10 Tips How to Get Better at Fortnite

We sell Fortnite PCs because you lot can't get enough of this game. Fortnite took the battle royale idea and ran further with it than anyone else. But how do you make progress when you're up against 99 other players, most of whom have been at it longer than you? How do you go from finishing in the top 50 to regularly making the top 10? Below are eleven things that will move you up the placings faster than anything else.

1. Pick Zero Build if building is what's beating you

Fortnite has two modes now, and the choice matters more than any tip on this list. Battle Royale includes building. Zero Build doesn't.

Building is the single steepest part of Fortnite's learning curve, and it's what most new players lose to. Zero Build removes it entirely and turns the game into a straight shooter with cover and mobility. If you're bouncing off the game, start there. You'll learn the maps, the loot and the fights without being boxed in by someone who's been building for six years.

Everything below applies to both modes unless it mentions building.

2. Join the party fashionably late

All 100 players drop from the Battle Bus, and the temptation is to dive straight in. Holding on a little longer usually serves you better.

Waiting until later in the bus route means you'll land after some players have already been knocked out. Fewer enemies nearby gives you room to find weapons and get your bearings instead of scrambling for the first thing you see. Isolation is your friend if you want to reach the later stages.

3. Glide away from the crowd

If you're new, stay out of the busy named locations when you drop. Your glider will get you almost anywhere on the map, well away from wherever everyone else is fighting over the same loot.

You might miss the best gear, but you'll live longer, and living longer is how you learn. There's plenty of loot outside the hotspots. Getting knocked out in the first ninety seconds every match teaches you nothing.

4. Gear up quickly

Wherever you land, loot fast. With 100 players on a fairly small island, survival is everything early on. Head for a weapon first, and never walk past one if you have nothing, however tempting the better-looking building next door is.

If you know what you're doing, dropping straight down at full speed gets you to the best loot first. It's a risk, because everyone else with the same idea is landing next to you, but it pays off when it works.

5. Learn the rarity colours

Weapons are colour-coded by rarity, and knowing them at a glance saves you seconds you don't have in a fight. Gold is legendary and the best of the lot, then purple for epic, blue for rare, green for uncommon and grey for common.

You'll upgrade as the match goes on. Early on, take what you find.

6. Take the high ground

Height wins fights in Fortnite more reliably than aim does. Whoever is above has better sightlines, better angles and a harder target to hit.

In Battle Royale that means building up. In Zero Build it means using the terrain and the buildings, and the mobility items, which matter far more in that mode. Either way, if you find yourself below someone, your first job is usually to change that.

7. Keep moving

Standing still is how you get shot. Whether you're healing, reloading or pushing, keep moving. Snipers struggle with a moving target and stray shots are more likely to miss you entirely.

Watch above you as well as around you. In Battle Royale, experienced players will build over the top of you and take the fight from there.

8. Learn to build properly

If you're playing Battle Royale, building is not optional. Harvest wood, brick or metal with your pickaxe, and practise the basic pieces until you don't have to think about them.

Start with the wall and ramp. Those two get used more than everything else combined, and being able to throw up a wall the instant you take fire is the difference between resetting a fight and losing it. Creative mode exists for exactly this, so go and practise there rather than in real matches.

Your keybinds matter here more than anywhere else. See our guide to the best Fortnite keybinds for a layout that lets you build while you move.

9. Keep a balanced inventory

Five slots, so plan them. Something for close range, something for distance, and healing. Consume the first shield you find but keep one spare, and remember that medkits restore more health than bandages while Chug Jugs top up both health and shield.

The most common mistake is carrying three weapons that all do the same job.

10. Beware of the storm

The safe zone shrinks as the match goes on. Outside it, your health drains and shields do nothing to protect you.

If you're playing the edges of the map, know how long it takes to reach the next circle before the timer runs down. The countdown gives you plenty of warning, and most storm deaths are avoidable.

11. Listen carefully

Fortnite's audio is genuinely excellent, and it tells you more than your eyes do. Footsteps, chests, gliders and reloads all carry.

Sound is directional but not obvious about height, so check above and below as well as left and right. Use it offensively too. A player looting a chest or sorting their inventory after a kill isn't listening for you.

The thing that matters most

None of the above beats time spent playing. Fortnite rewards familiarity with the map, the weapons, the sound cues and your own settings, and that only comes from matches.

What you can control is whether your hardware is holding you back. Fortnite is a game where frame rate translates directly into reaction time, and a machine that dips in the final circle is costing you fights you should be winning. See the best gaming PCs for Fortnite for what actually makes a difference.