Your boy Tuck here, and today I'm going to break down the Gun Bunch Formation and how to use it effectively in Madden 18.

Gun Bunch Formation

Today we're going to focus on the Offensive side of the ball and some simple things you can do pre-snap to improve your gameplay online. All instructions will be for the XBox One console, which you can easily convert to Playstation.

By far the most popular, if not the best, passing formation in Madden 18 is the Gun Bunch. You can find the Gun Bunch formation in plenty of playbooks, each one has a different wrinkle to it. The Gun Bunch weak in the West Coast Playbook is one of my personal favorites.

Most times you want to run the Gun Bunch with the 3 Wide Receivers on the side of the field with the most room to work. So if you're on the left hash mark, you need the 3 WR's on the right side of the field for this formation to work at it's best.

The idea out of the Gun Bunch formation is to force the Defense, whether they are in Man-to-Man or Zone, to cover 3 Wide Recievers on one side of the field while a 4th and possibly a 5th WR work the other side. This is the key to success in Madden 18, create 3 different levels for the Defense to have to cover on one side of the field.

Most always, you will have at least one open option you can hit when using this strategy. It can be one of your "GoTo" Formations when you need that 1st down or a big play for a TD. Pre-snap the Gun Bunch is filled with options for your QB to deceive the defense.

Below I show how you can Hot Route receivers out of the Gun Bunch Post Cross to create 3 levels on one side of the field with your Wide Receivers. First, have a look at the default routes, which work fine most times if you have at least one speedy WR on the inside.

Default Post Cross routes

Now we will Hot Route all 3 receivers pre-snap.

What I did here was ...

1

Hot Route the RB receiver (Fiedorowicz, usually a Tight End) into a Flat Route forcing one of the Defensive Backs to come down low to cover him. If that DB is not in a low flat coverage, he will never get there in time. This will be our 3rd option in this route.

Y then RB then Left-Trigger

2

Hot Route the A receiver (Miller) into an Out Route to the sideline.

Y then A then Left-Stick to the Right

3

Smart Route the A receiver so that he makes his cut at the first down marker. Smart Route simply means the receiver will either extend or decrease the distance of his route to the First Down Marker or the Goal Line. If the first down marker is ahead of the goal line, it will only set the route to the first down marker.

Y then A then RB

4

Hot Route the B receiver (Fuller) into a Streak or Fade route.

Y then B then UP on Left-Stick or Right-Stick

And the end result is a complete pass for an easy first down.

Now this looks like it will take a while to setup, but it can be done in under 3 seconds, I simply left the screens up so you can see them in the video. Usually they go up/down so fast you would not be able to read what was on the screen, so don't worry, you have plenty of time to make all 3 Hot Routes pre-snap.

You can also put the X Receiver (Hopkins) on the left side of the field into a Drag Route or Slant, sending a 4th Wide Receiver to the right side of the field. It would be best to hit him over the middle or before, otherwise you run the risk of having two receivers in the same area.

Tune In Next Time!

In my next Madden 18 Tips blog I'm thinking of touching on the "Playmaker" ability for the QB's, which most users don't take advantage of OR going over some Defensive tactics. Let me know which you would like to see in the comments below!

Previous Madden 18 Tips

Madden 18 : 5 Tips to Improve Your Game