A Fortnite Amateur Guide

How do I improve at Fortnite

At this point we have come to the conclusion we are ready to start taking on some of the strategies that other implement when they play the game, and really want to move up on the Arena Mode ladder with our squad. Right now we are still in the Open League but are about division two or three. It’s time to hang up our SMGs and pick up those Heavy Snipers, among other things to look for that Contender League division six or seven. We will be talking about Strategy, RNG and expanding on some of the stuff mentioned in the previous guide.

What is RNG in Fortnite?

Let’s start with RNG just because it is a newer concept in the BR guides but has been a huge factor in every BR game to ever exist. Whichever line the Battle Bus flies is RNG, where we land is controlled, but whoever else lands with us is RNG, the loot we get is RNG and the loot our opponents can get is RNG. The Circle is RNG. and we all know too well that we get screwed by RNG all but every single time. We won’t be talking so much about RNG as it stands, but rather how we can help eliminate bad RNG.

Overall it’s impossible, BR games are notorious for their inability to actually offer everyone a fair fight on drop. That just happens to be a part of the game and how it works, unfortunately, and Fortnite is no exception. So when looking to eliminate bad RNG you really should be looking at how to avoid it.

When we drop, look where the hot spots are for that route, keep track of how many people are still on the bus, and look for your chance to get away from the overall cluster jam that comes with more RNG than sick plays. Also take into consideration where the zone is going to be, if we can correctly guess where it is then we will get a little more time to loot and farm Mats. If we are more prepared than our opponents than we can take out the RNG that they were given on their drop and make better plays for ourselves and team.

I would prefer, honestly, for BR games to drop us with a weapon. It can be the same one for everyone but it would help to eliminate the problem where one guy get the pump and another guy is stuck with their pickaxe. Unfortunately not too many other people feel the same way and would rather rely on them getting the good RNG. Fortnite has a lot of aspects that alleviate the pain of RNG, adding the Reboot cards in response to APex Legends was a great move, but then there were Mechs and love em or hate em, that was some RNG right there.

The point here is that as the game changes there is a lot that can change RNG wise, devs can make it less or more apparent with every little thing they add or take away, try to love your luck and make smart decisions especially if you find that you may struggle a lot with those fights on drop. At the end of the day we can roll the dice with the best of them, or we can challenge the play and try to avoid it altogether by dropping in the less dense places giving our squad the chance to get the most gear they can before a fight breaks out.

Building is the one thing that isn’t really RNG related, and should be abused as often as is possible. Creating your own cover is the literal difference between life and death.  Your man made shelter can be broken with bullets and edited by you and your teammates to assist with a range of things, but if your opponent lands on a gun and you landed on some wood, all you can do is build and run, which isn’t that bad actually.

The main point of this section is to remind everyone that RNG is a major factor in BR games and Fortnite is no exception. While the game devs should be more inclined to take as much RNG out to put everyone on as equal footing as possible, it is still up to us to do what we can to eliminate what RNG we can when we play. We will fare a lot better if we do.

What is Hype in the Arena Mode?

The true ranking system in Fortnite is the Arena Mode and you should have already tried it out by now. This is actually the best way to go about being a Pro Fortnite player. The Arena modes for Solos and Trios offer the best way for players to see where they stand against the rest of the playerbase, and offer a way for players to play against others around their skill level so they aren’t getting absolutely thrashed by Ninja every game.

Hype is the equivalent of Matchamde Ranking or MMR, and it costs you Hype at the higher Divisions to play a match (it is free for Divisions one and two). This is how you move up in the world of Fortnite, and it is what you should be playing most of the time.

Other than practice that is, they offer the non Arena mode still along with all of the other stuff we covered in the last guide, if you’re having a bad day, it may be a better idea to try out the non ranked modes before you start ranking for the day.

As it is skill based matchmaking you and everyone else are on equal footing for the most part, Smurfs exist in Fortnite but are a little less common than in some other games, and sometimes you or someone else may just have that pop off game where they don’t look like anyone around their skill level. This is still just the best way to test your metal and look to get good at the game overall. Whether it’s solos or trios, and trios are more fun by a mile, you can go here for a true display of skill.

