10 Tips to Consistently Finish Top 10 in Fortnite Battle Royale [Tips and Tricks]

Ever since Fortnite Battle Royale was released for free on the Xbox One (and other consoles, PC) for free  a few months ago, I haven’t been able to stop playing it. I even bought PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds when it hit the Xbox One, but with all the bugs and awkward controls, I just went back to Fortnite. [Although these tips still work well for PUBG, outside of the building ones]

Over the last couple months I’ve discovered a strategy that pretty much always guarantees that you will finish in the Top 25 during a match, and gives you a good chance of finishing Top 10, at which point your skills with your weapons will determine whether or not you can come out on top and finish first.

These tips do carry over to Fortnite Mobile, but since the controls are a lot harder to get used to, the mobile game is a different beast…

How to Win at Fortnite Battle Royale

I’ve put together a few tips that will help you consistently finish in the Top 25 or Top 10 of any game of Fortnite Battle Royale that you play. I’ve even attached some screenshots of the current leaderboards to show you that I’m 2nd in the world for Top 25 and Top 10 finishes (at the time of the screenshots, leaderboards reset ever week or so). [This is false, apparently Fortnite just shows you vs. randoms on the leaderboard, not overall, so while I was top amongst those people, it was definitely not in the world. This post and screenshots were also published before Fortnite got as big as it is now.]

#1 – When Exiting the Battle Bus, Go to the Outskirts of the Map, or Away from Crowded Areas

I know that the better look, and more densely packed loot, is within the more populated areas of the map, but avoid those areas. Instead of dropping in on places like Pleasant Park, Retail Row and Anarchy Acres, head towards Wailing Woods or Lonely Lodge. But those aren’t even the areas I would recommend, although Lonely Lodge usually has at least 2 chests hidden in the attic, so that’s always a plus. But even those two areas can become overcrowded, so I would suggest heading towards a lone farmhouse towards the outskirts of the map. There’s usually at least one treasure chest in the attic of the house itself, or the little shed outside.

#2 – Look for Chests From the Air and Land on the Roofs

As I mentioned in #1, farmhouses with sheds are a great place to land, especially if they are far away from everything else. The reason I love these areas is because you can see through the roof of the sheds to see if there’s a treasure chest, before you even get close to landing. If you see a chest, land on the roof, smash it open, and grab the loot. If you don’t see a chest, land on the roof of the house itself and smash through to the attic. 9 times out of 10 you’re going to find at least one chest either in the shed or the attic of the house, sometimes in both, but it’s super rare that you won’t find a chest in both places, and chests at the beginning are key as they always contain a weapon, and are more likely to contain shield potions, which are definite pluses.

#3 – Drink the Shield Potion and Slurp Immediately

Don’t wait on these… always have your shield at the highest possible. Chances are if it comes down to it, you won’t have time to heal yourself or drink a potion when a battle starts, so just keep everything as high as possible.

#4 – Find a Gun and Stay Put

This is really the key to placing in the Top 25 and Top 10. You need a gun, that’s a no brainer. I like to find myself the fully automatic assault rifle and a pump action shotgun as fast as possible. I don’t mess with snipers or scoped weapons usually, unless I have space for them in my bag. Assault rifles and shotguns are a must have for this strategy, but the sub machine guns will work too, or even a pistol if necessary. Sniper rifles and rocket launchers may help when you get down to the Top 10, but there’s a good chance you’ll find those as you loot enemies you’ve killed in the later parts of the game.

Once you have a couple guns, and your shield is up and you’re ready to head out into the world to find some dudes to kill… DON’T! If you lucked out in the attic of the house you dropped into, and the storm isn’t shrinking away from that area, DON’T LEAVE the attic. I like to close the doors to the house, destroy the stairs leading up to the 2nd floor, build myself a ramp up to the attic, then destroy the ramp and wait.

Most of the time you will hear the door to the house open and/or footsteps of someone outside. Usually a person isn’t going to immediately build a ramp up to the attic of a house they see with the roof already destroyed, but you’ll be able to hear the building sounds as well.

At this point I would just peer down the hole from the attic and blast away if I heard noises. Be careful though, if your aim is off, this could put you out of the game as well.

#5 – Stay at the Edge of the Storm

This one is pretty self explanatory, but most people just run to the middle of the gameplay area as the storm shrinks, and that’s just asking to get killed.

As the game progresses the gameplay area gets smaller and smaller, so if you stay towards the edge of the storm and advance only as far as you need to in order to not get caught in the storm, you’ll survive a lot longer in the match.

