Fall Guys Beginner's Guide - Tips & Tricks

5-Minute Primer

Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout is a massive, chaotic, 40-player battle royale platformer. If you imagine a game show where a herd of jellybean-shaped contestants navigates giant obstacle courses, that is exactly what this is. Your goal in a standard match is simple: survive through five rounds of elimination mini-games and be the last bean standing to claim the Crown. You do not shoot guns; you jump, dive, grab, and navigate physics-based hazards.

There are four main types of rounds you will encounter. Race maps require you to sprint to the finish line before the timer or the bulk of the crowd catches you. Survival maps keep you in a confined arena where you must dodge obstacles (like spinning blades or falling debris) until the clock runs out. Hunt maps task you with gathering items—like eggs or fruit—while avoiding predators or other players. Finally, Logic maps test your memory and pattern recognition, requiring you to memorize safe paths or match symbols.

The most important mechanics to understand immediately are diving and grabbing. Diving (pressing the jump button while in the air) gives you a sudden burst of forward momentum and allows you to fall flat, which can slide you under certain obstacles or save you from falling off edges. Grabbing allows you to cling to edges to pull yourself up, but it is also used offensively to yank other players off ledges or slow them down. Knowing exactly when to dive and when to grab is the difference between winning and being eliminated in the first round.

First Hour Checklist

Your first hour in Fall Guys will be overwhelming. The screen is filled with bright colors, other players are running in every direction, and the physics engine will inevitably betray you. To get through this initial shock and set yourself up for future victories, follow this priority checklist.

• Complete the tutorial: Do not skip it. It takes two minutes and introduces the dive and grab mechanics in a safe environment. Muscle memory here pays off later.
• Play five consecutive Main Show matches: Do not worry about winning. Your only goal right now is exposure. You need to see as many different mini-games as possible to understand the sheer variety of the rotation.
• Equip the default costume: Fancy costumes have no stats, but turning off visual clutter in a game where spatial awareness is key helps you focus. Play as the plain bean for your first few games.
• Open the settings menu and turn on "Hold to Dive": By default, the game might require you to press the dive button, but holding it is much more responsive for clutch edge-grabs and sliding.
• Navigate to the Customization tab: Spend your initial 500 Crown Shards (the currency given just for playing) on a top-half or bottom-half costume piece that you genuinely like. Do not save it; get used to the currency system immediately.
• Try a Secret Level or Limited Time Mode (LTM): If one is available in the main menu, jump into it. LTMs often have wildly different rules (like hide-and-seek or team-based prop hunting) and are incredibly forgiving for new players learning the movement system.

Key Systems Explained

The Show Format

A standard Main Show consists of up to five rounds. Round 1 starts with 40 players, and a chunk is eliminated. Round 2 drops the count further. Round 3 is usually a semifinal with around 15 players. Round 4 is the Final, where the last 3 to 5 players battle it out for the Crown. Occasionally, you will encounter a Team Round in slots 2 or 3. In team rounds, the lobby is split into groups (usually four teams of 10), and the lowest-performing teams are eliminated. If you are put on a bad team, there is very little you can do individually, so do not stress over these losses.

The Currency Economy

Fall Guys uses a three-tier currency system that can confuse beginners. Crowns are the premium currency. You only get them by winning an entire Main Show or a specific Final round. They are rare and precious, used to buy items from the premium tier of the item shop. Crown Shards are the common currency. You earn a small amount of these after every single match you complete, win or lose. Over time, these accumulate and can be used to buy lower-tier shop items. Show-Bucks are the real-money purchased currency. You buy Show-Bucks with actual cash, and they are used to buy the most expensive, premium items in the shop, including the Season Pass. You do not need to spend real money to enjoy the game, but understanding what each currency buys prevents you from accidentally wasting rare Crowns.

The Item Shop and Rotation

The in-game shop refreshes every 24 hours. It contains a mix of costumes, patterns, colors, faceplates, and taunts. When starting out, prioritize buying Upper and Lower costume pieces, as these completely change the silhouette of your bean. Patterns apply a texture to your entire bean, and Colors change your base paint job. A great strategy for beginners is to buy a few cheap Patterns and Colors in the shop to mix and match, creating unique looks for very few Shards.

Season Pass and Progression

The game operates on a seasonal model, with a new Season Pass dropping every few months. The free track of the pass offers a handful of items just for playing. The premium track, which costs Show-Bucks, offers a massive array of cosmetics, including legendary costumes. You level up the pass by earning Fame, which is awarded simply for finishing matches. The more rounds you survive, the more Fame you earn. Even if you come in last place in round 1, you still get a small amount of Fame.

Build / Character Choices

In Fall Guys, there are no "builds" in the traditional RPG sense. No costume piece grants faster run speed, higher jumps, or better grip. A player wearing a basic chicken suit has the exact same mechanical advantages as a player wearing a glowing, legendary robot suit. However, there are visual and psychological "choices" you can make to optimize your gameplay.

The "Low-Profile" Strategy

While you cannot stat-optimize, you can psychologically optimize. The default Fall Guy bean is bright pink and incredibly wide. When you equip massive hats, huge backpacks, or flowing capes, you make your character's hitbox appear larger to you, which can subconsciously make tight obstacle navigation feel claustrophobic. Furthermore, in modes where you are hiding (like Hide and Seek), a giant glowing costume is a massive detriment. For your first few hundred hours, choose sleek, tight-fitting upper and lower bodies. Keep hats small or non-existent. This minimizes visual distraction and lets you focus purely on the geometry of the obstacles.

