Epic Games’ free to play game Fortnite has taken the gaming world by storm. It is among the most popularly played games in 2018 with versions in just about every platform. Millions upon millions of gamers have experienced this game at least once. Some might have experienced the co-op campaign mode Save the World, but the main popularity of this game resides in the 100 player Battle Royale mode. Many play to try and be the last man, woman, or team standing, while others play for the random shenanigans that can occur on the island.

Of course, with a game that receives constant updates like Fortnite comes a lot of changes to how it can be played. There are many opinions, strategies, and myths that have come and gone throughout the different seasons. There are things that you can do and cannot do that can be misunderstood by many who play. Some of these myths stem from speculation and exploiting glitches, others from simply misunderstanding how certain gameplay elements work. Do different skins allow for different hitboxes? Is it possible to get back to the spawn island after leaving the battle bus? Let’s get into mythbusting mode and talk about 25 simple facts that many players get wrong about Fortnite Battle Royale.

22 The Pickaxe CAN Deflect Bullets

Here is one factual detail that went unnoticed until Reddit user Doctor-Swoosh posted a video that shows him sniping another player at Loot Lake. The unsuspecting target was simply harvesting building materials when BAM! A sniper shot was aimed perfectly at him.

However, as the target was swinging his pickaxe, the bullet actually reflected back in the direction of the sniper.

At first, it was hard to believe that the game would have that kind of detail in its physics, but there have been other instances where odd deflections happen. For example, there was a video of a player who’s bullets from an assault rifle actually deflected an oncoming grenade.

21 Shooting Through The Gaps Of Wooden Forts Does No Good

A common myth within Fortnite is the idea that you can shoot through the small gaps of wooden structures and walls used to build forts. Looking at brick walls and steel-made walls, there are no gaps whatsoever. Wooden walls however have a bit of space available that it might give the player the idea of aiming down and giving you a good opportunity to fire with plenty of cover. It turns out that this doesn’t work at all. Aiming down a small hole will only cause damage to the structure and possibly leave you wide open. If you want to have a nice window to aim from you’re going to have to edit your own walls.

20 Getting To The Spawn Island Actually Is Possible, With A Price

When you first log in and jump into a match, you’ll likely be spawned on a remote island where you can explore until the match is ready to begin. Fans wondered if you could still make your way back to the island after the start of a match. Originally it wasn’t possible at first.

With the recent inclusion of shopping carts, it actually is possible to pull it off.

All you have to do is gather a lot (and I mean a lot) of materials, build an elevating bridge near Flush Factory and ride a cart down a ramp toward the island. Then you would trigger a glitch that should carry you to the island. There isn’t anything noteworthy to find but many of the weapons and ammo are still there available to be picked up. Keep in mind though that if you want to try this, you will get caught up in the storm and it will be near impossible to get back before the storm takes you out.

19 Giant Purple Cube Does Not Protect You From Fall Damage

Very recently a giant purple cube has been spotted in Fortnite Battle Royale. When you go up to the cube and make contact with it, it will send you backward, similar to the impact of a shockwave grenade or a bounce pad. This will lead many players into thinking it can be used similarly.

However, unlike the previously mentioned items, getting bounced by the cube will not protect you from fall damage. So if you run into this thing while there is a lot of space behind you it’s going to do some damage to you because the cube will send you far and fast.

With that said there are times where the cube will pop up in other areas and create a strange purple barrier that will distort gravity. Every jump will float a bit higher and come down a bit slower, in that situation you won’t have to worry about fall damage.

18 Finding All Three Supply Llamas Means You Are Very Lucky, And That’s It

Finding a supply llama can be a pain. In each match, there will only be three llamas that will spawn literally anywhere in the entire map. It could take a very long time and many matches to find simply one of them, but if you find one, they will provide many high-quality items for you. But what happens when Lady Luck gives a great big smile towards you and you find all three in one match? Some fans believed that you could receive a nice item for your lucky streak.

If you find three supply llamas in one match, you were an extremely lucky person, nothing more.

