A few days ago, I eclipsed 500 wins in Fortnite: Battle Royale. It has taken six years, but I have done it. Below, I will describe my favorite wins during this time. These will be in order by season, except for the last one since it is my favorite.
I play Fortnite mainly as a means to kill time when the rest of my family is asleep, more or less. My work schedule requires me to flip flop my work schedule between days and nights and a lot of these wins occur when I am on a night rotation and off of work that particular night. This is not me trying to be a hard core streamer or play in the FNCS or anything like that; it is mainly as a way to blow off steam when I don't have to attend to fatherly or husbandly duties. I also have autism with savant tendencies, which explains why I can remember some obscure details about matches I played in a game up to and over 5 years ago.
Knowing that, here are my favorite wins:
"The One That Started It All"
Chapter 1, Season 4, Solo Builds
I came into Fortnite after the Thanos crossover had ended for Avengers: Infinity War. I naturally had no idea what I was doing. My very first match I inadvertently loaded into squads fill, wandered Wailing Woods for a while, then thought I could just pickaxe someone.
Anyway, as the season went on I had a better idea of what I was doing, though I still stayed away from most fights. In this win, I was laying low while 2nd and 3rd got into it, and ran up when 2nd finished. 2nd tried to build up, but I didn't do anything. Perhaps thinking he could get an easy win, he jumped down to the ground and I eliminated him with a green tactical shotgun.
"Silence is Golden"
Chapter 1, Season 7, Squad Builds (no fill)
I took a long break from Fortnite that lasted for much of Season 6 and half of Season 7. I only had 4 wins up to that point and I found the whole thing rather frustrating. For some reason when I did get back at it (well after the Ice King event), I did solo squads. The first match that I ended up winning, I had the TV muted as my wife slept nearby, with no headset, and no visual audio. I sky camped in a plane the whole match, ditched into Fatal Fields, and hid amongst the corn as the endgame fighting raged around me. I got a few third-party knocks in, got ahead of the storm, and ambushed the last player with a purple pump shotgun.
"Don't Ask Me How I Got My Season X Umbrella"
Chapter 1, Season X, Close Encounters Duos (No Fill)
Back when Fortnite had LTMs, one of the ones they had was a shotgun only mode called Close Encounters. Up close and personal was not my play style at the time, so the strategy was to employ sky bases, which could not be shot down due to the lack of any medium to long range weapons. I did my thing, built a base off a hill between Fatal Fields and Salty Springs, and parked it up there with a bunch of heals. A duo strayed a bit to my level, but I drove them away with junk rifts. I had heals for a heal off and was content to let the other duos duke it out below me. The storm closed, I got primed to use the heals...and I won. That would be the first of three 0 kill wins I have had, the other two occurring in C2S7 and C2S8, respectively.
"Minigun Mania"
Chapter 2, Season 2, Squad Builds (No Fill)
During the long second season of Chapter 2, the lobbies were filled with up to 80% AI. I'm not sure why, since this season occurred during the COVID-19 lockdowns and there was certainly no shortage of players for a given match. Regardless, this season and the heavy AI lobbies gave me the opportunity to really get going as a player. I won 19 matches that season, 8 of which were solo squads. Up to that point, the most wins I had in a season was 2.
In this particular match, I used a strategy from a SypherPK video where you got both a mythic and legendary minigun with full ammo and just went ham. I had not ever really bullied a lobby before, but I basically got through the match unscathed with my first ever 10+ kill match. This was the first time I had gone 1 v 3 in the end game as well, as they opposing players could not coordinate their strategy due to the relentless spray from the miniguns.
"Who You Gonna Call?"
Chapter 2, Season 4, Solo Builds
During Fortnitemares 2020, if you were killed you would spawn back in as a ghost with a chance to team up with other ghosts to defeat all of the remaining "living" players and get a "Nightmare Royale". In this match, I had had a slow game, only 2 or 3 kills going into the end game. However, there were about 20 ghosts and they were tearing apart Lazy Lake looking for me and the last remaining player. Fortunately, when you eliminated a ghost, they blasted you away about 10 meters, so I used a combat shotgun and just blasted away. Somehow, I cleared the lobby of all ghosts and in the process, ran up my first 20 bomb. While it does not count in the traditional sense (my first real 20 bomb is listed later), I had not seen a number like that before and I found it very amusing.
