How to Find and Use Hideouts in Fortnite

Fortnite players have a number of environmental tools available to them to help them survive including Hideouts. Recently, the question of how to find Hideouts and use Hideouts has come up. If you’re struggling to master this technique, we’ve got a quick guide for you that breaks down what you need to know about Hideouts in Fortnite.

Update: As of March 8, it appears Hideouts are unavailable and cannot be found or used. Be sure to check back as we’ll be updating this guide once Hideouts become available again in Fortnite.

Update: As of March 9, Hideouts have been fixed and made available in Fortnite once more. You can now use Hideouts as normal.

How to Find and Use Hideouts in Fortnite

 
In Fortnite, there are a number of Hideouts that players can use to avoid enemies. Unlike structures which have clearly been made by other players, Hideouts look like everyday objects. 

A few Hideout examples include dumpsters, hay bales, and blue Port-o-Potties.

To use one of these Hideouts, you’ll need to spot it, approach it, then interact with it to hide inside. For example, you can approach and hide in some of the dumpsters in the game. Note that Hideouts won’t make it impossible for enemy players to find you.

While hiding in a dumpster, your character will make noise that sounds like garbage being moved around. If enemy players are listening closely, they may hear this sound and attack the dumpster to try and find you. 

Additionally, when you exit a Hideout you tend to make a fair amount of noise as well. With this in mind, you should use Hideouts when you’re surrounded by multiple enemy players as they’ll be more distracted with each other. 

The noise of them shooting at each other can also help mask the sound of your movement inside of a Hideout like a dumpster. Once the number of enemy players in the area around you has been reduced, you can pop out and start picking the rest off, or move over to a different location without being shot at if needed. 

It’s not recommended to use Hideouts when there are only you and a few players left at the end of a match. Aside from enemies searching for each other more as the game comes to an end, as the Storm closes in and reduces in size, you may be pushed out of your Hideout at an inopportune moment. 

You also aren’t giving yourself room to prepare a structure to help you survive being shot at while you use Shield or Health items, or reload your weapons. Keep in mind that you can’t use items or reload weapons inside of Hideouts which can be problematic if you’re trying to evade an enemy player, but also need to heal yourself. 

To recap, Hideouts are objects that you can hide inside such as dumpsters. To use one, all you need to do is approach a Hideout object and interact with it (E on PC) to hide. Note that this only applies when Hideouts are available in Fortnite and haven’t been removed due to bugs, glitches, or Season changes.

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