Blue Shield Boosters: How to Make Shield Potions

Have you ever lost a fight because you had no protection? It happens to the best of us! In Fortnite, a shield is like a blue forcefield. It takes the hits so your health stays safe. Today, we will build a simple item that gives players a blue shield boost. We will use a device called an Item Granter. This device drops an item into a player's hands when they walk near it. By the end of this lesson, you will have a working shield potion on your island.

What You'll Learn

• What a shield is and how it protects players.
• How to use an Item Granter device.
• How to give players a Small Shield Potion.
• How to test your new item in Play Mode.

How It Works

Imagine you are playing a game of tag. Your friends try to touch you to tag you out. If you wear a special vest, they have to tag you twice to get you out. That vest is like a shield. It absorbs the first tag.

In Fortnite, shields are shown as a blue bar at the bottom left of your screen. Health is the green bar below it. When you get hit, the blue bar goes down first. When the blue bar is empty, the green bar starts to drop.

To give players a shield, we use an Item Granter. Think of this device like a vending machine. You put an item inside it. When a player walks close to it, the machine gives them that item. We will put a "Small Shield Potion" inside our granter. When players touch the granter, they get the potion. They can then use the potion to fill their blue bar back up.

Let's Build It

We will build a simple platform with a shield potion dispenser. You do not need to write complex code for this. We will use the Device Editor in UEFN. This is a visual tool where you drag and drop devices.

Here is how to set it up step-by-step:

1. Create the Base: Place a Floor device in your island. This is where players will stand.
2. Add the Dispenser: Find the Item Granter device in the Device Browser. Place it on the floor.
3. Configure the Item: Click on the Item Granter. In the properties panel, look for the Items section. Click the + button to add an item. Select Small Shield Potion.
4. Set the Trigger: Make sure the Grant On setting is set to Begin Overlap. This means the item is given when a player walks into the device's area.
5. Add a Visual Cue: Place a Prop (like a glowing crystal or a box) near the granter. This tells players, "Hey, there is something here!"

Here is a simple diagram of how the devices connect:

// This is not code, but a visual guide for the Device Editor
// 1. Player walks near -> 2. Item Granter detects player -> 3. Small Shield Potion appears in player's inventory

[Player] --> [Item Granter Device] --> [Small Shield Potion Item]

Walkthrough

Let’s look at what happens when you play this.

First, the player spawns on the island. They have no items. They walk toward the glowing prop. As they get close, they enter the Overlap Zone of the Item Granter. This zone is an invisible bubble around the device. When the player crosses this line, the device activates. The device takes the Small Shield Potion from its internal storage and puts it into the player’s inventory. The player can now press the use key to drink the potion. Their blue shield bar fills up!

Try It Yourself

Now it is your turn to build! Try these challenges:

1. Change the Amount: Can you make the potion give more shields? Look at the Quantity setting on the Item Granter. Try changing it from 1 to 5.
2. Add a Timer: Can you make the potion disappear after a while? Add a Timer device. Connect the Timer to the Item Granter. Set the Timer to reset the granter after 10 seconds.
3. Make it Rare: Place the Item Granter in a hard-to-reach spot. Can you make a bridge or elevator to get there?

Hint: If the potion doesn’t appear, check if the player is actually standing inside the Item Granter’s visual bubble. Sometimes the bubble is small!

Recap

You just learned how to protect players with shields! You used an Item Granter to give players a Small Shield Potion. This item fills their blue shield bar. Shields are important because they take damage before health does. You can now add these items to your own islands. Keep building and have fun!

References

• https://dev.epicgames.com/documentation/en-us/fortnite/using-shield-items-in-fortnite-creative
• https://dev.epicgames.com/documentation/en-us/fortnite-creative/using-items-in-fortnite-creative
• https://dev.epicgames.com/documentation/en-us/fortnite/using-items-in-fortnite-creative
• https://dev.epicgames.com/documentation/en-us/fortnite-creative/using-shield-consumables-in-fortnite-creative
• https://dev.epicgames.com/documentation/en-us/fortnite-creative/using-egg-items-in-fortnite-creative