Everything you need to know about Blitz Royale, Fortnite's newest mode

Blitz Royale is Fortnite’s newest mode, and players can’t get enough: it’s currently more popular than Fortnite’s core 100-player battle royale.

I love its frantic firefights and, as I wrote at the start of the month, I hope it’ll be a gateway for new players to other game modes.

It has a new map, faster rounds, mythic weapons, boons, and medallions that transform how you play—basically, there’s lots to learn. In this guide, I’ll explain the fundamentals, including the Blitz Royale event schedule and how medallions work, and get you started on your journey to a victory royale.

About Blitz Royale

What is Fortnite Blitz Royale?

Blitz Royale is a no-building, 32-player battle royale on a mini Fortnite map. The play zone shrinks quickly, and rounds last roughly five to six minutes.

Blitz Royale is defined by its speed, the abundance of top-tier weapons, and by the powers you get from medallions and boons.

Everyone starts with the same medallion, which grants powerful abilities such as infinite ammo, or invisibility while sprinting. Three supply crates will drop from the sky every match, each containing an extra medallion. Boons, found in golden chests, also give you powers, albeit less extreme ones.

Players also begin the round with shield bubbles and a themed weapon or item. The theme changes every Tuesday.

As you kill enemies or survive storm circles you improve your Blitz Level and at each level up you’re granted either a high-level weapon (legendary, mythic, or exotic) or a boon.

Blitz Royale schedule, events, and end date

Blitz Royale is a time-limited mode that was initially due to end on July 15, but it appears to have been extended to August 12 (that’s according to usually reliable leakers, at least—Epic hasn’t said anything official).

Each Tuesday the theme switches, changing the loot. Since July 1 the theme has been “bad bosses”, with weapons and items from past Fortnite bosses. On July 8 the theme is Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT).

We don’t know for sure what’s happening beyond the TMNT week, but rumoured themes for the future include Mortal Kombat and Dragon Ball.

Plenty of fans are asking for Blitz Royale to become a permanent mode—and Epic are even polling fans on possible changes to the mode, but we’ll have to wait and see.

Blitz Royale map and items

Blitz Royale map

The small Blitz Royale map includes locations from Fortnite’s past, including Pleasant Park and Retail Row, which are the two largest points of interest.

Golden chests remain in the same spots every round, so if you find a drop location you like you can stick to it. I personally like to drop onto the snowy building at Snobby Shoals, which has two golden chests upstairs and one downstairs, or onto the hilltop building on the far south-east corner of the map, which has two golden chests.

Blitz Royale medallions list

There are 12 medallions in total in Blitz Royale, although you’ll only ever see a handful in each match. They’re split into four categories—offense, movement, healing, and wildcard. Here’s a list:

• Offense
  • Aspect of Combat: Increases damage of ranged weapons
  • Ringmaster Scarr: Infinite ammo and buffs all damage
  • Night Rose: Weapons constantly reload themselves
• Movement
  • Aspect of Speed: Buffs sprint speed and jump height. You take no fall damage on sprint jumps
  • Shrouded Striker: Invisibility in sprint jump, and you jump further
  • Unstoppable: Increases sprint speed and knocks back enemies you sprint into
• Healing
  • Aspect of Siphon: Grants shields or health when you kill an enemy
  • Infernal defenses: Shield passively regenerates, and reloads are faster
  • The Machinist: Shields passively regenerates up to 75%
• Wildcard
  • Shogun X: Infinite stamina and you’re invisible while you sprint
  • Megalo Don: Infinite Nitro effect. Nitro boosts almost every aspect of your play: it gives you faster movement, sprint knock back, infinite stamina, faster reload, and more.
  • Aspect of Agility: Gives you Underworld Dash, which is basically a short-range teleport when you double jump. You get three charges, and they replenish over time

Remember, each player starts with the same medallion, and you can find extras in supply drops. Having one or two extra medallions is a huge advantage, so check your map for the supply drop locations. In my experience, they aren’t as contested as you might expect.

Blitz Royale randomizes the medallions you start with and the supply drop loot, so it’s possible to find duplicates.

All the medallions are good, but I always hope for the Wildcard medallions (invisibility is just so good) or the infinite ammo of Ringmaster Scarr, which means you’ll never have to reload in the middle of a fight.

If you open your inventory by pressing 'I' you can check your medallions and adjust your playstyle accordingly.

Blitz Royale boons list

There are 10 possible boons, split into the same categories as the medallions. You get them from golden chests or from levelling up. The chests are everywhere, so it’s worth memorising a good starting route that takes you past four or five of them.

• Offense
  • Fire Boon: Reload faster
  • Void Boon: Knocking or eliminating players reveals others enemies nearby
• Movement
  • Combat Acrobat: Parkour (such as mantling cover) partially reloads your equipped weapon
  • Adrenaline Rush: Gain the Slap effect when you mantle, hurdle, or wall jump. Slap gives you unlimited stamina for a short amount of time
  • Wind Boon: Move faster with your pickaxe out
• Healing
  • Storm Caller Boon: Replenish shields in the storm
  • Agile Healer Boon: Sprint while using heal items, and gain Slap after you use them (try using the Chug Jug while sprinting—it looks hilarious)
• Wildcard
  • Reactive Ping Boon: Players who attack you are marked, pinging red on your screen
  • Vulture Boon: Players who die are briefly marked on your map
  • Gold Rush Book: Opening chests and other containers gives you Gold Rush, which makes you faster

A few of the boons barely matter. The duds are Storm Caller, because you’ll rarely be standing in the storm in Blitz Royale, and the Wind Boon, because there are plenty of other ways to boost your speed without defenselessly carrying your pickaxe.

