How To Get Good At Fortnite

When I started playing Fortnite no one knew how to play. No one had a skin and no one knew how to build. Everyone was a noob. 

It was a much, much simpler time and it wasn’t even that long ago. Fortnite Battle Royale was released July 2017. That makes it less than 2 years old—an infant in gaming years.

I remember reading that if you won a game then you would earn the fabled victory umbrella. Now an umbrella was quite a big deal at the time, as there were hardly any cosmetics in the game.

Eventually I did get my first Victory Royale in January 2018.

The game doesn’t even look the same now! Since then Fortnite has grown exponentially. The average player is a lot better now and it’s harder than ever for new players to get a win.

For whatever reason there is no tutorial in Fortnite Battle Royale. That is bad news for new players.

But hopefully in this guide you will find a few helpful tips that will help you get good at Fortnite.

Land To Fight Not To Survive

AKA what every other Fortnite guide has wrong.

If you’ve ever searched for a Fortnite guide before then you will be familiar with the advice to land somewhere quiet, that way you won’t be killed. This is bad advice if you want to get better.

You aren’t going to get any better by landing at some obscure point of the map and spending most of the game running around looting. If you really want to get good at Fortnite then you are going to have to start finding players to fight. 

This can be easily accomplished by jumping off the bus right away, as most of the lobby jump at the start. However this isn’t always a good idea as sometimes there can actually be too many players!

And that can be overwhelming. What you’re looking for is a drop with a bit better balance.

I recommend Tilted Towers.

At Tilted you will almost always find a good amount of players. You will also get very good practice at close quarters combat, which is incredibly important. Also there’s a lot of natural buildings and structures here, so you can generally learn to play the game without worrying too much about the building aspect (more on building later).

Although there is a slight problem with this strategy. You’re going to die, a lot. But is that really such a bad thing?

Remember, it’s ok to die in Fortnite, you can simply leave and be in a new game within a minute. So don’t get stressed if you’re losing a lot of games because that is exactly how we can learn and improve most effectively.

Which brings me onto my next tip…

Watch Your Own Gameplay

A fight in Fortnite might only last a few seconds and it’s not very easy to know exactly what went wrong because everything is happened so fast. This is where replays come in.

Replays are great because they allow you to re-watch a particular scenario so you can analyse and assess exactly what you did wrong. 

Fortunately Fortnite has it’s own replay system built into the game. So now it’s easier than ever for players to watch their gameplay back (unless you play on a Nintendo Switch).

You can slow it down and watch from different angles, too.

Beware: when you watch your gameplay back you might realise that you aren’t as good as you thought you were. At least that was what happened in my case. 

It’s not a good feeling to know that you suck, but it’s ok. Remember that everyone sucked at one point, even Ninja and especially me, the author of this guide.

Heck, being bad at something is the first step to being good at anything. So embrace that you’re not the best because it means that you have a lot of room for improvement.

Just Build LOL

I think “the first thing you should do when you get shot at is to build a wall and protect yourself” should be written on a Fortnite loading screen because it is so important and fundamental to the game. Although I do think that most players by know realise this.

And if you didn’t, well you do now.

Building is the most powerful thing in Fortnite and is what separates the good players from the great players. It doesn’t matter how good your aim is if you can’t build properly. 

“But Kram, building is too hard!”

Listen up bucko, we can all build. If you’re on console then make sure you’re using a good button layout, I recommend Builder Pro. For PC players looking for good keybinds then I recommend you check out my keybinds guide.

After you’ve done that then you can go into Playgrounds mode and just practice building. Only once you’ve got the very basics figured out are you ready to play the main game.

Also Playgrounds can be good if you have a friend to play with because you can practice fighting each other. If they are better than you then that’s great, hopefully you can learn something from them.

In Playgrounds mode you can quickly simulate build battles and it can be an effective use of your practice time. Although I don’t recommend that you spend all your time in Playgrounds as it’s important to play the proper game, too.

But just remember to watch your gameplay back, ok?

Stick With Your Settings And Sensitivity

If you’ve ever Googled “best Fortnite settings” or “best Fortnite sensitivity” then you will find a list of the settings that popular pro players and streamers use. But is someone else’s sensitivity or keybinds really going to be the best for you?

Honestly, probably not. But they can serve as a good basis when you’re just starting out.

As for settings, PC players can adjust their settings to achieve more FPS which a lot of players find help.

Unfortunately this customisability is lacking for console players, but you can choose your keybinds. As I mentioned previously, I recommend starting with “builder pro” as it’s probably the best option of the presets.

Most pro console players use a controller with additional buttons/bumpers/paddles on the back. This can be useful for binding things like jump or reload to so you never have to take your thumb off of the right stick.

On the other hand, PC players have a greater choice of keybind options and it is highly unlikely for two players to share the same keybinds.

My main point is that you are going to want to keep them the same. Constantly changing your configurations or sensitivity is really one of the worst things you can do.

You need to give yourself the necessary time to learn the mechanics and get used to what you have.

How long does it take to get good at Fortnite?

Science says that it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert at anything. 10,000 hours is a very long time.

If you played Fortnite for 2 hours a day every single day it would take you 5,000 days to reach your 10,000 hours quota.

That’s more than 13 years!

Your favourite Fortnite player didn’t get as good as they are overnight. It has taken them a lot of time and dedicated practice.

And what exactly is good, anyway? Are you good if you’ve won one game? If you watched the video at the start you will know that I definitely was nowhere near good when I won my first game.

Sorry, but the answer is: it depends.