'Fortnite': How to Get the Infinity Gauntlet and Win as Thanos

Epic Games delivered a new limited time Infinity Gauntlet mash-up game mode for Fortnite on Tuesday that’s essentially a King of the Hill-type experience. So how does this whole thing work, and how do you get the Infinity Gauntlet, become Thanos, and totally crush everyone else in Fortnite?

You can select Infinity Gauntlet in the Game Mode menu that’s new for Season 4, and unlike some other limited time modes, you have to play this one solo. Only one person can wield the Infinity Gauntlet after all, right? Matches begin similar to any other battle royale. However, the initial storm circle is fairly small, and the storm closes in at a much more rapid rate and almost always focuses on or around Dusty Divot.

Shortly after the start, a meteor lands within the safe zone and spawns the Infinity Gauntlet, which appears with a shining beacon pointing directly upwards, like many Challenge-based items in the game.

As such, you’ll always want to land as close to Dusty Divot as possible, chomping on some Hop Rocks within the meteor that will make you more mobile and will help you reach the Gauntlet first. Picking up the Gauntlet transforms the player instantly into Thanos, launching them into the air so they can skydive down again, and grants them 300 shield, 700 health, as well as the following abilities: primary attack, secondary attack, and leap.

Thanos’s “Leap” is seemingly powered by the Mind Stone on account of the yellow glow. It launches him into the air with insane speed, and using the Space Stone, he can slam his fist down to the ground dealing a shockwave-type damage radius. The long-range “Secondary Attack” uses the purple Power Stone to shoot out a huge laser, which can be fired from the ground or in mid-air. And his “Primary Attack” is a green-hued punch that uses the Time Stone but doesn’t actually influence time at all. (Whatever.)

For passive abilities, he doesn’t take any falling damage but also can’t build. Another passive ability recharges Thanos’s shields with every kill. If we’re groping for continuity here, let’s say the orange Soul Stone allows him to do that, because it eats souls or whatever. And let’s not forget the red Reality Stone, which probably allowed this whole insane crossover transformation to happen to begin with.

None of this explains why Thanos is wearing the regalia armor he removes at the beginning of Avengers: Infinity War after he gets the second Infinity Stone, long before he gets a full Gauntlet.

Anyway, here’s a look at the gameplay of what it’s like to be Thanos from YouTuber Carnate:

As you can see, if played correctly, Thanos can go on quite the rampage. The key is to play aggressively but deliberately, focusing on eliminations that will rejuvenate your shields.

Only Rare, Epic, and Legendary weapons spawn for everyone else, which helps them to take down Thanos, along with increased spawn rates for pretty much every item in the game. What doesn’t help is that while everyone else is fighting each other, Thanos is slaughtering anybody he meets. There’s no deliberate way for players to call for a cease-fire and team up against Thanos.

But as it turns out, Fortnite players have a much easier time beating Thanos in Battle Royale than the Avengers in Infinity War. He’s totally overpowered, but even then, Thanos doesn’t have the ability to snap his fingers and randomly eliminate half the people in the match. This, despite the initial announcement for this game mode featuring “SNAP” written boldly across the top. Talk about a missed opportunity, because that would have been totally awesome.

As of May 8, the Infinity Gauntlet mashup game mode is available on all Fortnite platforms, but it promises to be a “limited time mashup.” It’s unclear when it might end, but it’s safe to assume that it’ll stick around for a week.