How to Complete a Sideways Encounter in Fortnite

The Sideways is a strange new zone in Fortnite Season 8, and one of the Punchcard quests for Torin requires players to complete a Sideways encounter. This is much easier said than done, and this challenge has been frustrating for a ton of players now that the season is live. It requires good gear and preferably a full squad, although expert players can still squeeze by solo with enough luck and skill. Here’s how to complete a Sideways encounter in Fortnite.

How to Complete a Sideways Encounter in Fortnite

To complete a Sideways encounter, you don’t have to go to the giant orange bubble that’s marked on the map with an orange circle. Instead, you need to go to the smaller purple icons that look like rifts. There are multiple of these per match, so just pick the one that’s closest to your favorite drop spot. These smaller icons are the right ones for the challenge, not the big sideways zone that hovers over a named location in each match.

Once you reach a Sideways encounter, the purple rift will expand and create a small Sideways bubble. The game will give you a new objective: push back the sideways. Now, it’s up to you to eliminate enough Cube Monsters to fill up the yellow meter at the top of the screen. Once the bar is filled, the Sideways encounter will be complete.

Be warned, there are a lot of Cube Monsters in these encounters. Make sure you have good enough weapons and adequate firepower to take on hordes of enemies. You can also pick up Sideways weapons from chests inside the encounter, but don’t rely too heavily on these. Also, it’s recommended to do this challenge in a group. That way, you can get the quest done quickly and don’t have to worry about one annoying factor.

If you take too long to fill up the bar, then the Sideways encounter will end prematurely. To avoid this, don’t go too long without shooting the Cube Monsters. A boss enemy will spawn during the fight, but don’t worry about them. Keep killing the Cube Monsters to complete the encounter. If you leave them alone for too long, the bubble will close and you will lose. Thankfully, the bar fills up fairly quickly. Just focus on the normal enemies and you’ll be fine.

Also, keep in mind that you aren’t in a private area when dealing with a Sideways encounter. Just like the main Sideways zone on the map, other players can walk right into the bubble and shoot you. This can be especially frustrating if you’re close to finishing the encounter, so just be wary of potential invaders. This is a particularly annoying challenge, but you thankfully only have to do it once. With enough luck, it should only take one or two tries.

Fortnite is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, and mobile devices.