Where are the best landing spots in Fortnite?

The excitement of a Fortnite match begins before you even pick up a weapon: when players jump out of the Battle Bus, their very first task is figuring out where to land. And this decision’s importance can’t be understated: it can easily decide whether a makes it to the later stages of the game, or goes up in smoke. 

How players choose their own best landing spots in Fortnite, however, can vary dramatically. Some, for example, will look for the most strategic and defensible positions on the map. Others will pick different squad, solo, or trio landing spots based on density of loot and the frequency of combat (or the lack thereof). Still others will drop in scenic locations like Sanguine Suites… just because it’s a beautiful area!

(We all need some R&R once in a while, right?) If you need some help picking the best places to land to secure that Victory Royale, you’re in luck: read on to find the definitive best landing spots in Fortnite Battle Royale Patch 26.30.

Relentless retreat: Best landing spot for high eliminations

Roughly speaking, you can divide Fortnite Battle Royale competitors into two groups: players who actively seek out engagements to chase eliminations, and players who opt for a more conservative, combat-light strategy.

While both approaches can net teams the coveted Victory Royale, the optimal landing spots for players will change based on how they approach the game.

If you’re a player who enjoys the thrill of a good gunfight (and if your ideal road to the top is paved by the bodies of eliminated opponents), consider landing at Relentless Retreat’s main complex, located on the bottom-left corner of the map.

Relentless Retreat carries a double dubious distinction: it’s one of the most-landed spots on the map, and it’s the point of interest (POI) with one of the highest Patch 26.30 death tolls (the latter statistic, as of writing, is only contested by Sanguine Suites… there must be something in the vacation water).

By landing at this sandy resort, you’ll be able to finish your “deal damage” and “eliminate opponents” quests more quickly than if you landed at a less-populated POI… just make sure you’re hitting your shots.

BRUTAL BASTION: BEST LANDING SPOT FOR SURVIVAL

We all need a little low-intensity warmup game before hopping into the thick of it, and sometimes you and your squad will want to avoid desperate, scrappy, gray-weapon-on-gray-weapon skirmishes early on.

If this is more your speed, consider dropping at Brutal Bastion: the Nordic-inspired, snow-covered fortress.

This guidance may strike some players as counterintuitive: why go to a POI with one of the highest landing densities in Patch 26.30, if our goal is surviving with minimal casualties?

The answer lies in a rather odd paradox: for the past couple of patches (going back to Patch 26.00), though Brutal Bastion has consistently been one of the most-dropped POIs, it has simultaneously been one of the major POIs with the lowest density of deaths.

This above the same map used to show Relentless Retreat’s density of deaths… but now look at Brutal Bastion’s heat zone. Notice how, comparatively speaking, very few deaths occur in this POI.

And as a major POI, Brutal Bastion comes with all the trimmings: chests, a capture point, ziplines, trampolines, and loot galore. So, evidently, players who drop at Brutal Bastion are getting many of the benefits that come with hot drops… without the accompanying risk.

As for why players are dying less at this snow-capped castle? Our best guess is that the unique mountainous terrain, the fortress’s maze-like hallways, and the wealth of escape options (e.g., trampolines and ziplines) let players loot quickly and get away safely, a combined luxury afforded by few other major POIs in the game.

MEGA CITY: BEST LANDING SPOT FOR LOOT AND CHESTS

This one is for the players who crave the dopamine rush that comes with finding Mythic or Legendary items from chests, competitors who require the strongest possible arsenal, or those who simply need to find loot and open chests to fulfill their daily quests.

The math is simple: the more possible floor-loot spawn points, the higher the chance of finding a strong weapon to defend yourself with off drop. According to the above map, several major POIs in the game—including Mega City (243 floor-loot spawns), Sanguine Suites (265), and Brutal Bastion (293), all circled in yellow—present as strong candidates for the best Fortnite landing spot, as far as loot is concerned.

However, as any Fortnite player knows, floor loot isn’t the only way to spruce up your arsenal: chests, in fact, often offer higher-quality upgrades. And when we look at the number of chest spawns in each POI, we get a more thorough overall picture.

This map, also taken from fortnite.gg, shows the number of possible chest spawns at each major POI.

Now, when looking at the best floor-loot POIs with their accompanying number of chests, we see the following figures:

• Sanguine Suites: 265 floor spawns, 109 chests
• Brutal Bastion: 293 floor spawns, 83 chests
• Mega City: 243 floor spawns, 120 chests

These figures are complicated somewhat by the presence of possible buried chests (of the three listed POIs, only Brutal Bastion has the possibility of spawning buried chests).

On the whole, however: if your goal is to open as many chests as possible, we recommend Mega City strictly for the numbers—but keep in mind that this recommendation is tempered by the amount of combat you’ll probably face in this POI.

If you’d like to face a lower chance of early elimination, Brutal Bastion might still be your best bet.

“WHERE WE DROPPIN’, BOYS?”