Fortnite: Save the World (STW) seems to have a strange learning curve to me. The game doesn’t really do any early “hand-holding” whatsoever. By “hand-holding”, I mean a game where they force you to do a few basic missions and teach you how all the controls work. I’ve been playing Nintendo Games for over 30 years, and most their games start off with a lot of hand-holding.
Instead, Fortnite: Save the World uses the the “Trial by Fire” technique. Learn quickly or die!
I had not played Fortnite: Battle Royale, so I was not familiar with the building aspect of this shooter game. The controls of the shooter are similar to other shooters, so that was relatively easy to pick up.
One of early missions asks you to build a radar tower:
I stood there looking at the schematics, going WTF? How am I going to build this? I didn’t know how to build weird-ass walls, or turning staircases. STW doesn’t teach you how to build at all. I stood there attempting to build side-walls, and partial staircases, and I was having a hell of a time figuring it out. Of course, the husks/zombies don’t care if you’re struggling – chomp, chomp, chomp. Just because you’re holding a building plan in your hand doesn’t mean the zombies are going to take a nap. Then, of course, another player shows up and throws a perfect tower together in about 45 seconds, while you’re just standing there holding your pud.
So this is a: “How to Build Walls for Absolute Beginners Guide”
This game is scheduled to be free at the end of the 2018, and I assume there are going to others having a tiny bit of trouble like me. So here is a simple guide to get you going. I play on a PS4, so your controls might a bit different, but this should still help you. Here is a link to the corresponding XBox Controls. The buttons are essentially in the same place.
Combat Pro vs. Builder Pro Configurations
The PS4 default controls configuration (in the settings) on the PS4 are “Combat Pro”. Some people prefer “Builder Pro”. Builder Pro can be great for Battle Royale, and you may want to consider it. This guide is based on Combat Pro as that’s more of a default for Save the World right now.
To start building PS4 players need to tap “O” (the circle button). If you hold down the “O” button for a few seconds you will summon your Hoverboard (when you get it), so just tap it.
At first you will be looking at the “Building a Wall: schematic. L1/R1 will let you cycle through the 4 building options:
- Walls
- Floors / Ceilings
- Stairs
- Pyramids
For this guide, we’re going to focus on Walls and some Pyramid simple Pyramid walls.
Hitting the L2 Button will cycle you through the 3 different building materials:
- Wood
- Brick
- Steel
Pushing down the Right Joystick (R3) will rotate the wall. This will come in handy later.
Pushing down R2 will construct the solid 3×3 solid wall your looking at.
To edit your wall you need to hold down the “O” buttons for a full second. If you simply tap it, you will revert back to combat mode. So hold down the “O” button.
There are over a dozen different wall structures you can build. Here are some basic ones you’ll be using quite a bit in the Fortnite: Save the World.
How to Build a Low Wall:
Low walls will slow down Husks, and still allow you to shoot over them. You can also attach wall spikes to them.
- Tap “O”
- Use L1/R1 to select the Wall option (Walls are default)
- Hold “O” for a full second to edit the wall (brings up the 3×3 grid)
- Use your joystick cursor to point to squares you wish to add or remove. Hit R2 to toggle sections blue or grey. Blue sections will be included, grey sections will be excluded. For a low wall, you just want the 3 bottom sections to be blue.
- Confirm by pressing “O”
- Hit R2 to build the wall
How to Build a Mid Wall:
- Tap “O”
- Use L1/R1 to select the Wall option (Walls are default)
- Hold “O” for a full second to edit the wall (brings up the 3×3 grid)
- Use your joystick cursor to point to squares you wish to add or remove. Hit R2 to toggle sections blue or grey. Grey out the Top Row.
- Confirm by pressing “O”
- Hit R2 to build the wall
How to Build Wall with a Window:
Walls with Windows are required in many radar towers. They also will slow down Husks, and still allow you to shoot through them.
- Tap “O”
- Use L1/R1 to select the Wall option (Walls are default)
- Hold “O” for a full second to edit the wall (brings up the 3×3 grid)
- Use your joystick cursor to point to the middle square to make it grey with R2.
- Confirm by pressing “O”
- Hit R2 to build the wall
How to Build Angled Walls
- Tap “O”
- Use L1/R1 to select the Wall option (Walls are default)
- Hold “O” for a full second to edit the wall (brings up the 3×3 grid)
- Use your joystick cursor to point to squares you wish to add or remove. You have to grey out 3 corner squares (any corner you wish). Use R2 to toggle grey/blue squares.
- Confirm by pressing “O”
- Hit R2 to build the wall
How to Build a Wall with a Center Door:
You will be building these a lot so that you can access what’s inside.
- Tap “O”
- Use L1/R1 to select the Wall option (Walls are default)
- Hold “O” for a full second to edit the wall (brings up the 3×3 grid)
- Use your joystick cursor to point to the bottom two middle squares. Make them grey by pushing R2.
- Confirm by pressing “O”
- Hit R2 to build the wall
How to Build an Archway:
- Tap “O”
- Use L1/R1 to select the Wall option (Walls are default)
- Hold “O” for a full second to edit the wall (brings up the 3×3 grid)
- Use your joystick cursor to point to the bottom row, and middle square. Make them grey by pushing R2.
- Confirm by pressing “O”
- Hit R2 to build the wall
How to Build Pyramid Wall Piece:
- Tap “O”
- Use L1/R1 to select the Pyramid option
- Hold “O” for a full second to edit the wall (brings up the 2×2 grid)
- Use your joystick cursor to point to the two sections you want the wall to slant towards. This is the section that will not touch the ground.
- Confirm by pressing “O”
- Hit R2 to build the Pyramid wall. (on the right in the picture below)
How to Build a Pyramid Corner Piece:
- Tap “O”
- Use L1/R1 to select the Pyramid option
- Hold “O” for a full second to edit the wall (brings up the 2×2 grid)
- Use your joystick cursor to point to one of the corner pieces to slightly raise it above the ground. This is the section that will not touch the ground.
- Confirm by pressing “O”
- Hit R2 to build the Pyramid corner.
These walls and the corner sections are the foundations to building a Pyramid in Fortnite.
Other Wall Building Tips
- Walls can be easily edited – Go up to the wall, Tap “O” to enter the building editor, and edit the piece you wish to fix.
- Walls can be rotated – Push the R3 in (right joystick button) to easily rotate walls and staircase in the edit mode.
More Fortnite Wall Patterns:
Here are some other walls you can build. I don’t find myself needing to build these very often, but they’re available if you need them:
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