The Fortnite Champion Series for Chapter 2: Season 8 of Fortnite has just arrived.
This is the biggest tournament of the season. Boasting a three million dollar prize pool split across all regions, this competition is sure to bring the heat! In order to perform well, you will need to be at the top of your game and have a solid game plan to set you apart from the rest of the competition.
This guide will go through different strategies to use throughout your games to help you succeed in this season’s FNCS. The techniques covered can also be used for any trio tournament.
If you’re looking to go deeper into improving at Fortnite check out our coaches and courses
Preparation
The mode for this FNCS is trios. If you don’t already have a trio, try using Discord LFG (looking for group) chats. I recommend the ones in East/West/EU Open, or AussieAntics’ Discord server. (Just search them up on Google for an invite).
After assembling your trio, make sure to practice together and develop chemistry to prepare for FNCS. My next guide will be all about how to form the best trio, so be on the lookout for that.
On the day of the tournament, you’re going to want to warm up a lot. I recommend getting on at least an hour before in order to make sure you’re fully warmed up.
Focus on all areas of your game: aiming, editing, building, tarping, etc. After about 30-40 minutes, start practicing with your trio. You can play an arena game together or play creative, either with or against each other. Try not to get too nervous, and start getting hyped!
Make sure to leave arena/creative a bit before the tournament starts. In open and first round tournaments, you might want to start 2-4 minutes late, as this will potentially put you in lobbies against worse opponents who have already died off spawn. Also, many of the good teams will be queued into games already.
However, don’t waste too much time, as it might come back to bite you if you don’t have time for another match at the end of the tournament.
Early Game
After you jump out of the Battle Bus, head straight to your drop spot.
Be sure to have a set drop spot before the tournament. It should be a place that has enough loot for you and your trio, good materials, and mobility. More importantly, it should be one you and your trio have practiced a lot and are comfortable with.
More experienced teams might want to have two drop spots memorized: a major POI (point of interest) for w-keying, and a safer, more lowkey drop spot for stacked lobbies. However, make sure to know at least one drop spot extremely well!
If you are getting contested, try to end the fight as quickly as possible. If you’re not contested, loot up until everyone has at least 1000 materials and a good loadout.
I recommend the support player carry triple heals, the fragger carry harpoon and double heals, and the IGL carry whatever else will be helpful, along with a shotgun and AR. Start heading out of your POI when the first zone starts closing, whether or not you get zone. Use a car or any other mobility to rotate, and farm any more materials you need along the way.
Mid Game
Use your mobility to try and find a spot near the center of the second zone, preferably one on a mountain or other natural high ground. If there’s no natural height there, just build up.
However, if you can’t get to the very center of zone because other people are already there, that’s okay! You can refarm houses, or base up next to trees, bricks, or other resources near the center to refarm your materials after you build your base.
If you get in a fight while rotating, either try and finish it quickly, or disengage. Midgame fights will drain your resources, and there will be countless third parties that interfere. Neither team wins a long, drawn out fight, so it’s okay to disengage!
When you get into a good spot, make sure to build a base using hard materials (brick or metal), and then start gathering information on other teams. Look through the cones on the top of your base, know where the players are around you, and use the information you gather to plan potential rotations.
By now, the second zone should be closing, or the third zone will have just shown. If you don’t get zone, try to rotate as early as possible, and get to the center of third zone. This is the most important part; if you can get to the center of third zone, it will set you up perfectly for fourth zone.
Again, if you can’t get to the direct center, that’s okay. Just try to be in a central spot. Keep gathering information, and if your materials are running low, be on the lookout for potential refreshes or any loot the fragger can harpoon.
Being in the center of third zone will pretty much guarantee you get fourth zone. However, if you don’t get fourth zone, use the information you’ve been gathering to make a safe (and preferably early) rotation into fourth zone.
You can aim to be on the center or the edge of fourth zone. If you end up in the center, you’ll never get fifth zone, but you’ll only have to rotate a little bit to get there. If you stay on the edge, you have the chance of fifth zone landing on you, but you can also get a max-distance pull. Wherever you end up, make sure to use metal when you base up in order to prevent your team from getting lobby focused, or sprayed by the whole lobby.
Late Game
The fifth zone appearing marks the start of endgame. If you don’t get it, try to rotate early, but only if you have a safe rotation planned out. Otherwise, use your mobility, recycle someone’s launchpad, or use your materials to get into zone. In stacked lobbies, try and stay at least 2 layers above lowground, as it will be congested with people low on materials and resources.
This is also a great time to look for a refresh, as it will set you up perfectly with the resources needed for endgame. Just make sure you do it in a safe way (ex. don’t open a four-tile edit in your wall and start spraying, but maybe do a 1 tile floor edit and look for opponents below you). Also, have your fragger look for any loot they can harpoon.
However, if you’re in low-point lobbies, you can look to claim highground, as highground teams in these lobbies normally win games. In more stacked lobbies, many teams are usually looking for high ground and will fight for it, so I recommend staying on a midground layer at first.
When 6th zone shows, make sure to have a rotation plan. If you’re low on materials, you probably want to stay back and break into the back of someone’s tarp while rotating in order to save materials. If you have a lot of materials, it might be beneficial to use them and get to frontside, and then look back for easy eliminations with your AR or look to spray out height and take it. Whatever your situation is, make sure to have a plan for all endgame zones. Use the strategies you’ve developed in scrims to get the highest placement possible.
If you or one of your team members dies, it’s okay. Don’t rage or shout; instead, keep calm and make sure to call out your teammates’ materials and other helpful information.
Most of all, try to stay calm in endgame. Even though situations can get hectic, you’ll be able to make smarter decisions and hit more shots if you’re calm. Practice also helps to prevent nervousness in endgame, so if you have that problem, make sure to practice enough beforehand!
If your game goes to the ninth zone, then it might come down to a heal-off. If this happens, designate one person to play for heal-off. Give them any white-health meds you have, and then have the other people fight the other teams as the final zone closes to prevent them from healing. After the zone closes, the person who is performing the heal-off should try and run back into zone to prevent opposing teams from finding them, leading to the Victory Royale!
Conclusion
If you follow these tips, you and your trio will have a better chance at placing higher in all trio tournaments. However, you’ll sometimes encounter situations where these tips don’t apply. If this happens, just try and make smart, safe decisions that will ensure your survival.
Good luck in your tournaments!
Part of a trio? I can help your trio develop personalized strategies for your gameplay. I am a Fortnite coach for Gamersrdy. Because this is a more generalized guide, some of these tips might not apply to you/your trio. If you would like more personalized tips, please book a coaching session with me.