The idea of finding all three is absolutely ludicrous, but it actually has been done before. There are a few YouTubers who have found three while recording, but as you can guess, nothing special happens nor do they receive anything afterward.

17 Mini-Guns Are Not Useless

Among the items that can be obtained in Fortnite are heavy weapons known as Mini-guns. These weapons are among the rarest types of items that can be found. While they may look like a powerful compact Gatling gun, it actually does very little damage to opponents as well as being terribly inaccurate. So why on earth would you use them?

Many players have cast these items off as useless. However, there actually is quite a good use for these items. Mini-guns are very useful in destroying buildings and forts. While each shot is weak, it fires at a very rapid pace, plus you don’t have to worry about reloading. This will give you the advantage of tearing down a well made fort before it can even be built.

16 There Isn’t Any Way For You To Cheat The Storm

Fortnite’s intimidating purple storm is one of the unique features of the entire game and the main reason why a 100-man battle royale mode is doable (otherwise it would take forever to do one match). If you get caught up in the storm your health will slowly drain away, but what if you could possibly use this toward your advantage late in a solo match where the safe zone is very small? Maybe if you stock up on plenty of recovery items it will allow you to spend quite some time in the storm?

Well no, that won’t work at all. The storm will get increasingly powerful over time so if you are caught up in it the damage dealt will gradually multiply, making healing items practically useless. Besides, trying to last in the storm really destroys the purpose of Battle Royale.

15 One-Shield Glitch Does Not Grant You An Unbreakable Shield

A few months ago, players believed there was a glitch that could grant you an unbreakable shield, thus allowing you to not take any damage. If you were to take on a lot of damage to the point your shield would get broken, your display may still show just one shield point and not go away. This does not mean that your health is protected. Instead, it is actually a visual glitch that still displays the damage number as blue.

This also worked in reverse if you were dealing damage to others and their damage total would still appear blue. Don’t worry because you are still doing normal damage to people. Of course, this was something that was occurring a few months ago and should be patched up by Epic Games by now.

14 There Is No Way To Shorten Your Gliding Descent

A popular tactic is trying to land on the ground as soon as possible when leaving the Battle Bus. Those that do can find weapons and treasure chests before others and possibly put slower players in a tough position of not having any weapons, or materials to defend themselves. Players often wonder if there is any way to cheat the gliding part of the descent.

There really isn’t any way one can get to the ground quicker other than nose-diving as soon as you get out, but the glider will still slow you down. The glider will always come out at a set distance from the ground. The closest thing you can do to take advantage of that is to aim at a lower level surface, but when the glider comes out, fly over to the top of a mountain and hope there are good items available.

13 Supply Llamas Aren’t Completely Randomized

As covered earlier, supply llamas are rare and hard to find. You can go an entire season and only see maybe a few of them. While it is true that a supply llama could literally be anywhere, it isn’t necessarily completely random as some players may believe. Various users have gathered data of where supply llamas typically drop. It is determined that they are most common in mountainous areas and areas near the river.

12 High Placement In Matches Doesn’t Mean That You Are Skilled

This should go without saying, but Fortnite is a great example of a casual shooting game where any decent gamer will have a chance to win. There are multiple situations where luck can factor in how a match is won. Fortnite could be a game where skilled players earn a high number of eliminations, while the less skilled players use survival instincts to keep themselves hidden thus earning higher placements.

Take it from me, I consider myself “okay” at Fortnite, yet I’ve been able to get plenty of top 10 or top 5 solo finishes just through my ability to remain undetected. The best players master their skill in weapons as well as building forts; this gives them the greatest chance to win, but as long as you get one or two key eliminations, you have a chance to steal a victory yourself.

11 Destroying Terrain Does Not Change The Map

For whatever reason, players believed that if they destroy enough of the terrain, it would be reflected upon in the map and thus, change how an area may appear on the map. The easiest way to test this out is to head out to Wailing Woods and chop down multiple trees with your pickaxe. Truth is, no matter what you do, the map will always stay the same. Besides, there really isn’t any point in having such a feature because it won’t help you much during the game at all in any form.

