For today’s GCLoot blog post, you will learn how to land faster in Fortnite Battle Royale. Knowing how to land fast in Fortnite is actually an important skill in the game. You would think that falling from the sky at the beginning of the game is a no-brainer, but the truth is, there are quite some strategic considerations in play here.
Many players try to find the best info on how to get to the ground faster in Fortnite. We will be teaching you how to do just that. So let’s hit the ground running and get to it!
The Importance of Landing Faster
Before we show you how to land quickly in Fortnite, let’s first cover the importance of landing quickly at the start of the game.
At the start of the game, everyone gets transported to the map via the Battle Bus. Players jump from the Battle Bus, and they have the option of falling quickly or gliding down.
Once players land on the map, they can start interacting with the terrain and opponents. And that includes looting treasure chests and using weapons. Deciding whether to glide or fall quickly each offers specific strategic advantages and disadvantages.
How to Land in Fortnite
While you fall from the sky in Fortnite, try to observe the players around you. You’ll notice that good players have a great grasp of Fortnite’s built-in skydiving mechanics. It takes experience and a little finesse to get a feel for when to deploy your glider or umbrella. Knowing when to do this is an important aspect of landing fast in the game.
Delaying Your Glider or Umbrella Deployment
When you jump from the Battle Bus, you will have two immediate options: skydive or glide. Skydiving will get you to your desired target on the map, of course. Gliding is slower but more controlled. You can use gliders or umbrellas to glide — they pretty much have identical utilities, and you can’t upgrade your glider aside from superficial upgrades.
As mentioned earlier, skydiving is much faster. So ideally, you’ll want to free-fall for as long as you can. If you unfurl your Glider as soon as you jump from the Battle Bus, you will slow your descent too soon, and that means other players might beat you to the map (and loot all the goodies before you do!).
You can speed up your free-fall by pressing both the down and forward buttons on your controller. Don’t forget to do this — free-falling without doing this won’t get you to the ground fast enough.
And don’t worry about landing splat on the ground — the great thing about Fortnite is that your glider or umbrella will deploy on its own when you’re close to the ground. Given this feature, you will hardly have to worry about deploying your glider or umbrella — you can stay focused on getting maximum speed during free-fall.
Jump Out An Angle
In the world of aviation, there is a thing called the “glide slope” as well as the “rate of descent.” Basically, this relates to how much height you lose as you move laterally to the ground. These concepts are, surprisingly, relevant to Fortnite — particularly when you leap out of the Battle Bus.
What you would want to do is glide into your desired location at an angle. To do that, you need to jump a certain distance away from your desired landing point. Think about it this way: if you jump immediately above your desired landing spot, there’s a big chance you will end up landing away from that spot. And that’s because a glide is a combination of vertical and diagonal movement. When jumping from the Battle Bus, you won’t fall straight down. You will travel a certain distance diagonal to the ground.
This frustrated us at the beginning of our time as Fortnite players – especially when other players seem to have an innate feel for when and where to jump out of the Battle Bus. If you’re the same, don’t let this frustrate you. You will eventually get a good feel for the timing of your jump, and the best angle for doing so. Ideally, you want to land smack dab at your desired landing spot. The closer you are to your landing spot, the better you are at controlling your glide and rate of descent.
But as a general rule, try gliding down at a 45-degree angle. You can adjust that angle as you develop a better feel for the game. The key is to not get frustrated.
Steer Clear of Mountains and Buildings
While free-falling from the Battle Bus, you will sometimes notice buildings or mountains. Landing on these spots might be strategically rewarding since they sometimes hold valuable loot. But do take note that there is a tradeoff here. You might get the loot, but you’re no closer to the map, and other players will most likely reach the ground before you.
If you’d rather reach the ground, try to avoid tall structures altogether. When you free-fall too close to one, your glider might deploy automatically. And that would slow your fall towards the ground considerably, giving other players a lead over you.
We will leave it up to you whether landing on a tall structure or mountain or maximizing your free fall time instead, is the better option. To be honest, it’s best to approach the problem on a case by case basis. If you find loot that would make up for the “delay” of landing on a tall structure, go for it. But if you’d rather hit the ground running, avoid it at all costs, just so your glider doesn’t deploy automatically.
There are many strategic considerations here, and that’s what we love about Fortnite Battle Royale. The game looks simple, but the truth is it is actually quite complex. Each move and situation offers lots of options you need to consider.
