Introduction:

This guide is for spar tactics and tips for people already somewhat familiar with solo gun sparring and want a more in depth description of styles and tactics. Anyone who wants to use this guide should first read Rotaruc's guide.

I'm making this guide because people will often PM me asking me for spar tips. Here's a disclaimer about my qualifications: I maintain around a 5:1 win/loss ratio even though I spar often against the best players. I have around 2.7k spar wins and 500 losses. This is nothing compared to Rotaruc's, but you don't have to be the best to have tips to give! I will go over popular spar strategies and their counters, some basics regarding shooting methods, and some notes on the different guns.

In case you are completely unfamiliar with iZone sparring:
- It takes place in one of two arenas, one which is larger and one smaller. Both are significantly bigger than the solo spar arenas in classic and Era.
- You can use any gun you've purchased, but you are given only 250 ammo of each type when the match begins. For this reason, it is best to have your two slots filled one gun which uses rifle ammunition and one which uses energy ammunition.
- You can shoot in (essentially) 360 degrees. You can walk in 8 directions, even while you are shooting. The diagonal directions are twice as fast as the straight directions.
- Almost all guns can shoot 18 bullets before they need to reload. While reloading, you are temporarily locked in place.
- The objective is to reduce the HP of your opponent from 50 to 0. Most guns will deal around 5 damage, +1 if your class is Commando.


Other things to know before sparring:
- Don't assume that because you're a good sparrer on Era you'll be good or even okay at sparring on Zone. They are nothing alike, and none of the unspoken rules or requirements of either one transfer over to the other. The only exception is that very experienced Era sparrers are sometimes much better at dodging.
- Additionally, don't assume that because you're good at PKing or Showdown that you'll be good at spar! While you'll definitely have an advantage over people who have never sparred, they really are nothing alike. The restricted space and the lack of barriers to hide behind make it a whole other game.
- BEWARE of the glitch in the bottom left corner of BOTH solo spar arenas. If you are pushed into that corner and then fire a gun with recoil while in it, your screen will skip momentarily and then your gun will stop firing until you press to equip a new one and then press the one you already had. This causes many losses and a lot of anger! Just avoid the corner all together! If you see someone struggling to fire their gun after being in that corner (usually their character will look up and then to the right over and over), it is proper spar etiquette to not fire at them until they regain the ability to shoot. Then the one who experienced the glitch should fire a warning shot indicating that he or she is ready to go.

----------------------------------------------------------------

Basic Strategy and Dynamic of Spars:

Sparring consists of two main skills: Shooting and Dodging. Both skills are independent tasks that you'll have to juggle. New players often focus on modifying their shooting methods and don't give much thought to dodging, which is a vital mistake. Spar is very unforgiving when it comes to taking hits: on average, a match is over in only 8-10 hits. To succeed you'll need to be able to place pressure on your opponent's dodging while at the same time avoiding any situation where you're struggling to dodge, lose focus on shooting, and end up helpless.

This dynamic can be referred to as maintaining control or being on the offensive versus losing control of the arena and being pushed into the defensive. The most popular spar tactic for new and intermediate sparrers is walling, or creating diagonal waves of bullets by moving from one wall to another while spamming bullets and pressuring their opponent into a situation where they have to make tricky diagonal dodge moves, making it harder for him/her to fight back. While this tactic has its weaknesses, it works for newer sparrers because it exploits the lack of dodge skills most players have at first and takes control from their opponent. When someone is forced to make tricky dodges, they often panic and loose focus. The funny thing about this tactic is that if two players are of about equal skill, and both rely on it, whoever wins can be determined simply by who gets pressured first. Neither player would able to dodge the tactic well, so whoever falls for it first will lose.

In order to guarantee yourself the offensive role, you need to be confident enough in your dodge abilities to rush your opponent, and apply pressure on them which doesn't allow them to rely on their typical strategies. By rushing, I mean moving towards your opponent to make your bullets harder to dodge (if you shoot from farther away, bullets shot at different angles can spread and are easy to avoid). You'll need to be able to sense when you're going to need to reload in order to rush successfully, because if you miscalculate it and you reload while approaching your opponent, they can counter and get easy shots in. Similarly, you'll need to be able to sense when your opponent is going to reload, and plan your rush accordingly.