Keep an eye on your time as well, sometimes you’ll have a longer time to move so don’t just start running right away when the initial countdown begins. Remember, you have the initial countdown until the storm starts it’s slow creep inwards, as well as the countdown for when it reaches its destination. And be sure to keep an eye on the map to ensure that you’ll have enough time to make it back inside the gameplay area. Sometimes when you land too far out, the play area can be pretty far away, so give yourself enough time.

I like to wait until I know I’ll have enough time to make it to the new play area, then run as fast as possible, while always keeping an eye on my surroundings, until I get to the edge of the new play area. At this point I’ll find a building or a bush to hide in, making sure nobody saw me, and then I’ll turn and watch the direction the storm is moving in from. This will allow you to catch people as they are running towards the new gameplay area, and are too worried about the storm to notice someone hiding in the bushes.

#6 – Don’t Stay Out In the Open and Use Traps

Hiding behind trees can work, as long as the storm is right at your back and you’re sure nobody can sneak up behind you, otherwise you’re just waiting to be picked off.

Bushes can be great places to hide, as long as you find a larger bush that hides your head and body as much as possible. The key here is to make sure nobody saw you run into the bush, because once you’re in the bush, you’re just sitting there, so it’ll be easy for a sniper to lock in and take you down with one shot.

Houses and buildings are great for hiding in too. I like to use the same strategy I outlined in #4 where, if I’m in a house, I shut all the doors, go upstairs, destroy the stairs, build a ramp to the attic, destroy the ramp, and wait… If you have a trap and think that the place you’re hiding in will be contained within the play area for a while, go ahead and use that too. I find it better to place the spike traps on the ceilings or walls, rather than the floor, as it’s far less noticeable to someone walking through a door.

The key to hiding like this is to destroy any indication that you’re hiding in the attic. Which means leave no ramps in the house, and make it hard for someone to easily reach you.

#7 – Don’t Shoot If You Aren’t 100% Sure You’ll Get the Kill

I see people all the time shooting from super far away, when there’s no chance they are going to kill me, and all it did was give away their position to me.

If you see someone, and they don’t see you, and they aren’t right on top of you, don’t waste the ammo, and don’t give yourself away. The object of this game is to stay alive the longest, not get the most kills.

#8 – Creep, Don’t Run, When You Don’t Have To

Although I try to stay hidden most of the time, obviously there is a good portion of each match where I’m sneaking around or running from the storm, but by limiting your actually running, you limit your footsteps, which makes you less noticeable to other players.

Running footsteps are loud and will immediately give away your position to anyone in the near vicinity. Unless you’re running from someone that was shooting at you, or running from the storm, always walk or crouch walk. I would also say, whenever you’re coming up on a building, whether it looks empty or not, crouch walk as to avoid potential noise.

#9 – Build Only if Comfortable and Necessary

I don’t build forts.

I see lots of people building these elaborate forts near the end, or building stairways and walkways as high as they possibly can, but I rarely see those people as the last ones standing.

There’s a good chance that your fort won’t end up within the play area as the storm shrinks, and there’s an even better chance that someone at the end has a grenade or rocket launcher that can send your whole fort tumbling down with a few well placed shots. And nobody wants to lose a game because of fall damage.

Use building as a way to reach rooftops, or fix up houses or buildings to help cover yourself. Don’t build stairways to heaven or elaborate forts, it’s a waste of time, and on top of it, it gives away your position to everyone left in the game.

#10 – Know What the Loot Colors Mean

This one isn’t as important, but it’s always good to have an idea of which guns are more powerful at a quick glance, based on the colors. Try to maintain a high standard of weapons in your arsenal; not just the types of weapons, but the rarity of them as well.

Here’s a rundown of the rarity of items based on colors.

• Common – Gray (no color)
• Uncommon – Green
• Rare – Blue
• Epic – Purple
• Legendary – Orange
• Mythic – Gold

So those are my tips for consistently finishing in the Top 25 and Top 10 players in Fortnite Battle Royale solo mode. I’m guessing these tips would work fairly well if you were playing Squads or Duos as well, but I don’t have enough friends that are on at the same time as me to give them a shot, so I don’t play those game modes.

Lastly…

If you’re playing this game for kills, and not to be the last person standing, you’re not playing it right. There’s a reason I’m ranked 2nd in the world for Top 25 and Top 10 finishes in Solo rounds (at the publishing of this post). These tips I’ve outlined above work, and they work well if you utilize them correctly.

The overall key to finishing near the top is patience. Don’t run in right away trying to get kills, or trying to get the best loot, it’s a recipe for disaster. You’ll come across good loot as the game progresses and more and more people die. And once you have that loot you can use it when it gets down to the Top 10 or Top 5 players, at which point your aiming skill will come into play.

And, just to cap this whole thing off… as I was getting ready to publish this post, I won another Solo match using these exact strategies…