With Fortnite gearing up for the New Year, it’s a bit obvious that a new chapter of the game is about to be released. After all, Fortnite’s been a pillar of looter-shooter games since it was unveiled. But now, after a pretty exciting end to Chapter 2, it’s time to welcome Fortnite Chapter 3.
What Is Fortnite Chapter 3?
Fortnite Chapter 3 is the continuation of Fortnite’s larger story about the Seven and their fight against the Imagined Order. We don’t know much about the Imagined Order’s motivations for attempting to control the Zero Point other than for power. Hopefully, more of their motivations will be revealed in later Chapters.
Fortnite Chapter 3 Story
After the events of Fortnite Chapter 2, the whole island was on the verge of defeating the Cube Queen. The Seven work together alongside several Loopers to bring the Zero Point under control and stop the Imagined Order’s plans for it. To defeat the Cube Queen, though, they need to “Flip” the island, ensuring that the Cube Queen will drown from the island flipping itself.
As the island flips, a new version of it is revealed, after which the resulting tsunami knocks the Looper unconscious. An undetermined amount of time passes before the Looper awakens on an island, with the rest of the Seven and other Loopers taking refuge. The Foundation welcomes them, glad that they still live, but stated that the real fight has just begun.
New Features in Fortnite Chapter 3
Gameplay Features
As of right now, there’s a few things that changed in Fortnite—temporarily and permanently. The Island is the most obvious change, but other than this, there are also a few additional quirks to the game’s movement and other parts.
For one, players can now slide around the Island. This adds additional mobility to the game as players can jump on an incline and slide down for more speed. This can get them to cover faster, allow some sick plays, and jump higher if timed properly. Do note that they’ve removed quick crouching to add this in, so there’s a give and take thing going on. In addition, the addition of crouching also screwed up the game’s movement mechanics a bit. Time will tell if this is a bug or something that players need to get used to.
Other than this, they’ve added Spider-Man’s web-shooters in celebration of Spider-Man: No Way Home. This is, bar none, the best thing they’ve added into the game as of this point. The sheer amount of maneuverability that you can have with the web-shooters is so much, that you can go from one end of the island to another in minutes.
Also Read: Spider-Man: Miles Morales Review
The Island
Fortnite’s map is an ever-changing beast. There’s nothing much to say about it. Over the years, we’ve seen it transform into several iterations. From the rolling greens of yesteryear to a winding water pathway-ridden maze. Now, though, it’s mostly covered in frosty ice, given that it’s Christmas. But there are a few additions as well as two returning locales. We’ll talk about the locales that players can visit below:
Sanctuary
When the Rock defeated the Box Queen (with a little help from some allies and yours truly), he flips the Fortnite Map. Because of this, several locations got scattered around and some old locales were put back in place. However, the Sanctuary is one of the new additions to the game’s map. Located on the east side, it’s a harbor with a few small islets inside it. Each islet has a house or two, and one islet has a giant statue of the Rock in it.
On the harbor itself, there are a few buildings reminiscent of the science buildings from the meteor crash site. Inside are several loot chests, a few guns, and things to destroy to get building materials. You’ll find mostly wood materials here, but some of the houses are made of bricks and there are steel chairs and tables for steel materials.
Last but not the least, Sanctuary is home to some pretty dangerous NPC enemies, specifically The Foundation. That NPC has a pretty dangerous Mythic Weapon, and a bomb attack so powerful it’ll make you question your life choices. But if you kill him, you’ll get his gun, and that gun’s pretty good.
The Daily Bugle
The iconic Spider-Man building makes its way to Fortnite. The Daily Bugle is Chapter 3’s version of Tilted Towers and it doesn’t disappoint. However, the main difference between the original Daily Bugle and this one is the fact that it’s in the middle of a volcano crater. Pretty hardcore.
Other than this, the Daily Bugle also has a lot of Spider-Man references. There are webs all over the locale, and even pictures of Spider-Man’s greatest foes and allies. As of right now, Miles Morales, the X-Men, Loki, and most notably, Green Goblin have posters all around the Daily Bugle.
