The Fortnite Beginner’s Guide will help you get started in this popular new f2p game. This guide contains information for beginners on rare weapons, guns, healing, building, and finding loot. We also go through each period of the game, so you know how to approach the early, middle, and late stages of Battle Royale!
Fortnite can be a difficult game to fully understand when you first start out. You have to adjust to the weapons, but most importantly, you’ll need to learn how to build buildings. If you just downloaded the game, I would focus more on teaching you how to shoot and then gradually start integrating building construction into the game. If you want to work on getting the hang of building, go to a wooded area where no one is around (Wailing Woods) and break down a bunch of trees. Use all these resources to practice your building by switching back and forth on your weapons. Building that muscle memory will put you ahead of most new players and set you on the path to victory!
Fortnite Weapon Quality:
If you’ve ever played Diablo or World of Warcraft, you’ll be quite familiar with item quality. Each color denotes the rarity of a particular item, and the rarer, the better. This is no different in Fortnite, each gun has its own rarity, but one of the unique things about Fortnite is that some guns start in the middle of a rare level or have no legendary counterparts. Here is the list of available qualities:
- Common – Grey
- Uncommon – Green
- Rare – Blue
- Epic – Purple
- Legendary – Orange
When it comes to weapons, if it is a higher rarity, it does more damage for that weapon type.
Keep in mind that all items have a rarity for them. This includes items that heal you (bandages, first aid kits) as well as traps and grenades. These types of items only come in one rarity, so there is no version that is better than another.
Weapons in Fortnite:
Most of the weapons are pretty self-explanatory, but I’ll talk briefly about some of the strengths and weaknesses of each type.
Pistols:
If you need an advantage at the beginning of the game, this is better than no weapon, but you usually want to get rid of it as soon as possible. The pistol is a pretty good weapon, but eventually almost every pistol is superior to handguns or assault rifles.
Shotguns:
Masters of close-quarters combat! If you’re starting out, a tactical shotgun is less effective than a pump action shotgun, it does a ton of damage, and with a couple of shots can kill anyone. It’s always your best option if you know the fight is going to be close. You should always keep it with you even in the late game.
SMGs (Machine Guns):
Not the biggest, but up close they’re not too bad if you aim them at the enemy’s face. You’ll want to get rid of them pretty quickly, but they’re usable until you find better weapons to replace them.
Assault Rifles:
One of the best all-purpose weapons, but can be a bit random. Distribution can be somewhat problematic at longer ranges, but try to shoot controlled shots with maximum accuracy. The SCAR is the best version of an assault rifle, and the Scoped Assault Rifle is one of the best game guns from mid to late.
Sniper Rifles:
They take a little effort to get used to, but once you get the hang of them, they are devastating long-range shooting weapons. Sniper rifles have a “Trajectory of Flight,” which means the shot doesn’t instantly hit the target and falls gradually down the farther it goes. If you are trying to attack a moving target in range, you will need to aim higher and ahead of it.
Rocket launchers:
Very effective at destroying forts, but can also be used to draw out an enemy who is nearby. It takes a rocket launcher a while to get to its target, so consider this. They have a limited distance, so the farther your target is, the higher you have to aim.
Other types of weapons:
There are several other options available to you if you are looking for advanced ways to destroy your enemies.
Grenade:
You can’t throw them very far, but they make good ways to destroy enemy walls/bases. You can hold the throw button to get a path for where your grenade is going to land, this is very useful if you are trying to throw them at a house or fort. Furthermore, you can’t “explode” the grenade, so you can hold down the throw button for as long as you want to.
Traps:
There are several different types of traps, but you can place them either on the walls, and on the floor, or on the ceiling (you can safely move around your traps without triggering them). One of the best ways to use them is to simply place them on the ceiling in front of doorways (people will open the door and get right in). The traps are located at the very end of your building. You can switch between them in the inventory area.
Fortnite armor and health:
With healing and shields, it is very important to know each of the strengths and weaknesses of each item. I’ve compiled some brief information below:
Bandages:
Bandages are the easiest way to heal yourself. Each Bandage restores 15 health, and you can heal yourself up to 75 with them. You can only hold 15 in one slot.
Medical Kit:
The Medical Kit will restore you to full health. If you find one, it’s best to just replace your bandages with it. Medical kits are slow and take 10 seconds to use, be sure you are in a safe place if you are going to use them.
Mini Shield:
Mini Shields are relatively new to Battle Royale, but they are designed for quick protection. You get 25 armor for each and can only use them up to 50 armor. They are more affordable than the standard shield potion and only last 2 seconds!
Shield Potion:
A shield potion gives you 50 armor, you can use two of them to get to an armor maximum of 100. It takes 5 seconds to drink, so don’t try to swallow one if you are in a firefight.
Fortnite Construction – Walls, Ramps, and Floors:
One of the biggest differences between Fortnite and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (aside from F2P) is the ability to build structures. At first glance, it may not seem very useful, but you would be very wrong. Building can be the most important element of success in Fortnite Battle Royale. You use it to plunge mountains, make cover, reach chests, slow down your fall rate from high places, and then usually build yourself a nice fort at the end of the game.
If you’re playing on a PC, the first thing you do is bind your hotkeys (F, V or Mouse 4 and 5 are popular). You will want the walls, floor, and ramp to be easily accessible because you will be using it ALL THE TIME. Practice building as much as you can to win, it’s the most invaluable thing in Fortnite. If you are in a shootout, your first instinct should be to build a wall or ramp.
