The new Pandora region in Fortnite: Battle Royale gives shield to players every second they stay in it without taking damage. It’s a great feature for when you’re fighting opponents inside the city, but it seems to be even better to get full shield before landing for the first time.
Players have discovered that they can abuse Pandora’s shield-giving feature to get 100 shield while gliding over the area at the beginning of a match. Four seconds after you enter the area’s rift zone, your character starts getting shield with time, and if you glide long enough, you can leave Pandora with full shield and still drop at a good location like Paradise Palms or Fatal Fields to start looting.
The downside is that you must open your glider earlier than you usually would. You have to maximize your air time to ensure you get 100 shield points before landing, which means other players are landing before you in nearby areas. Once you land, they’ll likely have weapons to fight you while you’re still looking for chests to loot.
The best strategy is to do that while scanning your surroundings. If you want to drop in Paradise Palms, for instance, check where other players are landing and avoid those areas. Look for houses and buildings where nobody else is so that you can find some guns before engaging in a fight. If you go where other players are, you’ll have a hard time finding weapons and your opponents will just take longer to burn through your 200 health. But they’ll eliminate you in the end.
If you pull this off effectively, though, you’ll have a huge advantage over other players. Finding guns is way easier than finding enough shield items to get to 100 shield points in the early game, so leaving some early loot areas for other players might still be worth it.
Remember to test this strategy in Pandora, south of the desert biome, until Sept. 10. That’s when the Fortnite x Mayhem event will end and the area will be removed from the game.
