Few things are as frustrating as getting outplayed repeatedly in Fortnite, and we want to help you avoid that entirely by tipping the scales in your favor. In this guide, we will break down some game-changing strategies and show how you can up your Fortnite IQ and become a smarter Fortnite player.

Smarter Fighting

Being a smart fighter plays a huge role in the ability to win more games. There are many who think that fighting is all about having low ping and being extremely fast with insane mechanics, but that’s not necessarily the case. Sure, having unbelievably fast mechanics like Noah Reyli or Bugha is great in combat, but you do not need them to be a smart fighter.

The first step on your path to becoming a smarter Fortnite player and fighter is to work on cutting down your 50/50 engagements. If you’re unfamiliar with what 50/50 is, it’s basically jumping in your opponent’s box with no other plan than aim dueling them, and hoping that you hit more shots. Sure, trusting your aim is a big part of being an effective combatant, but it’s not smart to always jump in a box and gamble, especially if you do not have an advantage over your opponent.

You always want to start a fight by doing some type of damage, whether it’s beaming an enemy with your AR or a nice shotgun hit; this will immediately give you an advantage. Now, when it comes to jumping into a box, you only want to do this when you know you have a huge health advantage. Let’s say that you start the fight out with a 150 pump, then you can jump in the box because you know how much of an advantage you have right off the bat.

Another aspect of being a smart fighter is having the patience needed to outplay your opponent. A lot of players lose fights because they’re impatient and take bad shots and bad peeks, causing them to take damage that they should not have. While you’re pressuring boxes, you want to do things like pickaxe once and then hold your shotgun out to see if your opponent will edit out, allowing you to get an easy prefire. You never want to continue to pickaxe a wall without stopping, because that will provide your opponent with an easy opportunity to prefire you.

On the other hand, if you’re getting pushed by a particularly aggressive player, you want to always box up with either brick or metal and have a cone in your box at all times. This will allow you to edit the cone towards your opponent if they take your wall, allowing you to block a shot and edit out the side to go for return damage with your pump. Alternatively, you can also make a new box.

While playing patient may seem like you’re playing scared, this actually makes your opponent grow impatient, and they’ll do things like pickaxe your wall without any protection, allowing you to get that easy prefire we mentioned above. You can also insta-edit with the right-hand peek such as a far window edit, or peanut butter edit, giving you the chance to land some easy damage on the opponent and gain the upper hand.

One thing that many players lack, and is often overlooked, is the instinct to disengage from a fight. This concept is widely overlooked because many players think that once an engagement starts, it’s either you’re winning the fight, or you’re losing the fight. If you’ve been in a fight for a few minutes and your materials are dwindling, you’ve used up all of your heals and you can tell that the fight is going nowhere, you should disengage. You want to make sure that you’ll still have a bit of material left while disengaging as you’ll need to build off your opponent while you reposition. A mobility item such as a katana or ODM gear can also help to disengage.

VOD Reviews & Taking Notes

The number one way to become a smarter Fortnite player is by reviewing your VODs and taking notes. VOD reviewing is the act of watching your previous games back with a replay or “video-on-demand”. This practice will allow you to see the mistakes that you’ve made in a game, write it down, and then work to fix the mistake the next time you’re in a similar situation.

Along with watching your own games, VOD reviewing Pro players is another option to help boost your Fortnite IQ. While you’re watching the Pros, you should also take notes on things that you see them doing that you can add into your own game such as off spawn tricks, mid-game rotations, weapons they’re using in specific situations, heals they are using, fighting techniques, decision making, and end-game rotations.

When you watch a Pro playing, you can ask yourself things like “What would I have done in that situation?” and follow up with “What did they do differently that I can add to my game?”. Once you get put into these same situations in-game, you will know exactly what to do, and you’ll be able to make smarter decisions to secure the win.