In addition to this, there’s also a picture of 2002’s Spider-Man somewhere in the Daily Bugle locale. Whether this is a hint for the future or just a homage is as of now unknown.
Camp Cuddle
Next on the list is Camp Cuddle, a campsite located in the west, winter side of the Island. Inside you’ll find the usual things. Chests, weapons, meds, extra materials to do your builds, et cetera. There are also four NPCs in Camp Cuddle that’ll offer players trades in exchange for materials. The NPCs are based out of the Cuddle Team, which is pretty appropriate given the camp’s name. Other than this, there’s nothing much in Camp Cuddle, but it’s a good place to go to for loot.
Greasy Grove
Next, we have Greasy Grove, an old locale that makes a return in Fortnite Chapter 3. Located in the southwest portion of the Island, Greasy Grove has stayed relatively the same for its entire tenure on the map. There are a few changes here and there, for one, Durr Burger’s gone, replaced by a Tacos Restaurant. But the general feel of Greasy Grove is still there.
The Tacos Restaurant was added a few seasons ago, which replaced the Durr Burger for story reasons. Usually, there’s a Taco dance there, but now it’s gone. The Greasy Grove section also has the usual chests, materials, meds, et cetera for players to loot. But compared to the Daily Bugle, it’s not a hotspot. At least, if the Battle Bus doesn’t go down its route near the locale.
Logjam Lumberyard
If the name’s familiar, it’s due to the Logjam Woodworks back in Chapter 2. The same owner, probably? We can’t be sure.
What remains true, however, is the fact that the Logjam Lumberyard is a great source of wood and steel materials. In addition to this, there’s a bunch of chests everywhere in the locale, giving players ample weapons, ammunition, and meds to fight off others. Given how much it offers, though, expect Logjam Lumberyard to be highly contested, so stay frosty.
Shifty Shafts
Next up is a surprise comeback from the original Fortnite Map, Shifty Shafts. This old locale is one of the highly contested ones back in the day due to its proximity to large amounts of wood for building. The mine still has its original chest spawns, but some of the houses were removed, specifically the two that were opposite Shifty Shafts and separated by a road. Whether the houses were thrown to another location due to the events of Chapter 2 or some other reason remains unknown.
Sleepy Sound
Sleepy Sound is one of the newest additions to Fortnite’s map. It’s located in the northern part of the Island, north of Coney Crossroads, which we’ll talk about later. The locale’s location is most notable due to its proximity to a harbor and a river. This allows players to get boats/speeders to blaze their way to the center of the map after getting the loot in the locale.
Other than this, the most notable landmark in Sleepy Sound is the Sticks restaurant, filled with chests and a lot of fish sticks. Do make sure you don’t choke.
Coney Crossroads
Just from the name itself, you can probably tell why it’s named that way. Coney Crossroads is in the middle of not only three roads, but also the river, which splits into three different directions.
In addition to this massive, coincidental game design choice, Coney Crossroads is located near the middle of the Island. Now that’s just rubbing it in. Still, this might change in later updates.
Rocky Reels
If it sounds familiar, this is because Rocky Reels is the Risky Reels Expy of the new Island. Located north of Chonker’s Speedway, the locale has several small buildings, and a giant screen to show movies on. There’s also a Reboot van in the middle of Risky Reels to revive fallen teammates as well.
Other than this, the locale is pretty unremarkable. This might change in later updates though, so it’s good to keep an eye out.
Chonker’s Speedway
Next is Chonker’s Speedway, and it’s one of the most fun locales on the new Island. For one, it’s a racetrack, with all the implications, including a few Whiplash Cars with Chonkers tires. Chonker’s Speedway is located in the desert biome far south. If you’re dropping here, there’s a really good loot area, with a lot of materials to scavenge, and four cars to use as getaway vehicles.
Condo Canyon
Its name should be enough of a hint at what this locale has. Condo Canyon is a condominium area with a few stores and even a plaza located in the middle of the Desert Biome. The various condominiums have good loot and materials to scavenge and pickaxe, but all in all, Condo Canyon is pretty unremarkable. There are some comparisons to Paradise Palms by some of the player base though.
