10 best Fortnite seasons ever, ranked

Fortnite has become a game known for its ever-changing themes and mind-boggling collaborations, as much as its battle-royale mechanics. These collaborations and themes come and go with the Fortnite Chapters, further split up into Seasons, offering new items, gameplay mechanics, and funky characters to attract new players and keep existing ones in the game’s wacky loop.
The Fortnite Chapter system has been a massive economic success for Epic Games, and it has allowed a constant flow of new content to keep players on their toes. Players can use V Bucks, the in-game currency, to purchase this new content, although not all seasons are made equal. Certain collaborations stir the imagination more than others, so we’re ranking the 10 best Fortnite seasons so far.

As of Chapter 7 Season 1, there have been 39 Fortnite seasons since the game’s 2017 debut. This includes mini-seasons, such as the recent Simpsons collaboration. We will be focusing on all these seasons and what they have to offer. This includes how memorable a season was, its overall impact, how fun it was to play, and how the gameplay and theme combined to give players a unique experience

Appearing between February and May 2025, the Lawless season had players visit multiple locations to open vaults, all while dodging or facing a bunch of security guards. If successful, these vaults would offer many rare weapons and items that could help tilt the battle in your favour. New locations like Outlaw Oasis and Shiny Shafts could be visited on the updated map, and the appearance of characters from the Mortal Kombat series, like Sub-Zero and Scorpion, made this a season to remember that never felt tiring.

Arriving in March 2022 and wrapping up in June, Resistance introduced several new movesets like mantling and tactical spriting that made traversing around the map and landmarks far quicker than before. Introducing Marvel’s The Prowler as part of the battle pass, the addition of tanks, a torch that could repair vehicles, new weapons like the Combat SMG and Drum Shotgun, as well as mixing up Spider-Man and Star Wars items, made this season a very fun one to play. 

Known as the very first season to offer a battle pass, the Medieval theme also introduced some items and mechanics that have become integral parts of Fortnite. From pistols to Small Shield Potions and Chug Jugs, Chapter 1, Season 2 also added several landmarks that have reappeared several times since this update, such as Tilted Towers and Shifty Shafts. Gameplay-wise, everything felt ramped up, with shields and new weapons adding to the tension when it came down to single digits against players in the map. It’s an update that’s one to remember, and it helped to separate Fortnite from PUBG Battlegrounds even more.

Released in July 2018 and ending in September, Worlds Collide introduced vehicles in the form of Golf Karts, finally letting players travel across the map more quickly compared to sprinting. New weapons like the Submachine Gun, Double Barrel Shotgun, Sniper Rifle, and others also gave players ways to defeat opponents with more satisfaction. Additionally, the Rift-To-Go item, which lets players teleport high in the sky in order to glide over the map, finally solved the issue of having too many players in the same place. Overall, a fun update that provided new ways to travel across the map quickly.

Between August and November 2024, Absolute Doom heralded Marvel’s latest return to Fortnite, but did it in a new way. Not only did much of the map change to reflect landmarks by Dr. Doom, but weapons and items were given a Marvel makeover, making players feel more engrossed in the brand, as well as having them wonder what was coming until the Season’s end. It also had a coincidental effect of Marvel announcing that the fifth Avengers film would be retitled to Avengers: Doomsday, ramping up the attention to what this season offered.

Arriving in March 2023 and lasting until June, this particular season was unofficially known to players as MEGA City and much of the map drew from Japanese influences, such as Cyberpunk and cherry blossoms, giving Fortnite a breath of fresh air in several ways. Rail grinding was a new mechanic in this season, letting players climb onto rails and traverse landmarks like MEGA City. In addition, new weapons like the Combat Shotgun, Overclocked Pulse Rifle, Kinetic Blade, and more, only added to the cyberpunk theme, which was well-received by players thanks to the new mechanics, as well as the skins that the battle pass offered.

The final season of Chapter 3, which lasted from September to December 2022, had a ‘Chrome’ theme that almost gave the whole map a creepy vibe, with many landmarks covered in the material. There were also new weapon additions, such as the Suppressed Machine Gun and Rapid Fire SMG, and items like the Port-A-Bunker and Launch Pad that let players go high into the air, depending on the pad being thrown onto a flat surface. This Season had every chance to fail at first glance due to the appearance of Chrome, but it ended up being a more refined update that doubled down on what makes Fortnite work.

Shock N’ Awesome was the last full season before the Zero Hour event and the start of Chapter 7. It’s a prime example of how collaborations can define a season in a positive way, with the trailer mimicking an episode of the Power Rangers. This season had one of the best battle passes for a while, especially with the Halo and Power Ranger skins. Pair this with the Megazord’s introduction to the map and extra PvE objectives to keep things fresh. The introduction of the bug mobs wasn’t as well received, but the amount of new content, including skins, gameplay, and the battle pass, makes it one of the best Fortnite seasons to date.

Despite previous seasons showcasing Marvel’s Spider-Man, this season brought the web-slinger to the forefront, as well as a brand new map. Between December 2021 and March 2022, there were some milestones here, too, such as the sliding mechanic, making it very fun to climb to the top of a mountain and slide all the way down, while shooting at opponents. The entire game also saw a graphical upgrade, thanks to Unreal Engine 5, available on consoles and supported PCs that offered more detail, ray-tracing effects, and more. New weapons like the Ranger Assault Rifle, Auto Shotgun, and others appeared, as well as items like Med Mist, and the ability to take someone’s crown after they had won a match. But it was Spidey’s Web Shooters that made this season go up a notch. With 80 tries, players could swing around the map, building momentum and escaping the storms in style. It made the fresh map even more fun to explore, all while previous landmarks would return throughout the chapter, making this particular season one for the ages.

While Marvel collaborations have happened in the past, Fortnite in 2020, between August and December, looked like the dream Marvel theme park. The battle pass had fan-favourite heroes like Wolverine, Storm, and Thor, as well as weapons that were faithful to even more characters. In a way, it felt like the season was its own Marvel-dedicated mode or game. It felt like Fortnite had become one of the best Marvel games around, with Galactus, the world eater, getting closer as the season approached its end, before players would have a massive showdown against the iconic Marvel villain. While other seasons had complaints or experiments that didn’t quite work, everything functioned as intended here, and the ambition behind it made Chapter 2, Season 4’s success all the more impressive.

Ever since Fortnite found its identity as the pop-culture collaboration hub, it has felt like its momentum will never die down. Taking a look at the best Fortnite seasons explains why, with massive collaborations with the biggest names in media, like Marvel, DC, Star Wars, and so on. Nothing seems out of reach for Epic Games anymore.

Beyond that, these collaborations are being woven into Fortnite’s gameplay, rather than just sticking them on top, with playable Megazords, an interactable Darth Vader, and Spider-Man’s webslinging as just some examples. Normally, the sky would be the limit, but Fortnite feels as though it has gone further beyond, and will keep climbing as time goes by.