"Bombs Away!"
Chapter 2, Season 7, Solo Builds
In this alien themed season, there were UFOs that one could take up and blast away at enemies. They did not have unlimited life though, and would need to get back on the ground to recharge before one could take off again. Unless, of course, there were giant space ships parked over locations that one could rest a UFO on and sky camp while the battle rages below.
In this match, I was parked over Slurpy Swamp for the duration of the match and taking potshots at players. The storm finally forced me off, and I took a UFO over the narrowing zone and spammed the two players below me trying to fight it out in the traditional sense. As Lazarbeam would say though "Memes Beats Sweats".
"100th Solo Win"
Chapter 2, Season 7, Solo Builds
On the very last night of C2S7, I was on the cusp of my 100th solo win (My 100th overall win had occurred earlier that season). I had an all-nighter before my work week started and I spent the entire night trying to eke out that 100th solo dub. I finally got it at the end of the night in chaotic end game around Steamy Stacks. I got ahead of the storm, however, and was able to eliminate the last player as he tried to rotate in. The kill came with a tactical shotgun, which would turn out to be the last time I got to use that particular shotgun until Fortnite OG some 2 years later.
"A Record Setter"
Chapter 2, Season 8, Solo Builds
In what appeared to be standard match at first, I was bouncing around the southwestern corner of the map, mainly punishing AI around Lazy Lake and getting up to 7 or 8 kills, nothing too crazy for me by that point. However, as the end game turned to the hills between Lazy Lake and Retail Row, I seemed to be drawing in everyone's fire. I did have central position in the storm, which probably had something to do with it. I did have a full stack of metal and a legendary rapid fire SMG (the fastest SMG in the history of the game) and was able to take down player after player. As the storm shifted away, I was able to build a tunnel to stave off the last player while I desperately tried to heal. He breached the wall, however, and I was forced to fight, and win. At that point, the 15 kill win would prove to be my highest kill match until Chapter 4.
"Do Something!"
Chapter 2, Season 8, Solo Builds
In the final days of Chapter 2, a countdown was located over a river between Boney Burbs and Pleasant Park to announce how long it was until "The End" event occurred. In this particular match, I landed at the makeshift fort where the event would take place and sat there for a full three minutes with the "Have a Seat" emote watching the countdown. When the sound of trouble came to close, I only belatedly started loading up for the match ahead. Despite my deliberately slow start, I managed to get a 6 kill win that ended with my bullying someone with a burst assault rifle from on top of the canyon between Lake Lake and the center of the map (then covered with the Pyramid).
"Last Match, Last Win (Chapter 2 Edition)
Chapter 2, Season 8, Solo Builds
Chapter 2 will always be held in high regard for me as this was the map I was able to turn a corner and start winning a high number of matches. I won 10 matches in all of Chapter 1, and 129 throughout Chapter 2. In the final days before "The End" event, I started this match at Pleasant Park, far in the northeast, and go all the way to the southwest at Camp Cod deep down in the mountains of that area. I had always won a disproportionate amount of matches that pulled to the the mountains that ringed the southern portion of that map, and this one proved no different. I got a rocket launcher from supply drop and punished people with it from on top of a log cabin at Camp Cod. After 3rd place mistakenly opened his build and I snuck a rocket in there, 2nd came down from atop his mountain perhaps thinking he could ambush me. He did not know that I was at full strength (having been untouched by 3rd) and dispatched him in short order with a burst assault rifle to bring Chapter 2 to a close for me.
