Every season of Fortnite ranked definitively from worst to best

With a new Fortnite season coming as soon as Friday, I’m feeling nostalgic. I’ve pumped out endless hours playing this game, from squads to solo – personally landing on the island for the first time way back in Chapter 1, Season 1. With all my experience and hours and money spent on Epic’s Battle Royale – I’ve ranked all the seasons of Fortnite from worst to best. If anyone call’s me a noob, we’ll settle it at Pleasant Park.

23. Season 1

Not even really a season. No Battle Pass – just a rewards system that you levelled up through and only ran at a measly 46 days. Kind of quaint and cute looking back but it can’t really hold up against anything that came after it.

22. Season X

I hate everything about this season. The Battle Pass, whilst a good idea doing revamped old skins just doesn’t fit what I want from a Battle Pass and I use not a single skin from it. The gameplay was appalling. The less said about Taco Time and the absolute mess that was the BRUTEs the better. One of few seasons I couldn’t play until the end, such was my frustration with it.

21. Season 2

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A bit of a Fortnite fossil, Season 2 saw us get our very first Battle Pass. And it was crap! But at the time gamers were in a chokehold, and the Black Knight was genuinely formidable. You haven’t known fear til you saw someone running him on the map. Like season one, even though it was great at the time it’s hard to compare it to what comes now!

20. Chapter 3: Season 3

I should be all for a season about relaxation and, well, vibin’! But this season is an unfocussed mess – something I can just never be happy about personally. The map changes were nice and it was fun seeing all the party them and bright colours but the gameplay updates were dead and the Battle Pass looks like someone pressed randomise Sim on it. The only skin I love from it is Sabina.

19. Season 7

Battle Pass wise, it doesn’t get much worse than this as far as I’m concerned. Lynx aside, I hate every single one. Truly the pits. When the season started, I loved the planes and I loved the huge ice biome crashing in, but Season 7 is the only occasion where I got so bored of the season I just fully gave up playing.

18. Chapter 2: Season 5

A season of pure chaos. Part of me loves it, part of me hates it. Firstly, I hate the battle pass. Not one skin here is what I’d ever want from this game, so that’s an instant lacking moment for me. This season introduced sand tunnelling, which spent most of the season glitching and disabled because it was a buggy mess. Season 5 is most remembered for its endless collabs – which I actually was here for. I kind of miss them, and Ellen Ripley and Michonne coming to the game was a huge day for gay nerds like me.

17. Chapter 3: Season 4

I hated the chrome. The chrome spreading was BORING. This season was all bark and no bite, I fear. I do like the Battle Pass – Paradigm with Brie Larson in tow has nicely evolved into one of my fave ever skins. Chapter 3 ending only after four seasons actually didn’t work for me at all – I don’t really get the point of this season. Two IO seasons and then two just kind of all over the place ones? Where was the care? Where was the love? Don’t even get me started on the finale event – a disaster.

16. Chapter 2: Season 8

Much to love about Chapter 2: Season 8, aka Cubed, in my opinion! The gameplay really felt like the end of days, and the Cube Queen felt like an imminent and dangerous threat which gave the map a rare sense of dread. No need whatsoever for three meme skins in the Battle Pass but Charlotte is a queen, Kor slayed and the Cube Queen gave us one of the best gliders in the whole game. Also, WHAT an ending.

15. Chapter 2: Season 6

A lot of people hate the Primal season, and I get it. The weapon upgrading was annoying, and the Primal weapons were arse. But I am low key in the defence squad of this one when it comes to Fortnite seasons ranked. It gets a rough ride, but the Battle Pass was great! It introduced boars, wolves and chickens which still leg it around the map to this day – and we got bows! Plus the map looked cool. Semi-justice for Chapter 2: Season 6!

14. Season 3

Is the Battle Pass crap? By today’s standards, yes. Not to be all ‘you had to be there’ about it, but if you didn’t play Fortnite at this time it’s hard to explain how much of a cultural phenomenon it was. This is where I began my Fortnite journey, and I was hooked. It was a terrifying game to play where you’d get annihilated every 10 minutes. The sight of an unofficial John Wick skin literally was the most terrifying thing you could ever imagine. Everything was so fresh and fun, and even though it’s a pretty simple season by today’s standards at the time big updates putting in Tilted Towers (!) were HUGE.

The build up to the meteor? The TV screens giving messages? The world had never had anything like this in a video game before, certainly not in a Battle Royale. It felt so alive.

13. Season 6

The girlies in this Battle Pass slay so hard I can ignore the disgusting Llama riding one and whatever the hell DJ Yonder is meant to be. This was the first full spooky season of Fortnite, with Fortnitemares, the rampant Kevin the Cube sucking up corrupted areas and zombie-like husks chasing us about. I have fond memories of the carnage.

12. Chapter 2: Season 7

What a blast this was! An alien invasion season was the perfect way to tear shit up after Primal had its haters, and the gameplay features of Season 7 were a blast – from zooming around in UFOs to the alien weaponry to a thrilling storyline that concluded with the epic spaceship battle and reveal of The Last Reality and all the cubes. Slone was a hero, life was good! An unexpected blast of a season.

11. Chapter 3: Season 1

Honestly, the start of a new Chapter seasons are always amazing, in my opinion. This is actually my lowest ranked new season chapter – but that’s just personal preference. Exploring a new map is always a ridiculous blast, and I really loved the Chapter 3 one but now it’s gone already I feel like it’s gonna fall off my radar. The weather introductions were super fun, and the Spider-Man web slinger traversal item was one of the funnest in the history of the game, imo. Not my fave Battle Pass but so much to crack on with during new Chapters that I’ll let it off.

