Fortnite Battle Royale: What’s the best battle strategy for survival?

Fortnite Battle Royale isn’t like many other shooters out there. There are no prizes for killing the most players, although there are some rewards, and the entire game is really simply about survival. Like many other battle royale games out on the market right now, only one player can win – the other 99 will die.

So, is there any real point going out there and playing Fortnite Battle Royale with the aim of mowing down players whenever you get the opportunity? Perhaps it’s better to just hide it out and wait for your chance instead of going in all guns blazing.

Obviously, there are pros and cons to both approaches and a true Fortnite Battle Royale veteran knows when one strategy is superior to the other. To help you get up to speed, we’re here to discuss the pros and cons of each approach as we outline the best strategy for winning at Fortnite Battle Royale.

Fortnite Battle Royale: The best battle strategy

The case for hiding in Fortnite

There’s a lot to be said for avoiding crowded areas, stocking up on weapons and ammo, then entering the battle later in the game. It’s not hard to make the last ten without so much as firing a bullet. And, when you do get into the fight, you’ll likely have full health and full shields to fall back on.

So how do you creep slowly into a game? The key is choosing your landing spot. The busy places on a general map will be central spots that are right on the flight path of the Battle Bus: Fatal Fields, Salty Springs, Dusty Divot and Tomato Town. The ever-popular Tilted Towers will be busy too, being not far off the route in our current example.

If we were planning to creep quietly into the game, we’d head for Wailing Woods, Pleasant Park or maybe even as far afield as the rich pickings in Snobby Shores. If you go to one of these destinations, there will likely only be you and perhaps one or two other players in the area. You’ll have your pick of all the weapons, ammo, traps and treasure chests that you can find. At worst, you’ll have to fight off one or two others, but when players see the landing spot is quiet they tend to avoid starting a fight straight away as they want to stock up first!

If you do pick a far-out spot, make sure you look at the map the moment the countdown minute is over. If the storm circle is on the other side of the map, you’re going to have to get a move on. As a rough guide, it takes around a minute to run from town to town, sometimes longer. You’ve only got six minutes and 20 seconds to get into the storm zone after that first minute has passed.

Bear in mind, however, that you can only hide for so long. The circle will eventually shrink to a point where there’s literally no place to hide and you’ll end up facing someone
better equipped than you…

The case for hunting other players in Fortnite

The big advantage of being an aggressive hunter is that you’re more likely to pick up the best weapons and the most supplies. Every time you kill a player, you get to ransack what they drop. You can take the pick of their weapons and collect all their resources, without having to spend ages chopping down a large forest.

This means that when the circle shrinks and you’re down to the last few players, you’re likely to have access to a greater arsenal of weapons, ammo and traps than the player who creeps into the action. Huge stockpiles of wood, stone and metal are really important at the end of the game when fort building comes into play. But, of course, you’re taking a greater risk. Every time you enter a gunfight or land in a crowded part of the map, you have a decent chance of being killed yourself.

The other advantage of killing players is you’re rewarded with more XP at the end of the game. This allows you to level up, win more challenges, and generally move up the ranks more quickly. However, the rewards are only cosmetic: there’s no gameplay advantage to having a fancy costume or better glider.

These tips come courtesy of our publisher’s sister magazine for Fortnite. Buy a copy now.