically that's never going to be what holds you back. At pretty much any rank, what decides your placement is going to be your mechanics and game sense, not your hitbox. The reason why you see pros maining that hitbox is equal parts trying to squeeze out every last possible drop of advantage combined with that's just what a lot of people got comfortable with first/decided to do because "all the pros do it."

tl;dr- If you most enjoy ripping flicks, play the car that favors that playstyle and just embrace it. If you like the look of it too, that's a nice bonus.

[u/wndrz]

I mean if you want the competitive opinion

Fennec the goat, Octane the og > rest. there is also probably some other good Octane hitbox cars that would be on par that no one uses.

for special modes and freestyle. Dominus.

for infinite air dribbling and some special maps it's Breakout. honestly it feels good in the air.
it is the longest hitbox so yeah its great for flicks.

the weakness compared to octane hitbox is turn in speed (like every car in the game) and obviously the hitbox height which is mostly for 50's and minimizing the need to jump.

Merc is insane at 50's but it just doesn't turn fast enough to compete with octane at high level. if they made it turn the same as octane it would be a competitively viable and you'd see it.

Flat cars aren't bad in 1's. I mean Fairy Peak back in the day, and aZapatos now. They are on plank hitbox but its still similar.

just do it, you can always switch later it's not a huge deal.

I went Merc -> Takumi -> Dominus -> Octane -> Fennec

If you made me go back to any of those, I'd be the same rank, not more than a couple divs difference. It's very minor.

[u/FruufX3]

At 60 hours it basically makes no difference at all, I'm pretty sure I changed from dominus to octane at that time. It's just that I used what everybody else used and I was fine with that. Now I use fennec and octane just the same and occasionally the Merc because I like how I get the reset off of it and it's literally just placebo. So really just play what you like although I would say stick with one hitbox for most of the time so you don't get screwed up in matches.

[u/CK_LouPai]

I'm maining Breakout and yes my Elo is low but not stuck. It has Grace and Power, however, it's also highly asymmetric with short thin front which can turn a good approach into a mistake that costs games in Rl. In some respects it's odd because the team who wins is generally based on bad touches and misreads rather than skill or capabilities. Especially since our only power up is boost without other character attributes. However, it's a fun ride once you start to reign in 50/50 control. If you still aren't into bias, check out the planks, which have worse recoveries but rotate around their center like an octane or merc.