"Three is Company"
Chapter 3, Season 1, Trio Builds
Now we get into the matches where I am not necessarily a solo act. At the beginning of Chapter 3, Season 1, my friend "J" (who it should be noted got me into the game in the first place), started playing again and we got a duos win together. Then we dragged our friend "A" in as well. We won exactly one match together that season (I wasn't playing much because I was put off by the completely different weapon loadout). We third-partied the 3rd and 4th place trios and after dispatching them, was rushed by 2nd place. We managed to take them out to claim our only builds win as a trio, as the next season would see the advent of Zero Builds.
"Get Out of the Way!"
Chapter 3, Season 2, Trio Zero Builds
In the last match of the season before the Collider event, my friends and I were roaming around punishing the lobby, and running up the kill count with 25 or so eliminations between the three of us. "J" had gotten his mitts on a helicopter and was roaming around trying to find the last solo player, all the while blasting "The Ride of the Valkyries". The last player opened fire on him for some reason rather than laying low, and "A" and I rushed to the scene. "J", however, took it upon himself to try to run over the player with the helicopter, blocking him from my purple drum shotgun. After "J" made his pass, I managed to get the elimination, though "J" was very amused with his antics in the attempt.
"Last Match, Last Win" (Chapter 3 edition)
Chapter 3, Season 4, Trio Zero Builds
Towards the end of Chapter 3, I changed my playstyle up from hiding all match to actively engaging enemy players as the match went on. I had my first 1000 kill season, I was getting wins in both builds and zero builds, and had my first solo 10 elimination win in some time. Of all these, the last match of the chapter was the most memorable. Our drop was our favored location in Chapter 3, Chonkers Speedway, and we rotated north in another dominating win of ours that ended in Chrome (formerly Coney) Crossroads. In a rather chaotic ending between three full trios, "A" and "J" got knocked and somehow I ended up blasting the last player inadvertently thinking there was still another trio to be dealt, though it turned out they had already been dispatched.
"A Record Setter, Part 2"
Chapter 4, Season 1, Duo Zero Builds (with "A")
With the new aggressive playstyle, I broke multiple records this season. Most wins (to that point), most 10+ kill wins, highest KDR (to that point), highest elimination total (to that point). In this match, "A" and I landed at Frenzy Fields, moved north, then back into the Fields as the circle closed there. At that gas station near Frenzy, "A" was knocked and eliminated and I got caught in the crossfire between several duos. I somehow got all of them. After rebooting "A", we moved back into Frenzy Fields, eliminated the third place duo, which left a single opponent. My "Storm Mark" augment tagged the player hiding behind a tractor. I went for the "overkill" win and blasted the tractor into the player with Deku's Smash. It was a 17 elimination win for me, breaking my record from C2S8 mentioned above.
"Shout!"
Chapter 4, Season 1, Solo Zero Builds
In my last win of C4S1, I was chasing story quests and ran into another player doing the same. As is proper in these cases, I indicated a truce and this player and another joined in a synced emote "Shout" (the Lloyd Williams song) that lasted for several minutes until the storm drove us away. The first player that had joined ended up fourth, victim of a Deku's Smash, but I immediately dispatched the offending player. Then 2nd place tried to use a Deku's Smash on me, but I shot him down before he could fire it. Then I started performing "Shout" again.
"Nah, I Just Did it Solo"
Chapter 4, Season 3, Duo Zero Builds (Solo)
I liked the "Wilds" season. I set a wins record again (broken in C5S1) and eclipsed 10 Duos Wins in a single season for the first time. While most of them were with "A", a soloed a few of them, including my last one of the season when I was deliberating chasing a win to get to 10 Duo dubs. On the third try, I got a 9 kill win by eliminating three of the last four duos. When I told my friends I had gotten the win, I was asked if I had been doing fills and I simply said I had done it by myself
"The 20 bomb"
Chapter 4, Season 4, Solo Zero Builds
I wished I had played the Last Resort season more. The heists were fun, the "Fortnitemares" event was awesome, and it was nice to see some old familiar weapons. In this match, I started up in the north and just started piling up elimination after elimination. The match ended south of Shattered Slabs, where I had picked off 5th and 3rd to eclipse 20 eliminations. I very nearly choked that under the weight of what I was trying to accomplish, but I did manage to clip the last player to secure my first (for real, no ghosts this time) 20 elimination game.