Anyone chasing that Champion ranking can end up going Pro actually, which is one of the greatest incentives of any video game. You can get invited to the major Fortnite events if you hold those higher ranks. But that’s a discussion for another time, here we are looking more at the Contender ranks and how to get there.Everything is an uphill battle when we aren’t naturally gifted at the game, but with enough elbow grease we can force our abilities to reach the level we want to.

What is an Optimal Loadout in Fortnite?

Now that you yourself are a little more familiar with how weapons work in Fortnite, let’s talk a little bit more about what is the most optimal loadout at different stages in the game. You can look at it as an early game, mid game, and late game scenario or rather just stages that reflect on the relative distance between you and your opponents compared to the situation that you or you’re team are in. We will first go over the Solos then we will go over Trios.

It should be noted that as the overall Meta will change and things are added and taken out of the game, these optimal loadouts will always hold some value to them. Solo loadouts are always a little tougher than Trios loadouts, when you are running Solos you often have to sacrifice a lot more than you would in a Trios match. Just remember that Shields are better than Healing, if you want to win you need a shotgun nine out of ten times, and that Mats are the most important thing in the game.

A lot of the time when we are playing Solos, we tend to prefer fighting up close and personal or further away with less risks and more chances to run away or make a flashy play. At the end of the match however, our Heavy Sniper is going to be a lot less efficient than a combat shotgun or even a tactical one. Close range weaponry is essential for the the last circle, so as long as we pick one up when we are looting a recently defeated enemy, we can confidently switch out those long range weapons for a short range one.

An ideal Solos kit would contain a Blue or higher Assault Rifle/Scar, a Blue or higher Pump/Combat Shotgun, and a Blue or higher Heavy Sniper, with Shield potions or Splashes. The last thing would be completely up to you, but look out for the Utility items we talked about last guide, an extra Storm Flip could give you an edge in the most tense situations.

Trios offer a lot more flexibility in the sense that, as a team you have 15 inventory slots available to you. This means that you can stack some of the better healing, shield filling, or stronger utility items for later use. In a perfect world we wouldn’t need to, but a strong team has each other's backs in the worst case scenarios.

Most Trios play the game differently from another trio, often to the extent that the Meta isn’t entirely figured out yet, or that there isn’t a widely agreed upon Meta. Some of the best ideas though revolve around the fact that you can have two or three different playstyles on a team. While two rush ahead, they can hold onto an AR and Shotgun while the third handles the long range cover fire with Snipers and rocket launchers.

Stacking utility is super useful for a lot of reasons, if everyone has two guns then people can dedicate to carrying one form of healing en masse while the others carry the other form and have room for more volatile equipment such as grenades and those ever useful Storm Flips. A major thing is having access to three times as many Mats. There will more often be elongated fights with three on three battles where the more effective form of fighting is building big enough fortresses that force either team to converge on the other and attempt to catch them off guard by fighting on their build.

The only real downside to Trios is that every team has the same access to what you do. More Mats, more Utility, better playstyle choices. It helps everyone and that in turn hurts everyone. This is where communication is especially helpful, in BR games the only thing that matters is survival. The worst player in the world has a chance to kill the best player in the world if they are the only two left and the Mats, weapons and ammo, and health favors the worst player.

Solos or Trios inventory preferences matter and using what you’re most comfortable with is always going to workout better in your favor. So if you don’t like any of our suggestions that’s just fine, but because of the previously mentioned RNG, sometimes it’ll be nice to have this reference and use a strong strategy even if it isn’t your favorite.

Is there a way to Practice even harder in Fortnite?

Now that we know how to practice to get to where we are we need to step up our game. We can continue our usual regiment but that may not successfully last as long as we’d like. There are a lot of other ways we can practice as well, and some things we should avoid or at least consider when we choose them.

Instead of playing non ranked matches and treating them as if they were ranked , give yourself a challenge each game. Limit how many Mats you can hold at any given time, restrict yourself to only using the gun you are the worst with, or focus on more efficiently using utility items rather than trying to win the game.

