Changes in Meta since FFPL 2021 Summer!

Free Fire has changed a lot since the last time we hosted the Free Fire Pro League. Over the course of these few months, a lot of new characters and weapons have been added, some abilities have been changed, weapon stats balanced, and the meta completely turned around on its head. In this article, we will take a look at what the meta was like during FFPL 2021 Summer, and how it has matured since then. We’ll also try to explore what we can expect from this tournament. 

Chrono’s Time Turner was at its peak last time

The dome shield was an integral part of the Free Fire meta in 2021. Almost everybody was using it. Duels were mostly determined by the timing of deploying your shields. It was literally a staple pick, not just for defending oneself out in the open, but also for close range engagements. Sometimes, people would use it for nothing but the running speed boost. 

Monkey business

A lot of different active abilities are being chosen by the players. We have gradually seen Chrono’s Time Turner being actively phased out, and is becoming less popular. A lot of players (especially snipers) have started to use Wukong’s Camouflage alongside Maro’s passive ability. This allows the snipers to play a lot more aggressively, get into cheeky angles and use them to get knocks. If those cheeky angles get them into trouble, they can always transform into a bush and use the semi-invulnerability to get back into cover. 

Passives proccing

A lot of Indian players used either Hayato’s or Andrew’s passive abilities (sometimes both) in order to boost their armour stats. However, when we took a look at the playing patterns of teams abroad, they did not always feel the need to use these. A decent number of movement based characters (Kelly and Joseph) were also seen. 

Those who believe in their fragging power frequently used Moco to tag enemies, while a new class of ‘grenadiers’ emerged, who use Alvaro’s Art of Demolition. The snipers loved the addition of Maro, and several top Indian players were seen using this. 

Reimagining cover

In the last month of 2021, we saw a lot of Indian pros finally explore Skyler’s shockwave. This is capable of busting open gloo walls and exposing hidden enemies. With Chrono becoming less popular over the months, and the rise of Skyler, a lot of people are about to be left exposed in the open while fighting. 

Lessons learnt from FFAC

Misha’s Afterburner was overlooked for a very long time. She was one of the older characters that was released a few years ago, yet for some reason, we had never seen her abilities being used in the Indian Free Fire circuit. Then we saw what the teams in South East Asia were upto. Almost every team there had a designated driver that had the Afterburner equipped. The speed and safety that it provides to a team rotating into the zone is unmatched. This helped people capture favourable compounds early by rotating much before anyone else. Even Team Orangutan Elite’s captain Jonty pointed out that they were able to win a booyah in FFAC because they used Misha’s Afterburner. 

Weapons meta

The double-sniper meta was at its peak during the FFPL last year. Since snipers are not always available and hard to loot, a lot of people have forced themselves to get acquainted with any guns available. The AC80 has become the go-to rifle for anyone who wants to fight at medium range, because of its amazing control and armour penetration. 

The meta has changed a lot since the FFPL last year. All this theory crafting can help us get a glimpse of what FFPL 2021 Winter has in store for us, but the mystery will only be truly unravelled when the tournament begins!

Make sure you tune in to the live stream on 8th January 2022, at 6 PM IST on our Free Fire Esports India Official Youtube channel.