Fortnite: Here’s How Many Bots Are There

Playing online competitive games with real human teammates can be frustrating, but luckily, you only have yourself to rely on in Fortnite. Nonetheless, the experience of playing out a match of Fortnite is definitely more enjoyable when you know you’re playing with actual people of varying skill levels. It’s no news that game devs have started playing with adding bots to their games, and sadly, Fortnite is no different, but how many bots are there in Fortnite?

The beginning of bots in Fortnite

It all started in 2019 when chapter 2, season 1 of Fortnite, was released. Bots were announced prior to it, but they were supposed to help newer players improve their skills without that overwhelming feeling you get when you suck at an online game you just started playing.

It is said that bots play a crucial role in balancing the matches since they can do anything that a human can but only with little less accuracy. This gave newer players the feeling and sense of accomplishment and fulfillment when they’d win their battle royale matches while simultaneously improving their skills slightly.

Of course, you can only truly get better at the game when you experience playing against seasoned veterans, but this was the perfect way to ease noobies into the whole ordeal. But, of course, leaving it at that would have been utopia.

Sooner or later, bots also began showing up in seasoned players’ matches. If we are to believe the data, it’s not because Fortnite has fewer and fewer players. It does counterlogic a bit because why would they then put the bots in games to avoid excessive queue timers if there are enough players to fill out the whole lobby?

Things are just not adding up at this point. Whatever the reason for Fortnite developers adding bots to players’ games, it’s definitely not a problem only Fortnite players face.

How bots work in Fortnite?

As I mentioned before, they can build, walk, and shoot at players just like any player can. They can even win a game if they manage to shoot you, and you’re a total noob. Of course, more skilled players will get bots that are harder to beat and vice versa.

Although players report being able to tell when a bot is in their game right away, that was over two years ago. With each passing update, the bots likely get better at the game because they learn to play it just like you and me.

Of course, there are still ways to tell whether a player is a bot, but I’ll discuss that further a bit later on in the article.

The bot problem in competitive online games

But why are bots even a problem in competitive online games? In a game like Fortnite, they’re a problem since it’s a PvP game. If people wanted to play against bots, they would play out a campaign mode PvE game. You’re selling the experience that players are to play with other players but give them bots instead.

What further complicates things is that high-skill players also get bots in their games, which kills the fun and challenging aspect of the game. Many high-skill players are also streamers. Streaming an almost exclusively bot game is not something people will enjoy watching since there’s no skill expression.

Many other competitive online multiplayer games are faced with the bot problem, and it becomes even worse when you’re given an advantage over the other players if your team consists of 5 actual humans, whereas the other team has 1 or 2 bots playing. It gives your team an unfair advantage, and the outcome of the game is already predetermined.

Forcing games with bots in Fortnite

If, on the other hand, you’d like to relax with a bot lobby game, there’s an easy way for you to do just that. You can actually add bots to your friends list, and that’s what you’ll use to get a bot lobby.

First, you’ll add a bot like 89.bot.lobbies to your friends list. The bot will accept the request, and then you just need to add them to your matchmaking lobby, choose the game mode you want to play and begin matchmaking. You only have 90 seconds to do this since the bot will leave the lobby if you don’t after the 90 seconds have passed.

Once you’re in the pre-game phase, you want it to last for longer than a minute. This is a good indicator that you are in a bot lobby. If it doesn’t work, it’s highly possible that it has been patched, and you’ll have to add a different bot to your friends list for it to work again.

Telling if the players in your lobby are bots

Since bots aren’t perfect and they have to operate with some time of pattern present, you can learn about some of these patterns, skip them, and check if the player in your game is a bot and how many of them are.

The best way to find out if you’re in a game with bots is right at the beginning before you even get out of the battle bus. Don’t exit the battle bus immediately; the bots will wait for you to jump out first and will only follow.

Bots also don’t tend to build structures. They usually build only one ramp or wooden wall. They also like to shoot from very long distances and aimlessly in random directions.

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