Setting a low bar for victory while increasing relative difficulty will assist with forcing yourself to learn how to play certain situations. In a ranked match you may struggle because after an elongated fight you only have 100 Mats total and the next fight will deplete your resources indefinitely at the worst possible moment. If this happens you’ll be better prepared because of how you practiced beforehand.

Forcing yourself to practice with a specific weapon will increase your odds of winning a fight that takes place on drop and all you got was a Gray Pistol while the other guy got a Combat Shotgun. They come out on top 9 times out of 10, but if you’re already well versed in the situation, maybe you can knock that down to a 6 out of 10 or even a 50/50 shot. Focusing more on utilizing Utility efficiently can immediately transfer into a useful skill in ranked games. Sure you placed 40th in the non ranked game, but that one instance where you’re shadow bomb gave you way better positioning over an enemy got you the win in Arena Mode. Don’t force yourself into these situations in Arena Mode. The loss of Hype will be felt and will tilt you. Ninja often did these challenges, granted it was for the entertainment value to his stream, but the whole time he was entertaining he was forcing himself to be a better player, all without risking his Hype, in most cases.

As far as practice is concerned, there is no reason to just que up Arena Mode and repeatedly play it, risking Hype and mental fortitude for the sake of getting in some practice. Normal games are really forgiving if you die on drop, and as long as you remember that it’s just practice, dealing with the tilt becomes easier as well.

When we play Trios we tend to get comfortable and recognize how our teammates play and they get used to us as well. This can make playing with our friends that aren’t the squad we usually play with a little more volatile. That doesn’t make it any worse practice wise and we should remember to have fun with it, but before we que up Arena Mode again with our main squad we should play a few extra practice games to get reacquainted with everything. This doesn’t really apply to Solos at all, but it is important to note too that the way we play Solos and the way we play Trios changes dramatically, don’t forget that you don’t have backup, and keep an extra eye on your supplies as you’re looting.

What are some strategies I can implement in Arena Mode?

A lot of people argue about what the best way to play the game is. For the professional scene there are a different set of rules that force players to try and be more aggressive to get more kills and money tacked onto their winnings for the event. Some like to play it a little more passively and want to win in order to share the winnings from actually winning a set along with the winnings from the kills they got. This translates a little differently to Arena Mode. You get more Hype points for winning a match rather than getting 4 kills and dying in 7th place.

That being said, there is still a lot more to be gained by getting 15 kills and getting 3rd place or even winning the match. The Hype you stand to gain follows a pretty good high risk high reward formula, so playing it safe and not taking every fight you find may trump maxing out your kill count and falling short of the victory, but the opposite is also true.

There is no true way to play the game, whatever gets you your Hype gets you your rank ups and is the best way that you know how to play. All that really matters in the end is how much you enjoy playing that way.

There is something to be said about someone that puts up 20 kills in a match even if they lose, it was still impressive, if they had played it a little differently they may have won but they still took out a fifth of the entire lobby by themselves. At the same time, the guy that won the match with only 4 kills still won the match. Not the flashiest player but definitely a solid one. 100 people entered and they were the last one alive to take home the trophy.

So whether you want to go HAMM or play it safe, they’re both viable strategies. The main thing is to know when to pull the trigger and when to fort up. Look for the high ground, master your quick building and Macro keys for building. Get that aim punch just right and pull off the incredible.

It’s always a little more fun to go in head first and get 10 kills on drop, but it is always a little more demoralizing when we slip up and don’t manage to put up those numbers and just end up losing Hype. When we play it safe the problem becomes whether or not we can make it to the end. It’s a slow grind that can prove fruitful and protect our KDA statistic but if we die a little sooner than we’d like we risk the same loss as the guy who died first thinking they’d outplay everyone at the hot drop.

How hard is it to go pro?

Fortnite is a very competitive game. The main way to break into the pro scene other than making a name for yourself streaming is by climbing the Arena rankings and obtaining “Better than you” status over our peers. It is a lot harder than some of those pros make it seem, and we would do best to try and put in the time and effort they do if we want to be in their shoes. This is always possible, and with enough of that time and effort it should come eventually. If you’re looking to break into that Champion tier make sure to look at our other guides that dive into the smaller details of Fortnite and the Battle Royale genre.