Chapter 3 Season 1 (referred to as Chapter 3 from now on) had an awesome (awful?) start. It reminds of a Dickens’ Quote —
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times
The first two days of the Chapter were a mess. Matches were almost impossible to win. Sliding mechanics took some time to get used to. After almost a month of playing, I am yet to confidently include sliding in combat, although sliding during rotation and early loot will come to any player naturally.
Spiderman’s Web-shooters
When I saw Spiderman being the Tier 100 Skin (the sole reason I bought the BattlePass this season) and the BattlePass trailer showed the web slinging mechanic, I was a little sad to have to fight Spiderman to take his web shooters. However, I was pleasantly surprised on December 10th when the web shooters were introduced (Fortnite logins started failing again on that Sunday) as being loots spawning around the map in small backpacks. Reminded me of the in-game quest of Sony’s Spiderman (2018), where I had to go around NYC to collect memories. The sack usually drops a heal and the web-shooters.
Swinging around the map was a different experience to start with. It’s a balanced item because -
It spawns at known locations, so it doesn’t depend on luck like Loot Llama’s with chug guns.
It has 80 web-shots.
It has a 10 second cool down after you have swung for sometime. So you have to time your landing.
I’m a huge fan of this Mythic Item in Middle and Late-game because it is such a cool and tactical way to gain height. In all my games, I have never exclusively went for this, but will always find some moron, swinging on me and dying. If you have this mythic, you don’t really have to worry about the zone — it’s ridiculously fast way to rotate.
Winterfest Gifts
In the Winterfest I have gotten five mention-worthy rewards -
Blizzabelle - A PC exclusive skin, which I got by logging into Fortnite account on The Gaming Project for an hour. As an aside, I wish I could play on that platform, but 100 ms+ ping makes a game like Fortnite unplayable on it. It’s low-latency and gives a consistent 120 fps for moderate graphics settings, but the overall experience is completely derailed because of network latency.
The Sentinel Glider - It’s part of Matrix collaboration. It’s given away as a free glider. It’s a unique glider, because it increases the FOV while gliding. It does give a modicum of competitive advantage, but it goes well with my Paul Atreides (Dune bundle). It’s one of my most used gifts from Winterfest.
A Red Shovel - It’s official name is not this, but it’s basically a red snow shovel. It’s a fun pickaxe, though, it’s unlikely that I will ever use it.
Krisabelle - This is the PC exclusive skin with a red color, more Christmas themed.
Ice Peely - Ridiculous troll skin, which exists as a troll to 2300 vBucks Ice Legends Bundle (which I bought for my third Midas variant)
At the time of writing, Epic is still working on their last gift for the Winterfest, with a glitch which says that there’s still one unopened gift, when there are none.
Fortnite Server Outage
Fortnite was down for about 5 hours on the night of 29th December. In almost 18 months of playing the game, this is the first time the game was out for so long.
My Loot Route
After hours and hours of playing Duos and Solos, I think I have finally found my favourite drop spots in the Chapter 3 Map. I have done the best I could to annotate the Map. Open the link as you read along. Here’s a screenshot from Fortnite.gg of the area of the Map that I am talking about.
My preferred drop spot is the Petrol Pump near Logjam Lumberyard (marked as the drop spot). I discovered this place, before SypherPK made a video about it. His focus was on the Spiderman mythic and vault. However, my focus was on four to five chests that spawn in this Petrol Pump.
When you drop at this petrol, it is likely that it will not be contested, even if it is very early on in the Bus Route. Most of the players would be going for Spiderman Web-shooters, and if it’s a Duos+ mode, players would be going for the vault. In any case, there’s a high chance that you would get a weapon from top of the pump.
The Petrol Pump has a ton of loot, enough even for a Trio. There are usually 4-5 chests, along with 8 slurp barrels, a mending machine, an ice box. There’s a cabin near the pump, which also can have two chests. There’s lot of mobility, with a guaranteed quad-crasher or a 4x4 (with tires to put on).
It is likely that while you are looting, you will hear people fighting either at the vault above or at Logjam Lumberyard. If you are confident with your loot (an assault rifle or even the Stinger SMG and a Shotgun), you should use the 4x4 to drive up to the vault. If it’s looted, take a rift to Logjam, get all the wood that you need for match. The fights in the Logjam will be getting over by the time you finish this rotation. If you are lucky, you may catch a few players off-guard. There’s another complication that may arise due to Llama Homestead.
Llama Homestead is a place for a guaranteed Llama, and the NPC there, when killed drops a Blue Ranger and a Blue Striker Pump. It is likely that players will keep visiting this place, even if the match has progressed in the hope of finding the Llama or getting the Blue Pump Shotgun.
There have been tons of times, I have died near Logjam, with players on the other side of the water (at Crackshot’s Cabin) shooting and rushing us. The one’s rushing us usually have Llama loot. Hence, a tip - Avoid this area. Right after you harvest wood at Logjam, have a vehicle ready to rotate away from the Llama area.
If you somehow mess up your drop, you can go for the Llama yourself. Get a few weapons and bullets from the Crackshot’s Cabin and go for it. Kill the NPC to get his weapon, and rotate out.
From January 7th, snow is expected to start melting away, revealing new locations and maybe new options. Subscribe for more posts like this.