How to survive the desert in LEGO Fortnite

Sure is a hot one today.

A LEGO Fortnite player staring at the desert.
Screenshot by Dot Esports

To fully upgrade your village, enhance all your crafting stations, and make the best tools in LEGO Fortnite, you’ll have to brave the unforgiving desert biome eventually.

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The dry desert is no easy biome to survive in; even just walking into it subjects you to the extreme heat that will take its toll on you unless you find shelter or bring items that can cool you down. And much like a real desert, it gets as cold as the tundra once the sun goes down. Not to mention the place is swarmed with scorpions, stronger, desert versions, of wolves and Rollers, and the night-time skeletons.

It sounds daunting, but the rewards are worth it. Here’s what you should bring with you to survive the desert in LEGO Fortnite.

All items you’ll need to survive the desert in LEGO Fortnite

A LEGO Snow Berry plant ready to be picked from in LEGO Fortnite.
These will shake up nicely. Screenshot by Dot Esports.

For your best chance at survival, we’ve put together a handy packing list of items to bring with you into the desert:

  • A Rare Forest Axe and an Uncommon Pickaxe, Flexwood is harvested from cacti in the desert biome, but you will need at least a Rare Forest Axe to be able to chop them. Uncut Amber is a little easier to acquire, as just an Uncommon Pickaxe will do
  • Snowberry Shakes or a Cool-Headed Charm for the heat. As you can imagine, it gets hot in the desert. Snowberry Shakes will provide 10 minutes of heat resistance, while a Cool-Headed Charm provides a permanent resistance to heat, five points of defense, and three added hearts.
  • A torch and spicy food for the night. The desert gets mighty cold at night. A torch and some Spicy Peppers on their own, which can be harvested while in the desert, will provide some comfort, but a Spicy Burger is the most reliable source of heat
  • A shield for Desert Rollers. The Rollers in the desert hit like a ton of bricks, but their attack can be parried with your shield, knocking the creature onto its back and exposing it

Outside of the Rare Forest Axe, all of these items can be crafted rather quickly after some time spent harvesting and exploring the grasslands and a cave. For the Rare Forest Axe, you will need to venture into the desert at least once to get some Amber, and you’ll also need Sand Shells from Desert Rollers for the Cool-Headed Charm. Here are all the recipes for the items we recommend for surviving the desert in LEGO Fortnite:

CItemRecipeStations Required
Rare Forest AxeFive Cut Amber
Three Knotroot Rods
Upgraded Crafting Bench
Lumber Mill
Gem Cutter
Uncommon PickaxeThree Knotroot Rods
Three Bones
Crafting Bench
Lumber Mill
Snowberry ShakeTwo Snow Berries
One Milk
Juicer
Cool-Headed CharmThree Silk Thread
One Marble
Three Sand Shells
Crafting Bench
Spinning Wheel
TorchThree Wood
Five Vines
Crafting Bench
Spicy BurgerOne Flour
One Spicy Pepper
One Meat
Grain Mill
Grill
Knight ShieldFive Planks
One Cord
Crafting Bench
Spinning Wheel
Lumber Mill
Tip:

In addition to the items recommended for survival, don’t forget your essentials like a sword and food, as well as some wood when you need to build some stairs to reach a resource.

While it wasn’t a necessity, a Glider and Grappler are both useful tools as well. A Grappler can help you reach the top of some of the mesas, and you can use the geyser spouts with the Glider to reach certain spots or escape if needed.

Eventually, you’ll need to take the Flexwood you gather and make a Rare Pickaxe before returning to the desert to get Obsidian.

How to survive the desert in LEGO Fortnite: tips and tricks

A LEGO Fortnite player talking to a villager.
He seems eager. Screenshot by Dot Esports.

I would suggest either settling your village, or creating a new village, near the border to the desert. In my first world, I just settled where I spawned in, but that meant trekking over to the desert biome each time I wanted to go there. Eventually, I took some basic resources and just settled a new village on the border.

With that new village, you should bring along a villager to explore the desert. This can be done by speaking to a villager, asking about jobs, and selecting the “Let’s Explore!” option. Once they’re following you, you should equip them with a sword, a torch, and a set of tools. Having a companion to help against desert wolves and the horde of skeletons is a literal lifesaver.

During your first time in the desert, try to map out as much of the biome as you can, and put down map markers for cave entrances.

Author
Image of Scott Robertson
Scott Robertson
VALORANT lead staff writer, also covering CS:GO, FPS games, other titles, and the wider esports industry. Watching and writing esports since 2014. Previously wrote for Dexerto, Upcomer, Splyce, and somehow MySpace. Jack of all games, master of none.