You’ve played some games in Fortnite Chapter 2.
And you’ve seen a lot has changed.
But what can you use to your advantage?
Well, there are no patch notes (I did write my own version), so there are probably some things you don’t know.
In this post, I’m going to show you some of the new things you can use, to hopefully help you get more Victory Royales.
Let’s get started.
1. Start with full shield by landing at Slurpy Swamp
As you know, there is a whole new map in Fortnite chapter 2, because the old one got his by a meteor and sucked into a black hole (RIP).
Anyway, now there are 13 POIs (points of interest) for you to explore. 3 of them you’ll remember from the old map (Salty Springs, Retail Row and Pleasant Park).
But most of them are new.
And one of the new POIs is Slurpy Swamp. Here you’ll find a bunch of slurp canisters scattered around the area.
You can break a slurp canister, by hitting it with your pickaxe, and it will explode and you will gain 10 shield for your efforts.

Just outside the buildings you’ll find larger slurp things (I really don’t know what to call them) and breaking those will get you 25 shield.
Heck, you can even stand in the water and gain shield.

So landing at Slurpy Swamp is a good idea, if the bus path is suitable. Because you’re guaranteed to be leaving with 100 shield.
Of course, having shield is important, particularly in the early game, since they increase your effective health.
In other words, more shield = better chance of winning.
Just don’t tell anyone about this, or you could be competing with other players for the drop spot.
2. Earn more XP by collecting medals
In Fortnite Chapter 2 the only way you can level up your Battle Pass is by earning XP.
And the medal punchcard is a new addition in Fortnite Chapter 2 that allows you to earn more XP.
Basically medals are a replacement to daily challenges because they reset every 24 hours.
Because the XP you earn from medals got buffed in patch v11.01 it’s in your best interest to play every day and make a conscious effort to collect all the medals you can. So you’ll level up your Battle Pass quicker.
Check out this post to learn more about the medal punchcard, including all the different medals you can earn.
3. Weapons are available in all rarities
In Fortnite each weapon and item has its own rarity specified by a certain color.
Here is the order of rarities, from worst (least rare) to best (most rare):
- Common (grey)
- Uncommon (green)
- Rare (blue)
- Epic (purple)
- Legendary (orange/gold)
In previous seasons some weapons would only go up to a certain rarity and others would start at a certain rarity. For example, pump shotguns used to only be available in uncommon (green) and rare (blue) rarities.
Thankfully, Epic Games realized how confusing this was.
Now all the weapons are available in every rarity.
Also, there has been a huge reduction in the number of items in the loot pool. You see, many items have been vaulted and now only 8 items remain.
Here is a picture showing all the available items in Fortnite Chapter 2, thanks to Reddit user FazeNiccorazi.

In other words, the item pool has been greatly simplified. So now it should be a lot easier for you to know when to upgrade your weapons and get to your ideal loadout.
4. You can upgrade your weapons using material
So we’ve established there are fewer weapons.
But now you can upgrade the rarity of your weapon using upgrade benches, which are new to Fortnite Chapter 2.
At an upgrade bench, you trade your material for an upgraded weapon.

The amount of material you need to trade in order to upgrade your weapon depends on the rarity you’re upgrading to:
- Common to Uncommon – 50 wood, stone, and metal
- Uncommon to Rare – 150 wood, stone, and metal
- Rare to Epic – 250 wood, stone, and metal
- Epic to Legendary – 350 wood, stone, and metal
Looking for an upgrade bench? In this post I show you the location of all the upgrade benches and discuss whether or not it’s worth trading your material to use them.
5. Fish are a useful healing item
As well as vaulting a lot of weapons, Epic Games has also removed a lot of healing items from Fortnite.
But, to compensate for the lack of healing items, fishing has been added.
To fish in Fortnite you need a fishing rod and some water to cast your rod into.

After a little while, you can reel your rod back in and you could catch a fish. You could get a weapon, too.
Firstly I thought fishing would be a useless thing and would leave you open to getting killed because you would just be standing still. But I was wrong.
Listen, fishing is actually useful because the fish you can catch heal a lot of health. And they only take 1 second to consume, so they’re better than the existing healing items.
Here’s a post where I go in-detail about fishing in Fortnite which you can read to learn more about the different kinds of fish.
6. Edit faster by using this setting
The ability to edit fast is one of the most useful skills you can have in Fortnite.
And in Fortnite Chapter 2, a new setting was added that allows you to confirm your edit on release.
This setting reduces the number of steps required when editing from 3 to 2.
So you should definitely enable it if you haven’t already.
7. Rotate early to avoid dying to the storm
We’ve seen Epic Games have sent a bunch of items to the vault in Fortnite Chapter 2. And it isn’t just weapons and healing items, either.
No. You see, mobility items like the launch pads are no longer in the game. And all vehicles (with the exception of the new boats) are gone, too. Oh, and just FYI, you can drive the boats on land.
As a result of this lack of mobility, you’ll need to pay more attention to the storm circles, so you don’t get caught out and die.
But there’s something new this Chapter you can use to help you outrun the storm if you do get caught out: Swimming.
You can actually swim faster than you run and, therefore, faster than the storm. But only when you’re swimming downstream.
Also, something you can use to speed up your swimming is to time your dives by using the jump button. This will allow you to use the dolphin dive technique to swim even faster.
Conclusion
So, you see, Fortnite has added lots of new things in Chapter 2.
And I hope after reading this you’ve learned some new things you can use to your advantage in the next game you play.
If you’re looking for more information, you may like this post where I show you more than 50 useful tips & tricks you can use in Fortnite.
Anyway, I hope you’ve found this post helpful.
Leave me a comment below letting me know your favorite tip for Fortnite Chapter 2!
Comments
I’m so glad that Crash Pads and Choppas were added and Launch Pads were unvaulted.