In Fortnite battle royale and Zero Build, the difference between winning and losing doesn't just come down to skills such as aiming a gun or building a fortress. It can just as often be about who has a trick up their sleeve, who knows the map the best, or who takes advantage of some of Fortnite's unheralded secrets and tips. That's why we're here to, uh, herald them. With these lesser-known tricks you can grow your power even as the safe zone shrinks. Here are 11 Fortnite secrets and under-the-radar tips.

Throw Shield Breaker EMP grenades at vending machines for easy gold bars

While Shield Breakers are great for quickly wiping out enemy shields or shutting down electronics like turrets or security cameras, they have a hidden use too: earning you free gold bars. Each EMP thrown near a vending (or Mending) machine will cause the dispensary to spit out 150 gold bars.

There's no limit to how many times this will work either, so if you're carrying a full stack of six EMPs, you can earn 900 gold bars, nearly a fifth of the maximum capacity you can carry. With even more EMPs, you can earn even more gold, of course, if you're willing to use them in this way rather than on your rivals around the island.

You can heal at Mending Machines while downed

If you're lucky enough to go into a downed state in in duos, trios, or squads while near a Mending Machine (a vending machine that sells only health items), you can crawl over to it and heal yourself by buying the Get Patched Up option for 200 gold, which restores almost all your HP. This is very helpful since you'll be slowly losing HP while downed and you may want to extend the time your allies have to get to you and revive you.

Mending Machines, in general, are wildly overlooked

While we're on the subject of Mending Machines, stop ignoring them! Many players like to carry health items in their inventory, and while I won't say that's never worthwhile--in fact, it often is--it's really only vital in the final circle or two. If you're playing in a team mode with good players, you can usually get by with one or two people in a larger group stashing some heals, leaving more open inventory slots for others.

That way, if you need to heal, you can either borrow theirs or get to a Mending Machine, which will fix you right up at no inventory cost at all. So long as the safe zone includes some named locations or other small landmarks like gas stations, you can probably make it to a Mending Machine and use the aforementioned patch-up option.

Turn on visualized audio effects

This is arguably the easiest but most important change you can make in all of Fortnite's competitive modes. We actually have a separate guide to help you turn on this critical feature, visualized audio effects, so here I'll just reiterate why it's important: Visualized audio adds on-screen HUD effects to noise, meaning things like gunfire, Reboot Van uses, and most importantly, footsteps, can be both heard and seen.

There are many occasions, literally several each week, where I'm playing Fortnite and I'll see footsteps on my screen's UI before I hear them in my headset. It's saved my virtual life too many times to ever count. This accessibility feature can save yours too.

Chug Splash extinguishes fire

Performing this action was a weekly challenge a few seasons ago (at time of writing), so it's a bit better known today, but still it seems many aren't aware of this. If ever you find yourself suddenly ablaze, a bit of Chug Splash will immediately put out the fire.

I'm writing this guide during Chapter 5 Season 1 and both Chug Splash and fireflies are very rare, which means you may not have much use for this information until a future season. But if you're reading this in the future and it happens to save your life, enjoy--and also, let me know how Stranger Things ends.

You can hire NPCs to revive you when you're downed

Similar to how a Mending Machine can extend your lifespan when you're downed, you can actually hire NPCs after you've gone down, and they can then be ordered to get you back on your feet. The NPC menu that allows you to direct them to follow, stay put, or move to a specific spot also has a revive option if you or an ally is down.

You likely already knew that, but the lesser-known wrinkle I want to call out (credit to my teammate and sister-in-law Julie aka Toastyz) is that you can hire NPCs from a downed state. It makes for a bit of awkward conversation, visually speaking, given how you'll be crawling around their feet as they talk to you, but if you just want to stand up again, it's all the same in the end.

Hide in cars for some stealthy tactics and elims

Most Fortnite players will see a car not moving and think nothing of it, which is why hiding in their back seats is such an effective way to get around--or get the jump on--enemies. If you're not seated in the driver's seat, a vehicle's engine will turn off, and if you're in the backseat, depending on what skin you're wearing and the lighting on the car, you may be practically invisible.

I've used this tactic many times, and though it doesn't always work, it's worked enough times that I've made some of my favorite Fortnite memories doing it--like this one. And yes, that really happened. I didn't stage it; I just got very lucky with the timing of that glider.

Equip your Riot Shield while reviving or rebooting

Like the previous tip about Chug Splash, this one is only helpful when Riot Shields are unvaulted. If they are, though, you'll be able to hold the shield (always in your left arm) while reviving or rebooting allies. This provides just a bit more cover for you, which is especially helpful since Fortnite players tend to descend on the noise of an in-use Reboot Van like moths to a porch light.

If you don't have a shield, a Port-A-Bunker also works really well, as you can basically wrap it around an entire van, thereby eliminating virtually any long-distance gunfire from hitting you while you reboot your friends.

Combine low-gravity items with mobility items for awesome effects

Hopefully you know this one by now, but I add it here just in case you don't. As fun as items like launch pads, Shockwave Grenades, and Grapple Blade are, they're made much more effective if you use them while under the effect of low-gravity. Past low-grav items, like Hop Flopper fish, or more recent options like Flowtberries both work wonders here.

Simply consume the low-gravity item, then use the mobility item before the effect wears off, and you'll see you get a lot more hangtime with them. This is best used when trying to get out of--or stay ahead of--the storm, as you'll get to safety much faster. It's also an incredible sight when you use one before jumping off a launch pad, as it sends you so high that you'll practically be re-dropping from the Battle Bus.

In build modes, lay floor builds over a bunch of Slurp Barrels to quickly break all of them

Slurp barrels are usually found in groups of two or more, and sometimes many more. A pro strategy that all players should quickly adopt is breaking those with a single floor piece when playing in a build mode like battle royale or Team Rumble. It can take three or four hits per barrel to break them and gain the 10 points of healing each provides.

…Or you can quickly build one floor piece on top of them while standing close by, and they'll all break at once, instantly giving you the sum total of all that healing. This is much faster, and in sweatier lobbies, it's the sort of small change that will likely save your life more than once.

You probably don't need more than two guns--three at most

Fortnite tends to have a lot of great guns to use no matter the season, and it can be tempting to carry many of them for each situation you might encounter. But in practice, you'll likely win or lose most gun battles without using all these. In fact, I recommend holding just two of them, thereby saving your other three inventory slots for mobility items, throwables, or heals.

At most, three guns is all anyone is going to need almost always. My suggested loadout, assuming you're not a sniper aficionado: one AR, one shotgun, at least a full stack of six Shockwave Grenades (if they're unvaulted), and one or two other peripheral items like Flowtberries or a Grapple Blade. That second gun is key so you can quickly swap to it to finish off enemies instead of reloading, but it's unlikely a third or fourth gun is going to be the difference maker in a battle with an enemy player or team. Two will do.

Bookmark this guide as we'll be adding to it over seasons and chapters to come and as Fortnite continues to evolve.