Fortnite is a game full of need-to-know mechanics, like building, editing, and aiming. However, flying under the radar is movement. This mechanic is often rarely practiced or completely overlooked. Movement is the hidden mechanic that resides underneath building, editing, and aiming. To master all of the mechanics in Fortnite, you must be a master first in movement itself.

This article will share some of the important strategies regarding Fortnite movement, including the newest additions to the Fortnite meta: sliding, sprinting, and mantling. So buckle up, and let’s move onto the fun stuff!

The most basic form of movement comes in the form of right-hand peeks. If you look at your character model, you can see that the camera's POV is located over your right shoulder. This means you view the game from a right-hand POV.

Therefore, when you want to shoot at an opponent you always want to make sure you are doing so from behind a right-hand peek. This way, you can pop your head out, shoot, then move back into cover or reset the wall. Utilizing this movement mechanic in your daily fights will drastically decrease the amount of damage you take during a fight.

Movement is also deeply rooted in piece control. When you attempt to full box your opponent, you always want to make sure you are doing it behind a right-hand peek. This way, while you’re doing the full boxing process, your opponent cannot pre-fire you or shoot you back.

You can practice your right-hand peeks by completing Sly Jack’s Advanced Movement Map V2: 3229-2138-0756. This creative map features common scenarios, where you must full box an enemy from behind a right-hand peek. Each attempt where you don’t use the proper movement results in you losing health.

In Chapter 3 Season 2, Epic introduced a new movement mechanic into the Fortnite Universe. Sprinting, sliding, and mantling became the new talked-about subjects and increased the skill-ceiling by a drastic amount. Now, in Chapter 3 Season 3, I cannot even think about playing Fortnite without these new movement mechanics. Don’t believe me? Load up into your game and run around the map without sprinting, sliding, or mantling.

Mantling Strategies

Mantling is the most situational movement mechanic that was recently introduced. The main utility is to simply climb a wall but climbing at the right time is the difference between eliminating your opponent and returning to the lobby.

The best strategy I can recommend that utilizes mantling to its full potential is by mantling when your opponent is on high ground. However, you must do this without them being aware of it. You never want to go for a mantle play when your opponent is watching you from above. Mantling gives you a shotgun delay that can be punished if your opponents predict where you are going to mantle.

In Zero Build, mantling can be used to reposition quickly and to confuse your opponents. It is especially useful when you get an elimination and then mantle onto a ledge to reposition for the next opponent.

Sprinting & Sliding Strategies

When you start sprinting, your character buckles down and runs at full speed until your sprint meter runs out. After it runs out, you’ll have to wait a period of time until the sprint meter recharges. You do not need to wait until the sprint meter is fully recharged, so even if it is halfway charged, you can still start sprinting. It is important to note that you cannot sprint and build at the same time. There is a slight workaround that is difficult to do consistently and that is to tap your sprint key and build in between each tap. Sprinting and jumping at the same time, gives a slight buff to the distance of the jump.

Sliding is where your character kneels down on their knees and slides. This has an impact on your hitbox by making your body smaller and therefore harder to hit. You can slide through doors, which is a useful tool to surprise an opponent camping in a building. You can also slide through big enough openings. This is also another useful tool to surprise your opponent. Most importantly, you can reach high speeds by sliding down a hill or mountain.

So, how do you actually move around the map the most efficiently? Well, you want to make sure you are properly using your sprint meter and allocating enough charge for all the movement options to maximize your distance in the shortest time possible. You want to start by sprinting until there is only 25% of your sprint charge remaining, then you jump, and finish with a slide. If done correctly, by the time you finish your slide, your sprint meter should be recharged, meaning you can start sprinting again.

Depending on the situation, sometimes just sliding is better than sprinting and jumping. For example, if you find yourself on the top of Rave Cave or another large mountain. Sprinting and jumping from the top of Rave Cave will result in you taking large amounts of fall damage or even being eliminated because of it. If you had slid down the mountain, even if your character looked like they were moving almost vertically, you would keep sliding and not take any fall damage.

Another useful sliding tip is to actually slide down the edge of a cone. This can be enough movement speed to completely surprise your opponent and to relocate to a different layer and position.

Conclusion

While the movement changes were frowned upon when they were first released, thinking that they were a core mechanic and changing them would disrupt the whole skill-ceiling. The skill-ceiling was for sure changed, but for the better! Players that utilize one of these movement strategies will have a clear-cut advantage over those that don’t. Remember, while Fortnite looks to be mainly building, editing, and aiming, without high-tier movement, you won’t be able to dominate as well as the pros.