Fortnite Arena Mode Explained

• About
• Latest Posts

Fort Fanatics Team

We, the Fort Fanatics Team, are a passionate team of writers and certified Fornite scholars. We are dedicated to all things Fortnite. We have poured over 5,000+ hours into this addictive Battle Royale. We owned abundant skins and attained more victory royales. We know how to win matches, customize characters and conquer the overarching story across each Fortnite season. We aim to be your guide to the world of Fortnite and accompany you on the Battle Bus!

Latest posts by Fort Fanatics Team (see all)

• Master Chief Skin Guide - June 15, 2022
• Skye Fortnite Skin Guide - May 24, 2022
• Guggimon Fortnite Skin Guide - April 22, 2022

Are you looking for a challenge when you go to play your next round of Fornite?

Fornite offers an Arena Mode that’s great for people who are looking for a higher level of play. So, if you’re tired of winning matches because you keep getting paired up in a lobby full of brand new players or players who aren’t skilled, I would recommend you check out the Arena Mode.

But, what’s really important for you to know is that the rules in regular old Battle Royale mode don’t carry over into Arena Mode. Instead, Arena Mode has its own rules. It may take you a little bit to get used to, but the different rules in Arena Mode make it a lot more challenging. That’s a good thing though, especially if you’re looking to play Fortnite competitively. Plus, not all of the new updates that hit Battle Royale are always available on Arena Mode. So, if you’re looking for a consistent gaming mode (more so than the regular Battle Royale mode), Arena’s a great choice for you.

But that’s not all with Arena Mode either. If you’re good enough and you don’t break a sweat trying to get that victory, you could ever compete in paid competitive gaming to win money. But, that’s a little bit down the road for us – let’s first talk about what exactly Arena Mode is and all that you should expect from this gameplay mode. One prime example of this is the fact that Fortnite pubs in the current season now involve the Spiderman mythic item. 

What Is Fortnite Arena Mode?

If you’ve ever wondered how you could compete in Fornite World Cup games – arena mode is how. There’s a lot of unpack when it comes to Arena mode, but if you normally play Battle Royale, you’ll have a pretty good idea of what to expect when it comes to Arena Mode.

In Arena Mode, you can’t depend on your building skills as much as you can in Battle Royale. When you’re playing a match in Arena Mode, you’re matched with other people that are in a skill level that’s close to yours. The better you do while you’re in Arena Mode, the more challenging your next match will be.

There are three divisions in Arena Mode.  If you’re a first-time arena player or it is your first time in a season playing arenas, you start right at the bottom. The players in each division get sweatier by the game. The points in arenas are known as ‘Hype’ and the more hype you get, the further on you progress. Simple enough right? Well, only in theory. 

The divisions go in the order of:

Open League

• Division I: 0- 249 Hype Points
• Division II: 250 – 499 Hype Points
• Division III: 500- 999 Hype Points
• Division IV: 1000-1499 Hype Points

Contender League

• Division I: 1,500 – 2,499 Hype Points
• Division II: 2,500 – 3,999 Hype Points
• Division III: 4,000 – 5,999 Hype Points

Champion League

• Divison 1: 6,000 – 11,999 Hype Points
• Divsion II: 12,000 – 15,999 Hype Points
• Division III: 16,000 or more Hype Points

Battle Royale vs Arena Mode

That’s right, Battle Royal and Arena Mode aren’t the same things. These are two different gaming modes available in the game. However, the biggest differences between these two game modes are found in the complexity of each game mode.

If you’ve ever played a match of Battle Royale, you’ll know that one of the main focuses of this game is building. But, Arena mode doesn’t focus on a player’s building capabilities. Instead, it focuses more on a player’s fighting and scavenging abilities. The better items you’re able to find while you’re out searching in the game, the better you’ll do in the Arena mode!

Arena Mode: Point System

Gaining higher ranks in each division does not come easy for any player though, as you’re bound to stumble at some point (unless you’re an absolute beast at the game). Each League has its point system which is fairly similar and simple at first. However, the higher up you get, the higher the cost. 

You get a basic idea of how to gain points from each game based on the aforementioned picture.

Bus Fare

As you move up the ranks, you won’t always be able to ride the bus for free. Once you reach Division 4, you’ll need to pay a bus fare for every game you play. This fare is deducted from your Hype Points. The higher you rank up, the higher the bus fare is. The highest the bus fare goes up to is 70 Hype Points once you’re in Champion League Division 111.

The addition of the point deduction system upon starting each game means that you are no longer free to spam your games out. While Open League favors those who look for a few points every game with a high frequency of games, the further you progress, the more you lose out on that privilege. Division 10 in the Champions League incurs 80 Hype points per game, which is a minimum of 8 eliminations in each Champions League match. While in Open League you can manage 20 Hype points per kill, the Champions League does not offer such leniency, and halves that amount. 

This is where you test your steel and really find out if you’re in it for the points – or you just like to have a bit of fun in the game. 

How Do You Get Hype Points?

You can play Arena Mode in either Single, Duos, or Trios mode. In duos and trios, you’ll need to play with friends to get into a match. There isn’t an auto-fill option with Arena, unlike how there’s the autofill option for Battle Royale.

You can level up (get Hype Points) by placing in a match. For example, if you survive the top 50 players, you’ll get Hype Points. Also, you can acquire Hype Points for eliminations as well.

