Mastering the Art of Sitting Out in Fortnite: Tips and Tricks

Are you a Fortnite player looking to take a break during a game? Curious about what “sitting out” in Fortnite actually means and how to do it?

We explore the concept of sitting out in Fortnite, the benefits and drawbacks of this gameplay strategy, and how you can easily sit out and rejoin a game.

Whether you’re looking to avoid unwanted teammates, take a breather, or preserve your stats, sitting out in Fortnite could be a useful tool in your gaming arsenal.

What Is Sit Out in Fortnite?

Sit out in Fortnite (Fortnite sit out) means to signal a teammate that you are no longer participating in a match and wait at the main menu for them to return from battle. This tactic is useful during team sessions when a teammate has been defeated and you do not want to leave the match even after the battle to prevent the session from ending early. If all your teammates are in the sitting out routine, then you or any of your teammates can choose to continue the match at which point all inactive players should return to the session.

Implementing the sit-out or wait-upon policy helps ensure that your session does not end before everyone has concluded, and it encourages team support and camaraderie for those playing Fortnite by conducting themselves with such sportsmanship. If you need to leave the game before a team member has finished their match, encourage them to force the game into overtime by pushing up on other players. It may postpone the time before the game finishes and will hopefully allow your returning teammate to appear and continue on. Avoiding early Fortnite match exits will lead to higher player satisfaction and camaraderie, and sportsmanship among fellow players.

Why Should You Sit Out in Fortnite?

You should sit out in Fortnite because you are physically AFK and cannot play. This is useful because if you were to leave the game your teammates will lose the advantage of being able to pick up any items you drop or continue trucking on two fewer wheels if you packed a vehicle with gas fuel. You are able to participate in the game again after a long break and so will not totally lose your loot and may even have a chance to win.

How to Sit Out in Fortnite?

In Fortnite, you cannot sit out or be removed from a match once you have joined it. Fortnite or Battle Royale modes in other games are all about the last person or team standing. Being forced to stay in the game incentivizes all players to fight until the end to have a shot at being the winner. If you do not want to fight or are tired of playing, you have to purposefully get yourself eliminated. Once eliminated, you can start another match where you don’t fight or simply quit the game.

If you want to simulate sitting out as a way to rest and avoid being attacked without missing any of the battle, you have to find an isolated spot far away from the action where you are unlikely to be found and wait for the circle to force you into the action. Otherwise, you can engage in playground mode which is a safer way to get familiar with the game or be as creative as you want in the game’s creative mode without the pressure of having to fight opponents.

The image of the man on the chair with a cup of coffee and a book asking what’s up gamers? can be seen as an amusing way to give direction to some tips in the game.

Join a Party

You can sit out in Fortnite. The best way to do this in the game’s standard Battle Royale mode is to join a party and leave the game where you do not have to interact. If you want to leave the game completely but sit out, you can open settings and choose Leave match. You will remain in the game but have normal function controls, and then you can quit out when you want Leave game.

Leave the Party

To sit out of Fortnite’s Save the World game, you can leave the party instead of logging out completely. Just press the Escape button on your keyboard, right-click on your name in the party box at the bottom, and select Leave Party. This will keep you in the lobby of your friend’s game, but the game will continue as normal with your character safely out of the action. You can communicate privately with them via the game setting to give them a message such as the following famous lines or your own preference if you wish.

`I’m your huckleberry.` (Doc Holliday – Tombstone), `You’re going to need a bigger boat.` (Martin Brody – Jaws), `Keep the change, ya filthy animal.` (Kevin McCallister – Howard), `I do declare… I’m getting the vapors.` (Rhett Butler – Gone with the Wind)

Select ‘Sit Out’

Select the item from the in-game HUD after bringing it up by hitting your quick inventory key. ‘Sit Out’ counts as an ally help function to give time to locate someone who needs to respawn or for assistance in the lobby. While in ‘Sit Out’ mode, players can sit back and watch a live game without actually joining players. From there, they can open the map and proceed to cancel ‘Sit Out.’

Wait for the Game to Start

So far, the guide has explained how to sit out once you are eliminated from a match, which means play is over for you. However, a player sitting idle in Fortnite can still watch the main game in real-time to its conclusion. While this offers no benefit to the sitting player, they may find it interesting to watch a match from afar without threat. When a player is defeated before being assisted by any squadmates, they have the option to Return to Lobby (not to be confused with Back to the Lobby).

Although this does not count as sitting out as it jumps straight to another game and most advice for dealing with defeat would apply here, for the sake of completeness, it is worth briefly examining the process of returning to the lobby. To return to the game’s lobby, the defeated player should simply hit the Return to Lobby button and will be removed from the current game. They can then choose to either search for a new match or do something else in-game or in menus.

