Have you ever found yourself with an incredible urge to swing around like Batman in the city, using a powerful grappler to get from place to place and scare the bejeezus out of criminals? Or maybe you’re bored with your run-of-the-mill method of lugging around a giant fort in your pocket? Look no further because Fortnite’s got a Port-A-Fortress and a grappler! Fear not, for I’ll take you through the most important things that you need to know about these wacky and handy gadgets! This guide covers the absolute best gadgets in Fortnite.
What’s the Grappler Tool?
A grappler is a tool for quickly getting from place to place. It’s like a tiny harpoon that latches onto things and hauls you up to them. Sound pretty cool? Well, that’s because it is. Unfortunately, there’s a downside. Yes, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it only has ten uses. Like a gun with ammo, it’ll run out of harpoons, and you will now be holding a non-functional doohickey that takes up a spot in your inventory.
What Can You Hook With It?
The grappler can connect to dang near anything solid. Yes, that means trees, structures of any kind (even if an enemy player built them), the ground itself, mountains, vehicles, you name it. It has an astonishingly large base of things that works with it. Here’s the basic rule: if you, as a player, would run into it and not be able to go through it, you’ll be able to hook it. So, no, that doesn’t include bushes, fogs, or anything like that. The only exception to that rule is actual players themselves because you won’t be able to attach to anyone – it has to be inanimate.
The first question I asked when it first came out is: is this thing reliable, or will it end up being the cause of your demise? Let’s delve deeper into that question because it’s not as simple as one might anticipate.
You can break this question down into a couple of parts the way I see it. First off—does the grappler connect with what it’s supposed to? The answer is yes. It doesn’t miss or fall off early. For such a potentially nightmarish tool, it does its job remarkably well, and I’ve never seen it simply stop functioning or not operate like it’s supposed to.
Unfortunately, there’s another part to the question of reliability, and here it is—does the grappler do what you think it will? This is where we get into user error. The tool will do what it’s supposed to, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a good thing to use for everyone. If you’re like me and the way the grappler works simply eludes you, don’t feel bad.
The Best Uses for the Grappler
Now you’ve got a solid understanding of what it is and a basic grasp of how it works, but let’s not forget the most important thing to know: what are you supposed to do with it? Don’t worry. I got you covered.
1. Getting to Enemies
Sometimes, no matter how good you are, you’ll end up on the bottom of a mountain with some enormous base and opposition above you, and the storm’s making you go up that mountain. Whip out your trusty grappler, and you’ll be up there in a flash.
2. Escape
The grappler is the most annoying thing to play against because you’ve got an enemy player down to virtually no health in one second. The next second, they’re a quarter of the way across the map, and you have zero ideas what just happened. Pro tip: they probably grappled. A grappler can be close to impossible to catch in the right hands.
3. Storm Survival
The grappler will get you across some distances faster than you’d anticipate, so use it properly, and you’ll whip the storm. I’ve seen people with literally two health go halfway across the map with the storm at their tail using one.
The Worst Uses for the Grappler
Three words: don’t kill yourself. I’ll explain below.
1. Forgetting to Use A Weapon
You just got up to an enemy’s base and got the drop on them, but you forgot to whip out a weapon, and you stared at them in confusion before the other player shot you. I’m insulted that you’d suggest I was speaking from experience.
2. Escaping Badly
Wait, wasn’t that one of the things that you’re supposed to use it for? Yes, but with a twist: you can’t do it badly. You’re building battling at the top of a mountain, and you grapple to escape, but you accidentally jettison yourself into the open air, fall a hundred meters, and die. Always know how high up you are.
3. The Old Switcheroo
This – while hilarious – is tragic. While looting, you meant to switch your sniper out for another sniper, but whoops, you accidentally gave up your grappler, and now you’ve got two sniper rifles and zero grapplers. Check your inventory before diving off a cliff confidently.
What’s A Port-A-Fortress?
A Port-A-Fortress is the same thing as the Port-A-Fort, except for one key difference: it’s much bigger. It still produces the same portable, prebuilt structure that pops out when you throw it, but it’s a lot bigger than its smaller cousin. It’s like carrying a motorcycle versus a plane, okay? Big difference. It’s a Legendary item so you won’t find many of them, but they’re considered mainly the luxury, pre-built protection item of choice.
The Benefits of Owning A Port-A-Fortress
The variation isn’t just based entirely on having a more fabulous name, as the Port-A-Fortress has a couple of things going for it compared to the less impressive Port-A-Fort. Here are some of the best uses and cool features of a Port-A-Fortress.
1. Enormous Protection
I don’t think I have to stress this much, but here we go: these things are massive steel structures. The user can kick back and relax because it takes an army to bring one down. Even while playing squads, it should take quite a while to bring it down, assuming that you aren’t shooting back.
2. Height Advantage
I don’t have to tell any veteran Fortnite players about this, but you cannot stress the importance of a height advantage too much for those of you just joining us. The moment you get above someone, your chances of winning the fight skyrocket. Since the Port-A-Fortress is enormous, it’ll dwarf everyone and ensure that the user is the top dog. Rain fire and death from above! Also, bonus points for being high up enough that you can knock attackers building up to their death if their ramps get shot out.
3. Intimidation Factor
This might sound ridiculous, but it’s true. There’s not a lot more disheartening than to be in a fight among the final few and see your enemy whip out a Port-A-Fortress, just because they’re so dang hard to take successfully. It’s mental games, yes, but they work.
4. Revive at Will
First scenario: you are playing with a friend, and your duo partner gets sniped during a fight. Maybe they peaked, or maybe the other team is a crazy good shot, but regardless, here you are, 2v1ing this business while standing on an open field. You try to get the revive off while they charge, but you can’t because there isn’t enough stuff between you and them. Second scenario: you’re in a Port-A-Fortress, and your buddy gets sniped. Revive calmly. It takes a lot of time for an enemy team to get up a Port-A-Fortress, and even if they’re laying down suppressive fire, you’ve got time.
The Worst Uses for the Port-A-Fortress
There are many benefits to this nifty little tool, but there are also some serious, aggravating ways to use them that will make the user look ridiculous and, more importantly, get them killed.
1. The Traitor
This is one of the most ill-advised moves you can pull, so never do this. I’ve seen it happen a million times, and it has seldom worked out. Instead of building cover while running at the enemy, some people toss a Port-A-Fortress at their enemy. It makes some sense. It’s disorienting, startling, and overall confusing. It might take the enemy a few seconds to figure out what happened, and by that time, you’re closer. Now you’ve given the enemy a fantastic base while sprinting at them in the open field.
2. Panic Deploy
The Panic Deploy is where a player ends up getting in a minor scuffle with another team and deploys a Port-A-Fortress in the middle of nowhere for no reason other than nerves. It startles everyone, including the user, and just like that, it’s gone forever, and there’s no getting it back. Use it when you need to, not at the first sign of trouble.
3. The Storm Assist
Because of how the Port-A-Fortress is built, bounce pads are lining the top exterior wall. It makes it harder for attackers to get up there, but it also means that an unwary defender can accidentally trigger the pads pretty quickly and get jettisoned off. Typically, this is okay because you don’t take fall damage when launched by a bounce pad, but this is often a cause of death, seeing as it often puts players straight into the storm at the end of a game.
4. The Preemptive Strike
Much like the Panic Deploy, the Preemptive Strike is a terrible idea. It’s generally found in the endgame, where the storm is about to move, and someone uses a Port-A-Fortress near the circle's edge. Fifteen seconds later, the whole thing is engulfed in the storm, and the user feels like an absolute moron. Especially in end-game scenarios, don’t do this. Just wait and play based on the storm itself.