Arena Mode Mechanics

While the game and how you play it is the same (just a lot sweatier), there are some changes in these lobbies that really change up your approach to every game. We are going to break down the most important changes that you will find in every Arena Mode gameplay!

Siphon

One of Fortnite’s most beloved features ever added was the “Siphon”. Siphon meant and allowed for you to replenish 50 of your health in-game after every kill (both shields and white health). What this meant was that people would load up each game with the anticipation of an early drop or a hot-drop in order to stack up the most amount of kills. Why? Well, you’re bound to come out of it with some health at least. 

During the game’s lifespan, this feature was initially added to the normal/pub gamemodes, but removed after a while. While it was universally loved by the majority of the game’s fanbase, the developers realized why it was also a problem to have Siphon in every game mode. It allowed for players to easily replenish health via kills. This causes the matches to go a lost faster!  While a normal game of Fortnite before its addition lasted around 17-20+ minutes, this mode steadily decreased it. 

Arena mode however is the perfect place for such a feature, as it allows people who want to rank up, to do it with a more carefree attitude. You don’t want to spend half of every competitive game looking around for that last shield pot or some chug splashes to place you at full health. Rather, you can just find one person and get a 50 overall health boost. 

Max Materials 

Now if you’re someone who loves to go to a corner of the map and farm up your materials to only use for the last few players, this rule will bug you out! Epic Games have created Arena Mode to be a game mode that not rewards only skills, but strategic gameplay. Thus, you will find the cap for your materials being halved here. 

From each of your materials being capped at a not-so-even-number of 999, Arena Mode stops materials from being gathered at 500. So you move from approximately 3000 maximum materials to an exact 1500 materials in every game. 

While it might be a bit of a shock at first, this comes with a nice change of pace once you do get accustomed to how the games are played with half the materials. Instead of players taking one hit and building a new skyscraper, you’ll find more grounded fights with builds being built for either offense or defense entirely. 

Storm Surge

That’s right, the storm changes in Arena mode too. Unlike in Battle Royale, the storm tick goes all the way up to 10 ticks. Every ten seconds, you’ll get hit with 10 damage to your health. However, there are random times when the storm will do 25 damage to players. Yet, how much damage the storm does to you all depends on how damage you’ve done throughout the game. If the storm surge mode is activated, and you’re underneath a certain damage threshold, you’ll be damaged during the surge. However, the Arena Mode will tell you whether or not you’re at the threshold.

The first storm (called the Third Zone) surge starts when there are 70 players left in the match. The Fifth Zone starts when there are 50 players left. And the Sixth storm surge happens when there are 30 players left in the match. The Seventh and the Ninth storm cirls

But, that’s not all. When the Fifth Zone develops, the storm zones start to move. So, you’ll need to constantly move around the map to keep yourself out of storm damage. If you and another player are left, the Arena mode will develop the Ninth Zone. This zone covers the entire map in the storm. To win against your enemy, you’ll basically need to find a way to keep yourself alive until the storm knocks whoever you’re playing with.

Increased Harvest Rate of Materials

Do you know how I said that farming materials were capped to keep the gameplay competitive? Well, the increased harvesting rate of materials is another feature added to ensure that as well. While in pub games each tree gives you around 40-50 wood, Arena mode basically doubles that so that you don’t spend your game trying to find materials – or worse, having none to defend yourself. 

If you are someone who needs some materials to assure themselves that they can get ahead in the game, make sure you land in a place that has an abundance or at least a nice split of all the materials needed in the game. Since there is a smaller cap on how many materials you can have, it is essential to make sure you get enough of each! 

No Bots

If you thought a smaller cap on your materials was bad, another big feature or lack thereof in Arena mode is the exclusion of bots! That’s right, say goodbye to your free and easy kills that drop mini shields and health items – and replace them with sweaty players. 

Riding the roller-coaster of competitive gameplay has you coming up on there being no bots in the Arena Mode. For people seeking the thrill of competing in gameplay that is organically built up of completely real players using their own skills, this can be a very refreshing change of pace. However, for the campers and third party players out there, you’re going to have to find better hiding spots!

Special Items

Fortnite has had some amazing collaborations and their own personal additions in the game that have been featured in both cut-scenes and integrated into the game as special items. For reference and ease, we will use the new Spiderman mythic as a prime example of how they are used in Arena Mode. 

The answer is; they are not. That’s right, Epic Games does not let you use various types of special items/weapons in this mode, the Spiderman mythic being one of them. Since these are not a permanent feature in the game and are new to it, they change and create a dynamic gameplay that does not suit competitive Fortnite. 

So, if you want to zoom around the map and be Spiderman, you can go back to the normal public game modes, since these items will not be a part of Arena Mode. 

FAQ

Question: How do you play Arena in Fortnite?

Answer: Go to the menu in the game selection section and you will find an arena right below the normal pub game match selection. The load-up queue might take a little longer since it is always going to be filled as much as possible and with no bots in it. 

Question: Does Arena Mode have fill?

Answer: Fill is not available for the duos and trios section of Arena Mode, 

Question: Is Fornite Arenda Mode skill-based? 

Answer: Yes, Fornite Arena Mode matchmaking is skilled-based. 

Conclusion

So, whether you’re alone or if you want to do well with a team, make sure to practice and ready up with some friends that you know you have chemistry with. Arena Mode is a whole lot of fun, especially if you’re ready to take a step into the world of playing Fortnite competitively. Go get those Victory Royales!