Fortnite Servers - All 8 Locations and Why Ping is Important (2024)

Where are the Fortnite Servers? These are the cities where you'll find the Fortnite zero ping locations and why your distance from a server matters.

If you’re playing competitively in Fortnite, it absolutely pays to know about the Fortnite servers. This isn’t just the spot you’re connecting to. It decides your ping, which can decide who wins a 50/50 attempt to take a wall, which has decided who wins multi-million-dollar tournaments.

These little data servers hold the fate of a lot of Fortnite players in the palm of their hands. So where are they, which Fortnite server should you be on, and why does it matter?

The Fortnite servers are spread around the world. For the most part, you’ll know which server you’re in from which region's games and tournaments you compete in. Recently Epic has made some big changes to the servers which could have real ramifications for players hoping to actually get involved in Fortnite esports.

We’ll run through everything you need to know about the servers and why Fortnite ping is so important.

Are the Fortnite Servers Down?

Before we actually get into any real problems with the Fortnite servers and how they effect the game, it’s important to know if they’re even running. Epic does maintain a public-facing status for their servers. By checking the Epic Games Public Status, you can see if the Fortnite servers are up and when they’ll next be down for maintenance or one of the Fortnite patches. That's where you'll see if the servers are up or not.

Where are the Fortnite Servers?

Fortnite has quite a few different servers! There are multiple servers for some regions, although only a single server for bigger areas with a smaller slice of the Fortnite player base.

If you’re interested in where your Fortnite server physically is, this is how the world is divided up.

• NA East (North America East) – Canada, United States, the Caribbean (Atlantic Coasts)
• NA Central (North America Central) – Central United States and Mexico
• NA-West (North America West) – Canada, United States (Pacific Coasts)
• NA (Europe) – Europe and North America
• OCE (Oceania) – Australia, New Zealand, South Pacific Islands
• BR (Brazil) -South America
• ASIA (Asia) – Far east of Russia, Japan, Korea, China, Southeast Asia
• ME (Middle East) – Arabian Peninsula, East Africa, South Asia

Those are all of the server regions Epic currently maintains. For competitive matches, North American regions work with NA Central from mid Chapter 4.

Given how much of a benefit closeness to the server gives for ping, some players might want more detailed locations. That isn’t entirely public and for good reasons, but some have reverse-engineered their locations.

Why Are the Epic Games Server Locations a Secret?

For the most part, Fortnite server locations down to cities and streets are kept a secret.

The exact address is understandable. It's possible some sweat skin will begin camping outside the physical building, after all, if you're using a Superhero “zero lag” skin why wouldn't you stalk a server too? However, keeping cities secret helps Epic too.

Since ping does effect gameplay, players get annoyed when they lose and blame their ping. Epic doesn’t provide exact locations, because who would that actually help? Having to acknowledge that those in one country of Europe have a bit of an advantage in pro-level tournaments would likely put a damper on things. Not to mention being a bit of a security risk.

We don’t get given the exact location of the servers. For most players though, as long as your ping isn’t anything crazy, you’re not getting too much of a disadvantage compared to those right by the Fortnite servers.

The difference between 25 miles away and 30 really isn't noticeable with a solid internet connection. Both are effectively the same ping.

Some locations are more publicly known. For example, there is a European server in the UK, close to London, and one in Ireland. This does mean the UK have significantly better ping than quite a few other European countries, being so close to two different Fortnite servers.

Epic’s server locations likely follow where the player base is concentrated and where server space is practical. They’re where it makes the most sense for them to have an installation for servers.

Some have attempted to reverse engineer locations. These are the dedicated server locations based on this.

Dedicated Fortnite Server Locations

North America Regions

• Portland
• Columbus
• San Francisco
• Los Angeles
• Kansas City
• Washington D.C
• Columbia

South America Regions

• Sao Paulo

Europe Regions

• London
• Paris
• Ireland
• Frankfurt
• Milan
• Helsinki

Middle East

• Bahrain

Asia

• Mumbai
• Singapore
• Taiwan
• Seoul
• Tokyo

Oceania

• Sydney

You can probably spot some of the discrepancies here. There are some areas much less represented than others. There are tons of Fortnite servers EU, but other parts of the world are worse served.

How Important is Ping in Fortnite?

Your distance from the Fortnite servers can make a big difference to your performance, thanks to your ping. Why does 0 ping matter though? There are a few benefits players will get when they play the game without lag.

