Fortnite's consistently changing environment can lead to some major confusion with regards to item utility. Here we break down everything available in Fortnite's competitive playlists, their uses, and some recommendations on what to pick up and leave behind.
Fortnite is a nuanced game that changes all the time. New items are introduced often- generally on a weekly basis- and can take some serious getting used to. While this isn’t as apparent in competitive playlists, where new items are subject to an evaluation period before being available, it’s still worth knowing which weapons and items are better than others and what you can do to best work with what you find.
Chapter 3, Season 2 saw the introduction of several new items and the return of plenty of old weapons with major changes. As of the version 20.30 update ”The Battle for Tilted Towers”, the competitive playlists contain the following weapons and items:
In addition to the reduced variety of items, it’s worth being aware that fire and most vehicles were removed from competitive playlists to improve performance in later stages of the game.
That being said, let’s take a look at every item you could come across in competitive modes, what they do, and how to best utilize them.
There are two Pistols available - the Revolver and the Sidearm Pistol. These pistols are generally only used upon landing on the map or as a last resort when no other weapons are available. Their comparatively low damage output compared to most other guns in the loot pool make them acceptable choices in a pinch, but not in many other scenarios.
Shotguns and SMGs (Submachine Guns) will be your weapons of choice for the majority of encounters at close range.
Shotguns can do huge damage if your aim is true and are a great tool for finishing off a weak opponent or getting the jump on an unaware one. There are three available Shotguns as of version 20.30: the Striker Pump, Auto, and Drum. All of these shotguns have different niches, and it’s important to mark the differences between each weapon and know the best use cases for each.
The Striker Pump is the most reminiscent of the classic Pump Shotgun from seasons prior. It deals massive damage in the smallest spread of the three shotguns. At Rare rarity and at point-blank range, this shotgun has a minimum damage of 9 and a maximum damage of 175.
The two automatic shotguns available are the Auto and Drum shotguns. These shotguns both have a faster rate of fire, larger spread, and lower damage per bullet than the Striker.
The Auto shotgun is the modern equivalent of the Tactical Shotgun from seasons prior- it is a fully automatic shotgun that does a minimum of 7 and a maximum of 135 damage at Rare rarity and at point-blank range. The larger spread also means that fewer pellets will hit an opponent that is further away, so getting up close and personal is all but required to more than tickle your opponent with this shotgun. One unique part of the Auto is its reloading- it has the longest reload time of all of the available shotguns, despite loading two bullets at a time.
The Drum Shotgun functions as a more extreme Auto Shotgun- it’s fully automatic, features an even faster fire rate, and does a minimum of 5 and a maximum of 80 damage at Rare rarity. Something worth taking note of is its slightly more forgiving bullet spread than the Auto. As well as a tighter spread, the Drum has a faster reload. The Drum reloads all 12 of its bullets at once but does so faster than the Auto takes to reload its 8. The Drum requires getting right in the opponents’ face to do lots of damage quickly. As you can see, even on a static opponent I could take my time to aim at, the Drum can’t do much from a short distance.
SMGs remain extremely powerful this Season, especially with the introduction of the Combat SMG. Both the Stinger SMG - returning from Chapter 3, Season 1 - and the Combat SMG have a high enough rate of fire to occasionally poke through a player’s wall being held by Turbo Build, in addition to dealing some of the highest damage to players per second of any weapon in the game’s history.
The differences between the two SMGs are notable, and you may find that you prefer one over the other. The Stinger, at its Rare rarity, does 17 damage per bullet (or 25 for a headshot) in a 30-bullet magazine, while the Combat at its Rare rarity does 20 damage (and a 35 damage headshot) in a 32-bullet magazine. The key differences lie in other stats: namely, recoil and bullet spread. The Combat SMG has much more aggressive recoil, while the Stinger has a slightly wider spread.
Aiming at the middle of a player will lead to aiming too high to even hit a headshot by the time the magazine is exhausted if the recoil from the Combat SMG isn’t managed properly. It was recently discovered that the Combat SMG’s recoil can be canceled by flicking downwards once the user starts firing.
The higher player damage of the Combat SMG, when coupled with good recoil management or canceling it entirely, leads to the Combat being generally preferred over its counterpart.
There are four Assault Rifles (ARs) available in competitive game modes: the Striker Burst, Thermal, Ranger, and MK-Seven. These weapons were made for eliminating enemies from afar; let’s take a look at how they work.
The Ranger AR has been growing in popularity due to its ability to very easily chip away opponents’ health if caught unaware. The Ranger, at Rare rarity, deals a maximum of 34 damage per bullet, with a 1.5x headshot multiplier. The most notable flaw that players find with the Ranger is its slow fire rate and high spread relative to other ARs. The Ranger is the only Assault Rifle in the game as of the time of writing without a scope; bullet spread is near zero on other ARs, which lets players with stellar aim shine more prominently with other weapons.
