Beginner's Guide to Fortnite Battle Royale

Fortnite is a third-person shooter best known for popularizing the battle royale genre. One hundred players face off to be the last one standing. Scavenge for weapons, farm materials, and wipe out the competition to claim the iconic victory royale. Fortnite’s colorful cartoon graphics and stylish dances reminiscent of pop culture crazes make it distinct and accessible.

Rotate to this section for season 2 specifics!

How Do I Navigate The Menu?

The menu greets players with a slew of modes. Pressing Square pulls up the current selection. Solo is an individual battle royale. Duos features teams of two, while Squads involves teams of four. Selecting fill fills empty party spots with random players in team-based modes. Going solo in team games is a true test of skill. The Arena, Fortnite’s ranked mode, is a better place for players looking for more serious matches. LTMs, or limited-time modes, alter gameplay, like covering the map in lava or limiting materials. Be sure to play any LTMs before they cycle out.

What is the Battle Bus?

Pressing Triangle to “ready up” on the menu puts players into a practice area where they can farm materials, build, and shoot without fear of dying. Players appear on the Battle Bus high above the island when the lobby reaches 100 players.

Pressing the touchpad opens the map. A path of arrows shows the bus route and can cut across the map from any direction. Use the right stick to move the cursor over a destination and hit R1 to place a marker. When you exit the map you’ll see a large light at the marked destination. Teammate’s markers are different colors to avoid confusion. The distance under your destination should give you a good idea of when to exit.

How Do I Drop From the Battle Bus?

Hit X to dive from the bus. Pushing the left stick forward dives your character straight down, meaning you’ll reach a low enough height to deploy your glider faster. Depending on how far you want to from the bus route, you may want to prolong diving straight down in order to safely glide to the location. Diving straight down above a location isn’t always the fastest way to land. Waiting until about 1000M is a decent distance to deploy.

Where Should I Drop?

Dropping at named locations on the edge of the map means less people, but more time to reach the safe zone. Conversely, dropping in the middle of the map along the route usually leads to more players and a shorter time to the circle. 

New players might want to land on the outskirts of the map to experiment with mechanics, safely farm materials, and explore the island’s less populated areas before diving straight into the action. Picking different areas to land every few games allows players to learn loot spawns and layouts. Some areas are more consistently populated than others. Despite that, you might see 20 players land at Paradise Palms one game, only to find five the next.

The Block just west of the northernmost part of the map highlights a new player created map every week. Otherwise, the map remains the same, barring subtle changes during most weekly updates and more noticeable changes after infrequent events.

How Do I get Loot?

Knowing where to land at specific locations can be tricky for beginners because you might not know where loot and chests spawn. A safe bet when learning the game is to land at buildings or structures. Structures almost always have floor loot or chests. When you find your first chest, take note of the sound. The distinct jingle will guide you to chest spawns. Spawns vary every game, so listen for the sound to save time searching.

How Do I Kill Players When Landing?

You start with a pickaxe. It does 20 damage per hit and takes five swings to kill an opponent. If another player lands close, it is a race to find a weapon. Pickaxing players is a risky option. Even if you pickaxe someone to death, chances are they’ve taken at least half of your health. One tactic to avoid these situations is to look out for other players landing at the same location. You’ll need to quickly decide whether you’re going to switch landing spots, or contest landing on a weapon.

Why are Weapons Different Colors?

Weapons come in five varieties: Common (grey), uncommon (green), rare (blue), epic (purple), and legendary (gold). Higher rarity means lower spawn rates, more damage, and faster reloads, so you’ll always want to aim for legendary weapons. Note that some weapons are not available in every variety and don’t fret if you’re stuck with grey loot. Skilled players can kill with any gun.

What Loot Should I Gather?

Early game you’ll want a shotgun to take advantage of opponents in close quarters. Grabbing a variety of weapons with different ammunition ensures you’ll never run out. Look for Sniper Rifles, medium-range guns, and throwables like stinks or explosives for versatility in different situations. Test different weapons and utilities to discover which best suit your playstyle. More importantly, always have shield.

How Do I Get Shield?

Shield Potions fill up the blue bar above your health. Don’t forget to use potions in the right order. Small Shields restore 25 shield up until 50 points. The game will never let you drink a Small Shield past 50. Once you’re at 50 shield points, take a Shield Potion to reach 100. Slurp Juice heals 75 points of health overtime. If your health reaches 100, it will steadily restore shield points. Chug Splash heals 20 health to everyone nearby if their health is full. Otherwise it restores health.

How Do I Restore Health?

Losing health is inevitable, but death doesn’t have to be. Medkits restore all of your health, while bandages heal up to 75. Chug Jugs max out health and shield points, but take a long time to consume. Be careful when healing! Nearby players hear distinct noises depending on the item and might hunt you down in search of an easy kill.

Where Do I Find More Ammo?

Ammunition is scattered around the map similar to floor loot. Whenever you find a new weapon, it will come with its respective ammo. Many players overlook the small green ammunition boxes. Searching for them can be the difference between winning and losing long firefights.