Being able to rush in this way is what separates decent sparrers, who rely more on walling (as described above) or who rely on running away and keeping distance in order to dodge, from advanced sparrers. By successfully rushing your opponent, you can trap them against a wall or corner where it is most difficult to dodge, maintain pressure, and never give them a chance to counter.

----------------------------------------------------------------

Sparring Styles / Tactics

It is important to be able to identify which style of sparring your opponent relies on so that you can counter it. Different styles of sparring pair better with different types of guns, so you can use their gun choice to foresee what they are likely to do. Talented sparrers will be versatile with their style of sparring and be able to shift in and out of styles depending on the situation they are in.

Walling:

I described this style above, and Rotaruc refers to it as dragging in his guide; it involves maintaining distance between you and your opponent and then creating waves of bullets by shooting in a straight line and moving in two opposite directions. If you shoot straight and move straight in a different direction, there should be very small gaps between each bullet. Shooting horizontally and moving diagonally will force your opponent to counter that wave with a diagonal movement or their own, or be forced to take a hit. Walling works best when there is space between you and your opponent because, when done right, it creates tight enough waves of bullets with little spread which you would usually need to be close up to your opponent to achieve.

Guns to use: Fast firing and usually lower damage guns. The goal is to make the gaps between your bullets as small as possible. Streamer is the best gun for this strategy, it fires rapidly and create walls with very narrow gaps which are hard to pass through. The metallic rifle can act as a cheaper alternative to streamer, but it deals only 3 damage instead of 5. The Pez Rifle is a good walling gun as well, and deals 5 damage, however it will not create as tight of gaps as the Streamer will. The Chaingun also works, but its strange forced spreading of bullets can create unwanted gaps in your walls.

Update: The Streamer's damage has been changed to 5 damage instead of 4 (unless it was 5 all a long and I never noticed). For this reason, it can be really hard to counter a waller with a Streamer' even when using a higher damage gun like Green/Red rifle (6 dmg). The rate of fire on it is simply too fast to dodge regularly. Personally, my only successful counter against a good waller with a Streamer is to wall with a Streamer myself.

Class to use: If you're using a low damage gun, you should absolutely choose Commando. The +1 damage granted is proportionally better for low damage, high rate of fire guns. Turning the Metallic Rifle's 3 damage to 4 is a 33% damage increase, while turning the Green Rifle's 6 damage to 7 is only a ~16.66% damage increase. To put it another way, if you are using a Lightning Pistol and aren't a commando it will take you 13 hits to kill your opponent. If you are a Commando, it will only take 10.

Commentary on Walling / How to Counter: Walling works because it is pretty easy for you to do, and pretty difficult for your opponent to counter. If your opponent cannot dodge a diagonal wave of bullets, then you are guaranteed to hit them each wave. Every sparrer should know how to wall, and you will use it no matter how advanced you are in any situation where you want to press your opponent into a corner and there is a good amount of distance between you two.

However, walling has a hard counter. Because walling relies on moving in straight, uninterrupted lines, your opponent can shoot ahead and break your path. When you respond to the block, they can rush in on you and close the distance you needed to wall successfully. If you find that your opponent is basically just drawing zig-zags up and down, don't run away to the opposite wall! Remember, when walling is done right then the gaps don't grow depending on distance! Instead, shoot towards where they are headed, and when they are hit or when they reload, charge in. Once you're good enough, you'll be able to block their path, then shoot to block their recoil path -- you can get in combos of shots on people who depend on walling and move predictably. People who depend on walling are usually not good dodgers themselves so by decreasing the distance between you two (and increasing the difficulty for both of you to dodge), you can take the control of the match.

