What is Rank Protection in Fortnite?

Sometimes, you can have off days in Fortnite Ranked or need extra time to warm up before you start popping off. That’s why rank protection can come in the clutch: you don’t have to worry about losing your hard-earned rankings. Here are all the details on what rank protection does!

How to Get Rank Protected in Fortnite Ranked

Every match counts toward your progress and rankings when you’re playing Ranked. That’s why it’s so essential that you practice and do your best each time. However, you might be a little dusty and require some warming up before hopping on for the day. Thankfully, Epic Games also understands that and gives us a free first match that will only count toward our rank if we perform well.

Epic Games announced back in October of 2023 via Twitter, that they every player will get a ‘Daily Ranked Loss Protection’.

Rank Protection automatically applies to your first match of the day and resets every day at 8 pm EST. You don’t need to switch any settings to activate it. Plus, you’ll get this one free match for Battle Royale and Zero Build each, even if you’re playing with other players.

The point of Rank Protection/Loss Protection is to allow you to warm up without damaging your progress. Only negative performance erases. If you perform well, it still adds the points for you. This loss protection is only effective during your first match of the day. Any matches you play afterward will count toward your progress, negative or positive. This means you’ll want to use it wisely in preparation for your following matches.

What Counts As Bad Performance in Fortnite Ranked?

Since the first match loss protection only takes into account bad performance, the main question is — what counts as bad performance?

To rank up, players earn points for good performance, which counts as: dealing damage to an opponent leading to elimination, eliminations (especially in late game), and surviving storm circles. That being said, players have ‘bad performance’ when eliminated early game or with zero eliminations. All players strive for as many eliminations and highest survival placement possible, so we can assume anything that contradicts that will count against you.

Best Creative Warmup Maps

The first match loss protection definitely helps give some leeway, but there are other ways you can prepare as well. There are plenty of creative maps out there, and you can find some great warm up maps to play beforehand. Here are some ideas of maps you can try out:

• Ultimate Warmup & Practice Map *XP On* – 1198-7857-6250
• Advanced Warm-Up Course – 6398-4565-1285
• Easy Edit Map / Warm Up – 6982-8315-6834
• Skaavok Aim Training (v3) – 0413-6471-5335
• All in One Warm Up (Edit/Aim/Build) – 0358-8426-1626
• Bugha Has Already Used This Map To Train – 6363-9776-4537

With Ranked Protection and some extra warmup maps at your disposal, you should be all set to hop into the action and skyrocket your rank. You can repeat the process everyday when the rank loss resets and avoid losing any of your hard work.

Want some more tips and tricks like this? Check out GameSkinny’s Fortnite hub and follow along with our guides on how to join tournaments or best XP Maps to try!