All 100 players in a given game of Fortnite land about as defenseless as they day they were bornâexcept for their pickaxe. Fortniteâs pickaxe isnât really a weapon, though. It is a means to an end. That end is mining materials. It is for felling trees, collecting brick. The pickaxe is not meant for killing. Nobody comes out the better in a drawn-out, dumb pickaxe fight.
Kotaku Game Diary
Daily thoughts from a Kotaku staffer about a game weâre playing.
If you and I happen to land in the same biome in Fortnite, armed only with pickaxes, please leave me alone. Do not pursue me. Do not swing your feeble mining tool in my general direction. It is not a kill windmill. It is not a blood fan. It will take you ten long swings, and eight long seconds, to end me. And thatâs only if I resign myself to this fate. If I fight backâand believe me, I willâour pickaxe warfare will be nothing more than a drawn-out battle of will.
Consider this. Donât engage me in a pickaxe fight, the winner of which is mostly determined by fate and conviction. Be chivalrous. Let me live. Iâll be chivalrous, too. Letâs return to this when weâre both actually armed. Thereâs a whole game ahead of us, man. You could lose this fight and regret picking it at all (excuse the pun). Or, you could just barely win, with ten health remaining, and receive no loot in return. Your kill tally will go up to one and, moments later, somebody will probably shotgun you. After that, if we meet unarmed in the afterlifeâthe next game of Fortnite we queue up forâI will definitelyâŚ. run in the other direction and hide until Iâm sure youâre gone.