Drop Spots & Spawn Fighting

Another method to becoming a smarter Fortnite player and winning more games is to know your drop spot like the back of your hand and know how to play it off of spawn. Having that intelligence off spawn and knowing your drop spot is what determines the rest of your game, ultimately. No matter where your preferred drop spot is, you need to know the best way to land there and the quickest way to loot it so that you can always have the advantage over anyone else who lands with you.

Now, you don’t have to fight every other player who landed near you just because they’re in your drop spot. A common mistake that players will make is they start engagements for no reason, especially when they lack an advantage heading into the situation.

While you’re landing, you need to make sure that you keep an eye out to see where the players nearby have landed, that way, you’re always aware and won’t be caught off guard. As soon as you land, you want to loot as quickly as possible while also farming materials simultaneously, as players most commonly lose spawn fights because they have fewer materials than their opponents.

While you’re looting, farm the walls, floors, and any tree around you to make sure that you have the materials advantage if an engagement does pop off. If there’s more than just one player landing with you, it’s best to lay back and let them engage each other, providing you with the opportunity to third party the fight. This is important, as rushing into the fight when there are multiple players around is another common reason players lose their spawn fights. If you don’t have a kit worth fighting with yet, don’t fight.

Early Game

Now that you’ve learned how to play your drop spot and win off spawn, let’s explore how you can play a smart early game. As we mentioned before, you do not need to fight right off the bat. After you’ve rotated out, it’s all about trying to get the maximum materials possible, while waiting for the next storm circle to open up and give you some direction.

Since you know your drop spot well, you should know the surrounding areas too. This means that you should know where to go to farm brick and metal to maximize your materials. After you rotate out of your drop spot, you want to make sure that you farm up as many hard materials as you can before shifting into the mid-game.

With the new storm circles being different, the early game is especially short because there are now 12 zones instead of 9. This means after you’re done farming, it’s time to start the mid-game after the third zone closes.

Mid Game

The mid-game is all about positioning yourself for success. You will want to try to put yourself into an elevated and protected place before the end game kicks off. While the third zone is closing, you want to start making your way toward the center of the zone, and since there are now 12 zones, you may have to constantly change your positioning after boxing up to put yourself into a new spot once the circle appears.

This is why you will want to prioritize things like bushes because you do not have to spend any materials for the cover, boxing up on buildings so you’re able to re-farm, or boxing up on things like rocks so you can build a brick box and get a refund on your materials.

Whenever you are rotating mid-game, you want to be rotating on the dead side of the zone to avoid any unwanted engagements. The dead side is the side of the zone that features the least amount of players, making it the safest side. As an example, if the zone pulls far north, then every player to the south has to rotate in, meaning the north side will have fewer players, making it the dead zone in your match. By positioning yourself on the dead side of zone, you’re making sure that you have an advantage as the end game starts.

End Game

The end game now officially starts around zone 8, which is the new half-and-half zone. This means that half of the zone is in the storm, and half of the zone is outside of it. There’s no way to make sure that you get zone 8, so if you are unlucky and don’t get it, you will need to make sure you can make a smart rotation. If you have mobility items, you can use them to rotate dead side into zone 8. If you don’t have any mobility items, you will have to wait until the players around you rotate first, then you head toward the dead side as well.

Zones 9 through 12 are all moving zones, and the key to moving zones is to always stay toward the front of them, making sure that you don’t fall behind and get stuck at the back of the zone. Use your mobility item to get to the front of the zone, then look behind you to get some kills. Once the new zone pops, do the same thing and get to the front of the zone, then tarp until you’re fully in the zone. Once you have around 200 materials, it’s time to look for a kill to gather more.

Look for someone who is healing, or someone who does not have too much health, then make a play to secure the elimination, acquiring enough materials to secure the win.

Once you’re able to put all of these practices into play consistently, and you’re playing as a smarter Fortnite player, you’ll have a distinct edge over the majority of the players you’re matched against. Remember, knowledge and preparation is a great equalizer, providing you with the time to develop more mechanics to flesh out your overall Fortnite game.