The Birth of a Real Fortnite Speedrun
For years, Fortnite players have casually tossed around the term “speedrun” to describe their journey from Bronze to Unreal in Ranked. But as Reisshub, a 31-year-old content creator, discovered, none of those videos truly embodied the essence of speedrunning.
“There are hundreds of them, if not thousands… but none of these are a speedrun. Where are the times? Where are the competitions? Where’s the records?” he questioned.
Inspired by the lack of true Fortnite speedruns and a video by SypherPK attempting to 100% Fortnite by winning every public playlist, Reisshub set his sights on a tangible goal: Beat the world record time across eight Fortnite public Playlists.
Make sure to check out Reisshub on Youtube
Early Attempts and Tactical Evolution
At first glance, the challenge seemed deceptively simple—win one match in each of Fortnite’s public playlists as fast as possible. But as Reisshub quickly found out, the challenge wasn’t just winning; it was winning fast.
His initial time of 2 hours, 27 minutes, and 42 seconds beat SypherPK’s record, but lagged behind Zetfar’s blazing 2:10:24. To shave off those crucial minutes, Reisshub employed a series of smart, tactical innovations.
“I was saving time on the Rocket Racing and the Team Rumble splits, but his OG and reload splits were just so much faster than mine.”— Reisshub
One key adjustment was switching to Middle East servers, where fewer players meant more bots and quicker matches. “My Zero Build games were significantly faster,” he noted after making the switch. This also gave him consistent wins in Rocket Racing, which became his anchor segment for resetting failed runs.
Exploiting RNG and Finding the Edge
Fortnite’s randomness played a huge role, and Reisshub learned to work with the chaos. From shifting playlist orders to maximize early-game retries to finding obscure strategies like tracking medallion-holding players via the island boss system, every second counted.
Through relentless experimentation—104 attempts to be exact—he discovered just how much RNG affected splits. Some runs were ruined because a single hiding player delayed the endgame. Others fell apart due to chest RNG denying him bunkers or launch pads in OG Zero Build. The key? Planning for everything—gear, spawns, enemy behavior—and adapting on the fly.
He even highlighted the utility of items like the tracking visor, which helped locate campers, and base boost mobility to counter long engagements. When one lobby dragged on for over five minutes due to one unkillable opponent, he knew he had to optimize down to the pixel.
The Record-Breaking Run
On run 104, after two weeks of grinding, it all came together. Armed with superior routing, optimal matchmaking, and a perfectly-timed Rocket Racing run, Reisshub crossed the final finish line in 1 hour, 50 minutes, and 29 seconds, officially setting a new world record.
“There it is, baby. There it is. 1:50:29. I’ve spent two weeks, 104 attempts, but my god does it feel good to get it done.”— Reisshub
The grind paid off—and it wasn’t just a matter of skill, but of persistence, creativity, and learning how to speedrun Fortnite in a way that no one truly had before.