Ramps:
One of the most useful things you can learn to build quickly is what I call a “Ramp Box.” It’s literally just four walls and a ramp, but being able to put this together in a few seconds is extremely useful in many situations. It gives you cover on all sides and allows you to jump out and take shots at your enemy. You can also continue to build on top of it and increase it using the same exact design.
Search for the best prey:
Most loot is outdoors, but one of the best options for finding loot is in chests. However, the absolute best items fall from the sky. For an in-depth look at where the best loot is located, check out the find the best loot guide.
Gold Chests:
You’ll find them all over the world, and they make a beguiling singsong sound when you’re near one. They also glow yellow when they have not yet been looted.
Chest locations:
- In houses, you can find them most often in the Attic, Basement or Garage. Not all houses have these locations.
- Some chests often appear in the same location. Here are a few examples:
- Tomato City: Chests are usually in the pizza building near the cash register.
- Trade Row: At the top near the large water tower, there are usually treasures lying around.
- Anarchy Acres: The stable usually has a chest above one of the entrances or in one of the larger rooms with all the hay.
- Check the dog booths; sometimes spawns appear. It’s usually easy to break the dog house because sometimes it’s hard to get access to the chest.
- If you break the Silos in any farm, they sometimes have a chest in them.
Tips for Beginners:
I’m going to try to uncover some of the smaller things that will help improve your game if you’re just starting out.
General tips:
Wear headphones and don’t listen to music it’s distracting. Listening to footsteps and shot direction is extremely important.
If you are on a slower computer, be sure to lower the video quality. The more frames you get per second, the better.
In the video settings: turn off anti-aliasing and put textures, effects and post-processing down to low. Turn off Vsync and Motion Blur, you can also look at FPS to see what other settings might help increase frame rates.
Change the key bindings so you can build faster. I mentioned this in the construction section, but it’s really important! You’ll need Walls, Ramps, and Floors.
Jumping off the bus:
It’s hard to avoid top people when you jump off the bus at the beginning of the game. The map is actually quite small, and 99 other players are with you. Watch the bus route and look for a spot that takes a bit of time to cut down on the number of people at the beginning. Unfortunately, some spots just attract a lot of people no matter the distance.
Some spots that are usually pretty quiet are Wailing Woods, Lonely Lodge, Moisty Mire and Flush Factory.
Once you turn on your glider and approach your final destination, you’ll need to look around to see where other people are going to land and pay attention.
As you approach your final destination, land as quickly as possible! Landing on the roof is usually a good strategy. Most houses have an attic area that is not always accessible to the house below. This area usually has items/weapons and maybe even a chest.
At the beginning of the game:
- If you get a good gun right away, you should immediately shoot anyone who is close to you. That’s why it’s important to know where people have landed, because you can try to kill them before they get their guns.
- Don’t just use your eyes, use your ears! Trunks makes an unmistakable angelic sound that you will surely know when you hear it. Chests are the best thing to find when searching for early loot, so always make sure you open everything you come across.
- If you are indoors, chests are usually in the attic. Make sure NOT to break the floor directly below the chest, because if you do, the chest will be destroyed!
- Be on the lookout for the little green boxes. These are ammo boxes, and ammo shortages can be a common problem early in the game and later in the game.
- If you go into the garage, there may be a box of ammo on the shelves that are usually inside it.
- If you get a shield potion or straw juice, be sure to drink it if possible. There is no real reason to save it (unless you are full armor and health), it clears your inventory for more weapons. Your shield maxes out at 100, which is two shield potions.
- Get resources as fast as you can! I can’t stress that it’s enough, but if you start running for a new round, try breaking trees along the way. You’ll be surprised how often you need more resources.
- That’s why it’s important to be aggressive and kill people, you can collect your resources, which makes your job easier at the end of the game.
- Storm doesn’t do too much damage in the early game, so when the circle closes, you shouldn’t panic.
Mid-game:
- Be aware of where the next round will be. You don’t want to be tossed around in a storm, but you also don’t want to rush and overwhelm yourself.
- At this point, there will probably be drops going on, it’s a good chance to get some really good prey. However, it’s best to cover it from afar and have someone nearby make the first move. If your luck holds up, you can kill them and get your prey.
- If there is a tree or something else in the path of the fall, it will land on it.
- If you have plenty of ammunition and just want to hurry, you can shoot the balloon to make it fall faster.
- The storm in the mid to late game starts doing a lot more damage, so don’t catch it.
Late game:
- This is where you’ll want to start looking for a way to fit well in the circle and build a fort if that’s your style of play.
- Build that fort height so you can get a good look at your surroundings.
- Try not to bend your head out of the fort if you don’t need to. At the end of the game, most players have a
- Sniper Rifle or Scoped AR.
- Try to learn as much as you can about where each person is, you can tell how many people are left in the game under the mini map (that number includes you, so subtract by 1!).
- Grenades are also good, just be careful not to end up in the open trying to throw them.
- More aggressive players may try to use the transition pad to flank around you.
- Always keep the sky in mind, even if you think you are safe, players are almost silent when they sneak around.
And with that, we’re ending the Biggest Fortnite Beginner’s Guide. We hope this guide was useful for you, look for more guides on all games on our site! Also be sure to see Fortnite codes on our site. We wish you good battles and enjoy playing Fortnite!
An experienced game strategist and writer, a follower of the art of virtual worlds. With his guides, he shares not only the secrets of successful gaming, but also inspires readers to discover new horizons in the gaming industry. With his help, players gain not only knowledge but also confidence in their gaming skills, ready to overcome any challenges thrown at them by the world of virtual adventures.
