Best Fortnite Keybinds (2023 Update)

Fortnite is one of the most complex battle-royale games, with unique fighting, building, and editing inputs. The best keybinds for Fortnite allow for full directional control at all times, binding every important action to a different finger for the fastest possible inputs. Let’s look at the best keybinds for Fortnite, how to customize them, and keybind settings used by the pros.

Best Fortnite keybinds

We’ve compiled the most essential movement, combat, building, and miscellaneous keybinds into the ultimate Fortnite keybind setup. Our keybind layout is tailored for maximum ergonomics and efficiency, so you can easily hit every key without sacrificing directional control.

We recommend using our best Fortnite keybinds as a jumping-off point to create your perfect setup. These keybinds will only work for keyboard and mouse players. Controller players looking for an advantage should reference our guide on the best controller settings for Fortnite.

Movement

• Move Forward: W
• Move Left: A
• Move Backward: S
• Move Right: D
• Jump: Space
• Sprint: Caps
• Auto Run: G
• Crouch(tap)/Slide(hold): L-Alt

The movement keybinds we chose will look familiar to those with experience playing shooter games. The move and jump keys are standard; these are the keys that we will base the rest of our setup around. We aim to bind every key in a cluster around the WASD keys, with the most critical inputs being the easiest to press.

Curious how to achieve ‘double movement’ with the WASD keys? Head to the Mouse and Keyboard options and enable the Use Custom Diagonals setting. Double movement, or the ability to move diagonally with the WASD keys, will be covered in detail in a future guide.

The Sprint key is bound to Caps. The Caps key is easy to hit with a pinky finger, and you must press it often, both in and out of battle. We bound Auto Run to G because you won’t need to press it repeatedly, and when you do, it’s usually out of combat.

Crouch/Slide is bound to L-Alt because it’s located next to Space. This makes it ideal to jump, crouch, and slide easily with a thumb press since none of the actions need to be performed simultaneously.

Combat

• Fire: Left Mouse Button
• Target: Right Mouse Button
• Reload: R
• Use: E
• Harvest Tool: Q
• Weapon Slot 1: 2
• Weapon Slot 2: 3
• Weapon Slot 3: 4
• Weapon Slot 4: C
• Weapon Slot 5: V

Stick with the default binds for Fire, Target, and Reload since they are standard across most games. Use is bound to the E key because opening chests and picking up items are some of the most common actions in Fortnite.

The Harvest Tool and Weapon Slot keybinds are essential for fighting, and there are many schools of thought about how to bind them. These are keys you need to be able to press quickly and with precision; you don’t want to pull out a Medkit while trying to swap to a shotgun.

By default, the Harvest Tool and Weapon Slots are bound on 1-6 on the numbers above WASD. This works fine for some players, but 1-6 are not the most accessible keys to hit, and there are closer keys to WASD. We bound Harvest Tool to Q and Weapon Slots 4/5 to C/V, respectively.

Moving the Harvest Tool/Weapon Slot binds closer to WASD improves ergonomic functionality for quicker actuation while building, fighting, or editing. Your own Harvest Tool/Weapon Slot keybinds may look different depending on how you sort your weapons and consumables in the inventory.

Building

• Wall: Mouse Button 5
• Floor: X
• Stairs: Mouse Button 4
• Roof: L-Shift
• Trap: T

There are several critical factors to consider when choosing the best Fortnite building keybinds. Assign each building piece to a different finger to improve placement speed and always be able to maintain directional control of the character while building.

We bound the Wall and Stairs keybinds to Mouse Buttons 4 and 5, the side buttons found on most gaming mice. If you don’t have a gaming mouse with side buttons, check out our picks of the best gaming mice for Fortnite.

Wall and Stairs are the most-used building pieces, so binding them to the side mouse buttons makes it easy to place builds while maintaining control of the WASD keys. Since Mouse Buttons 4 and 5 can simultaneously be pressed with the thumb, there’s no need to assign each building piece to different fingers.

The binds we chose for Floor and Roof, X and L-Shift, are pressed with separate fingers and are situated next to WASD. You will be amazed at how much your building skill improves when each piece is assigned to a different finger.

• Place Building: Left Mouse Button
• Repair/Upgrade: H
• Rotate Building: R
• Change Building Material: Tilde
• Building Edit: F, Mouse Wheel Down
• Crouch While Editing(Tap)/Slide(Hold): L-Alt
• Select Building Edit: Left Mouse Button
• Reset Building Edit: Right Mouse Button, Mouse Wheel Down

The Repair/Upgrade key does not need to be pressed often, so we bound it to H to keep it further away from WASD. Similarly, the Change Building Material is set to the tilde key, which keeps it just outside the more often-used keys.

The Building Edit key you choose plays a significant factor in gaining an edge over other players while editing and taking walls. We bound the F key to Building Edit because it’s nearby WASD, but we also have Mouse Wheel Down as a secondary bind for Building Edit.

Binding Mouse Wheel Down for Building Edit, and Mouse Wheel Down for Reset Building Edit, is the fastest way to reset edits when taking walls and fighting. This bind configuration lets you quickly scroll down for instant edit resets; ensure you have the Confirm Edit On Release setting enabled in the gameplay options.

Miscellaneous Keybinds

• Ping/Place Marker: Middle Mouse Button
• Emote: Y
• Toggle Map: M
• Toggle Inventory: Tab

Above are some of the most commonly-used miscellaneous keybinds in Fortnite.

Binding Ping/Place Marker to the Middle Mouse Button (scroll wheel press) makes it easy to ping while moving and aiming, as does using the best Fortnite sensitivity. Choose an Inventory keybind that’s easy to reach. We stuck with the default bind, Tab, that can easily be pressed with a pinky finger while on the move.

The Emote and Toggle Map keys are also used quite often in Fortnite, but since they are not usually pressed during combat, we bound them to keys further away from WASD.

How to change keybinds in Fortnite

Here are the steps to change your Fortnite keybinds from default to custom:

1) Load up Fortnite and head to the main menu.

2) Press the ESC key or click on the menu icon in the top left corner of the screen.

3) Click on the settings icon, click Settings, and navigate to the tab with the directional arrow icon labeled Keyboard Controls. From here, click on the bind you want to change and press the corresponding key on the keyboard to change it.

Fortnite also gives players the option to create multiple keyboard-binding presets. This option is helpful for testing a new keybind layout or using separate layouts for different game modes.

We recommend going into Creative mode to adjust your keybind settings. Creative mode is the best place to change and practice new settings in a controlled environment.

To access creative mode, click on the game type from the main menu and switch the game mode to Creative. Once the game loads, step into your rift to teleport to your personal creative island.

Fortnite pros keybind settings

Here are some keybind trends that stand out after compiling data from professional Fortnite players’ settings we track on-site:

• 35% of the pros we track use Mouse Buttons 4 or 5 for their Wall keybind. The Q key is the second-most used Wall keybind with a 32.5% usage rate.
• 65% of players prefer the F or G keys as their primary Building Edit keybind.
• 55% of players use the 1 key as their Harvest Tool keybind. We still recommend using Q for the Harvesting Tool keybind because of its close proximity to WASD.
• Out of all the pro Fortnite players we track on-site, only 2 share identical building keybinds for Wall/Floor/Stairs/Roof (Dakotaz and K1nG)! This demonstrates the importance of creating a keybind layout that fits your personal preferences.