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People love a good rumor, and Fortnite (opens in new tab) is full of myths and legends about secret ways to win, land faster, take less damage and more. From skins changing hitboxes to player actions altering the map, this game is full of half truths and gossip… but which ones are true? And why do people believe the ones that aren’t? Let’s take a look at some of the most popular Fortnite myths that have persisted for ages, find out where they came from, and if they’re actually a thing.
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1. You can get back to Spawn Island after the game starts
TRUE (briefly)
Everyone’s thought about getting back to Spawn Island from where they land on the Fortnite map (opens in new tab). Usually not long after you start playing for the first time and realise that close, but not quite close enough, bit of land you can see while gliding is actually where everyone waits for the Battle Bus. For months it was always the focus of all sorts of attempts involving long, precarious zig-zagging walkways or suicidal gliding from the Battlebus – all to be defeated by an invisible wall.
(source)
HOWEVER (drum roll) all that changed with the recent introduction of shopping trolleys. With a ramp and a run up, Fortnite’s carts can go fast enough that the forward momentum climbs them over the invisible wall and into Spawn Island.
There’s quite a drop on the other side but helpfully shopping Trolleys cancel fall damage if you’re inside. If you do get there there’s not actually much to do on Spawn Island except die. If you try it you’ll spend most of your time in the Storm so plenty of bandages is a prerequisite. One caveat here, the Fortnite shopping trolleys (opens in new tab) have been patched in and taken out on an almost weekly basis because of game breaking glitches, so there’s no guarantee this’ll work the next time they’re reintroduced.
2. There are ways to land faster in Fortnite and reach the ground sooner
TRUE (ish)
You can’t actually influence the rate at which you fall in Fortnite. Just like real life, gravity favours no one and there’s little in the way of glider popping or freaky steering that is going to get you ahead of anyone. But the glider always opens a set height above the ground, meaning if you’re over a mountain the glider will open sooner and you’ll float for longer. Aim for the lowest point instead and you won’t open your glider until much later and closer to the ground – you fall at the same speed each time but the time spent floating will really make a difference. And, if you aim for the ground until the glider pops, you can steer quickly to a slope or hill and touch down almost immediately.
3. Running into a slope cancels fall damage on mountain sides
FALSE
Fortnite’s fall damage is a complete dice roll at the best of times but rumors persist that some sort of trick – like facing or running into a slope as you slide down – will negate some (or all) damage when you hit the ground. It’s a myth that persists precisely because falling is so imprecise – the slightest variation in angle or slope can see two people apparently skid down the same part of the map and only one of them take damage. There’s no guaranteed way of going downhill without taking damage but as a rule light brown earthy slopes are safer than the grey rocky ones, but the real decider is height and angle. You’ll only take damage if the drop is more than three levels down. And that’s only if it’s a clear drop: even the slightest slope can slow you down enough to cancel all of (or some of) the damage. If you’re in any doubt avoid, slopes higher than four levels or build platforms as you fall or slide to catch you.
4. You can run faster without a gun, or at different speeds depending on what you’re holding
FALSE
You move the same speed whatever you have in your hand so stop thinking you can outrun the storm by holding a bandage. This is most likely a leftover from PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds where holding weapons can slow you down. Differences in animation in Fortnite might make you feel like it’s faster but, whatever you do, you always move the same speed.
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5. Different skins or emotes have different hitboxes
(Source)
FALSE
There’s nothing like a raging sense of injustice to fuel the idea that you missed an obvious kill because the other person had a ‘cheaty skin with a smaller hitbox’. Here’s the thing though: the hitboxes are always the same. Any perceived difference in hitbox size is caused by differences in skin size, not the hitbox itself. The skins might look bigger or smaller, but the bit you can shoot stays the same, which can make it look like you missed someone even if they were dead in your sights.
The emotes thing is a little tricker. Technically, if you time it right gunshots will miss you with a certain emote because you moved – Fortnite’s Flippin’ Sexy emote can dodge bullets beautifully. Overall, though, you’d need some sort of literal Spidey-sense to dance-dodge a bullet on cue.
6. You can’t kill a downed player in Loot Lake
FALSE
This might have once been true if it was ‘you can’t find a downed player in Loot Lake’ but that’s not what we’re asking. There was a time when a downed player not only disappeared under the water’s surface, but you couldn’t shoot them either. Bullets used to hit the water’s surface and downed players on the floor could escape being gunned down as a result. Pickaxing was the only solution, assuming you could find them. These days however, not only can you be shot underwater but a little bubble trail gives you away as you move.
7. Destroying something will remove it from the map. See also: destroying a nightclub will end the music
FALSE
There’s been a theme throughout Fortnite’s history that destroying a big thing during a match will have some sort of significant result. Removing Wailing Wood was one of the first, with the idea that if you destroyed all the trees, it would be removed from the map. There’s been several variations along the way with one of the more recent being that destroying one of the new nightclubs entirely would stop the music playing. They’re always false because neither games nor maps work like that. The in-game map is a static image and so unlikely to spontaneously update itself (without a patch), while music is an in-game sound effect and not actually coming from the nightclubs themselves.
8. Getting three llama’s in a game earns you a special bonus
FALSE
This is one of those myths that lives on because just getting one Fortnite llama (opens in new tab) is a rare occurrence, getting all three of the rumoured total that appear on the map is almost impossible. Almost impossible, but not completely impossible. It’s been done and… nothing happened. People just ended up with a lot of building materials. Like the old saying goes*, “A person who gets three llamas, is a person with three llamas”.
*Not an old saying.