The Joneses
Last but not least is the Joneses, a locale that players can access above the desert biome’s Condo Canyon. The Joneses has five houses, each with an NPC. Up to two NPCs can spawn in the Joneses every game and all of them are related to Fortnite’s current lore. All in all, pretty cool place, with decent loot chances and a lot of materials.
Weapons
In general, Fortnite has also made a really big overhaul in the game’s weaponry. This isn’t a surprise, as the developers always vault or release old and new weapons every Season. But now, there are quite a bit of new things for players to tinker with, which we’ll talk about below.
Ranger Assault Rifle
A fully automatic rifle with a slow fire rate and 25 bullet magazines and large bloom. It makes up for this with its high base damage though. It’s a good weapon to have in the early parts of the game but is overshadowed by the MK-7 Assault Rifle.
The Ranger Assault Rifle comes in Common (Gray), Uncommon (Green), Rare (Blue), Epic (Violet), and Legendary (Gold) variants.
Striker Pump Shotgun
Next on the list is the Striker, a Pump Shotgun with a slow fire rate but enormous damage potential. The shotgun’s tight spread makes it a deadly weapon in close-range combat. However, its usability plummets at longer ranges, which is pretty obvious due to being a shotgun. Make sure to keep a close eye on its magazine, as it only has five shots before the need to reload overcomes it. Also, the weapon hit scans and is more effective when firing down sights due to the tighter spread.
The Striker Pump Shotgun comes in Common (Gray), Uncommon (Green), Rare (Blue), Epic (Violet), and Legendary (Gold) variants.
Auto Shotgun
Another new shotgun is the Auto Shotty. As usual, Fortnite’s new automatic shotty has a high fire rate, decent damage, and a good magazine size of eight shots before reload. However, the reload rate is pretty bad, so it’s a good idea to have a backup weapon after the player’s used all his shots and needs to reload. Like the Striker, the Auto Shotgun is a hitscan weapon and has a tighter spread when aiming down sights.
The Auto Shotgun comes in Common (Gray), Uncommon (Green), Rare (Blue), Epic (Violet), and Legendary (Gold) variants.
MK-7 Assault Rifle
The MK-7 Assault Rifle is a really good weapon with decent damage, fire rate, and magazine capacity. In addition to all that, it has a Red Dot sight, something not seen on Fortnite before. Aiming down sights makes you go on a 1st Person perspective and overall, it’s like playing Call of Duty. It’s a good weapon to have and can be powerful at medium to long range.
The MK-7 Assault Rifle comes in Common (Gray), Uncommon (Green), Rare (Blue), Epic (Violet), and Legendary (Gold) variants. There’s also a Mythic Variant that can be obtained by killing the Foundation on Sanctuary.
Stinger SMG
Next on the list is the Stinger SMG, a weapon with a high fire rate, surprisingly good spread, good magazine size, and decent damage. It’s a good weapon at close range but medium range is also viable due to its tight spread. All in all, a great weapon to get if you have a metric ton of light ammunition.
The Stinger SMG comes in Common (Gray), Uncommon (Green), Rare (Blue), Epic (Violet), and Legendary (Gold) variants.
Sidearm Pistol
The Sidearm Pistol is a semi-automatic pistol with a good fire rate, and a decent, 15 round magazine. The gun is great at close to medium range combat but can be dangerous at long ranges due to its First Shot accuracy. With good tapping, players can snipe enemies from a long distance.
The Sidearm Pistol comes in Common (Gray), Uncommon (Green), Rare (Blue), Epic (Violet), and Legendary (Gold) variants.
Hunter Bolt-Action Sniper Rifle
And lastly, on the weapon part of this list is the Hunter Bolt-Action Sniper Rifle. From the name itself, it’s a bolt-action sniper with high damage and a three-round magazine. It’s a really strong weapon, capable of two-shotting enemies if it lands a hit at higher rarities. As per usual, the Sniper Rifle has a low fire rate and leaves players vulnerable while aiming. Ensure that your shots count.