Another important thing to keep in mind while sparring against a waller is that if you aren't confident that you can make it through a wall unharmed, then aim at least to be hit by only 1 bullet and not 2. This seems obvious, but I find myself having to remind myself about that. If you aren't so concerned about getting through a tiny gap and aim to be hit only by 1 bullet, then you are less likely to become frustrated or panic. You can then hopefully counter while they are reloading from the wall.

Even with this counter, walling works. You'll see sparrers with great spar scores and hundreds of wins who essentially only know how to wall. This is because most players do not know how to dodge well, especially dodging diagonally. But my tip is to avoid relying completely on this style if you ever want to win matches against more experienced players; what good is it to have an amazing spar score if you yourself aren't becoming better at sparring and if you can only beat hoards of inexperienced players?

Rushing:

I described rushing as a fundamental part of sparring above, but it can also be a spar style in itself. It involves using a high damage gun and charging at your opponent, basically defeating them through simply overpowering them: A player using an Enraged Rifle can charge in on a player using a Streemer and as long as both players are being shot, the Enraged Rifle user will win. To rush successfully, you need to be able to spread your bullets just enough to prevent them from running away. This involves shooting just a little over them, then shooting just a little under them, then shooting right in between those two shots, etc. so that they struggle to find a way to get away from you as you close the gap. I'm going to refer to this shooting method as creating a torrent (because it creates a wide stream of hard to avoid bullets), and I'll describe it more below.

You'll want to maintain just enough space between you and your opponent that you feel comfortable with when it comes to dodging. This is how advanced sparrers beat less experienced sparrers so rapidly: by shrinking the gap to something they are comfortable with and something their opponent isn't. Once that has been accomplished, most of the rusher's bullets will hit while the defenders bullets should still be dodgeable. And remember, even if you aren't good at dodging, so long as your opponent is also bad and has a weaker gun than you, you'll still win.

Guns to Use: You'll want to use high damage gun with as high of fire rate as possible. For that reason, I'd say the Enraged Rifle is the best gun for the job. It deals 6 base damage (9 hits to kill, 8 with commando), and fires at a good speed. The slight recoil isn't much of an issue when your objective it to run straight at your opponent. The Green Rifle also works for this job, although it seems to fire slightly slower and therefore it wouldn't outpower an Enraged Rifle.

Class to use: Commando is likely still the better choice for this style. Dealing 1 more damage and taking 1 less damage sort of cancel one another out, but defenders have the added problem of moving slightly slower. However, if you are new and are positive you're going to take more hits than you dish out, you can choose defender for rushing: it might just buy you enough time to get close enough to your opponent to spam them out. I've had brand new players with Defender and an Enraged Rifle simply charge at me and win because I wasn't expecting it and missed a few too many shots before they got me. You can use medic for rushing while using a high damage gun, but I found that it is hardly any better (if better at all) while in the larger spar arena, and much worse in the smaller spar arena. The slight boost in speed simply isn't helpful in the smaller environment (there is nowhere to run).

Commentary on Rushing / How to Counter: Rushing is a necessary move for all sparrers -- it's the only way you should be approaching your opponent. It is great for breaking out of a corner and regaining control. When done right, it should startle your opponent and cause them to hesitate and make a few mistakes. I try to open each match by rushing so that I can maintain the offensive role and quickly get as close as possible while still being able to dodge, and this is usually close enough to give my opponent a hard time.

It's not without problems, however. If you're facing a good sparrer, they will know what you're trying to do, and will fire back with their own torrent of bullets. If you yourself are also not good enough at trapping them in as you rush, they can always move away from you. One example is: the match starts, you spawn on the left, and you try rushing your opponent into either the bottom or top right corner. If they don't panic, they can circle around you, all the while aiming towards you how the NPCs sort of circle around and fire at you. Then suddenly you are the one trapped in a corner.

But unlike that for walling, this isn't necessarily a hard counter. So long as you are better at dodging and shooting, then you should be able to overpower their counter with your own rush. This also means that if you are a new player relying solely on rushing with your Enraged Rifle to win matches, you will usually be handily defeated by experienced players who know what you're up to.

