Fortnite Center of the Storm Challenge: How to Find the Purple Lightning Bolts

Fortnite’s Week 4 challenges have arrived, and if you shelled out for a Battle Pass that means a fresh list of objectives to take on. In return, you’ll earn Battle Stars that help you move up through the tiers and unlock new skins, emotes, and other Season 4 cosmetics.

One of the most interesting Week 4 challenges asks you to “Visit the center of different Storm Circles in a single match.” That may sound easy, but it’s actually pretty difficult. Here’s what you need to know, along with a few tips and tricks to get the job done.

How it Works

The idea behind this challenge is pretty simple: reach the center of the storm circle (that’s the big white circle that shows up your mini map). The only catch is that you’ll have to find the center of three different storm circles in the same match for it to count. That means you’ll pretty much be chasing the eye of the storm for the entire game as it continues to shrink. In return, you’ll get five Battle Stars.

Once you complete the challenge you should hear an audio cue to let you know you’re done. After that all you have to do is finish out the match by either dying or winning for it to count. Just don’t quit out early or you’ll have to do the entire thing over again.

If all of this sounds like a ton of work for a pretty small reward you’re not wrong, but thankfully there are a few ways to make this challenge a little less challenging.

Find the Purple Lightning Bolt

To make things a little easier, developer Epic Games decided to place a purple lightning bolt at the center of each storm circle. You can’t see it from the sky when you jump off the bus, but it’s still visible from a distance. So if you notice a purple light across the map that’s probably the center of the storm circle.

Once you reach the center, the lightning bolt will disappear and your character will briefly become covered in purple light. That’s your sign to move on before another player shows up.

Tips and Tricks

Beyond that new in-game icon, there are a few other ways to improve your odds in this challenge.

To start, take your time getting off the bus at the start of each match. Wait until the last possible second and then immediately activate your glider. If you stall for longer enough the first storm circle will appear while you’re still in the air, making it easy to quickly float down and collect your first purple lightning bolt.

From here, things get a little more difficult. You’ll want to stay away from popular spots on the map to avoid confrontation as much as possible, since dying will force you to start over entirely. Try to stick to the outskirts while collecting weapons and materials in case you do run into an opponent. Once the next storm circle arrives, carefully make your way to the center.

If you usually play in Solo mode you may also want to consider trying Duos or Squads. Having a teammate to watch your back and potentially revive you will make this challenge a lot easier.

Finally, if all else fails, you may want to hold off an this challenge for a few days or even a week. Right now, all the best players are probably rushing to collect their Week 4 rewards, meaning that the center of the storm is a particularly dangerous place to be. None of the Season 4 challenges actually end until July 9, though, so you’ll still have plenty of time to earn those Battle Stars once the initial frenzy dies down.

Credit: Epic Games

Jacob Kleinman is a writer and editor with over a decade of experience. He has a background in entertainment journalism but also covers video games. Alongside Tom's Guide, he has also contributed to sites like Newsweek and TechnoBuffalo and recently served as the Executive Editor at Inverse.