The MK-Seven (often referred to just as the MK) returned from Chapter 3, Season 1, and it remains a strong choice. It features a fast rate of fire, a magazine size of 35, and (at Rare rarity) 20 damage bullets with a 1.5x headshot multiplier. Despite the red dot scope, users may find it hard to aim due to the aggressive recoil. Similar to the Combat SMG, recoil management is key.
The Thermal AR, as the name implies, has a thermal scope that activates when aiming down sights. It deals the most headshot damage of any AR at equal rarity, thanks to its 2x headshot multiplier. The major pitfalls of the Thermal AR are its inability to see into big bushes and its huge recoil coupled with slow fire rate (identical to the Ranger AR’s).
The Striker Burst is new to Chapter 3, Season 2, and it quickly exploded in popularity due to its extreme accuracy. Similar to the MK and Thermal, the Striker Burst has a red-dot scope. The lack of bullet spread and the two-shot burst allows skilled users to hit opponents for 80 or more damage before they can react. The Burst, at Rare rarity, deals 31 damage per bullet with a 1.5x headshot multiplier; the fire rate is slightly faster than the Ranger or Thermal, but the two-bullet burst more than makes up for it. All of these advantages make the Striker Burst most players’ AR of choice.
The Hunter Bolt-Action Sniper (commonly shortened to “the Bolt,” on account of the original Bolt-Action being removed) is the only sniper available in competitive playlists. Snipers see almost no use in competitive play due to their difficulty to use when most or all players have built around themselves. Additionally, the Bolt no longer deals over 200 damage to opponents with a headshot, which makes snipers even less useful. As such, snipers are almost universally ignored in favor of healing items or other utility items.
Some Characters on the map sell strong Exotic weapons, purchasable with Bars. However, since Bars (the currency used to purchase the weapons) do not transfer across matches in competitive playlists, it is extremely rare to see a player meet the 400-600 Bar requirement for one of these items and purchase a weapon instead of upgrades to regular weapons, utility, or healing items. In any case, it’s important to be aware of what each weapon does and where they originate from. More information about the exotic weapons and where to find them can be found here.
Other characters are hostile and, when defeated, will drop Mythic weapons. These are more powerful variants of weapons previously mentioned:
Healing items are some of the most crucial items to have around. Not being able to heal after an engagement is a terrible feeling and sets you at a serious disadvantage for future fights. Healing items are almost identical to seasons prior, with no significant changes to how they work:
Shield is one of the most important things in the game. Not having any halves your effective health and puts you at risk of being instantly eliminated by several different weapons.
Small and regular Shield Potions, Shield Kegs, Shield Mushrooms, and Shield Fish heal Shield. Some items heal either health or shield - they’ll top off your Health if you’re missing any and fill up Shield if they can afterwards.
Note that as of writing, scavenged healing items (for example, Shield Mushrooms on the forest floor) will not give you their intended effect if you begin a Tactical Sprint before the consuming animation completes, but it will consume the item.
Notice how XP is granted for “consuming the item,” but no shield is gained:
Aside from healing items, there are a handful of other items, some of which are much more useful than others.
Launch Pads are a critical mobility item. They’re great for moving into a new safe zone or escaping a losing engagement (if the enemy doesn’t follow you!)
Armored Walls can be placed on floors, walls, or ramps, and give a huge amount of health to the build. They cannot be edited once placed but are very good tools to take pressure off of one or more sides if you find yourself the focus of multiple players. Just be sure to leave yourself an exit route! 2,500 Health is a lot to pickaxe or shoot through if you accidentally box yourself completely up in Armored Walls. Armored Walls are considered traps as well they don’t take inventory space.
Now that every weapon has been explained, let’s take a look at some common loadouts in competitive matches.
Here’s a clip from the recent FNCS Qualifiers. The players featured both have similar weapons in hand, as you can see:
The potential to finish off weak opponents is pivotal to secure points in an endgame scenario, and the Combat SMG and Striker Pump both excel in that regard. The Striker Burst, a strong mid-game weapon, was likely not used once the safe zones became small enough; ARs are difficult to make good use of late in the game when an SMG will drill into opponents just as well or better.
Both players hold multiple healing items - combined, they have Small Shields, regular Shields, and Floppers. The Floppers were used to hold the storm damage at bay while the players rotated, and shield items were used when they had time while inside the safe zone to top up any shield they lost.
Loadouts like this are very common. Competitive players will sometimes leave a shotgun behind because of the prowess of SMGs (only bringing with three healing items, an AR, and an SMG). Fortnite games are always different, and the best players know how to work with what they find, but these two loadouts are about as close to ideal as this duo could ask for - and it paid off. As the clip mentions, these players gained 72 points in this game alone (for reference, the winning team gained 194 points across 6 games).
Knowing what each item does and how to use them is crucial to stepping up your game. We hope this crash course helped you find what works best for your playstyle and taught you something you might not have known about Fortnite’s current weapons!
