When you watch high-level players streaming, you might notice the key to their success is building fast and well. You might find that you can’t build at this speed. You’re not alone if you think that not being able to build lightning fast is holding you back. Building is an important part of Fortnite and you need to make sure you’re doing it right if you want to win. If you want to learn how to build fast in Fortnite on a PC, then there are some tips you have to keep in mind.
Settings and Keys to Build Fast
The first thing is to make sure that your settings are correct to build fast. Different pro-players favor different settings, but you can use different controls yourself. You should check how your effects and other graphics factors are set up. Having these on high settings might make the game look better and help with streaming, but it doesn’t work great for your performance. You might be able to play the game at a high-quality with your PC, but turning these settings down a little might make the game run considerably better. Consider sacrificing some of the visuals for the sake of building fast on a PC.
You should next check your key settings. Again, different pros have different settings that they are accustomed too but there are some good introductory ones. Some people use the normal F1, F2, and F3 settings. However, you should set floor, wall, and stairs to Q, G, and F instead. This might seem like a small change but it will significantly reduce the time it takes you to press each key by keeping you close to your movement keys. Unless you have mastered the muscle memory of hitting the F buttons or have a high-level gaming keyboard, these small changes will really increase your build speed. This will also help you stay mobile while building fast. The roof and trap keys are less important, but if you find yourself using them a lot you can experiment with different placements.
How to Build Fast and Controlled
Many people immediately build cover when they spot another player, instead, you should use building to get a height advantage. This height advantage is useless however if the other player can simply shoot out your base and force you to drop to the floor. Because of this, you should build two ramps next to each other to flee to the high ground. That way, the player has to shoot through two ramps. This means your opponent has to shoot twice as much, giving you time to get around them and get an easy kill.
You should also add a wall to the outside of the ramp as you build. Do this by quickly by changing which item you’re building using those Q, G, and F keys. By slightly tilting down or jumping down and building underneath you can quickly build this unit without losing any health. This gives you the height advantage. This basic shape is the foundation of all building. You should practice building this as a reflex, once you’ve mastered this basic you start extending your building on the foundation of this quick move.
Close Combat Building
Most building is either going to be by design to reach an area or in close combat being used defensively. In the first situation, speed is less important. Close combat defensive building is where you need to know how to build fast. The basics still apply. A ramp and then a wall blocking the ramp will always give you a height advantage with cover from other players. Once this is built, no matter how high your opponent builds, you are one story higher with one more level of cover. You should practice snapping these two items together in this format, over and over. Keep practicing this until you can build it within the space of a few seconds. If you can build this fast, you will always stay ahead of your opponent.
After some practice, you can start throwing in some variations. You can quickly put in flat pieces for extra protection. Extra horizontal ramps can give you greater movement or space. Try to build anything without a purpose. This is where builders get slow. Doing this will help increase your muscle memory for the basic move and give you the foundation to stay ahead of your opponent.
Practicing these basics will give a perfect foundation to build fast. The key is really just to practice the same combinations. When you see people build very quickly, they aren’t thinking in real time about what to build in that second. Instead, they are instinctively reverting to the combinations of buildings that they know will be effective in this situation. It all starts with these basic formations. Once you get the building of these tools right, you can begin building them quicker and quicker. You will then instinctively start building these structures when the situation occurs, leaving their opponents playing catch up and wondering how you can build so fast.
What do you think? Share your building techniques below.