Fortnite Beginner's Guide: Weapons, Building, Skins, Controls & more

Published: Feb 26, 2020, 10:08 am Updated: Jun 30, 2023, 9:39 am

A new season of Fortnite is here!

Unless you’ve been living under a rock you’ll probably know that Epic Games released Season 2 Chapter 2 of Fortnite last week - and it has gone down relatively well.

While the game has been on the market for over two years, there are new players hopping aboard the battle bus daily and, if you’re a newbie, figuring out where to begin can be quite daunting.

Here is everything you need to know in order to be successful on Fortnite.

Controls

The best place to start is probably with the controls.

There are four preset control configurations for you to select from: Old School, Quick Builder, Combat Pro and Builder Pro. There is also the option to customise your controls should you see fit.

BUILDER PRO! There's only one way forward, and it's with Builder Pro

Now when Fortnite was first released, the emphasis on building was nowhere near as great as it is now, so the original controls (Old School) did not focus on the building aspect so much.

However, that has changed massively. In order to be good at Fortnite, you need to be able to build. The controller configuration we would recommend is Builder Pro, but have a play around, see which one you feel most comfortable with.

Weapons and Inventory

In a game of Fortnite, players are able to hold five items at any one time, as well as your pickaxe.

Alongside your standard guns, there are also healing items, ranged weapons - such as grenades - and other random items added sporadically throughout the season.

READ MORE: Fortnite Chapter 2 Season 2 Theme: Season 12

Items can be acquired in a number of different ways. They can be found laying out and about around the map, they can be found in chests/supply drops or they can be gained from enemies by eliminating them.

Whilst there are many different ways to arrange your inventory, here is what we recommend:

Slot 1 - Assualt Rifle/Burst Assault Rifle
Slot 2 - Pump Shotgun/Tactical Shotgun
Slot 3 - Submachine Gun
Slot 4 - Bolt Action Sniper / Rocket Launcher
Slot 5 - Healing Items

This is the setup we found works best. Your AR is your bread and butter, it is the staple for your inventory, you’ll struggle without it.

LINEUP! This is how you should line up your inventory

Your shotgun comes next, this is so you can quickly switch from AR to shotgun ready for any close range encounters. It is the most powerful close-range weapon, putting an SMG in slot three means you can quickly switch over and spray after your first hit with the shotgun.

Slot four is a matter of personal preference. We would usually go with a sniper but if sniping isn’t your thing, then explosives work well also. We would suggest saving slot five for your healing items.

Where to drop

This is one of the biggest decisions you'll make, where should you drop after you exit the Battle Bus?

There are a number of considerations to take into account here. Firstly, the direction the bus is travelling. If you jump out and land straight away, chances are you’re going to be met by plenty of opposition.

WHERE WE DROPPING BOYS? Landing in the right place will be vital to your success

Similarly, if you land at a location that falls directly on the route the bus is taking, you’ll probably find plenty of others there too.

Named locations i.e. Salty Springs or Pleasant Park are going to be popular places to land as they have more buildings and therefore an increased chance of getting good loot.

So if you’re looking to pick up plenty of kills, land as close to the route as possible and in a named location. Alternatively, if you’re looking to play the long game, try gliding for a bit and land away from the action.

Materials and Building

Now if you’re looking to build well you’re going to want to go with the recommended Builder Pro controls.

The first thing to know is the different building materials. There are three in total: wood, brick and metal.

CRANK THOSE 90's! Learning to build will improve your game ten-fold

The stronger the quality of material, the harder it is for the opposition to break but, they are harder to come by and they take longer to build.

You can acquire materials in a number of ways. You can harvest them with your pickaxe, you can find them in chests or you can gain them from your opponents by killing them.

You will need these materials to build your structures. The building controls are as follows:

L2 / LT - Stair Piece
L1 / LB - Roof Piece
R2 / RT - Wall Piece
R1 / RB - Floor Piece

There are plenty of different ways to build but to begin with, you’re going to want to practise building four walls around yourself to protect you from the enemy.

From there, you’ll want to place a stair piece in order to see over the top of your building. If you want to build higher, put a floor piece on top and then repeat the process again.

Once you have the hang of that you can start venturing out and editing your materials so they take different shapes. You can also add doors/windows etc in this way.

Picking your outfit

Now the first thing that we must note is that you don’t need to buy any outfits as they are merely cosmetic and don’t provide any advantage in the game.

But that being said, if you do choose to go and buy new skins, pickaxes or anything for that matter, you will want to be strategic in doing so.

BANANAS! Agent Peely looks the part, but he's kind of bait

Whilst skins such the tier 2 battle pass reward Agent Peely may look good and seem fun, running round as a massive yellow banana is going to make you stand out and therefore, increase your chances of being seen by an opponent.

Instead, we recommend you go for a more subtle approach. The legendary skin Havoc - which was initially released in Season 3 - is a prime example of this.

WHERE'D HE GO? Try a camo skin instead

The camouflaged outfit and dull colours mean you will blend in well in most environments and, when you’re stuck in those crunch moments in the game, that could make all the difference.