Like many gamers, I flocked to Fortnite in recent months to join the massive growing community and even picked up a Season 3 battle pass that I’ve been steadily working through. With a background in shooters, I thought my experience would transition to Fortnite, and while I had early success with a win in my first two dozen games, my success (and Kill-Death ratio) was pitiful at best.
Recently, with a few important adjustments to my approach, I’ve been having more consistent results and a dramatically rising Kill-Death ratio which has in turn translated to more wins. If you have a similar game background to me, then focusing on these three things will give you that added edge next time you drop from the Battle Bus.
Building
While we are starting with an obvious adjustment, it’s without a doubt the hardest one to make, as few games can prepare you for the building element of Fortnite. That being said, it is no doubt one of the strongest adjustments you can make and key to securing kills and wins.
It’s entirely possible to win a decent number of fights without significant building, but without a solid foundation, you’ll quickly see the game over screen when you encounter a good player towards the mid to late stages of the game. Similarly, you’ll be taking unnecessary damage in each fight, which makes later fights more difficult and lowers your chance of coming out ahead. This was the biggest adjustment for me, where I skipped on building as I was still winning fights but taking extra damage in the process.
Personally for me, this was most evident in shotgun fights, where taking an extra hit instead of utilizing a wall to block a single shot can mean the difference between 50 shield and none after the dust settles. More advanced builders can even use editing in unique ways for quick kills without chance of retaliation.
Your first two steps in completing this adjustment are ensuring you have adequate shortcuts so that you can build quickly, and even taking a few games to practice at the edge of the map, away from harm’s way. For those that have Save The World, practicing is even easier with the ability to step into an empty game world.
Unknown Health and Items
A more interesting adjustment that I haven’t read much about but that was a vital mindset change for my win rate was that when you engage, you have very limited information about your opponent’s weapon layout or health status.
In other games, the feast or famine that you can find in a Fortnite game (and other battle royale games) doesn’t exist to the same extent, with everyone having access to the same weapons, perks, loadouts, and generally the same health. What makes Fortnite unique is that the player you encounter over the hill might have picked up five kills already and been lucky with lootdrops, which means they have full shields, full health, and a rocket launcher hiding in their back pocket as well.
Alternatively, they could be sitting on 75 health, with only white weapons in their inventory. The problem that Fortnite presents is that you don’t know until you engage them. The mindset adjustment I made in regards to this was to always assume it’s a fully stacked opponent, as I had a number of deaths at the hands of well-geared enemies that I simply was not expecting.
Third-Person Peeking (and Edit Peeking)
As one of the first third-person games I’d played, the idea of scanning the environment using the third-person camera was something completely foreign. Based on the gameplay of new players I’ve seen, few people understand the power of the third-person camera when used correctly. It’s a small adjustment, but one that can give you that extra edge with little effort.
Be it looking around a corner in a house or sitting in your little fort and looking over the large landscape, third-person peeking gives you extra information about the location of enemies. An advanced peeking tactic that Fortnite also opens up is edit peeking, where you place a building piece and edit it to see through it.
If you’re already a seasoned player, you’ve likely already mastered these three adjustments when playing Fortnite. Those looking to dip their toes in the growing ocean of Fortnite, though (particularly those without experience in this genre), will do well with these small gameplay adjustments.
Got your own tips that took you from Fortnite zero to hero? Be sure to share them below and check out GameSkinny’s Fornite guides for more great tips.
