SECTION 2
DISCOVER HOW TO SAFELY EXPLORE THE ISLAND
The island offers approximately 20 labeled points of interest on the map, along with many unlabeled, smaller, but equally interesting places to explore and engage in battles. Each location offers a different type of terrain, which if you’re smart, you’ll learn to use to your advantage.
As you travel between points of interest and plan routes to avoid the storm, you’ll stumble upon individual structures, or sometimes a group of structures. These structures are often worth visiting, because inside, you’ll sometimes find weapons, ammo, and loot items, or maybe even a chest. Many of these structures also provide a secure place to use health and shield powerups to restore your Health and Shield meters. This RV park, for example, is located at map coordinates I5.5, but it’s not labeled on the map.
It’s important that you discover how and when to access the island map, and that you learn how to identify key locations.
While you’re in the pre-deployment area waiting to board the Battle Bus, or while the Battle Bus is in the air, access the island map. A blue line (comprised of arrows) displays the random route the Battle Bus will take over the island, so you can more easily decide when to leave the bus and choose a preferred landing site.
Do you want to land in a less popular and more secluded area, so you can gather weapons and resources, or would you prefer to drop down into a popular part of the island, where you’re virtually guaranteed to encounter enemy soldiers and be forced to fight almost immediately?
Suppose your desired landing spot is Flush Factory (located between map coordinates C9.5 and D9.5), but when you look at the island map that shows the route the Battle Bus will take, its route takes you nowhere near this area. As with all points of interest, even if the route the Battle Bus takes does not travel directly over your desired landing location, you can travel during free fall more than halfway across the entire island before your soldier’s glider automatically deploys. As a result, you can almost always reach any area on the map.
The full island map is divided into quadrants (boxes). Displayed along the top margin of the map (from left to right) are the letters “A” through “J.” Along the left margin of the map, from top to bottom, are the numbers “1” through “10.” Using these letters and numbers, you can easily identify any location or quadrant on the map.
For example, quadrant E2.5 on the map corresponds with Lazy Links, while coordinates H6 corresponds with Retail Row. Lucky Landing can be found between coordinates F10 and G10. The Viking ship can be found on an unlabeled mountain, near map coordinates B5.5.
Select Your Landing Destination Like a Pro
If you’re landing in or near any point of interest (or known structure), land directly on a house, building, or structure’s roof. Sometimes, you’ll find weapons, ammo, or loot to collect out in the open, lying on the roof. Upon landing, smash through the roof to the attic of a house, or the top floor of a building or tower. You’ll often find a chest in these high-up areas, so you can quickly arm yourself before encountering enemy soldiers.
When you watch live streams (on YouTube or Twitch.tv) of the top-ranked Fortnite: Battle Royale players, one strategy you’ll often see them implement is choosing a very remote place to land once their soldier jumps from the Battle Bus. They’ll choose a landing location they know offers multiple chests that can be found and opened within moments of landing.
One ideal landing location for this strategy is between map coordinates I2.5 and J2.5 (outside of Wailing Woods). Land on top of this house that contains a tall wooden tower on top of it. Smash your way downward using the pickaxe.
After you’ve collected an initial arsenal of weapons and loot items, instead of spending time visiting the island’s various points of interest, determine where the storm is headed (by looking at the map), and avoid enemy soldiers early on in a match by staying exclusively in the outskirts of popular island locations. This shed, located at map coordinates E3, is in the outskirts of Lazy Links, for example. Inside, you may find a chest, or at least weapons and ammo on the ground.
By staying out of the popular points of interest early in the match, you’ll likely encounter only a few enemy soldiers. You can choose to fight them, or often avoid them altogether to ensure your soldier will stay alive longer. As the storm continues to expand, focus on staying within the eye of the storm (the circle), while building up your arsenal and resource collection before the circle gets really small, and you’re forced to fight the remaining enemy soldiers during the End Game.
Among the many other potential landing sites that allow you to quickly grab weapons, ammo, and loot items, but often avoid immediate enemy contact, includes a cluster of homes and buildings near map coordinates D8, and the tall wooden tower located between map coordinates I4.5 and J4.5 (outside of Lonely Lodge). Up to three chests can often be found within this tower.
If you take a more aggressive approach and land in the heart of a point of interest, like Tilted Towers, Paradise Palms, or Lazy Links, you will definitely encounter enemies, often within the first few seconds after landing. Initially, you’ll only be armed with a pickaxe, which is no match for any type of gun or explosive. Here, a soldier just landed on a rooftop of a building in Tilted Towers. Unfortunately, he wasn’t alone and was not the first soldier to grab a weapon.
If another soldier has beaten you to your landing location, chances are he or she will already be armed with a weapon and you’ll be virtually defenseless. Unless you quickly find cover or a weapon, you will be eliminated from the match within seconds of landing.