Single Shotting:

This style relies on being able to read your opponent and predict what they are going to do. Instead of holding down the fire button (which makes it more difficult to make different angled shots without creating a "wave" of shots), you will always tap the fire pad. Sometimes you'll shoot up high, sometimes way down low, without all the shots that can occur in between when holding down the button and sliding your finger (what one usually does while walling). Single shotting also gives you more control over when you're going to reload. If you use your shots wisely, and aim at where you know they are going to go, then you don't have to fire as many bullets to get the job done. This means you have to reload less often, and once you've played enough, you'll know which press is going to cause you to reload.

Your movement while using single shooting will be to sort of hover around them, and also falling back and forth from them a bit. You'll want to disorient them so they will be more likely to run into your shots. If you move and shoot in predictable directions, then they will be more likely to avoid your bullets. You can't depend on walls when using the guns that are best suited for single shotting because they simply don't fire fast enough. Instead, in order to trap your opponent and gain the offensive position, you'll need to "dance" around them and shoot above and below them in a sporatic fashion until they get pushed into a corner position. From there, you can keep firing in that way to keep them trapped.

Guns to Use: You'll want to use as high of power gun as possible, which is possible because you don't need to rely on fire rate while single shotting. The Egg Launcher is the definitive single shot gun - both it and the Plasma Shotgun force you to single shot (they aren't automatic). The Easter Egg Gun deals a ridiculous 7 damage (8 hits to kill, 7 hits to kill if Commando), but unless you're a talented single shotter your opponent will have no trouble dodging it. The Plasma Shotgun deals only 5 damage, and as far as I can tell it's only advantage is the bullet seems bigger (not sure if that affects the hit-box though). Another great gun for single shotting is the Green Rifle, it deals 6 damage (9 or 8 hits to kill), and while it is automatic, is ever so slightly slower than the other automatic guns making it so that single shotting doesn't seem to decrease the total amount of bullets it fires in any given time.

Class to Use: You can never go wrong with Commando. With all of the popular single-shot guns, Commando will decrease the amount of hits you need on your opponent to win by 1. However, because single shooting requires a great deal of moving around, I've found that Medic is okay for the job in the larger spar arena. It makes it ever so easier to dodge (although beware, if you are used to dodging with normal speed then the difference might actually cause you to make more mistakes), and can make the "dancing" required to single shot successfully easier.

Commentary on Single Shotting / How to Counter: This tactic is more advanced, and requires enough experience to be able to intuitively know how long it will take your bullet to reach a location, and to where your opponent is headed. Some more advanced sparrers use single shooting exclusively (Ex: Funk seems to use single shotting with the Egg Launcher exclusively and he is great at it), while others will use it occasionally (these players are usually using a green rifle). I also use single shooting exclusively, but in a fashion which still relies a bit on walling sometimes (not so much the "dance" that is associated with pure single shooting) - when I'm using my Green Rifle I almost never hold down the shoot button in order to give me more control of the direction and rate of firing.

When it comes to countering single shotting, it comes down to basically being able to predict and familiarize yourself with your opponents movement routine and firing ahead of them accordingly. This is very similar to countering walling, although not as easy, because a good single shooter will be able to adapt to a blocked path. A mixture of shooting ahead and counter rushing will get the job done, but bear in mind that because single shooters use higher damage guns, the damage taken during a rush is less forgiving.

----------------------------------------------------------------

Tips and Methods for Shooting

In Zone you can shoot in a variety of ways depending on how you space your bullets, in what directions you aim, and at what rate you fire.

- Walling is itself a method of shooting, and is the most popular method. One thing I'll add here is that you can create the "tightest" wall by moving diagonally and slightly towards your direction of fire. This is because the bullets you shoot kind of catch up to the last ones due to your moving towards the bullets. If you don't move diagonally, then the bullets will be too close together to make a wall.

