Shotguns are the most commanding weapon in Fortnite BR. They are the foundation in which the game is built on. As a player, being able to clutch close quarters 1v1s is an imperative skill.

In order to improve your CQC skills you most first acknowledge the fundamentals. Close range building, weapon swapping, and crosshair placement are the three holy commandments of shotgun gunplay.

Close Range Building

Building is a great strategic choice in any situation and close-range building is no exception. As always building is a complicated process, but to boil it down to its most simple form: close range building is all about precision placement and timing.

One of the simplest and most effective building strategies you can implore when in a close quarters fight is to simply build a wall. Precisely placing walls between you and your opponent accomplishes one very important thing: It makes you harder to hit. If someone is charging you with a Pump Shotgun and right as they shoot, you build a wall at your feet so that it tanks the damage, you've effectively negated the Pumps first shot advantage. Baiting out shots with building and attacking during the small window between when someone can and can't shoot is a great way to give yourself a slight CQC one-up. Building a wall also makes way for safe staircases. If someone is charging you and they don't build, there is no reason why you shouldn't build. A simple wall and staircase can give you a high ground advantage; don't unsafely charge at someone for no reason.

Make sure that when you're building during a fight you are picking your moments and building with purpose. At the end of the day you NEED to shoot your opponents to win. Spam building walls without using them to gain any real advantage is a great way to get yourself killed, building schematics in hand.

Weapon Swapping

If you were to try and describe the Fortnite meta game without using the word "building", weapon swapping would be the next key term. Weapon swapping is exactly what it sounds like, why use a single gun in a fight when you can more quickly and more efficiently fire off two?

The idea behind weapon swapping is to shorten the gap between when you can and cannot shoot; maximizing damage and killing your opponents as fast as possible. In theory, the faster you kill someone, the less time they have to kill you. Double Pumping, Double Tacting, or really any combination of a Shotgun plus weapon, embodies this idea. Hit someone with a large burst of damage and then quick switch to any loaded weapon and finish them off. If you've ever felt that shiver of shock as someone insta-shreds you one second after looking in your general direction, they were probably weapon swapping (or aimbotting... but probably weapon swapping).

There aren't really any downsides to weapon swapping. In fact, the only downside is that it's such a good strategy, it's kind of annoying. It does take some time to get used to doing it though. There is a rhythm you have to follow when swapping back and forth repeatedly, swap a smidge too fast and your bullets won't register, swap too slow and... well... that defeats the purpose of weapon swapping completely.

Crosshair Placement

It's vital that in combat you make the most out of your shots. This is especially true in CQC fights where your first shot could be your only shot. It's common knowledge that bloom can be a frustrating plague on Fortnite's shooting model. However, 90% of the time this is not a worthy excuse to use when you've lost a Shotgun duel.

Crosshair placement is a balancing act. How are you moving? Are you spam crouching, spam jumping, are they above or below? How is your target moving? CQC is all about balance. The goal is to keep the enemy in the middle of the crosshair. As much as jumping and crouching makes you harder to hit, it also makes it harder for you to hit. Like building, you need to move with purpose. If you've shot your Pump Shotgun and don't have anything to switch to, that is when you bob and weave. Focus on dodging when you don't have the ability to shoot, but once you're able to shoot again, slow down and let your muscle memory do its thing. Send your shot with confidence and always aim for the head.

All this being said there are going to be times when your shots just don't land. The enemy may be what feels like a fraction of a pixel outside the middle of your crosshair and you hit them with a blue Pump for 14 damage. Keep in mind though, that this happens a lot less often than you think. The real crosshair in Fortnite is the miniscule dot, what it's surrounded by doesn't matter. If someone is right on the bordering lines of your crosshair and you hit them for 14, the fault is on you. As much as you can get lucky and dome someone for 200 damage in the same scenario, you can't rely on the game's randomness as a crutch to win fights.

All of these points work in tandem with each other. You can't pick and choose which works for you and which do not. Being able to calmly build will the enemy is right on the tip of your nose, being able to swap weapons in the heat of combat to maximize damage, and being able to balance your aim and send a killshot - that is CQC. It makes and breaks games and it makes and breaks players.

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