Open your inventory to check with boons you’re carrying.

Blitz Royale weapons and items

There are too many weapons in Blitz Royale for me to go over every single one, but it’s important to at least understand how gear works in this mode, and how to get the best guns.

Everyone starts with the same loadout: bubble shields alongside a themed weapon or item that’s specific to that week. For the Bad Bosses week, everyone starts with one of the following:

• The Fire Oni Mask: Fires a homing, flaming projectile
• The Void Oni Mask: Left click to fire an orb, and right click to teleport to that orb
• Kinetic Blade: A hybrid of a melee weapon and a mobility item, with a right-click attack that covers long distances
• Chain of Hades: A melee item that can hook players or items and pull them towards you

There are multiple ways to get better items. The first, and most obvious, is from chests. Alongside regular wooden chests you’ll find larger golden chests that always spawn in the same spot. There are also some rare (blue) chests. The loot in the golden chests is so good that you can essentially ignore regular chests, except if you’re caught short early in the round.

You can also get top-level gear from supply drops (three per round) or from llamas. A llama spawns in each match, usually a silver llama—rarely, a gold llama will spawn. The silver llamas typically contain the same themed items that everyone starts the match with, and the golden llamas have enhanced versions. For example, a silver llama might drop the Fire Oni Mask, while a golden llama might contain Shogun X's Fire Oni Mask, which has more charges before it runs out.

Finally, you obtain either a boon or a weapon every time you gain a Blitz Level. This is often how you get the most powerful weapons in the game: every weapon you get this way is either legendary, exotic, or mythic. Basically, the best weapons in Fortnite.

Weapons from chests, drops, and levelling up are randomized, and the loot pool is massive, so the best way to learn your favourite weapons is to play, and play aggressively. I’d advise carrying a mid-range weapon like a rifle and a close-combat option, ideally a shotgun.

Right now, my favourite mid-range weapons are Brutus' Minigun and the versatile Skye's Assault Rifle. For short-range, I like the Unstable Frostfire Shotgun, which gives you a speed advantage in any fight, and the Heisted Blink Mag SMG, which lets you teleport (hence the “blink”) short distances after you reload.

And I can never resist the Shockwave Hammer, which drops from llamas. It’s both a melee weapon and a fun movement tool.

Blitz Royale rewards

You can earn two rewards from playing Blitz Royale. You get the Blitz Knight outfit if you earn 10 account levels or place in the top 10 players in 20 matches, and you earn the Blitz ‘Brella glider by winning three times.

Blitz Royale tips and strategy

Here are seven quick tips for getting better at Blitz Royale.

Learn a few drop spots

Your immediate priority should be opening golden chests. As you explore the map, learn a handful of locations with more than one golden chests, and then consistently drop there. Explore the area to find other nearby golden chests. Once you’ve done this a few times, you’ll have a couple of consistent 'rollout' options that reliably get you boons and powerful weapons within the first minute.

As I mentioned earlier, I like to drop onto the snowy building at Snobby Shoals, which has three golden chests, or onto the hilltop building on the far south-east corner of the map, which has two and is next to Retail Row (slide down the hill and pickaxe the truck for another golden chest).

All-out aggression

Blitz Royale rewards aggression: the faster you kill enemies, the faster you’ll level up, and the faster you’ll get the best weapons. Because matches are so short, and restarts so fast, you can afford to get out of your comfort zone, which will help you improve your mechanics.

Don’t sleep on shield bubbles

You start each match with them, and they can save your life. Hold onto them, and know how to switch to them quickly and throw them down if you’re ambushed. There are plenty of online guides for improving at shield bubble fights: here’s a good, recent one.

Know your medallions and boons, and adapt

Medallions and boons are what make Blitz Royale so unique, but you accumulate so many that you might forget what you’re carrying. Check your inventory, and adapt your playstyle accordingly. It should be common sense: if you have the Aspect of Combat, for example, which boosts ranged weapons, you’ll want to carry a rifle (it works brilliantly with the Spire Rifle).

Prioritise supply drops

Grabbing extra medallions can immediately make you the most deadly player on the server, so check your map and head for the supply drops. Take care: other players will have the same idea, so peek at them from cover before you run into the open.

Mobility and two weapons is still a killer combo

In my Fortnite battle royale weapons and loadout guide I recommend carrying at least two weapons and a mobility item, and I think that same advice applies here. You need something for mid-range fights, and something for close quarters.

Mobility is less important in Blitz Royale because the map is smaller and, by the end game, you’ll be moving faster because of the boons you’ve collected. But a mobility item will still help you escape a sticky situation, or help you third-party other players as they fight each other. Pick between the Void Oni Mask, the Kinetic Blade, the Shockwave Hammer and, as a possible level-up reward, the Shockwave Launcher.

Play cover

Some Blitz players like to sprint directly at their enemies and take them on in an even 1v1 duel, relying on their mythic weapon to pull them through. But remember the fundamentals of Fortnite: if you play around cover you’ll always have the upper hand. Look for rocks, trees, buildings, even the lips of hills. Fortnite’s third-person view is over your right shoulder, so favour the right side of whatever cover you’re using.