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Fortnite Ballistic is the new 5v5 tactical team-based first-person shooter mode in Fortnite. Esports News UK editor Dom Sacco shares his first impressions on the early access mode, which launched on December 11th 2024.
My first match in Fortnite Ballistic is one that’s almost already over. I’m in a half-full team, with some of my teammates leaving, and others joining.
The score is 1-5 and we swiftly lose.
I wait for the match-making to do its thing and join a fresh game from the start.
At first glance, it’s just like a simple version of Counter-Strike or Valorant (minus the agent abilities). At the start of the round, you have the chance to buy items, like weapons, grenades and armour, with money gained based on how well your team is doing. Weapons include shotguns, assault rifles, pistols, sub machine guns and sniper rifles.
You can also select one of five flex gadgets at the start of the match: proximity mine, bubble shield, recon grenade, frag grenade and impulse grenade, which launches enemies and allies away. Of course, you can buy flash bangs and smoke grenades too.
We all start with a Ranger Pistol round, with low economy (800 credits, to be precise), before diving straight in. There are two bomb sites, A and B, with one five-person team assigned attackers and the other defenders.
Wipe out the other team for a round win. Alternatively, the attackers can also plant a bomb (sorry, a spike, sorry, a ‘Rift Point Device’), at site A or B, while the defenders have to disarm it before it blows. Die, and you have to wait for the next round to respawn.
Teams swap sides after six rounds. The first team to win seven rounds takes the victory. I feel this is a good number for Fortnite, any more and games would drag on longer than necessary, in my opinion.
This is Counter-Strike lite. I played it on the PlayStation, and it feels like a great entry point into the more serious and unforgiving world of competitive CS or Valorant on PC. Yes, I know Valorant is also on console, but at its core it’s a competitive title with esports teams playing on the PC.
The first-person viewpoint feels surprisingly good in Fortnite Ballistic, and it’s nice to marry up the more serious 5v5 FPS gameplay with the silly shenanigans of Fortnite’s emotes, characters and cartoon look and feel. I pull off a 1v2 clutch as Fortnite Vi from League of Legends Arcane and dance to the tune of ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ by Rick Astley.
There are also first-person creator maps available, too.
The Skyline 10 map seems to do the job pretty well, too, with some nice designs and opportunities for team fights and tactics. It’s worth mentioning this is a no-build mode, and there are no pickaxes, contrails, vehicles, instruments or jam tracks. There are also no knives or melee weapons to be seen, which is a missed oppportunity in my opinion.
Hints appear on screen if you die, offering basic advice like shooting will standing still is more accurate than running and gunning.
On that note, it does feel very fast-paced for a tactical 5v5 mode. A lot of players are running around, diving in like they’re still on the standard battle royale map.
The main problem with Ballistic though, for me, is it’s fine when you’re winning, your team is working well, they’re engaged, they generally stick around til we win. But if you’re losing, particularly if you lose a few rounds in a row, don’t be surprised to see teammates leaving. The game isn’t super quick to find replacements, and if it does, the new players seem disengaged.
Of course, it’s understandable many players will be trying out this mode for the first time. There were some 130,000 playing it on PS4 earlier. Fortnite Ballistic is a bit of a gimmick right now, and so I’d like to return to it once it’s left early access, is more fleshed out and Epic Games has fine-tuned things.
I only played unranked for a few hours, but ranked is there for those who want to turn the competitive element up a notch. Players that leave ranked matches will also receive a rank penalty and will have a time penalty before being able to queue up again.
All in all, it reminds me of Pokémon Unite being a great entry point MOBA for children. If Fortnite Ballistic can draw more Fortnite players into the worlds of CS and Valorant, then that’s good with me. I wonder what kind of talents we’ll see like Benjyfishy moving from Fortnite to Valorant in the future.
There’s work to be done in Ballistic, but it’s a welcome addition to the game, and I look forward to seeing what Epic Games does with it in the future.
It’s also the latest in a series of modes recently added to Fortnite, including OG mode, plus a GTA RP-style Lego Fortnite Brick Life, Fortnite Odyssey and more.
Related article: Lego Fortnite Battle Bus and other sets face stock issues in the run-up to Christmas
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