The Hunter Bolt-Action Sniper Rifle comes in Common (Gray), Uncommon (Green), Rare (Blue), Epic (Violet), and Legendary (Gold) variants.
Other Interesting Stuff
Aside from the weapons, there are also a few interesting items worth discussing that might tickle your fancy.
Tents
Tents are a new unique item that comes in the Rare (Blue) rarity. It allows players to deploy a tent where they can store items for the next match or rest inside to heal 5 HP per second. Up to two items can be stored, and a third can be added in for 100 bars.
Guzzle Juice
Guzzle Juice is another healing item that comes in the Uncommon (Green) rarity. Drinking it takes 2 seconds and restores players to full HP, 2 HP per second. Taking damage stops the healing except for fall damage.
Med-Mist
Next on the list is Med-Mist, a healing consumable that allows players to heal 5 HP per second when held. In addition to this, players can also heal other team members, hired characters, and even enemies.
Victory Crown
Victory Crowns aren’t an item that you can use in a Fortnite match. Instead, it’s a collectible item that gives players extra EXP. Getting Victory Crowns depends on your standing in a match and on what mode you’re playing on. A Solo match means you need to be in the Top 4. Duos require the team to be on the Top 2, and Squads need to get the Victory Royale itself to get the Victory Crown.
Fortnite Chapter 3 Skins
As usual, every Fortnite Season means new skins for the taking. The current Battle Pass in particular is pretty cool for the sole reason that Spider-Man is in it. Other than that though, there are a few banging skins in the Battle Pass and the store, and with the addition of Victory Crowns, getting these skins is a whole lot easier.
Here’s a list of skins available on Fortnite’s Battle Pass in addition to their Variants:
- Shanta: Obtained when the Battle Pass is unlocked. Some quests in the Battle Pass give her additional armor, and there’s a variant with her headdress on that’s unlocked at 15 Battle Stars.
- Ronin: Obtained when the player gets 9 Battle Stars. It comes in 4 Variants: Azure, Vest, Cape, and Emerald.
- Lt. John Llama: Obtained when the player gains 9 Battle Stars, gained all rewards on the 3rd Battle Pass page, unlocked 11 rewards, or is at Battle Pass LVL 20. Comes in either Classic or Special Forces variants.
- Haven: Obtained by getting 9 Battle Stars, all rewards on Page 5, and being at Battle Pass LVL 40 or gaining 26 Rewards. Comes with 3 variants: Backwards Hat, Cat, and Midnight.
- Gumbo: Obtained by getting 9 Battle Stars, all rewards on Page 6, and getting either Battle Pass LVL 60 or having 36 rewards earned. Comes in 2 variants: Sour, and Bitter.
- Harlowe: Obtained by getting 9 Battle Stars, all rewards on Page 8, and getting either Battle Pass LVL 70 or earning 61 rewards. Comes in Helmet, Racing Suit, and Future Frost variants.
- Spider-Man: Obtained by getting 9 Battle Stars, all rewards on Page 9, and getting either Battle Pass LVL 80 or earning 75 rewards. Comes in Symbiote and Future Foundation variants.
How Does Fortnite Chapter 3 Compare to Chapters 1 and 2?
As expected, Fortnite did a number on their map with various, wide-sweeping changes in the terrain, and changes the weapons up a bit compared to the other Chapters. The addition of the sliding mechanic is a novel thing, but the fact that it nerfed, or outright removed quick crouching is a bit sad.
The Web-Shooters were an absolute blessing on the game though, as it gives players extreme amounts of mobility. Hopefully, this isn’t a one-season thing and it’ll remain in the game in some form. Fingers crossed, but a man can hope.
Checkout Fortnite Chapter 3 Today
All in all, Fortnite Chapter 3 is shaping up to be a fun chapter. With cool new gameplay and items to tinker with, a lot of additional lore for the game, a new chapter is being written. And knowing all the Fortnite players out there, they’re pretty excited and ready to experience it.
