Fortnite Healing & Shields: Everything You Need to Know About Med Kits, Shield Potions, Bandages, Camp Fires, Chug Jugs!

If you are going to be battling it out in Fortnite: Battle Royale then you will need to know all there is to know about healing and shields! Our guide goes over all of the information you'll need to get an edge when recovering from the wounds of battle.

Fortnite Healing & Shields Basics

Here's some of the very basic information you need to know about healing & shields in Fortnite!

Bandages

The main thing you need to know about bandages is that you can only heal up to a maximum of 75 hp with them. These are usually the first thing to go in your loadout, you would rather have all the other options instead of bandages unless you want to carry multiple healing options.

• Drops in stacks of 5.
• Maximum stack is 15.
• A bandage takes 4 seconds to use.
• Each bandage heals for 15 hp.
• You can only heal to 75 hp with bandages.

Med Kit

Med kits heal you for the full 100% hp. These take quite a bit of time to use, so they aren't recommended if you are in need of a quick heal.

• Drops 1 at a time.
• Maximum stack is 3.
• A med kit takes 10 seconds to use.
• Each med kit heals you for 100% of your hp.

Cozy Campfire

The campfire is different than all of the other options on this list. It is classified in your traps area, it has to be placed on the ground, and it can heal you and your teammates as long as your close to it. If you are really in desperate need of health, you can place down two of these and position yourself in the middle of them for quicker/more healing.

• Drops 1 at a time.
• Stacks in your trap inventory so there's no maximum (as far as we know).
• You can place instantly on the ground/floor.
• Campfires can heal for 50 hp.
• It ticks for 2 hp per second for 25 seconds.
• Heals anyone who is near it (including enemies!).

Slurp Juice

Slurp Juice was updated in the 5.10 update, and now it heals up to 75 health, but if you are full on health it will give you shield instead. This gives Slurps a huge buff, and they are much more useful now. There is now a case to be made where you'd consider keeping them over small or big shield potions. If you have two of them, I'd keep them over a three stack of minis and a big shield, but this is a pretty fringe scenario.

• Drops 1 at a time.
• Maximum stack is 2.
• Slurp juice takes 2 seconds to use.
• Grants 1 health every 0.5 seconds, up to a total of 75. If health is full, shield will be granted instead.

Small Shield Potion

The small shield potion gives you 25 shields each, but you cannot use them above 50 shields. These are very fast to use, so they are great in the midst of battle. Drink small shield potions before anything else, you want to get to that max 50 hp with these before popping the slurp or bigger shield potion.

• Drops in stacks of 3.
• Maximum stack is 6.
• A small shield potion takes 2 seconds to use.
• Each small shield potion gives you 25 shield.
• You cannot go above 50 shield with these.

Shield Potion

The original shield gives you 50 shields each. These are slower than the small version, but you can use these up to the maximum of 100 shield. The maximum stack size of the Shield Potion was increased to 3 in the 5.4 Fortnite patch.

• Drops in a stack of 1.
• Maximum stack is 3.
• A shield potion takes 5 seconds to use.
• Each shield potion gives you 50 shield.

Chug Jug

One of the newer additions to Fortnite: Battle Royale is the chug jug. It gives you 100% health and shield but takes a whopping 15 seconds to drink. It is legendary rarity which means you don't come across it too often, but it is extremely powerful when you do.

• Drops in a stack of 1.
• Maximum stack is 1.
• A chug jug takes 15 seconds to use.
• Gives you 100% health and shield.

Fortnite Healing & Shields Hierarchy

You might be wondering which of the shields & healing items you should keep if you are faced with a decision between one or the other. Here's a general look at how they rank against each other:

Bandages < Med Kit < Slurp Juice = Small Shield Potion < Shield Potion < Chug Jug

Bandages are obviously the weakest, and should be ditched for any of the other options as soon as possible. You will almost always rather have a shield than a healing. This is because for the most part you will be replenishing your shields more than your health. Slurp juice is technically better than a small shield potion, but usually you will just use a slurp the second you find it (now that it's been buffed, you might keep one or two over a low stack of small shields). Small shields are great if you take a bit of damage and want to heal back up quickly in the midst of a fight (especially because its an instant 25 shield, rather than having to wait).

There are times where I will keep small shields over a full shield potion. This is usually when I have a pretty high stack of the small shields and feel like I might be getting into another battle soon. They are also better in duos and squads because you can share them with teammates more readily due to the high stack count.

Chug Jug is an overall beast, and in most cases is the best in slot item in terms of healing or shields. The biggest caveat with the Chug Jug is if you know you are going to need to heal in the middle of a battle. If you are going into a scenario that's towards the end of the game then you are far less likely to get enough time to pop a chug.

You can always dedicate two slots to healing and shields, three guns is usually enough in most instances.

Fortnite Healing Information & FAQ

• If you are going to use bandages, be sure to use them before you drink a slurp juice. You want to hit that 75 hp with the bandages so you don't waste any of the hp you'll receive from the slurp.
• Don't forget about campfires! You might have one in your inventory, but you could have a trap or launch pad showing in the slot making it easy to forget. These are really good for an emergency heal, or getting yourself to 100 hp if you only had bandages to heal with.
• If the storm is coming and you know you are going to get caught in it then you might want to grab those lowly bandages. You can heal yourself through the storm if you time it correctly. The storm ticks for different amounts of damage based on which circle you are on. It also increases in damage when it completes, so be sure to calculate how much healing you are going to require and when to stop and heal up before continuing to run.

Fortnite Shields Information & FAQ

• If you are damaged by another player then shield damage is always taken before health.
• Shields do not protect you from fall damage or storm damage! There will be situations where you might have high shield and very little hp which puts you at a huge risk in storms or in battles that could lead to fall damage. If you go to 0 hp you will be knocked or are game ended, it doesn't matter what shield amount you have.
• Keep that extra small shield potion! I've seen players in the past drop the extra small shield that comes in a stack for some reason. These are one of the most valuable items in the game, there's just about a 100% chance you are going to need it at some point.
• Always use small shield potions before slurp juice or big shield potions. You want to make sure you get to that 50 shield mark, or you won't be able to use the small shields. This potentially wastes some of the slurp or the bigger shield.
• However, if you are in the beginning of a game it is usually correct to just pop whatever shield you find if you expect a fight. Better to waste a bit of shield and survive then to die and give your enemy the consumable. If you know you are pretty much safe, then you should loot a bit more before popping the shield or slurp.
• If you already have healing and you are going to leave a slurp behind, it is worth just drinking it. You prevent someone else from getting it, and if you take any damage it will heal you if it is still active.