"Another 20 bomb"
Chapter 4, Season 4, Duo Zero Builds (with "A")
As the season wound down, I had completed all of the available quests, cleared Level 200, and was just playing for fun at that point. That may have explained why I did not feel nearly as pressured when I went apocalyptic in this match as well. Armed with a gold twin-mag AR (I miss those) and the vampiric blade, "A" and I ravaged that lobby. In the end game near Brutal Bastion, I "1 v 2'd" a duo by blasting them out of the sky as they tried to redeploy, then watched as the lobby fell apart to singles besides "A" and I. I had a general idea of where they were based on recent fighting, and led "A" into one, and then the other. I was not paying attention, but "A" called my attention after securing the win that I had had 20 eliminations again.
"Nana Nana"
Chapter 5, Season 2, Ranked Solo Zero Builds
While the main skin that I use is Boardwalk Ruby, I will sometimes put on shuffle and let it rotate through my presets. For some reason, I always do inexplicably well when I use a meme skin. I have had several high profile wins as "Fabio Sparklemane". In this one, while using the "Peely" skin, during the Avater: The Last Airbender" crossover, I was doing ranked matches when the strategy to survive to the endgame was to get Airbending and roll around until the opportune moment. I cannot imagine the 2nd was particular happy about losing to an overripe banana doing the "Nana nana" emote in a competitive match.
"That's It?"
Chapter 5, Season 3, Duo Zero Builds (with "J", and "A" Spectating)
As it turns out, this was win 498. In a duos match, "J" and I were roaming around completing quests as somewhat solo players. We both had a successful "1 v 2" before falling back in together and capturing Loot Island. When we had gone to capture the island, I had noted there were 13 players left besides us and thinking with so few we likely would not be contested (we were not). A duo with two medallions was situated near the island and we started taking shots at them. One of them foolishly zipped up right where "J" and I (and his hired NPC, Artemis) were sitting and quickly regretted it. The other part of that duo took off towards Reckless Railways and we gave chase, feeling rather bullish. The POI was the scene of intense fighting that wound down on our approach. Someone had third partied the guy we were chasing and Artemis pinged him hiding in a building below me. The ping showed he was trying to use a med kit, to which I said, "Oh, hell no". I dropped in on him, thinking I could get him quick and take the medallions for the end game. It was to all three of our shock when that elimination ended the match. No one had been keeping track of the player count while we were chasing that player and once we got over our shock, we had a good laugh about it.
"500 f***ing wins"
Chapter 5, Season 3, Zero Build Trios
I cannot do this one justice. I had insisted on waiting to get 500 until all three of us could do it at once because I wanted it to be a special occasion. What I did not expect was a combined 27 elimination match that saw us ravage the lobby with all three medallions, all but two of the mythic weapons, and all three mythic cars. It was one thing to get the 500th, but to do so in such a legendary way instead of accidently lucking into it was phenomenal.
And my absolute favorite:
"The Deku Smash"
Chapter 4, Season 1, Trio Zero Builds
I had had a flair for drama in this season with the Deku's Smash. I had used it to end my then record setting match listed above, and also had used it to win a trios match that I had essentially soloed (with 12 kills) as "A" and "J" had been downed doing quests. But this one, I cannot top. In a match I happened to be streaming for some reason, we started in Slappy Shores, lost "A" in the midgame, then lost "J" trying to rotate out of the storm. I only got away with a Shockwave Hammer. I was in a bad way, with no ammo and poor weaponry when I stumbled upon a Deku crate. It came down to the last two trios and tried my best to stay out of trouble in a vague hope of third partying whoever survived.
This win was so dumbfoundingly awesome that I did not pick up the game again for over a week because I kept thinking "There's no way I top this, ever". And even as I have had a couple hundred or more wins since then, that remains the case.
