With that out of the way, now its time to drill down to the nitty gritty and learn the best practices that separate those who die immediately from those who consistently make it into the top 10 for Fortnite Battle Royale.
Back in my day, we Fortnite players didn’t have a Battle Royale mode… we just played the Eye Of The Storm campaign and we didn’t complain about it! Also, that was only like two months ago.
If you’re just jumping into FBR after being away from Early Access for awhile, there’s actually quite a bit to learn in this frantic free-for-all mode – so first up you probably want to master the basics and study the five best guns to grab in a match.
When To Build
Knowing when to build in FBR can be tricky for those who spent a lot of time playing the campaign and are used to building a lot. In many cases, building isn’t even worthwhile in Battle Royale, because the Storm is just going to wipe out your construction anyway, and while you are in craft mode an enemy is going to snipe you.
There are times when building is essential though, like when using bandages. If you aren’t in excellent cover, throw up a wall before you spend the three seconds of downtime to heal. This has saved my life dozens of times.
Single panel walls also make effective barriers in cramped conditions of half-destroyed buildings. Throwing up a wall when a better armed opponent with higher health is about to corner you in a barn can hilariously turn the tables. From there, chuck a grenade over the wall if you have one, or instead turn around and tear down the other side of the building to flank the opponent who is wasting time trying to take out your wall.
A wall and a grenade take you from sitting duck to efficient death-dealer
This is critical, and lots of players who aren’t used to the campaign don’t utilize this tactic – don’t forget that you can build stairways. If you are in a valley and need to get to high ground to avoid a battle, just throw up three or four wood stair panels and you’re out.
Can’t reach the top of a structure? Build your own access point. Shielding it on two or three sides makes an excellent sniper nest until the storm approaches.
Choosing Landing Points
In general, jumping straight into a large structure filled with loot is an excellent way to die at rank 100 or 99. Everyone else is foolishly doing that as well, and they are all going to be gunning each other down immediately.
Remember the opening moments of the first battle royale from The Hunger Games? Yeah, that’s you – a 10 year old kid too stupid to realize he needed to run the other direction. There are two major exceptions to this rule at the middle and far edge of the Battle Royale map.
Loot Lake
There’s a shining jewel in the center of the map called Loot Lake that is a gamble, but one that’s frequently worth it. This house on the lake island has at least two golden chests, plus another golden chest in the boat on the lake.
The problem is that you move at half speed in the water and it’s wide open terrain, meaning you are certain to die if there are a few players running around the sides of the lake who notice you.
If you saw anyone dropping from the tour bus nearby, avoid the island like the plague – but otherwise, this is a great spot to hit first (and then quickly flee) before anyone else heads there.
Heading for Loot Lake
Anarchy Acres
The other exception is the Anarchy Acres farm area on the end of the map near the storm’s edge. You have to wait a lot longer to jump from the bus, so you will be at a disadvantage if anyone else has made it there. However, if most people dropped from the bus straight away, you can get some crazy good weapons and healing items while sticking to the “edge of the storm” strategy and moving forward slowly (see below).
While these are the two spots I’ve had the best luck with avoiding early campers, there are plenty of excellent jump locations to pick depending on your strategy. Try out different options and see what works best with your play style.
No matter where you land, keep in mind that as the map circle gets smaller, buildings become more dangerous because it’s more likely someone is hiding in there looking out from a window or the rooftop.
Learn the map!
Staying Alive
There’s a difference between surviving and winning. Although the map is smaller than in a certain other Battle Royale style game (and it shrinks all the time) so you run into enemies more often, you can pretty consistently get into the top 10 – 20 just by hiding.
Is that really how you want to get into the top though? From bushes to back hallways in multi-story buildings, keeping out of sight isn’t that hard, but if you aren’t using it to snipe or scope out better locations, all you are really killing is time.
There are different tactics to take here, and each has pros and cons or is more useful at various times:
- Scouting heavily scavenged locations and killing those who are coming out laden down with new loot (be on the lookout while approaching structure for other players employing this strategy)
- Building a sniper’s nest on top of an existing structure for clear line of sight to anyone advancing
- Waiting near the edge of the safe zone to take out those rushing in as the storm is about to advance
- Staying consistently at the edge of the storm and only moving when you absolutely have to, which reduces the chances of getting shot from behind down to nearly 0%
No matter which strategy you employ, eventually you are going to get into a firefight, and in these cases that annoying spazztastic motion can actually help, especially when fighting an enemy using an automatic weapon.
These weapons have crazy spray and aren’t super accurate, so randomly jumping, zagging left and right, and crouching and standing back up can keep you alive. Throwing up a last second wall can also help if you have a direction to escape.
Better than spazzing out, however, is just not being seen at all. To that end, avoid sprinting, since other enemies will hear you, and always avoid being out in the open whenever possible.
Sniping until being forced to move can clear out the competition
Sound Cues
Seriously, you should be playing Fortnite’s Battle Royale mode with a set of quality headphones on. Sound plays a much bigger role in BR than in the campaign.
You can hear movement – especially sprinting – from much farther away, and that’s a telltale sign that someone has noticed you and is getting ready to blow you away. If you’re lucky, it might instead be an inattentive player sprinting out in the open and basically screaming to the world that they want to get shot in the back.
Likewise, firing off a weapon is significantly louder in Battle Royale, and you can usually trace a bullet back to its origin through sound if there isn’t a pitched battle going on.
The golden chests also give off a distinctive sound when you are nearby. Sometimes you have to smash through a wall or floor to get it, but usually they are just in corners or behind crates waiting to be looted.
Random Tips From The Pros
If your inventory slots are full, switch to the pickaxe while grabbing things. The healing items and ammo will go where they need to go, and you won’t accidentally swap your current weapon for a lower quality gun you didn’t mean to grab.
Don’t discount it as a weapon in that situation either – if you are cornered and low on ammo while trying to pick up loot, rushing ahead is a last ditch tactic, but there’s plenty of players who have come out victorious that way and then picked up their opponents guns.
On the flip side, being a vulture is an excellent method to win. Wait for other players to battle it out while you hide behind a bush, then take out the victor while he’s looting, since he’ll likely be low on health. Life’s not fair, and neither is Battle Royale mode.
Looting out in the open is asking to be shot
Cheaters
This has to be addressed because it is currently a major problem. Epic has reportedly banned “thousands” of players so far, but they are going to keep coming back until some basic elements of the game change, so be on the lookout.
If that kill didn’t feel right to you, stick around in spectator mode and see how your murderer fares for the next few minutes. If you notice the player somehow manages to spin a full 180 and headshot someone who was jumping out of cover for half a second, it’s time to use the report feature and keep these scum out of our game.
Honestly, how narcissistic and self-centered do you have to be to cheat at a free-to-play game that has no rewards at the end of a match?!
Hopefully before long you’ll get this screen!
Do you have any other Fortnite Battle Royale tips and strategies we didn’t cover here that have gotten you to the top? Let us know in the comments! And check out the rest of our Fortnite guides for more tips and tricks!