What Are the Benefits of Sitting Out in Fortnite?

The benefits of sitting out in Fortnite are that you can take a short break from the game without worrying about missing the next match, you are less likely to be eliminated by the storm, and you can potentially earn free-placement points in competitive formats by outlasting other players.

In Arena mode, earning free-placement points reduces the level of competition you face in the next round so you have a greater chance of winning.

Take a Break

There are potpourri of reasons you might wish to sit out in Fortnite ranging from just taking a break and such simple requirements as toilet breaks or getting food and drink, all the way to needing an emergency away time or simply feeling anxious and wanting to avoid numerous gameplay problems such as `bots` and `sweats`. One way to sit out in Fortnite is to simply pause play for any reason. This method should be used only when absolutely necessary as it may result in getting killed in the pause moment depending on the game scenario. Note that attempts to exploit the game while not actually having a genuine need is considered unethical and weakens community camaraderie on the game as such behavior is frowned upon.

Attempting to sit out in Fortnite for genuine reasons should warrant a consideration of the present scenario. The moment this is investigated, efforts are made to safely exit the current situation. If you actually want to sit out while not physically removing yourself from the game, there are likely instances when you can find temporary safety from battles. Once gone, they are often not regular and will become busy again, but points where the heaviest fighting is taking place may slow down enough for avoidance or a simple reactionary pattern of escape. These should be used to avoid conflict and give character something of a break.

Avoid Unwanted Teammates

There is always a chance in Fortnite that a third party might begin to engage with the aggressive player and hurt the player in a sitting-out strategy. To avoid making room for new enemies to hurt your game completion, you should try and steer clear of engaging by avoiding physical confrontations long after the aggressive players may become visible.

Along with frustrated teammates after their repeated eliminations, some aggressive players will choose to sit out to avoid immediate engagement upon landing. This may be because they are trying to make it to the late circles with their squad uninjured to maximize their chance of a win. If you want to increase your own chances of winning, you may not want to be a hot potato company.

When they try to join your team and play right by you, it can be awkward killing oneself mid-game obviously if you don’t want to reincarnate a foul player. Though it’s important to mention you can always leave the group and forfeit the possibility of exit. Just quit the company, so to speak.

Preserve Stats

At time of writing, further passive implementations are known to exist such as the item-dupe-exploit sit-outs, where dying allows the preservation of key inventory items by dropping them but not picking up the death loot. This has been dangerous in the past due to patch and account-penalty risks and should only be used in the course of normal dying situations for practice. They can be done in AI matches and with minimal loot.

What Are the Drawbacks of Sitting Out in Fortnite?

The drawbacks of sitting out in Fortnite include the following issues:

• It can leave your team underequipped.
• Your teammates can get killed while it takes you a long time to rejoin the game.

Farmstead’s first point is worth further explanation. If you are not moving around, it is next to impossible for you to loot materials, get supplies, or find items. An entire squad that chose to sit out in Fortnite can create a situation where they are unable to protect themselves, farm materials, or secure a win because they do not have equipment.

Additionally, if all members of a squad are sitting out and one or two members are found by the enemy, this puts the team at a large disadvantage that is difficult to recover from. Keeping at least one person actively playing is important to enjoy all the benefits of having someone sit out while still ensuring your squad does not get killed.

Ultimately, there are little to no long-term disadvantages for sitting out, unlike the advantages that can be stolen if you do not know how to properly sit out.

Miss Out on Gameplay

The easiest way to sit out in Fortnite is to miss out on the gameplay. This entails taking the game out of focus, placing it in the background, and just hanging around while the player plays the game. This approach is limited because Fortnite does not support multitasking and a player will get penalized if they do not play the game. In this situation it is better to follow the other steps on this list to safely sit out while in-game.

Risk of Being Kicked from Party

As Fortnite is a squad-based Battle Royale game, you will usually play with friends. If you just sit out of a match without any explanation to your friends, they may think you are attempting to hide or avoid something in attempting to kick or remove you from the party forcibly. It is interesting to note that being kicked from the party does not actually prevent the player from seeing who is left in the party and their definition of sitting out is remaining in the party which defeats lethode entirely.

For example, Fortnite streamer and professional player and coach Jared “Jaomock” Cohen had this to say stopping a player from sitting out or using this strategy in a match. Any complaint about a player not participating should be totally ignored. Any player who is actively using their mic to complain about a player not participating should be kicked from the match. Streamer Jaaax, Jordan, Jerry, Asher, Goku, The Last Airbender, playing in a party with his younger brother, has a funny conversation on these lines in the early part of this video.

