The inventory screen in a Fortnite match.

Fortnite: How to Drop Items and Weapons

When playing Duos, Trios, or Squads, sharing your resources is a wise step toward dominating the competition.

Alex is a games journalist and narrative designer. She's written for a variety of popular gaming websites and enjoys narrative-driven adventure games. When not writing, reading or exploring the wilds of an open-world RPG, you'll find her drawing, designing quests or learning the ropes of Unreal Engine.

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Key Takeaway

Drop items and weapons in Fortnite to help your teammates out and make space for loot of higher rarity. Ammo and healing items are also worth sharing to help your squad survive for longer.

There’s plenty of valuable loot to gather on Fortnite’s Battle Royale island. However, with limited loadout space, you’ll need to know how to drop items and weapons during matches. Doing this is especially helpful when playing with teammates.

Table Of Contents

    How Do Items and Weapons Fit Into Your Fortnite Inventory?

    Your inventory in Fortnite is worth taking some time to get to grips with. There’s a wide variety of items and weapons to collect throughout the game. Some of these are more useful than others. Consequently, it’s important to know how to prioritize your inventory space accordingly.

    Depending on the game mode you’re playing, your inventory space will vary somewhat. However, for Fortnite’s main Battle Royale mode, you’ll only have five slots that can hold weapons and items. Materials, such as wood, brick, and metal, aren’t counted in these slots and are instead stored in your backpack, alongside ammo and Bars.

    You’ll need to manage your main slot-based loadout carefully. This means you’ll also need to know how to drop items and weapons from time to time. Guns, bows, shield potions, and healing items like med-kits and bandages will all slot into your main loadout on the Hotbar. Foraged items and foodstuffs will do too.

    Additionally, various tools, bombs, and special items such as tents or vehicle mods will also take up valuable Hotbar space. Think about what you’re carrying, and whether you might be better off dropping some items instead.

    Managing Your Items and Weapons

    With this in mind, you’ll need to keep on top of your inventory management in Fortnite. This is especially true during Battle Royale matches. Inventory space is limited in these modes, meaning you’ll need to prioritize your loadout with care.

    It’s important to ensure you have at least two or three slots on your inventory Hotbar assigned to weapons. Other important items to keep on the Hotbar include healing items such as med-mist sprays, bandages, or other health-replenishing consumables. Keeping shield-based consumables handy is also a key way to protect yourself. Of course, the items you pick up will depend on where you land, and what resources are available there.

    Either way, there’ll come a point during your game where you’ll need to make space for better-quality weapons. In this case, it’s fairly simple to do a straight swap, switching out your currently-equipped weapon for one of a higher quality. However, if you’re playing duos, trios or squads, for example, you may want to drop some items and weapons to help out your teammates.

    How to Drop Items and Weapons

    Dropping items and weapons for your teammates to share is a good idea. It’s a way for you to offload anything you perhaps don’t need or want. More importantly, though, it’s a way to ensure each of your teammates is equipped with a weapon or item of some kind.

    It may be that you’ve located a weapon of Legendary or Mythic rarity and no longer need the Epic rarity weapon you were previously carrying. In this case, you can help out a teammate by dropping your previous weapon for them to pick up and use.

    Or it might be that you simply need to clear out some of those Common rarity items you grabbed as soon as you landed. In that case, you can drop things as you go to make space for better loot. Be careful not to clear yourself out entirely though. A Common rarity weapon is better than no weapon at all!

    It’s also important to remember to share items such as ammo and healing consumables. These important resources can make the difference between being eliminated by another squad, or emerging victorious.

    How to Drop Items and Weapons on PC

    When playing Fortnite on PC, take the following steps to drop items and weapons.

    The inventory screen in Fortnite on PC

    Open your inventory by pressing I. Select the item you wish to drop by clicking on it. Either press X or click the drop button in the screen’s bottom right-hand corner.

    Alternatively, you can click the item that you want to drop and drag it out of the inventory panel and off to the side of your screen. This can be slightly faster than using the other two methods if you’re in a hurry.

    How to Drop Items and Weapons on Xbox, Switch, and PlayStation

    When playing Fortnite on consoles, the method for dropping items and weapons is fairly similar. Xbox, PlayStation and Nintendo Switch all follow the same kind of pattern. Here are the steps for each console.

    The inventory screen in Fortnite on Xbox

    On Xbox, open your inventory by pressing up on the D-Pad. Use the D-Pad to work your way through the inventory items to select the one you wish to drop. Press X to drop the item.

    On PlayStation, open your inventory by pressing up on the D-Pad. Again, use the D-Pad to find your way through your inventory slots and select the item you want to drop. Press the square button to drop the item.

    On Nintendo Switch, open up your inventory by pressing up on the D-Pad. Use the thumbstick on the controller to navigate to the item you wish to drop and select it. Press Y to drop the item.