You only get five slots to store weapons while traversing the Fortnite map. We’ll discuss our recommendations for what should go where and why we organize our loadout a certain way.
The Basics
There are dozens of items to equip yourself with, though it’s still a mystery as to where any of these characters are storing their items. Sure, there’s a backpack icon in the HUD. But how would you fit a rocket launcher, 3 med kits and a heavy shotgun in that tiny bag?
We won’t go through every single piece of Fortnite equipment in this post, so it may help to check out this summary of weapons from IGN.
Generally speaking, you want to be running around with at least one of the following:
- Close range weapon
- Mid range weapon
- Healing item
An example 3-slot loadout would include a shotgun, rifle and bandages. Of course this isn’t the ideal set of items, but it will give you the advantage over someone who only has a common pistol.
Getting More Tactical
In our Squad Roles post, we covered our preferred loadouts for specific situations. This is a good starting point to understand which items to carry depending on your play type.
There’s also a decent amount of personal preference involved in choosing items. Here are some key things to consider when selecting weapons.
Rifles
Assault: allows for single-fire or rapid shots | feels more natural when you first pick up the game
Burst: 3-shot burst fire | can down an opponent with one burst to the head
FAMAS: upgraded burst with higher damage
Shotguns
Tactical: the ‘fast-firing’ shotgun | trades speed for damage
Pump: down opponents in one shot to the head | slow reload and longer delay between shots
Heavy: best of both worlds between Tactical and Pump, with the greatest range of all shotguns
Snipers
Semi-auto: fires up to 10 shots without reloading | similar to tactical shotgun, lower damage for higher speed
Bolt: fire one shot before reloading | does lots of damage
Hunting Rifle: fires one shot with a relatively fast reload speed | does medium damage
Other Guns
SMG (Silenced and Tactical): Decent close range options | the former for silent attacks, the latter for increased fire rate
Pistols (Revolver, 9mm, Silenced 9mm, Hand Cannon): some are semi-automatic, others deal decent damage in a single shot fire rate | usually not effective late game
LMG and Machine Gun: Major clip to quickly tear down structures | very slow reload times
Explosives – Great tips here
Grenades: benefits from not having reload time | bounces off surface but easy to find, plus you can hold 10 of them in a slot
Clingers: also has no reload time | sticks to things (can be good or bad depending on the situation)
Remote Explosives: great for setting up traps on loot/llamas | can be difficult to actually hit people with these
Grenade Launcher: shoots grenades further than throwables | limited to 6 grenades in a clip
Rocket Launcher: highest-damage explosive weapon | rockets travel pretty slowly and are easy to block with walls at long range
There are a bunch of other weapons in Fortnite but these are the ones that we most often find ourselves deciding between swapping out.
When it comes to healing items, it’s typically a choice of whether you want speedy recovery or a larger amount of healing.
HEALTH
Bandages: you can hold up to 15 of these in one slot | heals 15 hp at a time | can heal to a max of 75 health
Med Kit: heals to max health but takes 10 seconds | stack up to three of these in a slot
Shield
Mini Potion: recovers 25 shield each, to a max of 50 shield | stack up to ten in a slot
Full Shield: recovers 50 shield | no max shield recovery | stack 2 in each slot
Health + Shield
Slurp Juice: heals both health and shield up to 25 of each | no limits on max regen
Chug Jug: refills health and shielf to 100 | takes 15 seconds to use | no stacking
Our Preferences
Fred
I’ve been trying to work on my double shotgun mode after being inspired by Daequan. I like the sound and accuracy of the gold scar at mid to long range. I’m ok at sniping stationary targets but still need to work on my tracking to improve at hitting moving opponents. On the healing side, I now lean more towards a shield than a med kit because I generally pick health items out of loot piles.
Julian
I’m another member of the Daequan W gang (explained here). Though, I play on console so it’s more of a “forward thumbpad gang”. I much prefer to push an enemy than get into a sniping standoff or be on the receiving end of a push. For those reasons, my first two slots will always be two shotguns. I’ve gotten back and forth but decided AR/SCARs work better for my play style as they shred walls faster than burst rifles. If I can’t have a grenade launcher or rocket launcher in my fourth slot, I like to have either a LMG or a hunting rifle. My last slot is either slurp or mini shields – both allowing for quick consumption and restoration of shield.
Putting it all Together
When assembling a strong loadout, you want to equip yourself with the items that you feel most comfortable with. Try to get a close range, mid range and healing item ASAP. It’ll take some experimentation but the more you practice, the better you’ll get at building your ideal loadout.
Weapons are added and vaulted faster than we can keep up so there’s a good chance that our loadout preferences will continue to change.
What items do you typically try to keep in your loadout?
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