How Do I Farm Materials?

Weapons and shield can only get players so far. Farming, building, and editing are some of Fortnite’s defining factors. Hitting walls, rocks, and cars with the pickaxe nets you wood, brick, or metal depending on the structure. Notice the reticle after damaging a wall. Nailing it with your pickaxe increases the amount of farmed materials.

How Do I Build and Edit Structures?

Hit Circle to open the build menu. Every button builds unique structures ranging from walls to cones and stairs. Build controls and sensitivity can be customized in the lobby. Structures always cost 10 materials to build.

The three materials have different strengths and visibility. When you build, structures steadily increase health until they’re complete. Wood has the greatest initial health upon building, but the smallest total health. This makes it great for rushing opponents or putting up walls and stairs midfight. Brick is the middle ground of materials in terms of health and transparency. Great for boxing yourself in to hide, trap and heal, metal has the lowest initial and greatest total health.

Materials max out at 999 depending on the mode. Watch out when farming materials or building because players might see structures vanish, notice something is missing, or check out your builds to see if anyone is around.

Clicking on structures in the build menu opens the edit menu. You can install doors and windows in walls, turn staircases, and even make holes in floors. Every buildable structure has unique edits.

How Does The Storm Work?

Your drop spot was fully looted and farmed. You’ve killed everyone in sight, or maybe just snuck away. Where to next? Below the mini-map is a timer with a blue clock indicating when the storm will move. The purple icon next to the timer means the storm is moving. The white circle is the safe zone and varies from game to game. All players outside of the safe zone risk entering the storm. It deals damage every second, eventually killing anyone caught in its pink wrath.

The storm is designed to increase confrontation between players. Otherwise people would run around for a long time before finding the final few. The storm’s first movement is fast. Fortunately, the storm gets slower every circle until it is constantly moving with a small diameter. Despite the sluggish speed, the storm does far more damage later in the game.

The eye of the storm’s center is less safe. Sticking to the outskirts of the circle is safer. It is harder for players to flank you with your back to the storm. Don’t sprint into the safe zone as soon as it appears. Instead, wait until the storm starts to move and move with it. You’ll become more familiar with the storm’s speed the more you play, making it easier to know when to go.

How to Navigate the Map and Tackle Build Battles ?

Running out in the open is dangerous, yet sometimes necessary, especially late game when players have powerful weapons like Heavy Snipers and Rocket Launchers. If someone shoots at you in the open, immediately build walls or stairs to block the bullets. Locate the enemy. Close players might rush toward you with ramps. Go for the high ground and build up. Build battles are common. Keep an eye on your materials and be on the lookout for third parties, other enemies entering firefights late for easy kills.

Flanking opponents is simple. Crouch to sneak up on them, or rush opponents with aggressive builds. The surplus of weapons and utilities made to counter different offensive and defensive styles make almost any tactic viable.

Why Do Different Colored Numbers Appear When Damaging Enemies?

Colored numbers appear whenever you damage enemies. Orange is for headshots, which multiply damage. Blue shows shield damage and white is health damage. Orange numbers are for vehicles. Keep track in order to know whether or not you should push an enemy that’s on the brink of death. Eliminated players drop all of their weapons, materials, and traps.

Why did I Knock Down a Player Instead of Killing Them?

In Duos or Squads, enemies get knocked down instead of killed if a teammate is alive. Downed players can only crawl. They lose health over time and can either be eliminated or revived. Players often kill downed opponents immediately to take their loot, unless they’re in the middle of a battle.

What are Respawn Vans?

Respawn Vans appear as blue power symbols on the map and revive dead teammates, making them useless in Solo. When teammates die they drop a Reboot Card. You have a limited amount of time to grab it. Failing to do so permanently removes your partner from the game. Picking it up lets you use any van to bring the player(s) back to life. Take caution when using vans and build walls! There’s a progress icon and alarm to warn other players.

Revived teammates can just as easily die again. They respawn with only 100 wood, a grey pistol, 36 light ammo, and 100 health.

What are Traps?

Traps are lifelines waiting to turn the tide in your favor. They can be found in any loot spawn and built on any structure except opponent’s builds. Traps excel in specific offensive and defensive scenarios. Damage Traps deal massive damage to unsuspecting enemies within range, Launch Pads spur assaults on foes or speedy getaways from the storm, and Cozy Campfires steadily heal you and your team. Save traps for when you really need them.

What are Vending Machines?

Bad luck with loot? Vending machines give players the chance to select one of three random weapons or utilities. All three are always the same rarity. Vending machines are not guaranteed to spawn every game and vanish after use. Memorize their locations to increase your opportunities for favorable loot.

What Vehicles are in Fortnite?

Trouble getting around the map? Press Square to enter vehicles like the boat and cruise through the competition. Fire missiles and boost to bypass stretches of land. Multiple players can ride in the same boat, but only one can control it. Vehicles provide great mobility at the risk of giving away your position, so use them wisely. In many instances, boats might be your only salvation from the storm.

