As the Fortnite map continues to evolve and change, it can be hard to keep track of not only the new locations but the best locations as well. There are a variety of factors that play into where you should be dropping. The first and most obvious is how many other players are picking this location. The second is what is the minimum and maximum amount of loot that I can acquire here, and the third is is this a strong location relative to the rest of the map. Moreover, you can group each location into one of three categories: Offensive Drops, Neutral Drops, and Defensive Drops.

Offensive Drops

Offensive Drops are categorized as such because of their high risk versus reward value, and their overall popularity. This includes Tilted Towers, Pleasant Park, Salty Springs, and lastly Retail Row.

Factor 1

Regardless of flight path, you can almost always guarantee Offensive Drops will be sufficiently stuffed with players. You should always keep this in mind if you prefer to play a slower style or feel your weakest moments of any game are fresh off the drop.

Factor 2

There can only be so much loot in any given area. It's important to keep in mind what your best and worst outcomes can be. This tends to not be a problem in Offensive locations because the sheer volume of loot in each area is so high. Even still, if tons of people drop into the same location - fights will brew. This means the total amount of meds, ammo, and mats will overall decrease and that even if you conquer your drop area you might not be as ahead of the game as you might have otherwise hoped.

Factor 3

Besides the assortment of loot, Offensive Drops can also give a positional advantage around the map, more specifically - the Circle. Offensive locations are just central enough so that, for the most part, you never have to worry about barely making it to the Circle on time. Moreover, Offensive locations have good "map flow". Map flow is a way of describing how easy it is to move from any Point A to any Point B on the map. It's easy for someone in Tilted, Salty, or Retail to move anywhere around the Map. You no longer have to worry about players in one of these three locations because you landed there and, as stated above, they are very central. This is what makes Pleasant Park, a location that is more north than center, a popular drop location. It's easier to move out of Pleasant Park, than say, Fatal Fields, because you don't have to worry about there being a large number of players compacted into the surrounding area.

Neutral Drops

Neutral Drops are like the suburbs outside a large city. They are of significant size, just not as big and crowded. This includes: Fatal Fields, Dusty Divot, Tomato Town, Anarchy Acres, Greasy Grove, and Shifty Shaft.

Factor 1

Like Offensive Drops, regardless of flight path there are always people who land at these locations. The difference being rather than 20+ people it tends to be a more reasonable five to ten. This means that even if you consider yourself weak early on, you can still land here and find your footing more consistently.

Factor 2

Neutral Drops have a good player to loot ratio. Rarely will you end up in a situation where you've landed and can't find a weapon. Your minimum and maximum loot tends to always be positive as well. Even if overall there are fewer chest spawns at these locations, the smaller amount of fighting means that less of the ammo, mats, and meds are immediately put to use.

Factor 3

The most glaring weakness of Neutral Drops is location. Most of them are just far enough away from the center of the map that an unlucky circle can cause serious problems. Having to constantly keep on pace running to a far circle can be tough, add on to that the likelihood that you have to push through either Salty, Tilted, Retail, or Pleasant can be even tougher. Even with a strong loadout, having to push players in front of you while dodging the storm behind you all while being low on time is rough to say the least.

Defensive Drops

The Defensive Drop locations sit along the coast, the absolute outskirts of the map. They are usually small in size, small in loot, and small in player count. This includes: Flush Factory, Lucky Landing, Moisty Mire, Lonely Lodge, Wailing Woods, Risky Reels, Junk Junction, Haunted Hills, Snobby Shore, and all other unnamed locations.

Factor 1

Regardless of where the bus flies, more often than not Defensive Drop locations go unlooted. At most there could be three players, counting yourself, occupying the same air space. Drops of this nature obviously favor players who prefer to play a very passive early game.

Factor 2

Looting Defensive Drops can be a bit of a gamble. The lack of people means that you will almost always come out ahead in terms of ammo and mats, but lack of chests may hurt your mid-game strength.

Factor 3

Defensive Drops offer a fair share of both positional pros and cons. On one hand, the lack of fighting means that you are more able to slowly plan a proper course of action out, as opposed to running around the map like a wild, mindless animal. It's also easier to flank unsuspecting players when coming from, what seems to them, an unlikely location. On the other hand, you are almost always going to have to book it to the circle ASAP. Spending the entire game running to each circle means less time to loot, which stacks on top of your potentially already loot deprived suffering. This means that in a one on one fight, without the element of surprise, you could be at a total disadvantage.

As thing continue to shift and shake, toss and turn; as new areas get added and old ones get hit by meteors, Epic Games seems dead set on keeping the Fortnite BR map fresh. This means there is always new things to learn and new things you can use to your advantage. Who knows, eventually we may even bear witness to an entirely new map with entirely new possibilities.

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