What do the Crystals do in Fortnite?

Transitioning from Chapter 2 Season 4 to Season 5 has brought about a slew of changes in Fortnite. Everything from new map features, to in-game content, mechanics, currencies, and various other things have been added to the game. Some of them are purely for cosmetic purposes but other things have a significant impact on the way the game is played.

One such change brought to Season 5 is the use of Crystals. Stick around to know what they are, what they do, and how you can get them. Let’s begin.

What are ZeroPoint Crystals?

In the Season 4 finale, Galactus effectively changed the face of the map. Now, instead of the lush-green middle, we have a land scarred by the destruction left by the Marvel God. This has allowed Fortnite to introduce the crystalline sands area, also known as Zero Point, where players can sink and hide or harvest or destroy the purple Crystals.

But not many seem to be aware of the power of these crystals. Nobody seems to be talking about it when, in fact, it is one of the most useful Fortnite items to collect to change the nature of the battle. If you see loose crystals, go ahead and collect them; they are not just for show.

Crystal-Dash: What is it?

Consuming a crystal will allow players to dash a small distance in the direction of the movement by pressing ‘jump’ twice. The dash is so quick that it effectively becomes a method of teleportation, albeit only for a short distance. But even then it opens up game-changing possibilities that we shall look into shortly.

Once you consume the crystal, your character will have a purple aura. When this happens, you can dash in whichever direction you’re moving. If you’re not moving, you will dash in the direction you’re facing. That means you don’t just dash Left, Right, and Forwards, but also UP.

The Crystal-dash is so fast that you can get in and out of structures that are still building and catch up to your target or run away from them in a blink.

Limitations

The Crystal-dash stays activated for no more than 30 seconds once you consume the crystal. This is quite a long time if you’re looking to get a move on in the heat of battle. So, it isn’t technically a limitation as much as it is an allowance for players to speed up their game.

The other, actual, limitation is that players Crystal-dashing won’t be able to go through walls or solid structures. This seems fair since it is essentially a dash and not a way of teleportation; think of the Night Crawler. That means if your enemy is building a wall, you better Crystal-dash inside (or outside, depending on what you want to do) before the wall is completely built.

How can you harvest Crystals?

You already know the area where these Crystals are found, laying around in the deserted center of the map. But they’re also found in other areas of the map so you don’t have to go to the center every time you’re out of these crystals.

The size of the crystal matters as well. The bigger crystals cannot be used up for the Cyrstal-dash. You need to harvest smaller ones from them to be able to use them. And just like other such resources, they can be destroyed as well. This means that if you don’t want your enemy to harvest the smaller crystals and Crystal-dash his/her way to safety, you can simply destroy the crystals and take that possibility away from them.

Best uses of ZeroPoint Crystals

Ah! yes. How does it all impact the game? Well, if you ask us, these crystals are amongst the best items to get in Fortnite. In the previous seasons, Fortnite struggled to find a balance between shooting and building with most players exploiting the latter to their advantage much more than the former.

Even though building alone wasn’t enough to get XP and scoring kills, a skilled builder could always control the enemy’s movements and eliminate them from a corner, something that involves no risk at all. Of course, season 4 tried to counter this by allowing players to destroy builds with splash damage while on superpowers. But this meant that players were now more into long-ranged fights and the balance shifted again.

Crystal-dash, it seems, is a better way out of the pickle. The ability to move about in quick bursts allows players the flexibility to get away when aggressive builders are trying to pin them down or move towards them when they’re trying to defense build to safety.

This doesn’t mean that the builders are disadvantaged, not in the least. It only ensures that being caught in a tight spot won’t mean the end of the tether for you. This will ensure that the builders won’t have the upper hand anymore and the battlefield is leveled once more.

Some other uses of the Crystal-dash seem pretty obvious. When you don’t have the materials or the time to secure yourself while you’re being sprayed with bullets in an open field, pop a crystal and dash away to safety within 30 seconds. Crystal-dashing can also come in handy when you’re on the offense: If you think your opponent is getting away, Crystal-dash quickly and catch up to him.

So there it is, crystal-dashing and why you should make it a part of your game starting now. Once you get a hang of it, you’ll be doing it without thinking.