Embarrassing Things We've All Done In Fortnite
Fortnite: Battle Royale didn't take the world by storm accidentally. It's a fun game that you can jump into with friends. It's extremely tactical, from the way you manage your resources to the structures you build as a match goes on. And aside from the fact that the game is asking you to kill other players, there's a whimsical feel to it. You can dress up like a giant Easter Bunny. You can drop down onto the field of battle using a glider that looks like a locomotive. Emotes are plentiful.
And there are many ways for you to completely humiliate yourself while you're playing.
If you've stepped into Fortnite: Battle Royale at least a few times, there's a very good chance you've been on the wrong side of some laughter. Don't worry: we've been there, too. We can relate, which is why we've pieced together a list of embarrassing things we've all done in Fortnite.
At the least, you can read through these face-palm moments and know that you're not alone.
Dropping onto the wrong side of the map
Look, we've all been there. Sometimes you sit down to play a few rounds of Fortnite and your head isn't entirely in the game. There might be a TV show on in the background, for instance. Or maybe you're texting with your significant other about what you're going to have for dinner. It happens — especially when the start of every match allows you to basically put your brain on auto-pilot. All you have to do is drop down into some friendly territory, and ...
Wait, what's that? Oh, it seems you weren't paying attention. You got confused about which angle the bus came in from, and because you were only taking cursory glances at the screen, you didn't realize you were headed toward the wrong side of the map.
And now you're deep in enemy territory. You're afraid to walk out in the open because, chances are, you'll get gunned down instantly. You're afraid of gathering resources because the noise will attract attention. And you're also afraid to do nothing, because you're far away from the center and the storm's a-comin'.
But most of all, you're afraid to admit to your squad mates that you aren't anywhere near them, and you're probably going to die a very early death. Oops.
Trying to deploy a glider when you can't
There may not be a more complicated relationship than the one between Fortnite and its gliders. Honestly, it's sometimes hard to tell how Epic feels about gliders at any given moment. They're extremely cool pieces of loot that you get to see for about ten seconds every match — unless, of course, you're using a launch pad. But sometimes Epic will enable glider re-deploy, which lets you open a glider when you jump from something tall. And then Epic will come right back and turn that feature off in some game modes.
Many lives have been lost thanks to Epic's confusing stance on glider re-deploy.
You know how it goes. You play a match of Soaring 50s, which has glider re-deploy. You get used to doing it. You like it! And then you follow that up by jumping into a traditional squad match. What happens when you jump from a tall mountain and mash that glider re-deploy button? You fall to your death, that's what.
Some can adjust to these rapid changes in the game better than others, and you might feel a little embarrassed if you die because your glider didn't work. If someone asks, just lie and say you were avoiding gunfire.
Chopping through a roof and immediately falling to your death
How do you approach looting at the start of a Fortnite match? Truthfully, there's really no wrong way to go about it. You can start at the bottom of a house or building and work your way up to the attic, where the gold chests and good loot are usually found. Or you can land on the roof, chop yourself right to the good stuff and make your way to the ground floor from there.
Unless you land on a building that doesn't have an attic, or even a top floor. If you land on one of those and start busting away at the roof underneath you, you're gonna have a bad time.
We know how tempting it can be. You want to race to the top and grab the gold chest before someone else thieves it from you. You want those slurp juices. You want a chance at a higher-tier weapon. But the fall from the roof of some buildings may be enough to kill you. So if you happen upon a barn or a gymnasium and feel the urge to land on top and put your pickaxe to work, make sure you have something to land on that isn't 20 feet down.
If you don't, you'll likely die a very humiliating death.
Blowing yourself up
When it comes to the weapons inside Fortnite, it's tough to match the excitement of finding something explosive. Weapons that use bullets? They're so common! Even the newest player can shoot a rifle. Any chump can run at you with a shotgun locked and loaded. But if you're carrying a grenade, or if you have a rocket launcher or missile launcher, you're packing enough heat to match the damage of several players at once. You're a one-person army, and your enemies are so screwed.
Unless you're one-hundred-percent awful with explosive weapons. In that case, you're more likely to eliminate yourself from the match than harm anyone on the other team.
