How to Open the Southern Ruins Vault in Fortnite: A Complete Step-by-Step Guide

As an avid Fortnite player and content creator, I‘ve unlocked many of the secret vaults scattered across the island. But one of the most cleverly hidden and challenging to unlock is the Southern Ruins vault. Solving the intense flames puzzle guarding its loot takes patience and skill. If you want to get your hands on the powerful weapons and items locked inside, follow this comprehensive guide. I‘ll explain everything you need to know to open the Southern Ruins vault in Fortnite.

Introduction to Fortnite‘s Mysterious Vaults

Before we dive into the specific steps for the Southern Ruins vault, let‘s quickly cover the basics of vaults in Fortnite. As you probably know, Fortnite is a battle royale-style game developed by Epic Games that launched in 2017. Up to 100 players skydive onto a massive and ever-changing island map. You scramble to gather resources and weapons from buildings and chests to defeat opponents and be the last person standing.

What makes Fortnite unique is the ability to build structures for defense and access hard-to-reach areas. With harvesting tools and gathered materials, you can instantly construct walls, ramps, floors, and roofs. This building mechanic, combined with destructible environments and quirky items like jetpacks and bouncer pads, bring an element of creativity to the battle royale formula.

Each season, Epic adds new mysteries, challenges, and changes to the sprawling Fortnite map to keep gameplay exciting. One of these secrets waiting to be uncovered are hidden vaults blocked by puzzles. Solving vault puzzles and unlocking their stashes of high-tier loot is immensely satisfying. Let‘s explore a few key facts about Fortnite‘s elusive vaults:

Vaults contain the most powerful, rare loot in Fortnite – Mythic and Legendary weapons, healing items, resources, and more.
Puzzle vaults are often linked to themes of the current season‘s world lore and characters.
Designs range from simple combination locks to complex memory and reflex challenges. Some require cooperative play.
Vault locations are fixed but can be temporarily disabled when the island shifts between seasons.
The valuable contents make vaults hotspots for combat after unlocking them, so come prepared!

Now that you know the allure of unlocking Fortnite‘s secret vaults, let‘s get into how to solve the Southern Ruins vault‘s flames puzzle specifically.

Where to Find the Southern Ruins Vault

Before you can attempt the flames puzzle, you first need to know where to locate the Southern Ruins vault. As the name suggests, you‘ll find this vault in the southern region of the Fortnite island.

It‘s situated in a hilly area just south of Shifty Shafts, between two crumbling stone ruins covered in vines and vegetation. Look for a cracked stone brick structure on a raised plateau. The glowing purple vault door is embedded in the side of the left ruin.

When gliding in from the Battle Bus or approaching from nearby POIs like Shifty Shafts or Weeping Woods, head for the dilapidated ruins on the southern coastline. Once you’re in the area, you can’t miss the bright violet door surrounded by stone bricks and leafy vines. Just be ready to take on the flames puzzle and claim the epic rewards contained within!

Step 1: Sacrifice a Worthy Weapon to the Vault Door

Approach the vibrant purple vault door and you’ll be prompted to “Give Weapon”. This is the first step in unlocking the vault. You must sacrifice either an Epic or Legendary rarity weapon by interacting with the door.

Only higher grade weapons are worthy tributes to open the ancient vault. Common, Uncommon, and Rare weapons won’t be accepted. I recommend keeping a spare Epic or Legendary gun in your inventory specifically to use for vault sacrifices when needed.

Relinquishing one of your best weapons hurts, especially with a battle royale match actively going on around you. But the payoff of the vault’s stashed Mythic and Legendary weapons makes the sacrifice worth it. Once you’ve fed the hungry vault door, the flames puzzle will initiate.

Step 2: Memorize the Lit Braziers

After the sacrifice, the stone door will slide open and you’ll see a brief scene with four flaming braziers and patterns carved into the ground. Pay close attention and memorize which two braziers are currently lit. The other two will be extinguished.

You only have a couple seconds to observe the braziers, so really focus! Their positions around the room are randomly generated each match. If you need more time, stand back and use a long range weapon to trigger the scene again.

Why is memorizing the lit braziers important? This is the hint for solving the flames puzzle upstairs. So burn those positions into your brain before moving on!

Step 3: Extinguish the Originally Lit Braziers

Head upstairs from the vault entrance and you‘ll find four fiery braziers around the room, arranged identically to below. Except now, all four braziers will be lit with orange flames.

This is where the memory portion of the puzzle comes in. You need to extinguish the braziers that were originally lit downstairs based on what you just observed. Leave the two that were already extinguished alone.

I recommend building a quick tower or dropping a weapon marker next to the braziers you need to extinguish for reference. Then pickaxe the correct flaming stands to put them out.

If you extinguish the wrong ones, no worries. Just wait for the active stands to re-light and try again. Trial and error is key! When all the right braziers are out, the ground will rumble – you‘ve solved stage one!

