Fortnite Beginners Guide: 10 Tips I Should’ve Known Before Playing

So. You’re starting Fortnite Battle Royale and you haven’t the faintest idea where to start. Maybe you’ve consulted your friends and they all give you equally terrible advice. Maybe you watch a lot of streamers and it seems so easy and then you try it and get mauled. Maybe you feel overwhelmed. Well, take a seat. I got you covered with this Fortnite Beginners Guide. Oh, and if you’re already a pro, I’ve got some things in here that might help you too, so read on!

Why listen to me?

Honestly, this is a solid question. Why would you listen to me when you’ve got tons of other people out there telling you all kinds of things?

Here’s why: because I was awful. I was so God-forsaken bad at first that it’s almost laughable. I did absolutely nothing. I would loot a single shack in the middle of nowhere and cower in a bush the entire match. A solid third of the time when it ended up with me in the last few, I’d end up dying like an idiot from fall damage or something.

Okay, you say, and? Isn’t there supposed to be an inspiring lesson here? Here it is:

• I got three duo squads wins with an average of 17 kills per game
• Two solo squads wins where I had 11 and 13 kills
• Almost clutched another solo squad with 15 kills

I’m not saying what happened yesterday to be a jerk, but I’m saying this because you can too! If I could go back in time and tell myself to get out of the bush and give myself some information I wish I had known, this is what I would say.

Think of this as a Fortnite Beginners Guide written from current me… to past me… to you.

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What are the big ones?

Fun fact—there are about a gajillion tips that I could share with you right now, but I only have a limited time so I’m going to have to make this brief and hit only on a few (ten, to be precise).

Tip 1: Landing

One of the silliest things that I’ve heard is that to be good, you have to land at hot places. Not necessarily. It’s better to land somewhere and actually get a gun than get killed immediately. It’s based a lot on luck if there is too much going on. The other day I landed and there were six of us in one house and only one gun. You wanna talk about chaos? Land where you want. It isn’t indicative of skill.

Tips 2: Sitting

Don’t sit in a bush if you have a backpack or if you are using a big character. I can’t tell you the number of people who have been killed because they think they’re well-hidden in a bush only to have a backpack or feature sticking out, which is basically a big flag saying “shoot me!”

Tip 3: Character Size

Use a small character. I almost always run female characters because they tend to be smaller and people hate shooting at them. Go out there with a big Ragnarök? You’re practically a billboard. Prepare to get shot. Run a smaller character like the Reaper (John Wick) and you’re way less likely to get shot because you’re smaller and therefore harder to hit.

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Tip 4: Metal

Avoid metal like the plague. Ugh. Some people love to use metal to play, but not me. It takes twenty seconds to finish building, which means for twenty seconds, you’re telling everyone nearby to come shoot you in the back. I don’t know about you, but I prefer to see my enemies before they see me. The only exception is that metal obscures vision, so it’s the best material to build a base out of to snipe from with safety.

Tip 5: Wood

Use Wood in battle or for casual maneuvering. Wood finishes fastest, which means that you’re less likely to get shot down while it is finishing. It’s also very easy to gather.

Tip 6: Reload

Reload. This one is so painfully obvious that it shouldn’t really be mentioned, but so many people simply forget to reload (me included, sometimes). I don’t know why. It seems intuitive. If you take a weapon from someone after a battle, make sure the darn thing is ready to go! That rocket launcher won’t help if it’s out of ammo.

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Tip 7: Firing Automatic Firearms

Spray. And. Pray. Spamming SMG’s or anything similar might not seem terribly sportsmanlike, but you’re not in this to make friends. If you aren’t comfortable with shotguns or prefer SMGs, use them! They’re almost always better. The only time where a shotgunner will win over a sprayer is if the shotgunner has an impeccable aim (or the sprayer is a terrible shot).

Tip 8: Streamer Mode

Turn on Streamer Mode to rage less. This might sound ridiculous, but lots of people rage when playing Fortnite, especially when the other player is close to death. Getting killed by a named player is a so much more frustrating than getting killed by “Reaper [401].”

Tip 9: 50 Shield

Use the 50. Just do it. If you get a 50 shield (or big pot, or full pot), use the darn thing. People will tell you to hold it and wait for Minis. Just use it. It’s so annoying to lose because you didn’t take it and then watch your enemy heal up with it.

Tip 10: Fierce

Be aggressive. This is one of the most important things I can stress: be aggressive. You’re talking to the dude who hid in the bush like there was no tomorrow, but my gameplay got so much better when I charged everyone. Also, it’ll boost your stats and get you to live without nerves!

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Summary

For this Fortnite Beginners Guide, I took you through ten things that people might not tell you but that will help you so much in the long run. There are others, of course, but if I could just travel back in time and tell myself ten things, these are a few of them. The whole point is to win more, have better stats, and to enjoy the whole experience more. These are some easy ways to do it!

I’m no pro. I don’t stream. I don’t have world records, but I very much enjoy what I do and I have very much above-average stats. I’m a normal person, just like you. I don’t have some superhuman gene. Winning this game is much easier when you relax, have fun, and have a few tricks up your sleeve!

Get out there and have some fun!

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