10 The Underground Bunker Was A Myth

Speaking of Wailing Woods, during season 4 of Battle Royale, there was a mysterious bunker that was located near the area. This bunker was not breakable by the pickaxe, thus you couldn’t see what is inside of the bunker. This lead to many speculations of what could be hidden underneath, perhaps an underground passageway that would connect to other areas on the map. With the inclusion of shopping carts, there actually is a way to create a glitch that would open up the previously unbreakable bunker. When it is open you see nothing but an empty pit, no items, no passage, nothing.

9 The Zapotron Was No Myth

In the early life of Fortnite Battle Royale, there was once a weapon that was just simply too powerful. It was a long-range railgun-like weapon, the type you would see on giant mechs in other forms of media. This weapon was called the Zapotron and it was a very rare item to find. It was removed from the game rather quickly; some would believe the weapon never existed. However, there could be a future in the works for the weapon as its files have been appearing in data mine leaks as of late.

8 Having A Giant Tomato Head Doesn’t Make You An Easier Target

Fortnite has a rapidly increasing selection of skins available either through the battle pass or through the item shop. These skins are based on various themes like a soldier, a Viking, or a casual athlete. Some of them are a little bit extra crazy, such as wearing a large hat or having a tomato as a head. This led some people to believe that your costume could actually affect your hitboxes.

Plenty of players experimented on this and posted videos showcasing proof that costumes do not change your hitboxes in any way.

This is consistent with Epic Games’ mission of making all of the extra content completely cosmetic. One thing that they understand is to not underestimate gamers’ sense of fashion.

7 The Water Does Not Protect You From Getting Shot

The water found in some locations, most noticeably Loot Lake, may provide some sort of tactical advantage. Loot Lake is rather shallow, so you can simply wade through the entire lake. It will considerably slow you down, but it can also help you be sneaky. If you are playing with allies, getting knocked down will actually cover your entire body, making it hard for the enemy to locate you to finish you off. However, it does not prevent you from getting shot. While the water isn’t exactly crystal clear, bullets will still go through and hit you.

6 Slopes Won’t Always Save You From Fall Damage

One of the most annoying things that can happen is taking unnecessary fall damage. It will really lead to a disadvantage if you take on early damage from yourself. One thing a lot of players will do is take advantage of the many slopes that are at the base of hills and mountains to get down from high leverage quickly without taking damage.

While slopes certainly will protect you at times, there are other times where it won’t.

It is hard to gauge from my personal experience, sometimes I have longer slides that don’t result in damage, while other times I would have take a slight slide and would result in some damage being done.

5 Run Speed Does Not Change Base On Your Equipped Item

In just about any game you are looking for a little extra to get your character moving faster, whether if it was leaping or continuously rolling. In Fortnite, it was a common misconception that by having smaller items equipped your character would run a bit faster. It may come off that way in how the character may run with a heavy item such as a mini-gun. But in truth, there is no difference in running speed at all. Each running animation is done at the same exact speed with no difference based on the equipped item.

4 SMGs Are Much Stronger Than Players Believed

Submachine guns are one of the more common types of weapons that can be found in Fortnite. They lack as much power as assault rifles, but have a higher rate of fire. They are best used in close quarters. Initially, these weapons were relatively weak, they weren’t very good for ranged combat, and they weren’t effective close range compared to shotguns and there weren’t any rare weapons. However with Season 5, Epic Games has added a couple of rare weapons that really boosts the overall effectiveness of SMGs, and they are actually quite good. Even the common weapons can get the job done.

3 Bounce Pads Are Safer Than You May Have Expected

Bounce pads were introduced into Battle Royale around the time season 5 started. These pads can be placed on flat walls or floors, when you come into contact with them you are sent pretty far and high into the air. Initially, there might be some fear that this could cause fall damage if used recklessly. Fortunately, that is not the case. These Bounce pads have the same function as one of the meteorite shards found in Dusty Divot during season 4, meaning you will not take fall damage no matter how far you fall down.