LEGO Fortnite is quite a bit different from the standard Fortnite experience. Closer to a survival / crafting game like Minecraft than the shoot-'em-up action of Fortnite, LEGO Fortnite forces you to create a village and find a way to endure a landscape full of dangers and hardship. You won't last very long if you don't know how to build.
This guide will teach you how to build things in LEGO Fortnite. This is a skill that you'll acquire very early on, and one you'll use constantly as you explore the game.
Step 1: Acquire Resources
Assuming you're playing a Survival Mode map, you'll need to first go looking for resources before you can build. At the beginning of the game you'll likely be using one of two resources for this task:
- Wood, which appears as branches on the ground
- Granite, which appears as small rocks on the ground
Run around and grab a bunch of both. They're all over the place, and respawn regularly. Once you can Craft items you'll be able to create tools that will make this process a bit faster. You can do this by building a Crafting Bench and using it to create Forest Axes and Pickaxes, which can be used to chop down trees and crack through boulders. Both tools break after a while, forcing you to make new ones. You'll unlock additional tools - as well as weapons - as you expand your Village.
Step 2: Open the Builds Menu
Next up is choosing the Recipes you want to build. Look in the bottom-left corner of the screen to see which button you need to press to open the Builds menu, where your Recipes are stored. Roughly speaking, Recipes are separated into two categories:
- Small items, like Stations, which are built immediately
- Large items, like buildings, which require some work to create
The resources needed to build the project are listed on the right side of the screen, under the Ingredients menu. If the number appears blue then you have enough resources; if the number appears red, you'll need to do some more gathering.
You can scroll through the menus in the Builds menu (the top bumpers help navigate) to choose a Recipe. Once you've highlighted a Recipe the completed project will appear on the field, and if you cancel out of the Builds menu you can choose to build the project. If it's in a space where there's enough room a green box will appear around the project, otherwise you'll see a red box. You'll unlock Recipes for more Projects as you upgrade your Villages.
Step 3: Begin Construction
Once you've chosen an appropriate place for the project and placed it down you'll need to get to work. Approach the blue-silhouetted construction site that appears and press the 'Start Build!' button that is indicated on the screen. This opens a construction menu, where you'll see the various pieces of the project that you need to build.
Each project is separated into several stages. The more complex the building, the more stages you'll need to complete. The parts available during your current stage appear in this menu, and you can choose one, then press the confirm button, to create one of the parts.
Once you've chosen a part it will appear a short distance in front of your character. To place it on the construction site you'll need to move around the blue silhouette and find the proper space for the part. Once the part is where it needs to be it will snap into place. Pressing the bumpers on your controller (varies based on system) will lock in its placement. Press the button indicated on the screen to Swap Parts, which brings you back to the menu.
After that, just... keep building! You'll need to put all of the parts in place before a project is considered 'finished'. This is not terribly challenging, though it gets a bit tricky if a part needs to slot into a spot on the roof of the building. You can maneuver your parts into place by messing with your camera angle and weaving around a bit. As soon as you see a green box appear around the part, you'll know it's where it needs to go. Happy building!