Fortnite: How-to Play Against Bots (2020)


If you want to play a bit more casually in Fortnite, then you might be wondering how-to play against bots. These are a new addition to the game, and they help even out the playing field a bit for players who are new to the genre or Fortnite in general.

What are Bots?

Bots are AI controlled players that will sometimes be added to your game. They play at a pretty low skill level, so they give newer players a chance to get some practice in without getting trounced initially. Fortnite is a pretty skill heavy game, which means if you've never played you are going to likely get dominated in the early stages of your development. The bots seek to make things a bit more fair early on.

Why Were Bots Added?

The first reason is to give newer players a chance at getting an elimination and practicing in a more real world scenario. The second reason is that they've basically added them in as filler for matches. Epic has introduced skill-based matchmaking which puts players of similar skill levels together. This can lead to some holes for some players when they queue up, so bots will help fill this gap when necessary.

How-to Play Against Bots

To play against bots in 2020, you will need to enter the Fortnite Battle Lab. This is a new mode that allows you to setup custom type scenarios with options like different loot, starting with shields, not dropping items when eliminated, removing fall damage, adding gravity, changing the time of day, and more. You can join up to 15 friends in this mode, and it is very similar to Playground mode. Now, it doesn't play out like a traditional game, but you can practice against bots in this mode!
Decide on your settings and then launch a game. You can play by yourself or have friends join with you. Loot chests and try to find an Enemy Bot Grenade that can spawn in chests or on the floor. Once you find this, you can throw it wherever you want and a bot will spawn! I recommend building up a wall or two and then heaving one or more over it to spawn the bots. This way they won't immediately start spraying you while you are switching weapons. You can now fight with the bots and get some practice in!

Previous Method

This method has been patched out, but hopefully will return at some point.
If you're a new player or not super skilled, you are likely already playing against bots. They are added pretty frequently to most games where players are average to below average skill tier. If you ever wonder why the player you see is only putting up a single wall and is crouching when they shouldn't be... they are probably a bot.
If you want to ONLY play against bots, this can be done but it requires you to have a Fortnite Creator Code. These are given out to content creators who have 1,000+ followers on at least one major social platform (YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, etc.). If you fulfill that requirement, you only just need to apply for one and you will get it relatively quickly. Once you have one of those, go to the area where you select what type of match you want and look for the Custom Options button:

Click on that button and you will be given an option to add a key. You can put anything here, just make sure it's random so other people can't somehow join the match.

After you've entered the key, hit accept and the game type you want. You can hit the Play! button which will start the queue. We don't want any additional players, so just hit Start Match and you will be against bots!
If you don't have a Creator Code, you can always ask a friend who might have one to start up a game. Tell them to give you the code they entered into the Custom Matchmaking Key area, and you can join up with them. They can just leave the game while you play or whatever they want!

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