DUOS TIPS AND TRICKS FOR FORTNITE BATTLE ROYALE
The addition of duos mode to Fortnite Battle Royale is a welcome one, bringing the diversity of cooperative online gameplay to compliment the solo play. But having a partner to watch your back on the battlefield presents a completely new challenge, even if you’re a veteran solo player. Mastering duo gameplay requires plenty of adjustment, such as coordination, careful strategy, and a revised approach to fort building to name a few.
In this guide, we’re going over some tips and tricks to keep in mind that will better your chances of scoring a duos Victory Royale.
Coordination
Fortnite Battle Royale: Duos Tips and Tricks
It goes without saying that communicating with your team member is the most important part of a successful duos match. But this means much more than simply telling your teammate what you’re doing and where you intend to go to. Having a partner gives you a second pair of eyes, a second weapon against aggressors, and another pickaxe to mine resources and build — make sure you’re using that asset effectively. Don’t simply perform exactly the same actions as your partner, do the opposite and work together as an effective unit. Is one of you looking forward? The other should be looking backward. And while one team member loots a supply drop, the other should be keeping a watchful eye for aggressors.
While this all might seem rather obvious, it actually totally changes the dynamic of how you move, build, and attack other players, and it allows you to execute strategies that aren’t possible in solo gameplay. For example, in the early game, you’ll still want to locate an area with plentiful loot so that you both have weapons immediately, but one team member can focus on mining resources and can later be responsible for building while the other takes point. As we’ll go over in the building section of this guide, resources will play an even greater role in duo gameplay, so it’s wise you mine plenty.
And the same principles apply to shooting other teams or single stragglers. If one team member spots an enemy, make sure that information is relayed and shooting doesn’t commence until both parties are set up and ready (unless it’s a surprise, close quarters engagement, of course). You have an advantage with two weapons, so don’t try to be a hero. Get both weapons on target and coordinate who is shooting at what before opening up. Do you know of two enemies behind a rock but can only see one? Consider having one team member take the kill while the other points a crosshair at the other side of the rock in case the second aggressor takes up a different shooting position or runs.
Duo teams not coordinating will be easy prey for other squads using voice comms and working as a unit.
Movement and Positioning
Fortnite Battle Royale: Duos Tips and Tricks
In our tips and tricks guide for solo gameplay, we went over the concept of using the Storm tactically and the merit staying on the outskirts of the safe zone. But while it is still equally important to be thinking about enemy movement as a result of the shrinking safe zone, establishing a position well inside is of a greater importance in duos. This is mostly due to two reasons: firstly, because two players moving in open spaces will struggle to effectively conceal themselves (you can forget cramming two players into a single bush) and two silhouettes on the horizon is also much easier to spot than one; and secondly, fort building is much more effective in pairs or squads than it is in solo, which makes established positions both easier to defend and harder for mobile squads to breach.
Tactically, this slightly changes when you’ll be jumping out of the Battle Bus, given that the safe zone typically forms around the area of the map with the most survivors. If you are thinking about jumping late to run for a certain chest rich area, or you’ve agreed to start the match in a more remote location, make sure you set up quickly and start moving toward it so as not to be constantly on the run. But typically, you’ll find that jumping out earlier is a better tactic so as to ensure you’re not too far away from the safe zone from the start.
Try to limit having to constantly run toward the safe zone. Even if staying out of the action still yields top 20 finishes, as it does in solo gameplay, you’ll find that winning the late game from a mobile position is tricky. Moving inward from the outskirts of the storm, you’ll undoubtedly be faced with well-defended positions/forts.
Consider that identifying and coordinating where a target is on the horizon, as one might do from a mobile position, is much harder than simply registering it and actioning a strategy on your own. Drawing your team members attention to enemy locations takes precious seconds, rather than being instantaneous when you’re solo. This isn’t a big deal from a static defended position, but it’s unnerving and often ineffective when you’re mobile and exposed.
Building
Fortnite Battle Royale: Duos Tips and Tricks
We’ve mentioned before that building is a big difference between Fortnite Battle Royale and other comparable games, such as PUBG. In solo mode, you should not be underutilizing the advantage of being able to create cover on the fly or using ramps to aid traversal. Yet, solo matches can still be won with fairly limited use of fort building, even in the late game. The same cannot be said of duos, in which the action of fort building is both much less risky and far more easily defended.
Earlier we alluded to having one team member tasked with the responsibility of mining and building while the other takes point, and this is an excellent tactic to employ if you can coordinate it properly. Most of the difficulty with building forts in solo gameplay is that you’re exposing yourself to fire, especially given that the action of building sticks out like a sore thumb on the horizon. In duo mode, however, a squad member can keep an eye out for danger.
In the same way, forts can also be much more effectively defended, since team members can defend opposing directions and work quickly to repair damaged structures. Forts can also be occupied by a single team member while the other takes refuge outside. This is effective because forts tend to draw attention and fire toward them, and while one team member simply hides and repairs the structure, the other can open fire from a concealed position away from the fort. In the late game, as the safe zone squeezes players together, these sorts of tactics are often the difference between victory and defeat.
There’s Two of Them Too
Fortnite Battle Royale: Duos Tips and Tricks
It might sound obvious, but every single advantage we’ve listed in this guide applies to enemy teams, too. Always keep in mind that opposing squads in duos are likely coordinating effectively and have their own double set of eyes, weapons, and building apparatus. This means that every action you take against a single opponent needs to be measured against the possibility that there is a second player lurking to pounce. If you do see a single player, ask yourself (and your teammate) where the other might be. Is he already dead, or is he in a different position and ready to shoot if you attack?
And if all this wasn’t enough to process already, there’s yet more mind-trickery to take into account. Spotting two marauding enemies on the horizon intimidating and it should be making you think twice about attacking with candor. But this will also apply to enemies too, who won’t necessarily be wanting to open up at you from long or medium range, especially if they’ve lost a teammate. For this reason, most players in duo games tend to be more alert and play more strategically, with the exception of those who prefer to glide into populated areas in the opening five minutes. There’s a greater fear factor in duo combat because firefights tend to be more ferocious, so think about how this affects player action.
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