Fortnite

Your first big decision in Fortnite is where to land. The best areas for loot will be where you find the most opponents. While you’re learning it’s worth taking a “long drop” which means using your glider to travel further away from the bus and to more remote, and less busy, areas of the map. This will give you time to loot on your own without being attacked or to encounter less enemies all at once so you can learn how to fight while you’re under less pressure. If you do this, you need to be aware of where the circle will be and where you are. You might find yourself in the circle already, which is great, or you might have to start moving quickly into the oncoming circle area to escape the storm. Wherever you land, loot quickly and pick up and swap in/out the best weapons so you are prepared for battle.

Opponents will hear your gunshots, your pickaxe hits and your footsteps. You need to be very aware of this in Fortnite. The pickaxe, or a fight, will give away your location super quickly and your opponents will be listening for you. You also need to listen; you may hear another player enter a building and can be prepared to deliver a quick elimination if you are stealthy. 

Wherever you are looting or travelling to, keep moving. Don’t travel in a straight line, vary your steps if you can so a sniper can’t get a lock on you. Keep jumping too. If you can master jumping and shooting, you’re almost a pro – you’ll be hard to hit and if you are good, can take out an opponent at the same time. When travelling or exploring, move from tree to tree or building to building to keep some cover from enemies.

You might feel the urge to avoid building at first but don’t. If you can master building as fast as shooting you can put up defences quickly against enemies. Or, you can build to gain an advantage during a shootout. The pros build high and fast in the middle of a fight, and build defences while they heal, take a slurp or take advantage of a loot drop. Make sure you harvest materials quickly in the game before the circle contracts and more players can hear you.

In Fortnite it’s easy to get focused on looting or fighting, forgetting about the circle. Early on its important to get into the habit of checking the map, being aware of where the circle is, and will be, and where you are in relation to it. If you are not aware of the circle you can quickly get caught in the storm and have to race for the circle. While you’re doing so, your health will be depleted, and you are more exposed to opponents who might catch you running out of the storm while your defences are down. Getting caught and killed by the storm is also extra frustrating for new players, especially if you just loaded up with awesome loot.

Speed is of the essence in Fortnite, you need to loot fast, move fast, fight and swap weapons quickly and build fast to survive and eventually start taking those Victory Royales. Practice makes perfect and while you’re learning and improving your skills a key advantage is to be confident. If you encounter another player, yes you can hide or take cover, but if you find yourself face to face with an opponent and getting shot sometimes confidence will work in your favour. Don’t panic, aim and start shooting, sometimes a little confidence makes you realise that player you just dropped in front of you was also a noob and easier to eliminate than you thought.