- One very successful method of shooting while rushing and single shotting is one I briefly mentioned above, which I'm calling torrenting. The idea with torrenting is to create a broad stream of bullets which is just wide enough to trap your opponent but not wide enough that they can slip through the different shots. My metaphor for this is to think of a garden hose spraying water; if you're trying to spray someone with the hose you can do so by simply spraying all around them back and forth creating a large Z-shaped stream of water, but if you are swinging the hose too far to either side of your target you wont hit it with too much water. Now, if you were to ever so gradually shake the hose back and forth, you can create a much more dense stream of water which is still difficult to avoid but much more compact (like a torrent of water).

The way you achieve this effect in sparring is to not only change the direction of your shooting, but to gently shake your character back and forth while firing in a nearly fixed direction. If your opponent is to the left, then you would move ever so slightly up and ever so slightly down while shooting basically straight left (but aiming slightly above or below depending on where you think your opponent will be when the bullet reaches him/her).

Learning how to shoot a torrent effectively was the closest thing I had to a "breakthrough" moment while sparring. By mastering it, you can create streams of bullets which are nearly impossible to avoid (unlike walls), and best of all, they very often lead to combo hits. When your opponent tries to dodge a bullet above them, they will instinctively run down, but if you're torrenting right then there will be a shot down there awaiting them.

In order to learn how to shoot a torrent, you need to try to avoid creating walls for a while. You can't create a stream of bullets like this by running in a straight direction; instead, you need to remain relatively fixed in place and only undulate back and forth. This is hard for many players because they instinctively think that if they sit still, then they are more likely to be shot, but usually the opposite is true (read the "stalling" section in Rotaruc's guide).

- Another important concept to keep in mind with shooting is to always aim for your target, not in the sense that you shoot right at them, but you are always consciously trying to shoot at where you think will hit them. Very often I will see players just completely forget about aiming whenever they are forced to dodge. They will randomly start firing above or behind them or where their opponent was before they started dodging, as if they are so concerned with dodging that they forgot about the shooting altogether. Never allow yourself to sort of mindlessly shoot in a direction while you think about dodging or running away. You should be able to aim and dodge at the same time - that's basically what makes a sparer good.

- In line with that is another important ability you'll need to be good at shooting: the ability to adjust your angle constantly as you move. When you move around your opponent, you should be able to automatically adjust your shooting angle towards them. Most of them time, I'll see people move around their opponent, continue to shoot basically in the same direction they were before, then after seeing their bullet is way off then adjust their direction. Try to learn how to know where you need to press on the direction pad depending on the angle between you and your opponent are at all times, not just the general direction. Single shooting is helpful for this because you don't have to slide your finger around to reach the new angle (potentially firing a wasted bullet that will go nowhere near your opponent).

- One good tactic is to create a small wall (of about 3 bullets) and then immediately follow it up with a few shots directly above and below the wall at the opponent. The idea is to create a diagonal wall that's just enough to force them to move out of its way, and then to shoot the likely exit points they will take to get away from that small wall.

- If you are ever in a stalemate with your opponent where both of you are pushed against a wall firing at each other, make sure you press as directly as possible on the appropriate direction using the tip of your finger. Most players have trouble shooting straight enough to fire at someone placed against a wall when they are on that same wall - their bullet will either go over their opponent or hit the wall and disappear. If you get good at straight shooting, then you'll have the upper hand in these situations.

----------------------------------------------------------------

Tips and Methods for Dodging

- In order to dodge successfully you must always remain calm and make intentional movements. That is why stalling works (read Rotaruc's guide). Players are usually scrambling around or trying to wall, making them more susceptible to being hit. In any given period of time, their body is in more locations in the ring, and usually that means more likely to be hit by a bullet, especially if they are just moving around randomly thinking that makes them harder to hit. Instead, remain relatively still (apart from the movement required to shoot torrents), and move only when necessary. When a wall of bullet comes, don't run away, instead be prepared to make the diagonal movement usually required to get through it.