Zero Ping has an automatic effect of communicating your actions to the sever back and forth instantly. You won’t ever get problems in-game due to delay. You can act faster than most people on the server, and your reaction times have minimum resistance between being input and represented in-game. Fortnite has special concerns for ping though, with building.

When you’re building in Fortnite placing walls and controlling build slots is important at a high level. If a wall between you and another player is destroyed, you’ll frequently both try to place something there. How does the game decide who gets their build there?

Arguably, ping is the most important factor here. If both players essentially build at the same time, whoever has the lower ping gets the wall. They can then control the edits and essentially control the fight. At a high level of Fortnite, this kind of thing is really important.

Ping is an irritatingly big part of playing Fortnite, especially in better lobbies. Having 0 ping in Fortnite is determined by how close you are to the server locations, which means these Fortnite server locations will make a big difference to your performance.

Epic Games Server Locations

The Fortnite server locations are one thing, but within this there are now a range of games! There’s Lego Fortnite, Rocket League, Racing, Festival, and tons of different games. Where are the Epic Games server locations?

The Epic Games server locations are in the same spots as the general Fortnite ones, they’re the same servers for the most part. If you’re close to one of those spots, you’re likely getting low ping on most Epic games.

Ping doesn't matter as much for other games though. You aren't exactly getting an advantage in Lego from being closer.

Fortnite Zero Ping Locations

Where can you get Zero Ping in Fortnite? There are more factors than just your location to think about. However, if you’re in the same city or close to a Fortnite server, you have very good odds of getting roughly zero ping! So in any of the places listed above, you’ll be closest to Fortnite zero ping locations.

Why Does Zero Ping Matter

Zero ping means no latency to the servers, which means it's like playing a single-player game. Simply having lower ping than other players increases your chance of winning drastically. While getting absolute zero is hard, the closer you can get the better.

Fortnite Servers EU

The Fortnite EU servers might seem quite dense compared to other continents. Once you keep population size and density in mind though, the number of Fortnite servers EU makes perfect sense. These are the locations for Fortnite in the EU:

• London
• Paris
• Ireland
• Frankfurt
• Milan
• Helsinki

How Many Servers Does Fortnite Have

In terms of how many servers Fortnite has, it’s hard to pick an exact number since any location can contain more than one physical server, but if you’re just wondering about the server locations where the game is hosted it’s simpler. Fortnite might has 27 server locations.

Each of these is spread out across the world. In theory, they should provide players with quick access to a nearby server for a reliable connection to the game. It isn’t always perfect though, unless you live in one of the Fortnite zero ping locations.

Why Do Servers Matter?

That’s where all of the competitive servers are. But how do the Fortnite servers actually impact gameplay? If you’re just rolling around pubs, trying to unlock free Fortnite skins and grind out your Battle Pass, it probably doesn’t. Arguably it matters less in Zero Builds too. If you’re trying to sweat with the very best of them though, being far from a server causes problems.

Ping is something we’ve mentioned a lot already. It is a measurement of how long it takes your device to communicate with Fortnite servers. Literally to ping the server and back. If you’re close to a server or have amazing internet, you’ll have a low ping. Everything you do in-game communicates with the server.

If you’re set up to get a high FPS, but you have a low ping, it’s a problem. While your monitor can display things at a faster rate, your actual actions in-game aren’t being communicated from the server quickly enough.

In Fortnite, it causes a few very specific issues with building. In a box fight, taking a wall can decide everything. Often the wall simply goes to whoever has the higher ping. Your reaction speed may be faster, but if it isn’t communicated to Epic Games’ server before your opponent, you’re going to lose.

Can You Play Competitive Far Away from a Server?

High ping is a disadvantage. However, you can play even at a competitive level. You'll need to be aware of the disadvantages though at least in the seasonal FNCS events and Cups.

High-level internet connections can get around the server distance problem. Obviously being close with a good ethernet connection is better, but you’re still going to be ahead of a lot of the people you run into.

The location of the Fortnite servers is also liable to change. US pros found this out the hard way with the introduction of NA Central. Moving to be closer to a server is almost inviting Epic to take some revenge!

While it can be frustrating to be far away from the Fortnite servers, its impact is ultimately manageable. With a decent internet connection, set-up, and the best Fortnite settings, you can make the most out of your connection.