Fortnite Beginners Guide For 2024

Despite having a ton of competition around it, Fornite continues to dominate the battle royale market and it amasses a whopping 221+ million monthly users. If you’re interested in trying out the game and seeing what it’s all about, you’ve come to the right place looking for a few tips and tricks.

While it does have some quirky characters and wacky stories, Fornite is not to be taken lightly when gameplay is concerned. It’s easily one of the more challenging games out there and it’s easy to be overwhelmed by all of the mechanics in the game. If you’re a beginner, you might want to check out this quick little guide.

Familiarize Yourself With The Map

Knowing the map from beginning to end is honestly one of the best tips that we can give you. Learning the best loot areas, strategic positions, and key locations in the game will help you take the win more regularly. While there’s a general look of the map, you’ll find minor changes and new points of interests at certain points of a season during events. The bigger changes are made during each new season of the game as well. For Fortnite Chapter 5 Season 2, these are the points of interest:

• Brawler’s Battleground – almost as much treasure may be found inside the main arena as in Grim Gate, but there are also a ton of goods in the building to the east. Worth investigating if the storm forms in a forgiving place.

• Classy Courts – a decent quantity of treasure, although not nearly as good for mythic items.

• Fencing Fields – the greatest location on the map by far for a substantial amount of loot, and you could even be able to acquire a mythic item.

• Grand Glacier – home to some breathtaking views and a lovely hotel that is rather well-stocked with treasure.

• Grim Gate – a comparatrively tiny region that guards the entrance to The Underworld. Along with plenty of weapons and ammunition to draw you inside, the main building’s passageways also include a few god chests.

• Lavish Lair – there is a good amount of treasure to be found here, but be careful, enemies can attack you from a number of vantage points.

• Mount Olympus – Hazy Hillside has been replaced with this enormous area, which is crammed with god chests, loot, as well as a job board. To locate a god chest, look to the eastern summit of Mount Olympus, which is much higher than the statue.

• Pleasant Piazza – there’s plenty of treasure to be found here, but the primary draw is the system of tunnels that you can utilize to trap you renemies.

• Rebel’s Roost – the underground areas feature weapon cases with updated weaponry, but there’s not much loot to be found here.

• Reckless Railways – you can win firefights because there is greater cover, even if it’s not the greatest location for loot overall. Here, catching the train is also quite easy.

• Restored Reels – having been brought back to its previous splendor, this place is still quite peaceful and can produce a considerable quantity of loot, including a weapon case tucked deep underneath.

• Snooty Steppes – although the steppes hold a fair amount of treasure, it will take luck to find a top-tier weapon there.

• The Underworld – Hades’ residence has taken the place of Ritzy Rivera. In addition to a ton of common loot and ammo crates, the main building complex contains multiple god chests.

While these are a source of valuable loot, points of interest are also hotspots for firefights. If you're not fully confident in your shooting and building skills yet, it would be best to circle around these areas first and try to keep a look out for potential enemies.

Circle In From The Outside

Like in other battle royales, the map in Fortnite will become smaller and smaller in set intervals. Eventually, if the match lasts long enough, there won’t be any safe spaces for the Eye of the Storm and then, it’s a matter of who dies first between the surviving players.

A big mistake you can commit as a new player is to drop in the middle. This will force you in fights against other players as they start to circle in to run away from the Eye of the Storm. The most efficient way to progress through the map is to start at the border of the Eye and circle in as it starts to get smaller.

By doing this, you’re able to have an advantage as you can take out players ahead of you as they start to rush in towards the safe area. The only disadvantage with this strategy is that it puts you at risk of being ambushed by players who’ve set up bases in certain areas of the map that you’re bound to run towards.

When using this strategy, make sure to always stay a few seconds ahead of the circle so that you have time to scout ahead and prepare for any ambushes.

Team Up With Friends First

You can play Fortnite in Solos, Duos, Trios, or Squads. In our opinion, it’s actually easier to practice your aim and your building skills with Solos mode. In here, there are less fire fights to get into if you play it safe as compared to playing in a group where you and your teammates regularly bump into others on the map.

If you’re not practicing but you want to put your skills to the test, it’s actually better to play the game in a group. To avoid toxicity from other players, it’s always best to play with friends who you’re comfortable with. Not only will you have more fun playing with them, but they can help you out in your beginner journey too. If they’re also beginners, you can at least have fun learning together.

Chat Up With The NPCs

One of the unique features of Fortnite is that there are NPCs around the map that you can talk to. Interacting with these NPCs will reward you with various items that will make the entire match a lot easier. However, keep in mind that other players are likely to target these NPCs as well so make sure to always double check whether or not you’re really alone in the area. For this season, these are the NPCs you can interact with as well as their locations and rewards.

Play With Headphones On

As with any competitive shooter, it’s very important that you wear headphones while playing Fortnite. Even high-end speakers are no match against low-quality headphones. By wearing headphones, you’ll get a better feel of the game as well as your surroundings during matches thanks to location-based audio.

You can hear footsteps, gunshots, buildings, and more in the right direction of you wear headphones. This is especially more important if you’re playing with friends as you can easily communicate with them. You don’t need those fancy headsets that the pros use. Even an mid-range headset can do you good while playing the game.

Know Your Items

You can survive in Fortnite using your aim and gun skills but eventually, you’ll need to rely on items as well. You should manage your inventory well so that you never run out of healing items. As a general rule of thumb, use your shield potions immediately if you don’t have any shields yet so that you can pick more up later on. In that regard, always use your smaller shield potions first as they take up more space in your inventory.

As with weapons, you should always be on the look out for higher rarity items as these offer more value than standard items. 