What are Hot Spots?

Gold names on the map indicate hot spots filled with drones. Hitting drones drops loot, giving players better loadouts. The extra loot usually draws more players to the same area, making hot spots less desirable for beginners. There can be up to three Hot Spots at random named locations every game.

What are Supply Drops?

Supply drops appear on the map as blue crates and slowly descend from the sky. Strategic, or impatient players shoot them down to capitalize on alluring loot without waiting. Beware! When looted, the icon vanishes from the map, alerting players to your location. Some players even camp supply drops for kills.

What are Supply Llamas?

Don’t just smile when you see a Supply Llama because it is a Llama, smile because it is very rare loot cache stocked with stacks of every ammo, multiple traps, hundreds of materials, and weapons. There are only five Llamas per game. Always scan the area before approaching one, in case another player uses it as bait.

How Significant is Sound?

Familiarizing yourself with the sounds and ambiance of Fortnite’s world is crucial to victory. Everything from moving to opening chests to using Medkits makes distinct sounds, giving enemies hints to your location and actions. Wear a headset or keep your speakers on. Soon you’ll be able to tell when someone is firing a turret, pickaxing a wall, and more. Fortnite even features a visual audio option!

Why Should I Communicate with Teammates?

Communicating with your team significantly raises awareness. Creating callouts for items, locations, and situations helps out in a pinch. Using the coordinates and directions on the top of the screen is another great way to quickly share information. Pinging loot and enemy locations with the D-pad is also recommended for alerting teammates. Tell partners what loot you find, complement their loadouts, and work together to survive.

What Other Tips Should I Know to Start?

Don’t lose your first game to fall damage. Instead use Shockwave Grenades, Launch Pads, or Glider Redeploy to escape from precarious positions.

Close doors with Square to hide your trail. If a door is open, someone either was or still is there.

Crouching reduces the size of the reticle and increases accuracy when aiming.

Getting the most kills doesn’t always lead to wins. Playing smart with a mix of offensive and defensive tactics nets the most victories. However, if you enjoy gunning for kills or stalking players until the endgame, play whichever way brings you the most enjoyment.

It’s best to not take up too many inventory slots with healing items because you’ll have fewer options to fight or get around the map.

Stock up on bandages if you’re far from the circle and need to endure the storm.

What are Events?

Events are promotional material, such as the Live Marshmello Concert, or cinematic map changes relevant to Fortnite’s storyline. For example, the volcano erupted at the end of Season 8, wiping out Tilted Towers and Retail Row. In the wake of the destruction, Season 9 started with new locations, like Neo Tilted and Mega Mall, new forms of transportation via slipstreams, and a future aesthetic. 

What are Fortnite Seasons?

Fortnite is broken into seasons packed with lore and storylines. Players always speculate themes, which points of interest will change, and new gimmicks. Most seasons feel fresh thanks to mechanics like Kevin the cube, rifts, and slipstreams. Plus, Fortnite wouldn’t be Fortnite without new compelling cosmetics and debonair dances.

What are V-Bucks?

V-Bucks are Fortnite’s in-game currency. They can be purchased in the Store section of the menu. 1000 V-Bucks is about $10. Buying in bulk provides bonus bucks and limited-time packs offer exclusive skins and challenges, making players work for their purchase in fun ways.

What is Fortnite’s Battle Pass?

The Battle Pass rewards skill with cosmetics. It costs about $10, or 950 V-Bucks. Players, regardless of owning it, rank up from level 0 to 100 through challenges, kills, and placement. Battle Pass holders earn additional rewards ranging from themed character skins, to pickaxes, wraps, and gliders at every level. Battle Pass exclusive challenges promote experimenting with weapons, playstyles, locations and more. Everything earned is yours forever, although you won’t get a chance to obtain missed cosmetics from future ranks after the season ends.

How Does The Item Shop Work?

The shop also offers unique cosmetics and dance moves for V-Bucks. Nothing from the Battle Pass can be purchased in the shop and vice versa. V-Bucks can be purchased or earned in-game by leveling up. The Item Shop updates daily, so there’s a chance something you wanted to buy, but missed, might reappear in the future.

Do Purchases Provide Competitive Advantages?

Neither the Battle Pass nor the Item Shop contain any items impacting gameplay. Everything is purely aesthetic. Many players view default skins, or no skins, as easy opponents. Improve as a no skin and default dance after triumphing over your foes to really get their blood boiling.

How Does Epic Games Handle Fortnite Patches and Updates?

Epic Games constantly patches Fortnite. New weapons, vehicles, and locations are added every week or two, weapon properties are adjusted for balance, and sometimes weapons are vaulted, or removed from the game. The uncertainty of Epic’s next move both entices and scares players. No one wants their favorite location destroyed, but everyone always “readys up” for new free content.

Fortnite: Chapter 2 Season 2 is Epic's newest venture!