The Taunt Loadout

You can equip up to four Taunts (emotes) at a time. You should treat two of these slots as utility. Always equip the Point Up taunt (if you own it) or a basic pointing taunt. In team modes, pointing is the only way to communicate with random teammates to direct them where to go (e.g., pointing to an unguarded goal in a game of Hoarders). Equip a standard wave or a respectful clap for your second slot to acknowledge good plays by opponents. Reserve the other two slots for funny or flashy taunts to celebrate victories.

The Upper Body Emote Trick

When you are standing on a very narrow ledge or a spinning platform, moving your camera to look around can sometimes cause your thumb to slip on the joystick, plunging you to your doom. If you perform an Upper Body emote (like clapping or waving), your character's legs are temporarily locked in place. You cannot walk off an edge while doing an Upper Body emote. You can safely pan the camera around to assess your next jump without risking accidental movement.

Pitfalls to Dodge

The physics engine in Fall Guys is deliberately floaty and bouncy. Learning how to work with the physics, rather than fighting against them, is the core skill of the game. New players consistently fall into these seven traps.

• The "Herd Mentality" Trap: In Race levels, 90% of players will follow the exact same path. This results in massive traffic jams at the first obstacle. Instead of fighting the crowd, look for alternate routes. Many maps have hidden paths on the left or right sides that are slightly longer but completely empty. An empty path is always faster than a crowded short path.
• Premature Diving: New players dive constantly, treating it like a sprint button. Diving is a commitment. When you dive, you surrender control of your character for about a full second. If you dive right before a spinning hammer, you cannot adjust your trajectory, and you will be blasted into the void. Only dive when you have a clear line of sight to where you want to land.
• Grabbing in Races: Grabbing is incredibly powerful in Survival and Final rounds. In Races, it is usually a waste of time. If you stop to grab another player, you lose your own momentum, and the rest of the pack will run right past both of you. Unless you are absolutely certain you can grab someone and throw them off a ledge to secure a top-5 finish, just keep running.
• Panic Jumping on Slimes: When you land on the bouncy pink slime, your instinct is to immediately jump again. Do not do this. If you jump the exact moment you hit the slime, you negate the bounce and go absolutely nowhere. Let the slime compress fully under your weight, wait for the launch, and then steer in the air. If you need to jump off the slime, do it at the apex of the bounce, not the base.
• Ignoring the Timer in Survival Rounds: In games like Slime Climb or Jump Club, players focus entirely on the obstacles and forget to look at the clock. The game does not eliminate you when the timer hits zero; it eliminates you when the rising slime (or spinning beam) catches you. If you are near the back of the pack with 10 seconds left, you need to make a highly aggressive move. Playing it safe will guarantee the slime swallows you.
• Tunnel Vision in Team Games: In games like Hoarders or Egg Scramble, players will blindly grab items and run back to their base without looking around. If you run past an opponent who is carrying five eggs just to grab one egg from the center, you are losing the efficiency battle. Always scan the middle of the map to intercept opponents rather than doing the grunt work yourself.
• Rage Quitting: If you get eliminated in round 1, do not back out to the main menu immediately. Stay in the lobby and watch the remaining rounds. You will earn a small amount of Fame and Crown Shards just for spectating. Furthermore, watching highly skilled players navigate the later rounds is the absolute best way to learn advanced routes and strategies.

Next Steps

Once you have played roughly twenty matches, won your first Crown, and understand the basic flow of the Main Show, you are no longer a complete beginner. To transition into an intermediate player, you need to shift your focus from surviving to optimizing.

Learn the "Grab-Throw" Combo

In finals like Royal Fumble (where you must steal a tail from the current leader), basic grabbing is not enough. You need to master the art of grabbing an opponent and immediately pressing the throw button to launch them in a specific direction. This is crucial for throwing players off edges or rapidly disorienting them. Practice this in the lobby before matches start by grabbing other players and tossing them into the foam pits.

Study the "Meta" Routes

Almost every Race map in Fall Guys has a "speedrunner" route that skips major portions of the level. For example, on "Door Dash," hitting the correct door sequence is luck, but players have figured out how to jump over the dividing walls in certain spots to bypass the doors entirely. Go to YouTube and search for "Fall Guys [Map Name] speedrun skips." Learning just one skip for a popular map will guarantee you survive Round 1 more often than not.

Transition to Competitive Play

When you feel confident in your movement, navigate to the "Play" menu and switch from the Main Show to Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout - Ranked (when the mode is active). Ranked mode removes the randomness of Team Rounds and forces you to play pure Races, Survivals, and Logics. Your performance here will place you in a skill tier (from Bronze up to Legend). Playing Ranked is the fastest way to improve because you are no longer carried by lucky team compositions; your success is entirely dependent on your mechanical skill.

Master Camera Control

The most underutilized tool by beginners is the right thumbstick (or mouse). You must constantly look around. In a Slime Climb, look up to see what obstacles are coming next before you reach them. In a Final like Hex-A-Gone, look down to see which tiles are falling beneath you so you can plan your landing. In a Race, briefly looking behind you lets you know if you can afford a mistake or if the herd is right on your tail. Proactive camera control is the true hallmark of a veteran Fall Guy.