One thing I think we can all agree on is how overwhelmingly popular Fortnite has become. The variety of memes on the subject alone is all the proof one needs to know that this is the biggest thing stealing attention from guys girlfriends since Call of Duty rolled out Zombies. I've played games for my entire life, and Fortnite carries the distinction of being one of the most simple, yet at the same time complex games I've ever seen. Without a decent sample of games, a compilation of successes and mistakes that guides our progress, it would be nearly impossible to understand the intricacy very deeply. If I succeed, however, you might just learn enough quickly shoot up the learning from unconscious incompetence all the way to conscious incompetence.

Tip 1: You're Not That Good

"Ouch, MrGoodbread" I'm sure you are all thinking right about now, "We get it, we're n00bs." While the last thing I would want to do as a writer is alienate my audience, this goes for all people, myself included. Socrates said himself that the only thing he knew for sure is that he knew nothing. But how can this tip be applied to help the average frustrated gamer? For one, don't drop in crowded areas!!! The first lesson many aspiring Battle Royalers learn is that Tilted Towers is not a very friendly place. Even if you manage to kill the first person you find with the first common weapon you found, chances are that someone who's already found a chest is lurking around the corner with better gear. While you whet your fangs on all the mysteries the game has to offer it is a much better idea to drop in less crowded areas. You will typically find these areas on the edges of the map away from the path of the Battle Bus.

Tip 2: Prioritize Survival, Avoid Fights If You Can, Keep The Upperhand If You Must

These same pretty self-explanatory and almost sound like three platitudes, but they are invaluable advice in this instance. Fortnite is not like most other shooters where a few seconds by yourself is enough to bring you back to full health. The person who runs around actively trying to rack up a 14-kill win is probably going to get himself killed out of recklessness. My first Fortnite win consisted of 1 kill and I stayed in the same place for 90% of the game. My second win I hid inside my own fort that I had built into the storm late in the game while the storm killed my last adversary. Hiding and building your way to victory is an infinitely better strategy than roving over the field like Rambo hoping you wrecking ball your way to victory. With that being said, TAKE ADVANTAGE OF BUSHES, and no I am not talking about the item. There's a reason the bush is a legendary item. It does not matter how well you can hold a fort if you cannot find your last enemy, and the moment you leave your fort to beat the storm you become vulnerable. However, the bush item rotates with you to the point other people can see making it much less effective than the plethora of bushes scattered across the island. Bushes allow you to let other players run right up next to you with a gun trained on their heads the entire time without their knowledge. Aiming takes some getting used to, and especially when you get to the end of the game with better players you will have a small window to kill them before they can put a basic 1-story fort up and search for you. This brings me to my next point, Good Fortnite Players Are Jumpy! The best of the best will have panic walls put up after taking damage on the first shot, noobs will try to engage you after they've lost all of their shield. In situations like these you have to make sure you have the drop on your opponent and press your advantage for as long as you have it. Your position is invaluable, if unknown it can worry other players and lure them out into the open under the right circumstances. My all time favorite Fortnite memory is soloing a whole squad of players one by one from underneath a stair case. After each kill I ran a little and shot my gun so they could hear me, then retook my position and while I waited for them to show their back to me. If you give your position away to start a dogfight and deal damage then make damn sure you rush their fort before they can heal. Fortnite is at its core about fighting, so don't run away from fights, just increase your advantage as much as you can. This may even mean stalking someone for a long period of time who is unaware of your position. The old Chinese proverb goes, "Two dogs fight over a bone while the third one takes it. Good players you have no chance of soloing will cross your path, try to engage them right after a big dogfight has drained their health when they can't afford to fight you aggressively. Even a noob can take out a pro with only one health left, it might be lucky, but good noobs make their own luck. Finally, reserve space in your inventory for health items! Outlasting someone equates to beating them and as long as there's a storm the only thing you need to overcome the tallest fort is time.

Tip 3: Mentally Map Efficient Paths And The Chests Along Them

The path the bus takes, the relative frequency of players drop zones, and the first storm zone all affect how players will plot their game out after they drop. For instance, the Prison in Moisty Mires quickly became one of my favorite drop zones in the game. It's on the edge of the map in a very unpopular area, but unless it is directly under the Battle Bus' path chances are I will have to fight off at most one person to get all of the 4 chests that spawn in random locations at any given time. Further plotting tells us that the most cover filled area with the most chests is the front of the prison, players should make their way from one sniper tower, to the chests and items in the middle of the building, all the way to other sniper tower and eventually to the prison itself. From the prison players should proceed inland towards the eye of the storm along the bridge right up the road where one can find an ammo crate, 2 decent item drops, and god willing another 2 chests. Accomplishing the above quickly will give players valuable time. Time to establish a presence in an area, search it for items, and establish a safe crows nest by which to surveil the surrounding area. Completing your load out as quickly as possible gives you this time, unfortunately from this point on the island has been relatively picked over and it is now time to look to your first kill to upgrade your equipment. Find different areas you like so that you never find yourself in a place where you don't know how or where to proceed. When you are moving from one place to another be smart about how you do it. Run next to mountains and other structures that can act as a wall already built for you should someone find you and get the drop on you. Avoid "kill boxes", large, flat areas, surrounded by high structures. You are the least safe where you are the most visible, so attempt to attract as little sniper fire as possible.

Tip 4: Familiarize Yourself With Building, It Will Save You

It's weird how in games where I play a medieval knight with a regular shield I feel completely protected, but starting out the building feature seems like a very flimsy defense. The muscle memory alone required to quickly switch with o and build with trigger seemed daunting compared to the speed at which bullets hailed down upon me. Then I got better. Not very soon after I started I could build a one story fort in a matter of seconds, now I find myself playing with building options to give myself any edge you can. Next time you hear someone outside of you build up a fort that will be waiting on them when they go to investigate who's building stairs up to a chest... or so they think until they see peeping out of window you made in your wall. They might escape but not before you can quickly change that window into a door used for pursuit. Your fort's will also get much easier to move around in once you learn the mechanics of making revolving stairs. Practice these skills and always be looking for situations where they might be useful. One of the intricacies of fortnite is the large arsenal of tools players have at their disposal, and someone has to show the gun jockeys of the world that brains beats brawn.

I hope all these tips helped you become a better player, or if you're just trying it out or thinking about trying it out I hope the picture I've painted helps it make a little bit more sense. Thanks, for reading, please like and follow me if you'd like to hear more.

Until next time,
MrGoodbread