'Fortnite' Crafting Guide - Hunter's Cloak, Primal and Mechanical Weapons Explained

Fortnite Season 6 arrived alongside the game's 16.00 update on Tuesday morning, and with it comes the debut of a brand-new crafting system. Given that most of the Weekly Challenges focus on getting players familiar with the concept, we thought it best to explain everything using select tasks as a backdrop. By the end of our tutorial, you should have a general understanding of how crafting might improve your game.

Hunting wildlife and crafting Primal Weapons

The backbone of Fortnite's crafting system is the introduction of wildlife. True to form, however, players won't find wildlife at any location. While creatures like wolves, chickens and boars live in a wide range of places in a general sense, you'll probably have the best luck encountering animals by staying away from named location centers and hanging out in the woods. Do so long enough, and you may hear the grunt or howl of wildlife nearby. Below, you'll see our first run-in with some wolves.

In order to hunt wildlife, all you need to do is shoot it with any weapon you might find. Typically, each form of wildlife will drop a small cache of bones and meat once you've whittled down its health bar. Some of these encounters can actually be deadly, so make sure you only start hunting when you have a decent loadout.

When it comes to crafting Primal Weapons specifically, you'll need to first loot one Makeshift Weapon from anywhere and accumulate about four bones harvested from creatures. If you're having trouble finding bones, many NPCs scattered around the map will sell them to you for a small number of Bars.

Once you know you've collected those, open up your inventory by pressing D-pad up on the controller or "i" on the keyboard. Scroll over to the new crafting tab, and you'll likely see that a Primal version of the weapon can be made. Do so by pressing the designated button to "craft" when it's available.

How to craft a Hunter's Cloak

Crafting a Hunter's Cloak works basically the same way, except the recipe requires one piece of meat and two bones. Find those by hunting wildlife once more, and this time scroll over to the piece of meat likely found in the bottom-right corner of your crafting tab. You should see Hunter's Cloak (uncommon) as one of the new options. Simply press the button to craft, and continue on your way. As listed in its description, the Hunter's Cloak makes it harder for wildlife to spot you.

How to craft mechanical weapons

Mechanical Weapons contrast Primal Weapons, but they're made using the same concept. The only major difference is how you get the parts to craft them. Instead of hunting wildlife, mechanical parts can be harvested with your Pickaxe from cars, RVs or other vehicles. Mechanical Parts will accrue as you continue to whack.

To make a Mechanical Weapon, simply loot a Makeshift Weapon and get at least four Mechanical Parts. Once you have that, you can make a mechanical weapon variant.

With these three classes of weapons made, you should now have a basic understanding of how crafting works in Fortnite Season 6. While the system will likely be expanded with new items in the weeks and months ahead, it'll function using these concepts.

Fortnite is available now on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Switch, PC and Android.

What do you think of Fortnite's crafting system? Were you able to craft a Primal Weapon, Hunter's Cloak and Mechanical Weapon? Tell us in the comments section!