Step 4: Enter the Underground Chamber

With the correct braziers extinguished upstairs, the stone floor will open, revealing a descending staircase. Follow it down into an underground chamber guarded by a menacing stone face carved into the wall.

There are two unique statue busts on pedestals in this lower chamber. Examine the large stone face in the wall to trigger another puzzle. The mouth will move and symbols will appear from behind the hands – time for stage two!

Step 5: Choose the Correct Statue

Just like upstairs, the moving stone face will show two different symbols. Memorize which statue bust matches each symbol shown behind the stone hands.

Once it stops, you need to interact with the CORRECT statue that was associated with the final symbol. This is completely random – so choose carefully!

I recommend moving around the room to study both statues closely before deciding. There’s a 50/50 chance of choosing the right one, so go with your gut! If you pick incorrectly, it’s not game over. Just return to the chamber and try the other statue.

Step 6: Loot the Vault‘s Epic Rewards

If you selected the correct statue, the mouth will glow and the stone face will recede into the wall. The vault door will then dramatically swing open! Inside awaits glowing chests overflowing with Legendary and Mythic level loot.

Quickly stock up on the awesome weapons and items inside the unlocked vault. The Mythic Combat Assault Rifle is arguably the best weapon in Fortnite Chapter 4 Season 1 and can only be obtained from this vault, so grab it!

You‘ll also find Legendary variants of the Ex-Caliber Rifle, Red-Eye Assault Rifle, and more. Load up on Crated Med-Mists, Slurp Juice, and other healing items too. With this ultra-rare loot in your inventory, victory is within your grasp!

Just keep an eye out for enemies approaching once the vault is open. That captivating purple glow and chance for Mythic weapons will attract other players. Use your new Mythic Combat AR to fend them off!

Tips and Strategies for Unlocking the Vault

Through extensive trial and error across many matches, I‘ve come up with some useful tips for smoothly unlocking the Southern Ruins vault:

Always carry at least 1 spare Epic/Legendary weapon to use for vault sacrifices.
Build a quick tower or drop a weapon marker next to lit braziers for the memory game.
For the statues, move around and study them carefully before choosing.
Bring plenty of ammo and mats – you‘ll need to defend after opening!
Play squads mode – teammates can help watch your back during the puzzle.
Turn on visual sound effects to see when enemies approach the open vault.
Experiment with different camera angles during the memory scenes for better focus.
If you mess up the brazier order, don‘t stress! Just reset and start over.

With these tips in mind, you should have no trouble conquering the flames puzzle and unlocking this lucrative vault.

How the Southern Ruins Vault Compares to Others

There are currently three main vaults available on the Fortnite Chapter 4 Season 1 island:

Southern Ruins – Flames puzzle

Wreck Ravine – Pressure plate code

Frosty Fields – Floor is lava parkour

The Southern Ruins is definitely one of the more visually captivating but also challenging vaults to unlock. Memorizing the patterns tests your observation skills more than the straightforward pressure plate vault combination. And it requires more reflexes and movement than the Frosty Fields lava course.

Here‘s a comparison of stats between the active Season 1 vaults:

Vault	Puzzle Type	Average Chests	Loot Rarity
Southern Ruins	Memory/Flames	3	Mythic
Wreck Ravine	Combination	4	Legendary
Frosty Fields	Lava Parkour	5	Legendary

As you can see, the Southern Ruins vault contains the most exclusive loot with Mythic weapons, but has less chests than the others. However, the flames puzzle complexity and satisfying loot make it a favorite!

My Own Experiences and Stories Unlocking This Vault

As a veteran player, I‘ve unlocked the Southern Ruins vault many times across different seasons and have some fun memories! Once during a squad match, my friends completed the puzzle but got ambushed right as it opened.

I was still looting upstairs when they got eliminated. Since I was Vivacious, I just kept dancing to avoid the enemies until they got bored waiting and left. Then I swooped in and claimed all that shiny Mythic loot for myself – solo squad wipe for the Victory Royale!

Another time, my duo partner disconnected right as I solved the statue part of the puzzle. I frantically tried pinging and messaging him to get back in and help defend the vault, but it was too late. Three other teams flooded in, annihilated me, and stole the rewards. Lesson learned – always watch your back and have an exit strategy!

Enjoy Your Newfound Mythic Weapons!

And there you have it – everything you need to know about unlocking the Southern Ruins vault and completing the flames puzzle in Fortnite Chapter 4 Season 1. With the exclusive Mythic Combat AR in your hands, go dominate the battlefield!

Just remember to watch out for ambushes when carrying powerful loot. Keep an eye on the storm timer too, since puzzles can distract from the encroaching circle! Now grab your squad and explore more of what this season’s island has to offer.

For help finding more mythic weapons and loot, check out my other Fortnite guides:

How to Get Excalibur and the Mythic Aeroclaw Grappler in Fortnite

All Vault Locations and How to Unlock Them

Top 10 Landing Spots on the New Fortnite Island Map

Keep an eye out for more secret treasure hunts and quests coming soon this season! Good luck out there on the island.