Fortnite: Beginners Guide - learn how to play Fortnite [updated]

 s it your first time playing Fortnite? Do you wonder why you are always the first to die? Don't worry, you're not doing anything wrong, just lacking a little experience. To stay longer in the game or to snatch victory for you, we have prepared beginner tips for you that will surely help you.

What is Fortnite about?

Fortnite belongs to the Battle Royale genre and is a game that is about surviving as long as you can. A total of 100 players take part in one game. Only the one who survives last wins. To do this, you land on a large map on which weapons are distributed everywhere. You have to collect these to defend yourself against the other players.

The jump

In the beginning, you sit on a bus. You have to jump out of this and then fly in the desired direction. It is best to fly towards a city and not towards a single house, as there are usually fewer weapons here. But be careful! Several players cavort in cities, which is why battles take place faster here. Depending on the tactics and flight route of the bus, it is important to weigh up the number of players and the amount of loot.

The zone

There is a zone that is arranged in the form of a circle. This is also marked on the map, which you can use for orientation. Next to it, you will see a time display that is running out slowly. You have to move into the circle, i.e. the zone before the time runs out because otherwise you will be hit by a storm that will cause you more and more damage in the long run and can cost you your life. The zone is getting smaller and smaller so the players are herded together and not hiding all the time.

To build

Fortnite plays a special role among all Battle Royale games because you can build things. In return, you can mine almost everything you find in the game world with a pickaxe that you have from the beginning - it doesn't matter whether it is trees, stones, or cars. This will give you wood, stone, or metal. You can then use these materials to build walls or stairs. These offer you protection from opponents, provide a better position, or help you to build a path up a mountain.

resources

Make sure that you always have enough of the mentioned building materials and ammunition with you. This means that you should search through every ammunition box and, ideally, mine enough things on the way to the zone. Then towards the end, you have no problem defending yourself well. But be careful: if you destroy objects completely, this will be clearly visible and audible for other players.

Pay attention to your sound

One of the most important things about playing Fortnite is sound. For this, you should have a good system or get good headphones or a headset so that you can hear exactly from which direction shots or noises are coming. That makes it easier for you to guess where the opponents are. Also, you can not be surprised from behind, for example, or hear immediately when an opponent enters the house in which you are.

Besides, with this knowledge, you should also be careful not to make too much noise yourself. You shouldn't dismantle trees or stones completely so that the opponents don't notice you. Always go crouched, otherwise, you will hear your steps and you will leave clouds of dust behind. Unless you're already being shot anyway, then it's time to hit the hook or shine with a better aim.

cure

There are various medicines that you can use to replenish your life. With bandages, you can always restore your health to 75%. Some medkits completely restore your life, but the healing time is also significantly longer. Among other things, there is still the campfire. To do this, you first have to build a base plate and then place the campfire on it. It heals your life for 25 seconds, then it breaks - not logical, but useful!

Shield potions

Fortnite also has the option of getting bonus lives. For this, you will find small and large shield potions in the game. The small ones give you a 25% bonus life per potion, but you can only drink them up to 50%, so it is important to always drink the small potions first. The large potions give 50% life per potion. As a specialty, there is the slurp juice and the drinking mug. The slurp juice, like the campfire, slowly heals your life, only that it can also heal your shield. It gives a maximum of 75% life or shield. It takes you a whopping 15 seconds to drink the mug, but when you have drunk it, it immediately heals your entire life and your entire shield to 100%. When healing life or shield, you must build in front of it so that you are not shot down in time.

Jump off in a targeted manner

If you have the hopping and threshing phase - also known as the pre-game lobby - behind you, you will find yourself in the floating battle bus, which flies a random route across the game world. It is now up to you to decide which point in time to choose for your jump. However, note the golden battle royale rule that there is a lot of competition in the vicinity of the flight route on the ground. So if you want to look for weapons and equipment in peace, you should move as far away from this route as possible.

Choosing the right jump is essential for a successful start.

Since the map in Fortnite is significantly smaller than that of the genre colleague Playerunknown's Battlegrounds, but 100 players are also fighting for survival, finding a quiet spot is often not that easy. In Fortnite: Battle Royale, it is all the more important to keep a close eye on your opponents as you approach the game world. And to change your approach destination if you have too much company. Also, make it clear beforehand what you want to achieve in this round: Are you playing for victory, or do you want to practice first and are therefore looking for quick action?