While rarer items heal you more, don’t forget to keep stock of weaker healing items as well. These do heal you or your armor for a smaller portion but they take a smaller amount of time to use. They’re better to use while you’re healing during a gunfight as they can give you a little boost of health or armor that can turn the tides around.

Practice All Weapons… But Stick With Something More Familiar

There are quite a few weapons in the game and they change regularly per season of Fortnite. While building remains a crucial part of winning, it’s the weapons that will take you to victory most of the time. Due to the game’s nature of randomized loot, it’s always better to know your way around each of the weapons in the game.

• Assault Rifles - These are high caliber weapons that you should always have in your inventory. They work well from all ranges and they are typically best for intense fire fights. Assault rifles have an excellent rate of fire and recoil that’s often manageable too. These are very reliable and a lot of players use these as a beginner weapon.

• Shotguns - What these weapons lack in range, they make up for in sheer power. In most setups, players carry a shotgun alongside a weapon that’s better equipped for long range fights. If an enemy gets too close, you can use a shotgun to take out a huge chunk of their health or to kill them off completely.

• SMGs - These are short-ranged weapons with a high rate of fire and average damage. Due to their heavy spread, they’re not reliable for long-range combat. SMGs aren’t that reliable compared to assault rifles but they can make a huge difference in close range fights if you have good aim and recoil control.

• Pistols - Not as powerful as shotguns but you can expect to be rewarded handsomely by being accurate with pistols. Aiming mostly for the head will make each mag your pistol very devastating against enemies. 

• DMRs - These weapons are essentially a mix between snipers and assault rifles. They’re excellent at long range but they have a good rate of fire as well. Along with the sniper, these weapons are harder to master but can be very deadly in the right hands.

• Snipers - With the nature of the game allowing you to build towering structures, using snipers is actually a smart idea as you can hide from enemies and just snipe them out from afar. Snipers can deal excellent damage in the right hands but of course, using these weapons require a lot of practice and marksmanship.

Aside from these weapons, you also have access to special weapons that are exclusive to certain seasons. For this season, you can use the powerful Thunder of Zeus. In the past, you could even wield Thanos’ Infinity Gauntlet. The special weapons each season can turn the tide of fights rather quickly and they’re always worth getting.

While having knowledge in all weapons is a must, you should always have a go-to weapon as well. Knowing how each weapon feels can make firefights easy in most cases. As such, you should always practice using all weapons but you should always keep an eye out for guns that you’re more comfortable with.

Keep Track Of Rarities

Most of the loot in the game is categorized into different rarities. Grey for Common, Green for Uncommon, Blue for Rare, Purple for Epic, and Gold for Mythic. Items get more powerful the more rare they are but that also means they’re harder to find around the map. With any item in the game, it’s always important to get the rarer version as they are significantly more effective. Guns, for example, deal more damage, and have more ammo, the rarer they are.

The rarity of the loot you get will depend on a few things. For starters, certain areas in the game provide better loot than others so make sure to drop into these areas first. Another thing that affects the value of loot is the length of the game. As you progress deeper into a match, you’ll find more valuable loot everywhere.

Master The Art Of Building

Building is one of the unique features of Fortnite. It was removed temporarily in the game a few seasons back but it made a triumphant return, alongside a zero-build mode eventually. For new players, this is the hardest mechanic to master - even harder than the shooting itself.
With the help of building, you can create safespots to shoot enemies from, you can create mazes to get away while you’re low on health, and you can even create elaborate fortresses that will make it harder for enemies to get to you.

You can build various structures in the game using materials such as wood, stone, and metal that you acquire throughout the map. Below are the common structures you can create as well as a few other important stats to keep in mind.

Now, we’re going to give you a few tips for building.

1. Gather Resources Whenever You Can

All of the structures in the game will require a certain amount of resources to build. As such, you should always invest time in farming for resources whenever you can. The only time you should avoid doing this is when you’re in an intense firefight but other than that, hack away at your pickaxe whenever you can.

When you’re gathering resources inside a house, try not to hack away at the outside walls. If you do this, you leave yourself open to snipers and enemies as well. Just farm resources at what’s inside and avoid hitting walls as much as you can so you’ll always have a cover.

2. Use Builder Pro Settings On Console

Building structures is challenging enough already but it becomes an even bigger chore when you do it on a controller on consoles. The default controls let you scroll through all of your building options through shoulder buttons. It might seem nice and easy at first but this is actually an inefficient way to build in the game.

Head to your controller settings and switch to Builder Pro. This will let you assign specific structures to buttons in your controller. Pick ones that you most commonly used so that you can greatly reduce the time you take to scroll when picking a structure to build. It will take some time to get used to if you’ve been using the standard controls all this time but trust us, this minor change is worth it.

3. Practice Doing Specific Buildings

If you watch Fortnite pros, you can see them spawn large buildings with very little effort but that’s because they’ve had tons of experience already. If you’re just starting out, you might want to focus on doing specific builds first. It could be something as simple as four walls and a floor which is good enough to protect you as you heal. The goal is to acquaint yourself with the practice of building until you get the hang of it.

One of the more popular structures for all levels of players are what they call as the 90s. Basically, you start by building a ramp, and then build four walls around this ramp. Jump up and place a floor then add another ramp before you drop down. Repeat this process until you create an elevated area that you can snipe from.

4. Editing Structures Is An Underrated Skill

Building structures isn’t the endgame of building in the game. Editing builds is often underrated but it’s an essential skill to master. By editing, you can fortify structures that you built on the fly so that they can become sturdier. Editing allows you to create holes in your structures and even change the material used to create it to come up with something more sturdy.

A Long Journey Ahead In Fortnite

Perhaps the best tip we can give you is to be patient and to simply have fun. Don’t let the cute emotes and wacky characters fool you, Fortnite is definitely a tough game. With enough practice however, you’ll start racking up those wins in no time.