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Can you run faster in Fortnite? Let's settle this once and for all WITH SCIENCE

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By Brandon Saltalamacchia, Leon Hurley published 6 July 2018

Does holding a bandage or pickaxe make you run faster in Fortnite? Does a minigun make you slower? Let's find out

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One myth that refuses to go away is the idea that you can run faster in Fortnite by holding different things. Bandages make you run faster because they're lighter, miniguns make you run slower because they're really big and heavy and so on. We've all seen someone running in Fortnite with their pickaxe out, assuming they'll sprint faster as a result. But is it true? 

We've tested it with science, using one of Fortnite's football pitches as a nicely measured out distance to time a range of sprints and runs holding pickaxes, bandages and weapons. It's not atomically perfect, as no one can run exactly the same line every time, but if there was a major change between different equipment types it would be very obvious. 

So what did we find out? 

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Short answer: nothing you can do, hold, or pray to, will make you run faster in Fortnite. As you can see we hit pretty consistent times for both jogging and running whatever we had in our hands, so just hold a gun. It makes no difference and leaves you combat ready at all time. 

The myth might be a left over from games like Counter Strike and PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, where the gear you hold affects your top speed, but nothing will make you run faster in Fornite. As you can see in the video, holding different things has no effect - animations might look different or slower, but the base speed is unchanged whatever you hold in your hand. 

We've investigated even more Fortnite myths if you want to find out about falling faster, or what happens when you open three llamas in one match. 

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Nintendo Switch PC Gaming Xbox One PS4 Platforms Nintendo Xbox PlayStation
Leon Hurley
Leon Hurley
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Managing editor for guides

I'm GamesRadar's Managing Editor for guides. I also write reviews, previews and features, largely about horror, action adventure, FPS and open world games. I previously worked on Kotaku, and the Official PlayStation Magazine and website.

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