• To achieve an "Epic Victory": Stay central, but choose a smaller location. Avoid big cities as there is usually a lot of deadly action going on there.
• To practice heated fights: Rush to a central, large point where you will have a lot of competition. This is how you can learn to be calm under pressure.

Loot the right equipment

With the right loot, every match in Fortnite: Battle Royale stands or falls. Weapons and equipment are scattered across the game world and must be collected to take on the opponents. Epic's Free2Play title is a bit simpler than its competitor PUBG. Because in Fortnite the weapons are already fully modified waiting for their lucky finder. There is no need to search for special sights or larger magazines.

This house should be ours alone. And with him all the loot inside.

In Fortnite: Battle Royale, looting is easier and often completed quickly and satisfactorily. You only have five inventory slots for weapons and items, so use them wisely. With the following equipment you are well prepared for the endgame:

• a weapon for close-range - shotgun or submachine gun
• a medium-range weapon - assault rifle
• a weapon for long-range combat - sniper rifle
• Grenade / incendiary bomb
• Bandages

You read that correctly, boost items such as bandages or potions also occupy the rare inventory spaces. The blue shield potions should be consumed immediately, on the one hand, to benefit from the shield as quickly as possible and on the other hand to free up space in the inventory.

Also keep your ears open: humming chests often reveal the most valuable loot. Many a sniper rifle fell into our hands this way.

At the edge of the storm

So that the players do not sit armed to the teeth in a bathroom for hours, the Battle Royale regulations call for an early movement. A deadly storm is approaching and you can only survive in the eye of this hurricane. Fortunately, the weather god in Fortnite: Battle Royale is probably also the god of mathematics because the storm always contracts in a circular and even manner.

If the safe zone is so small, very few players are still alive.

Accordingly, after a look at the map, you can roughly plan what course the zone edge will take. We recommend that you always run into the safe zone as late as possible at the beginning of a lap. Before doing this, you should scout out your surroundings carefully and make sure that no one is behind you. So you can concentrate fully on the area in front of you as you advance.

At the end of a round, it can be smart to hide in the alleged center of the circle. Then self-built constructions help to have sufficient cover and to be able to defeat approaching opponents more easily. This brings us to our tips for building bunkers.

Build a cover for you

Fortnite: Battle Royale has inherited the base building mechanics from the main game Fortnite. Wood, stone, and metal are used as building materials in the game world. Start mining resources early on in the game with your pickaxe so that you can entrench yourself if necessary. With the Q key, you open the construction menu and switch through the various templates for constructions. If you place the blueprints in the area, they will be created automatically.

In-house designs like this offer cover from enemy fire.

Use this feature to reach high places and build cover if you want to heal or boost yourself. However, larger constructions are usually a waste of time and resources at the beginning of a game, as you will probably have to move on due to the approaching death zone.

If, on the other hand, you have reached a place where you suspect the circle will contract, a cleverly placed attachment can give you the decisive advantage. Note, however, that a cobbled-together fortress reveals your whereabouts to all players in the vicinity.

It is also important to choose the right building material: of course, a stone or metal wall can withstand more fire than its wooden counterpart.

Set traps

In the game world, mostly in chests, you will also find useful and sneaky traps that you can collect and layout for your enemies. They come in the three types of floor, wall, and ceiling traps and must be mounted on the appropriate surface according to their use.

We heard an opponent - now a trap would be gold.

If you have a trap in your inventory, look for a place where you can expect players. Because the traps are clearly visible and audible (they emit loud warning tones), you should place them cleverly. An electric shock trap that you mount under a bridge is often overlooked by unwary opponents.

Uses a headset

Anyone who plays Battle Royale with simple stereo speakers will quickly notice that they seldom hear exactly the direction from which noises such as gunshots, footsteps, or pickaxes are coming. This is (not only) a significant disadvantage with Fortnite, which is why we strongly recommend headphones. 5.1 and 7.1 headphones do the best job in determining the position of opponents, but also a model with a stereo sound often better than zero eight-fifteen speakers.

Especially in closed rooms, good headphones help to locate enemies who are sneaking around outside.

Bonus tip: practice, practice, practice

An "Epic Victory" has not yet fallen from the sky. The Battle Royale mode is a challenge, especially for newbies. You need good observation, tactical understanding, and the ability to calmly keep blood under fire. You can train all of this with Fortnite: Battle Royale for free, so that one day you can proudly say: I survived a Battle Royale.