With Dreamhack Anaheim just around the corner, I thought I should write a fairly extensive guide on how to play placement based, stacked solo games.

I've broken it down into 3 main phases of the game, with tips on how to improve and reminders of how to play each one.









Early Game:

Drop spot:





Have a landing spot that you’re comfortable at and you feel like you know better than anyone else in the game





Have multiple backup spots, one near your main spot to divert to and one or two spots on other sections of the map

The Drop:





Trade off between landing the fastest and getting the most info, you obviously need to know if your spot is contested, but you also need to know where everyone is landing around you so you can plan out where fights will be happening and where players will be rotating.

Looting:





Think about what loot you want endgame. As standard you’re going to need:





AR: In these games storm surge tags will be important, and it’s much harder to get tags without an AR.

Shotgun, obviously. Whether you want a tac or a pump is completely down to preference, but whatever it is try to get it upgraded to a purple variant whenever possible.

Shield: First choice should always be minis unless you have 3 slurp fish, but carrying big shields is not a bad thing.





Then 2 of the following, in order of usefulness:









White Heals: preferably floppers or slurp fish. This is self explanatory, everybody knows how good floppers are late game, it enables you to rotate much later and tank storm. Medkits can also be really useful for midgame, it allows you to rotate to the dead side of zone and take some storm damage to improve your positioning, which is often worth doing.

Harpoon: Possibly the best option in high player count lobbies. Allows you to use your mats much more and refresh them easily, which is HUGE to be able to stay alive and place well.





SMG: Great for boxfighting and breaking builds late game. Not too useful for much else, and can be dropped for more utility.

Grenades: Can be useful to get a virtually free kill, but will be difficult to loot without a harpoon. Going for loot will almost always cause you to get focused.

Sniper: Ideal for long range impact frags, and can get you out of situations where you have bad loot in midgame, but not the greatest weapon in stacked lobbies. Usually would drop in anything later than 4th zone.

RPG: This is ONLY good in games where you can be super aggressive or when you are on height. It is usually NOT worth picking up in stacked lobbies, because you will not get the chance to use it

Fighting off spawn:





DO NOT FIGHT OFF SPAWN. This is the first and BIGGEST way to lose a tournament. It doesn’t matter HOW much better you are than your opponent, fortnite can be rng, and you can die. Do not get cocky. You need consistent placement to do your best in a placement based format like dreamhack.









Mid Game:





As a general rule, Saevid says it best - "Rotate zone, sit in a cone"









Positioning:





THE most important thing in midgame. Look at who is around you, look at where you want to go, and figure out the best way for you to get to a position where you’re not only safe for this zone, but where you can get information and have an easy rotation to the next.





Never be sitting in a box doing nothing. Always be looking for more information, you should already know how you’re going to rotate if zone goes to the worst place possible before it even shows.





As a general rule, think about what the worst possible next zone would be, and get into a position where you can get there. Fortnite has a strange way of sending zones to awkward places, and if you’re ready for that, you’ll be at a huge advantage.

Rotating:





Rotate in a way that you don’t lose mats, so take a path where you can easily box up on high farm rate materials, such as trees or rocks, and use them to cover yourself and re-farm. Example from EpikWhale





Pickaxe swinging and communicating is banned, but that does not mean you can’t rotate with other players. Use their builds, their paths and their rotates to decide and judge your own.

Fighting:





Only take smart fights, in stacked lobbies and in placement based formats, the only fights you should be taking are ones that put you in a better position to get more placement.

Winning a game might be a lot easier with better loot but if you want to win a *tournament*, you have to place consistently. Think about what you actually gain from a fight before you take it. Example of mid-game discipline from Psalm





If you do end up being pressured into taking a midgame fight, don’t put yourself into a tight spot because you can and will be focused. Give yourself space and build a 2x1 when you’re under pressure, it will help you to both win the fight and avoid being sprayed by the whole lobby. Video from SpeedyGonzales





It’s fine to disengage. No pride is lost from not fighting, nobody’s ego will be hurt. You need to be playing to win, not playing for a kill, don’t get emotionally invested into a fight and end up committing to it too much





Storm Surge is going to be an important aspect, and something you need to adapt for. Rather than getting all your storm surge tags in an early fight, it’s much better and safer to get AR or Sniper tags in midgame.









End Game:





Endgame is hard to break down, it’s mostly about these three points:





- Protect yourself. Use your mats to get you where you need to go

- Pressure others. When you have opportunity to, make life difficult for others.

- Create a path for yourself. Changing layers, avoiding enemies and having a general sense of who is where around you is hugely important in figuring out where you need to go and how you’re going to get there.





If you DON’T get zone, rotate early and rotate fast, minimise the amount of time you’re spent exposed. Also minimise the angles you’re exposed from. Use the storm to protect you, rotate on an edge and get into zone.





As much as possible, get to the front side of the zone. Being front side allows you look back at other people rotating, gives you an entire direction you don’t have to worry about, and gets you away from the chaos of the back side of zone with flopper players and shambles players with no mats.





Conserve your mats, but also use them all. If you’re using your mats well, you’re staying alive for longer, and that’s the main thing your mats are used for. Keep yourself alive, don’t die with mats still in your inventory.





Same goes for utility, use your heals, use your harpoon, use everything, because dying with utility in your inventory is a waste of something that could have helped you survive longer. If you have 4 floppers, use them to rotate in storm and save mats. If you have a harpoon, get everything you can possibly use from it. Even something like bandages or nades that seem useless can be used to get you more points.





Don’t be afraid of the storm. Use it to your advantage. Rotating an entire moving zone in storm is possible with 7 floppers and virtually no materials . Using it to hide yourself, save materials and damage enemies where they don’t expect can be a big advantage.





Have a number of mats in your head that you don’t want to go below. It’s important to know when you want to look for an impact kill, or look for a loot pile to refresh from if you have a harpoon.





Overall, endgame is the time to frag out. So play your confidence, if you’re hitting your shots and your edits perfectly every time, you have the potential to get a few kills that will set you up to win the game. But don’t force kills, placement is still the most important aspect of the game.





Most importantly, have fun! These games are going to be the hardest to play, but the most rewarding to do well in. Play your game, enjoy yourself and do the absolute best you can.





Good luck!