10. Chapter 3: Season 2

Unfortunately timed with Putin’s abhorrent invasion of Ukraine, the war-themed Chapter 3: Season 2 saw the game dive into all out battle between the Seven and the IO with thrilling results. For the first time ever, we got Zero Build in Fortnite – a mode I now exclusively play. A thrilling season that really felt alive, with battles across the map and conquering of POIs – it felt like no other season we’d had before. Loved the Battle Pass too.

9. Season 4

Playing Fortnite in Season 4 was to play Fortnite in its GLORY days. Everyone was playing it, and you wouldn’t get called a 12-year-old if you asked your mates to squad up. The superhero theme was so much fun, and the map changes were an absolute hoot. Finding unmarked POIs like the villain’s lair in the cliffside was so exciting and made the world feel really alive. A gorgeous and nostalgic time.

8. Season 5

What a time to be ALIVE! I remember in my shite retail job taking a sick day off work just so I could lie in bed playing Season 5 – such was my desperation to unlock Rook because she was the first female skin to have heeled boots, lol. The gay agenda! Having Drift and Ragnarok in the same Battle Pass was a huge win, and this season introduced Gold Buggys! Lazy Links! THE DESERT BIOME! The game was changed forever, and for the better. A hoot of a season.

7. Chapter 4: Season 1

AKA, everything, everywhere, all at once. Chapter 4 Season 1 has been a chaotic start to the chapter, but I actually wouldn’t have it any other way. I’ve had a blast unlocking the skins in this Battle Pass, the storyline has kept me engaged, the quasi-Medieval map has been a welcome change and I love how everything is a jumble sale but still somehow works cohesively? The heist update was a great fun two weeks and loved having vaults back, and I do not want this game without motorbikes again. Also love the Hammer. Sue me!

Time will only tell if I feel this way in a few months, but as of right now as the season ends, I’ve loved it. One of the better later seasons of Fortnite ranked here.

6. Season 9

ALL CHANGE! The future! First of all, I love the top three skins in this Battle Pass, and Rox is one of the all time greats in my opinion. This season gave us dual wielding harvesting tools for the first time, which was exciting. The map changes and gameplay were a hoot in my opinion – I loved neo-tilted and slipstreams. Ballers were a riot. I’m hyped that Chapter 4: Season 2 looks very much like it’s going to be similar to this one in vibes.

5. Season 8

I had no clue when I started getting all the Fortnite seasons ranked that my highest Chapter 1 season would be 8, but it feels correct. Even looking at the key art for the season makes me grin. I remember all the incels being up in arms about Lux being the tier 100 skin and calling her underwhelming, but I always loved her. Solid Battle Pass, introduced PEELY to the game! But most of all, the gameplay was so fun. The pirate theme! The volcano! The different biomes, jungle, ice, volcano, desert – all in harmony.

What’s more, this season brought me back to Fortnite after Season 7 bored me. I love it dearly.

4. Chapter 2: Season 1

I know a lot of players would have this near the bottom if they ranked all the seasons of Fortnite, but HEAR ME OUT. I have known very little video gaming thrills like the first time I booted up a game of Chapter 2: Season 1 and Fortnite automatically threw you out of the bus. Having a full new map is a thrill the new Chapters can’t quite replicate like it hit the first time around, but it felt so VAST. And having the ability to swim just made everything feel even bigger. I know this season went on for WAY too long, but I (unpopularly so) loved the Battle Pass and this chapter and all it brought with it. A new beginning indeed!

3. Chapter 2: Season 2

I think a lot of players had Fortnite down and out after Chapter 2 Season 1 dragged on, but when getting the seasons ranked I challenge you to find anyone who doesn’t have this in their top three. It almost felt like a new Chapter in itself, there were that many gameplay features added. The spy season! The interactive lobby! Bosses, vaults, keycards, hostile NPCs – it was a thrill from the start and never got old. The map changes were massive and cool – The Rig and Yacht were unreal, and Deadpool featuring ushered in the Marvel era. I don’t even like this Battle Pass that much but I think the season is that good that I don’t even care. Unreal.

2. Chapter 2: Season 4

When it was announced that the season was going to be Marvel themed, I was fuming. I hate Marvel films, generally. Imagine my shock then when I saw the Battle Pass and realised my two favourite Marvel characters, Storm and Mystique, were getting added and not only that, but they looked stunning. I still use Storm, Mystique and Jen Walters to this day. Every skin felt so impressive, and the map was so much fun to play on. Absolutely loved all the powers and the threat of Galactus. Even as a Marvel hater, there was so much to love and it was so fun to play.

I guess sentimentally and personally, I have fond memories of playing with my boyfriend at the time – we hammered this season and had a lot of fun in lockdown playing duos when their wasn’t much else to do. A hoot!

1. Chapter 2: Season 3

I don’t know if the Fortnite fandom are going to crucify me for this, but I love Fortnite Chapter 2: Season 3 above all the other Fortnite seasons ranked here, and I don’t care who knows it! The flooding of the map, again, like Chapter 2 Season 2 made Fortnite feel like it was having a new Chapter all over again. I loved the summery oceanic feeling the whole season had, and the gameplay was just SO MUCH FUN. The terror of facing off against a Loot Shark for the first time was unmatched, Choppers were amazing, everything felt so vibrant and gameplay felt so unpredictable. A short but sweet season that gave us CARS? Take me back.

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