This is a continuation of the series of a 64 year old pops (that’s me) blogging my journey to see what level I can achieve in this season’s Fortnite Ranked Battle Royale Build (Chapter 5 Season 2). Each week, I share my progress, observations, and learnings.
This Week’s Progress
Frustrating week! I started the week 23% of the way towards my goal of reaching Unreal. My total progress this week was only 13% progress so now I’m 36% through the Champion level on my way to Unreal.
Week 6 – Journey & Learnings
- I played a total of 37 games and my rank increased by 13%. So on average for every 3 games played, my rank went up about 1%. Tough sledding!
- Three of my top 10 finishes resulted in no change at all to my ranking. It’s quite hard to get top 10 finishes at the Champion level. Brutal!
- A key factor in the ranking algorithm seems to be the level of the player that eliminates me. If I got eliminated by someone at my level or higher AND I finished the game somewhere in the top 15, I was unlikely to lose any ranking %. However, when I lost to a player in the category below me (Elite), even if I finished in the top 10, I still wasn’t assured to gain a ranking percentage increase.
- I experimented with staying in the storm longer to help last longer into each match. A few times I pushed that strategy too hard and had really stocked up on health heals like med kits and fish. When I spent too much time in the storm, I found out there’s something called storm stickiness that basically enables the storm to do triple damage. Note to self: use the storm for a shield but don’t get piggy about it!
- Must avoid early eliminations. They can cost 4-5% of my ranking in the blink of an eye. I’m the tortoise, not the hare.
- Once my Champion level ranking increased above 30%, it’s become harder than ever. I think it’s because I’m predominantly matched against other Champion players, a few Elite players, and a few Unreal players.
- Indecision on selecting a landing spot is death. The few times that I wasn’t laser focused on where I was landing didn’t end well. The top players get to their spots quickly and any hesitation on reaching my selected landing space usually cost me severely.
What’s Next
Press on! I’m up against the best now so I shouldn’t expect it to be easy. This week I need to better manage the storm as it cost me progress in at least 3 games last week. Continue the grind and keep faith! Oh, and avoid early eliminations AT ALL COSTS!