In a piece on the physiology of passive competition, acclaimed coach and author Dr. Lenny Wiersma shared his thoughts on what the player might experience. He advised that the player should openly discuss their desires and feelings, maintaining open communication with their peers and acknowledging their feelings around the matter.

May Lose Connection to Server

If a player sits out in Fortnite, they may lose connection to server and be disconnected from the game. This happens because the game recognizes users not being active for around 60 seconds to two minutes and automatically removes them with the description of being ‘disconnected from the server’.

In some cases, one can observe a notification alerting other players to the circumstances leading to disconnection (e.g. “This player is currently AFK.”). When this happens, there is no way to reconnect and get back into the game. Connection to a foreign server will thus be lost if a player sits idle.

How to Rejoin the Game After Sitting Out?

Players in Battle Royale and Party Royale that are sitting out will want to rejoin their game after they have completed their rest period. To do this, re-enter the game and go through the selection of selecting Ready, Edit Style, or Select Gamemode. If selecting Ready after having selected Pause, double-check with Esc (PC), Start (Console), or Options (Console) to ensure that you are not in Pause mode. For Rest Perch players, you must simply Aim and then Fire to select your final skin.

Wait for the Game to End

To sit out in Fortnite, you just need to wait for the game to end without performing any gameplay actions. Do not collect or use resources or ammunition, do not heal or rearm in any way, and stand still in the open so that the storm or other players shoot you and thus remove you from the game.

Another alternative is to use the Slide Emote where opponents see or hear you from a distance so they can kill you. You can use limited wood resources to build a tower over the sea, and then build out in that tower to sit down and wait for someone to knock it down (as Imanji demonstrates in the video below).

One potential problem with this is that the game may go quicker than you think as you automatically get hit by the storm and die from not moving. Although casual games for beginners take 20 minutes, experienced players in public servers tend to win in under 5 minutes, build fights and end game lobbies can frequently go similarly fast. Additionally, sitting out leaves teams short so that it is much less popular with teammates. If you are not particularly good at combat, it will make it harder to improve at the game in the future as you will be spending most games watching instead of participating.

Rejoin the Party

You should rejoin the party after you have sat out to announce that you are back after running to get your lunch or folded your laundry. After sitting out, you may realize your team members needed something from you, such as additional ammo, a weapon, or materials. Make a good-faith effort to obtain these items and distribute them to your teammates after returning.

You can rejoin the party through one of two methods after having successfully sat out for a period of time. One method is treating the situation as if you were knocked and then eliminated. In that approach, your teammates should take your reboot card to a reboot van to bring you back to life. The reboot effect results in your player character coming back into the game and immediately deploying.

The other method is to return by stepping back into the storm. If you sat out in the storm, your health will have been gradually dropping and you can choose to return to the team at any point thereafter. You can always attempt to fight your way back into the current zone by heading in that direction.

Resume Playing

To end sitting out, exit the Match Settings panel and press the ready up button. You won’t be in the game, but you will be prepared to begin a new match whenever you want. At this point double click B while in the Battle Royale menu to quickly enter matchmaking and start a new game. This is the best way to get out of sitting out in Fortnite.

Frequently Asked Questions

How to Sit Out in Fortnite?
In Fortnite, sitting out means taking a break from the game while staying in the same lobby. It’s a useful option for players who need to step away for a few minutes or want to spectate their friends’ matches. Here’s how you can sit out in Fortnite.

How do I sit out in Fortnite on PC?
To sit out on PC, go to the lobby screen and click on your profile icon in the top right corner. Then, click on the ‘SIT OUT’ option. This will keep you in the lobby but remove you from the active match.

Can I sit out in Fortnite during a match?
No, you cannot sit out during an active match. This option is only available in the lobby screen before a match starts. If you need to take a break during a match, you can leave the match and rejoin your friends in the next one.

How do I sit out in Fortnite on console?
On console, you can sit out by pressing the start button to access the menu, then selecting your profile. From there, choose the ‘SIT OUT’ option to stay in the lobby without joining the match.

Will I still receive rewards for sitting out in Fortnite?
Yes, you will still receive rewards for sitting out in Fortnite. As long as you stay in the lobby, you will still earn experience and battle stars towards your progression.

How can I rejoin an active match after sitting out in Fortnite?
To rejoin an active match after sitting out, simply click on your profile icon and select ‘JOIN’ to jump back into the game. You can also join your friends’ lobbies by selecting their names from the lobby screen.