Reaching Unreal in Fortnite has become too easy!
The first time I grinded to Unreal in Fortnite Battle Royale was Ch5S2. It was a daunting task. Albeit, I was hampered by lack of patience, stubbornness, and experience. To complicate matters further, my strategy was camping to earn placement points so I needed to outsmart, not outshoot the competition. It took a whopping 551 games to reach Unreal in Ch5S2!
By contrast, the new Fortnite season, Ch7S2, dropped last Thursday. By Friday night, after 30 ranked games, I reached Unreal. That’s quite a difference!
The below chart shows how many games it has taken me to reach Unreal each season:
Fortnite Combined Ranking for BR & ZB Modes
In the past, players had to rank up to Unreal separately in Fortnite Battle Royale and Zero Build modes. This was double the effort. I believe it made sense because a player that reached Unreal in one mode did not necessarily have the skills to compete in the other mode. It’s unclear to me why Fortnite made this change. I’m hoping it will make sense as this season progresses.
In Fortnite Ch7S2, players rankings progress in both modes regardless of which mode they play. I chose to play a mixture of modes as I ranked up in Ch7S2 so I had the feel of each. I should note that I ranked up in both modes to Unreal for now the last 4 seasons. Last season it took me 72 games to reach Unreal in Fortnite Battle Royale and it took another 52 games to rank to Unreal in ZB.
5 Tips for Ranking to Unreal Fast in Fortnite Ch7S2
- Gold is plentiful, use it to stock up on med kits at vending machines. This allows you to storm camp, avoid most players, and gather great loot so you’re prepared for end game.
- Use the new “Skyline Deployer” to get back to safety quickly from deep in the storm. This is a new item that allows players to deploy up to 3 ziplines consecutively that don’t attach to anything (they defy physics).
- Beware entering small zones end game with Skyline Deployer as players with good aim will easily eliminate you. If you do enter a small zone with this item, I recommend dropping straight down (you won’t take fall damage) as opposed to opening your glider which is far more vulnerable.
- Fish with caution. Yes. PopsPlaysToo actually said that. In seasons past, fishing was a very efficient way to gather heals quickly for storm camping. This season, not so much. Weapons are far more common to be caught while fishing and there’s a wider variety of fish this season, some that don’t provide any heals. Lastly, I don’t know if it’s a bug or not but it seems like 10% of the time, you’ll feel a bite and reel in nothing. That also hurts when you’re desperate for heals.
- Unless you’re a great fighter, choose to die to the storm rather than a player, once you’ve reached the top 5. Seems that in an effort to have Ranked Battle Busses deploy quickly, lobby rankings are not honored very strictly. For example, in a Champion lobby I finished 2nd and was eliminated by a Gold ranked player. This resulted in me moving up 7%. In a different Champion ranked game, I finished 2nd to an Unreal player and moved up 15%.
Bonus tip! I wrote a “Storm Camping Song” that sums up my Fortnite storm camping strategy in a fun song. Listen to it here.
Closing Thoughts on Ranking up
It’s way too easy. I hope that Fortnite does something to fix this otherwise pursuing Unreal in Fortnite is not challenging and will become relatively meaningless.
