Do you want to play Fortnite: Battle Royale but don’t understand how to? It’s very different from a lot of games out there. A classic battle royale, Fortnite drops one hundred players onto a map to find weapons, materials, and shields. The objective is to be the last player standing, fighting against other players as the map shrinks.

The first choice you’re going to have to make in the game is when to jump out of the Battle Bus.  So let’s start there.

Personally, I would recommend landing in an unmarked place on the map. These tend to not be too populated, yet provide enough people for a slower paced fight. This should give you enough experience taking fights, ultimately making your crosshair placement better. As you gain experience, try landing in some of the named territories. These tend to be more populated, but also more chaotic.

Next, let’s talk weapons.

In the game, you will encounter five different types weapons: gray, green, blue, purple, and gold. This list goes in order from worst to best, with gray being the least powerful and gold being the best. What’s the actual difference though? The higher the tier, the more damage the weapon does (you can find exact stats here).  Higher rated weapons are also more accurate; and believe me, crosshair size (determined by weapon tier) is very important. There is no consistent recoil pattern within the game. Each bullet you fire from an assault rifle, pistol, and shotgun is random, meaning that there is a big luck factor in who wins the fight, and sometimes it just comes down to who has the higher tier weapon.

But with so many choose from, how do you decide which five to use?

As a beginner, learning the different weapons and how they behave is extremely important. This will give you versatility, allowing you to come out on top, no matter what weapon you have.

For close range encounters, I would recommend having a shotgun. These bad boys are perfect for the job, as a single headshot will eliminate someone right away (or knock them down if in duos and squads). But if your enemy is a medium distance away break out the AR and fire away. If you see someone shooting at you from thirty miles away the sniper rifle is the weapon of choice. The Bolt action sniper has a hard-hitting single bullet, while the semi-automatic deals less damage per shot, but is able to quickly lay down some long-range suppressing fire.

What do you do with the two remaining slots? I personally use these slots for healing utensils, this can be shield potions, medkits and/or bandages.  Chug Jugs are the best, as they will return you to full health and shield.  Medkits are great for returning full health, while bandages will get you back up and running, but only as much as 75%, Slurp Juice is great too as it will return some shield and health, and they can be used on the fly.

Last, but not least, is mechanics.

As previously stated, there is no such thing as “recoil,” but random bullets. This doesn’t need much more explanation, just roll a die and hope that it lands on your number.

A much more important mechanic to the game is building. Building is essential, and here are the basics: You can build with wood, brick, and steel. You can also build four different types of structures: wall, floor/ceiling, stairs, and roof. All four of these items are editable which means they are able to be modified for specific uses but still keep the basic shape.

Building is an essential part of this game, as you will come to find out in the late game. If you get caught without any materials, there’s a good chance you will be eliminated.

There are plenty of other tips to cover about this game, but for the beginning player, I decided to cover the three most basic things that are most important.

Now, get out there, and get that first Victory Royale!