The v14.50 update removed two things from Fortnite: Fortnitemares and double-movement keybinds on keyboard and mouse (KBM). For those who don’t know, double-movement keybinds refer to double-binding the “move left” and “move right” buttons on your keyboard, allowing you to achieve “controller movement” on KBM.
The reason so many pros made this switch relates to the movement grid on KBM vs. controller. Keyboard players can only move in eight directions, while the joystick of a controller allows players to move a full 360-degrees. This movement allows controller players to place structures to the side while they sprint forward. KBM players need to jump or otherwise stop their momentum to achieve the same result.
Double-movement keybinds, as you can see in the video below, fixed this issue. Most top-tier pros have been using them since late last year. Recently, World Cup Solo winner, Bugha, even taped his keyboard to more reliably hit his double-movement keys.
Well, as we said, pros logged onto Fortnite following the v14.50 update and noticed that these keybind options had been disabled. You can no longer double-bind your movement keys, as you always have been able to in the past.
Naturally, the pro community was upset with this shift. Benjyfishy, who is a relatively recent adapter of double-movement, expressed his frustration on Twitter, along with a huge chunk of other Fortnite pros and competitive players.
Dubs agreed, saying, “I don’t think Epic understands what removing double movement binds does. WASD SO BAD.”
One common response in the pro community was the mention of switching to controller. Tfue, who hasn’t played competitive Fortnite in months, brought a ‘just adapt, lol’ attitude to the situation, saying, “If you want double movement just pick up a controller smh.”
Chap agreed, albeit with more of a serious tone. “Give us save the world movement or controller takeover is inevitable,” he wrote.
UnknownArmy, a hybrid player who made a name for himself on controller, poked fun at his KBM counterparts. The former L2-spammer wrote, “Imagine complaining about double movement when I had Legacy removed.” He also noted that this was the first time that Epic removed a popular mechanic from keyboard and mouse players.
As for why Epic removed such a popular mechanic from Fortnite, we won’t know without direct communication. We do have some theories, however. First of all, removing this option lowers the already massive skill gap. Only the top-tier competitive players have been using double-movement.
Additionally, it removes players who are using Macros for double-movement, which is an issue in the competitive community. There were, undoubtedly, some pros using Macros to achieve the double-movement effect without hitting three keys at once.
Unless the removal was a bug – and there’s no sign of that being the case – we don’t see Epic going back on their decision, here. They’ve been steadfast in most similar decisions, even when a large portion of their player base disagrees (the removal of Legacy aim assist, for example). For now, it looks like double-movement is a mechanic of the past. Time to switch to controller.
