Epic Games mix up the Fortnite Battle Royale meta almost every season and that was exactly the case in Chapter 2, Season 5. Now that the dust has settled on the v15.00 update, a tier list for its best weapons has naturally formed.
Chests can be opened right across the battle royale game, not to mention the new NPC characters protecting areas of the map with dangerous guns of their own. If you hunt down the right people, you could walk away with some of the most devastating tools to take you right to the endgame.
Knowing which are the high performing guns is handy as well, after all, you could be prioritizing the wrong one when looting and it could cost you.
In Season 5, we saw the vaulting of several weapons and some even came back – so let’s take a look at how the meta looks since the patch went live.
Fortnite Season 5 best weapons, ranked
Our rankings have been selected from a mix of in-game experience and community feedback since Season 5 launched. The S Tier represents the best in class, and as the letter grades lower for the weapons it is to reflect how effective they are in Fortnite’s current state. This meta may change during the course of the season, however – as Epic Games rolls out weekly updates.
S Tier
Just like several seasons gone by, it’s been hard to see the likes of the SCAR, Bolt-Action, and Rocket Launcher anywhere but the top tier. They have been mainstays of this bracket for some time, though Exotic Weapons have broken the glass ceiling – with our list featuring Mando’s own weapon and more.
- SCAR
- Bolt-Action
- P90
- Rocket Launcher
- Amban Sniper Rifle
- Splode’s Boom Sniper Rifle
A Tier
The Heavy Assault Rifle is a weapon that screams A-Tier in Season 5. While it might not be as good as others in its class, such as the SCAR, there’s no doubt that you will go far with a high rarity of this gun. Alongside that, the likes of The Dub Shotgun and others have made the cut.
- Assault Rifle
- Heavy Assault Rifle
- The Dub Shotgun
B Tier
The Silenced Submachine Gun has been very much a B Tier gun for some time now, with its speedy fire rate but short mags. Alongside that falls the Tactical Assault Rifle, which just fails to deliver in the same way the Heavy or SCAR does – but still usable in your buildup to the latter stages of a match.
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Exotic Weapons once again feature here, as The Nighthawk Revolver takes a place in the standings. While all of these new weapon rarities are worth trying, these two aren’t quite as strong as the others.
- Tactical Shotgun
- Dragon Shotgun
- Silenced Submachine Gun
- Shadow Tracker Pistol
- The Nighthawk Revolver
- Tactical Assault Rifle
C Tier
Shotguns are proving to be a problem in Fortnite, frankly. In Chapter 1, a lot of talk within the community was about how strong the Pump Shotgun used to be – which was vaulted in patch v15.00. Now, with that out of the picture, there really isn’t room for a shotgun in the top tiers of the loot pool.
- Charge Shotgun
- SMG
D Tier
Some are just made to be at the bottom and that’s the case for these two. Unfortunately, they are made for the early looting phases of matches but taking these too far into a match would be a mistake.
- Storm Scout Sniper
- Pistol
That rounds off our Fortnite Season 5 best weapons tier list, showing the likes of the SCAR and Rocket Launcher are still among the very best in the current meta.
The placements will likely shift during the season as buffs and nerfs are announced, so keep an eye out for that – and tweet us any potential changes @FortniteINTEL. We’ll update this list should things change.