- Remember that moving diagonally is twice as fast as moving in a straight direction when traveling to a destination positioned diagonal from you. Be willing to try to move diagonally by default, especially considering how often you'll need to avoid walls of bullets. Most players will move diagonally only in specific situations; instead, they should be trying to use it just as frequently if not more than straight movement. An example where it's better: If a bullet is coming straight at you, if you ran directly away from it you wouldn't accomplish much other than getting pressed against a wall. Bullets move nearly as fast as players. If you ran perpendicular to it, like directly up or down if it was coming from the right, then its likely it will still hit you if it's close enough. Moving diagonally away from it buys enough time for you to slide up/down away from its path.

- Another option to dodge an incoming wall is to "Ride the Wave"; since you usually walk at about the same speed as your opponent, you can successfully avoid a wave of their bullets by moving in the same exact direction as them while they are shooting. If, however, you end up walking into a wall, you will be trapped by the wave. Riding the wave in this fashion is best for when you know your opponent will have to reload soon. Once they reload, the wave is cut short, and you can get by it and counter attack.

- If you are using a gun which recoils when shooting, you can use that to your advantage for dodging. Recoil Dodging involves shooting opposite of the direction you are moving in order to increase your movement speed temporarily. It works great for getting past an incoming group of bullets, especially if you are using a gun with high recoil like the Enraged Rifle. However, by doing this you usually have to stop shooting at the opponent, which lets up on the pressure you're placing on them and allows them to rush in on you. In some situations, though, you can use the recoil to dodge and still fire at your opponent. Most guns have a slight recoil to them, so you can use this move with the Green Rifle, Chaingun, LR Pulsar, Metallic Rifle, etc., but the effect is most noticeable with the Enraged Rifle.

----------------------------------------------------------------

Dealing with Laggers / Delayers

The most frustrating aspect about iZone sparring is the advantage that is given to lagging players. They become invulnerable to bullets, and can only be killed with repeated melee hits.

If you are sparring against someone who is completely frozen, remember that you can still defeat them with any melee weapon. If you don't have a melee weapon equipped, simply click on one of the two gun icons on the right of your screen and drag left over them. A box will come up and your knife will be there to select.

Their health bar will not show that they are being damaged. That doesn't matter. Continue to attack with the melee weapon until they are defeated. This can take up to 10 hits.

But if your opponent is lagging only partially, then this option can be dangerous. If you don't kill them in time, then when their lag lets up a bunch of bullets might spawn directly on top of you. What I do in this situation is run opposite of where they would think I would be. Usually, this means to run behind where their character is lagging. The idea is to be as far away from and out of the path of the group of bullets that will spawn once they stop lagging.

While running there, shoot towards where you'd imagine they would be running. Never shoot at their frozen lagging character. By the time their lag is up, they won't be there anymore.

Other than that, there is not much you can do to counter them. They have the advantage of delaying a game where neither player can harm one another. This is especially advantageous when a sparrer of less skill is sparring a better player: the lag sort of evens the playing field and makes the outcome more random, as it is very likely the more advanced player might randomly be hit by a wave of bullets. The only thing you can do is grow accustomed to the usual outcome of lag, and try to predict what the arena will look like once the lag is over.

----------------------------------------------------------------

This guide is already very long so I'm going to stop here for now. I may add more in the future. I hope this helps anyone who is trying to take their sparring to the next level!

If you have any questions regarding sparring or any suggestions for my guide then feel free to post and I will try to respond.  

Dayum, nice  

This guide is longer than the essays I turn in to my teachers, holy crap. I'll look it over later, thank you for putting so much effort into something to help less-experienced players!  

I would rep you, but can't seem to find the button. Lol  

Great Work lol but i have to ask because im amazed .... how long did this take you to type? haha makes my guide look like a poem.  

Thanks a lot guys. @Rotaruc: I was procrastinating and really didn't want to do work so kept adding to the guide haha. I don't remeber but it at least took me a couple hours.

Also I was wondering if anyone had more specific tips for shooting. I couldn't think of many real "tricks".  

i have a few "tricks" for shooting but some of my oppenents have recently gotten A LOT better and theyre giving me a fight now (dragun) >.> so im not revealing anything else xd