Killing yourself with an explosive in Fortnite inducts you into the Shame Hall of Fame. Mostly because your teammates will either be rolling on the floor laughing or will be furious. They'll ask, "How could you possibly kill yourself with a grenade?" They'll try to understand how the missile you launched didn't make it further than the wall right next to you. And they'll fail to see that, hey, mistakes happen, and sometimes you shoot a rocket at the ground and instead of killing your opponent, it kills you.
Maybe you should just leave the explosives to the experts.
Rushing into a gunfight without ammo
Fortnite is a very fluid game. You're always moving, scavenging in one area before moving to the next. And you're constantly picking up and dropping items, shuffling your inventory around to make room for the best stuff. It's understandable that you might make a mistake or two along the way, like picking up two of the same kind of shotgun. And it makes sense that your attention might wander away from your gear as you engage enemies and strategize with your teammates.
You may even run out of ammo. But that's something you'll want to be aware of before you Leeroy Jenkins yourself toward a bunch of enemies, not after.
We've all had those moments where we've heard the dreaded "click-click" of an empty gun. You were so sure that shotgun had some ammo left, but alas, you were wrong. And sometimes, quickly switching to another weapon isn't enough to save your hide. Swapping to a handgun in a feeble attempt to survive a gunfight might remind you that you also used this gun already and didn't reload it.
If you rush into battle and you realize you have no ammo, you're probably dead. And trust us — you'll never hear the end of it.
Accidentally building instead of shooting
Fortnite: Battle Royale, perhaps even more than Fortnite: Save the World, is a game about building, shooting, and quick reflexes. You're encouraged to build forts — hence the name of the game — and gun down anyone on an opposing team. And you need to do both of those things while being incredibly quick about it. Good players can aim down sights and shoot before newbies can even choose the gun they want to use. And those same good players can erect a skyscraper and take the high ground so fast it'll make your head spin.
Fights in Fortnite can start and end quickly. You'll likely want to react quickly, too. Sometimes, you'll get flustered. And sometimes, you'll press the wrong buttons.
One of the more frustrating and embarrassing ways to die inside Fortnite is when your character has his or her blueprint out, ready to build. You meant to change weapons, but in the scramble, you put yourself into build mode. Each subsequent trigger pull didn't shoot bullets but, instead, constructed random walls. And pretty soon, you ran out of resources. Your opponent, unfortunately, didn't run out of bullets.
Maybe you could try mouse and keyboard instead?
Mistaking an enemy player for a teammate
If Fortnite teaches you anything, it's that you should look out for yourself and trust no one. There could be teammates who want to swipe your loot. You could squad up with teammates who lead the enemy right to your doorstep. And perhaps worst of all: your own eyes and ears could lie to you. So maybe you shouldn't trust them, either.
We've all died at the hands of a player we assumed was friendly. In a video game that explicitly encourages you to kill other people, you've let your guard down once or twice. And fewer things can make you feel as stupid.
This scenario often plays out during the looting stage. You hear someone bounding around in a house or building with you, and you assume that, because there are teammates in the surrounding area, that those footsteps belong to a comrade. You continue going about your business, wrecking walls and looting chests. Suddenly, you're taking fire — and then you're down.
In your last few seconds, you realize that the player in your vicinity wasn't a teammate. He came behind enemy lines. He was as loud as humanly possible. And somehow, he still managed to sneak up on you and kill you.
It's the kind of death that makes you want to shut down for the evening.
Dying while trying to revive a teammate
Fortnite is an inherently team-focused game. Sure, there is the traditional 100-player battle royale mode that asks everyone to fend for themselves. But just about every other mode is team-based. You group up with other players, and you work together to try and win the match. And when a teammate goes down, whether you win or lose can depend on how quickly you're able to get that teammate revived.
Oh, but sometimes, fate has other plans. Sometimes your opponent is smarter than you. And they wait for you to expose yourself in order to try and save your teammate. And then they strike.
Have you ever been killed trying to revive a teammate? Nothing makes you feel like a bigger failure. You're going all out in the name of altruism. You're doing the right thing! You truly believe your actions are going to save your team and save the game. And then with a few shots, there you are — crawling on the ground right next to the player you were trying to heal. Your team is now down another player. And it's all your fault.
You're bound to get an earful in the lobby while your team waits for its next match.