Best Fortnite skins – rare and iconic looks in Epic’s battle royale (2024)

Nananananananana – Spider-Man! The Caped Crusader himself swings into Chapter 3 Season 1, in a choice of outfits. Both monochromatic options have their merits, but nothing catches the eye like those familiar reds and blues.

He’s available as a battle pass reward, and the aforementioned black and white variations are waay along the tier list, so prepare to get grindy for Spidey.

LeBron James is the LeBron James of basketball. Over 19 seasons he’s managed to somehow exceed even the most hyperbole-infused expectations of him when he joined the league as a teenage sensation and maintained a career average above 27 points, 7 rebounds, and 7 assists. He’s not the single best player in the league at one specific thing – but he’s one of the best at absolutely everything.

Why wouldn’t you want to use this man’s godlike image while you play a video game?

It’s very Fortnite, isn’t it? Bright colors, a sense of a deeper lore kept arm’s length away, brutal headshots committed by an entity with a burger for a left foot and an anthropomorphized strawberry on the right.

Mecha Team Leader first appeared in Season 9 and is still available on the store at the time of writing.

10.7 million people watched Ariana Grande’s bizarre and innovative concert within Fortnite. That’s a number that more than warrants the diminutive singer’s appearance as a playable skin. There are astronaut helmeted spacefarer variations out there, but for maximum impact on the battlefield you really just want Ariana being Ariana. Like so.

Trivia: the name Ariana Grande is Spanish for ‘large Ariana’.

First showing up in season two as a tier 70 reward skin, the Black Knight has become incredibly sought after, owing to the game’s increasing popularity and the skin’s absence from the store afterwards. People sell their Fortnite accounts with Black Knight skins unlocked – it’s like a pair of box-fresh Yeezys.

While most Fortnite skins make full use of the color spectrum, this one’s incredibly restrained, the black only broken by some glowing red eyes and the odd bit of blood-red trim. You look at it and go: yep, this person is definitely going to kill me.

Artist Brian Donnelly has been making skeleton merch under the name KAWS since 2007, when Fortnite was just a twinkle in Epic’s eye. The skeleton skin first appeared in Chapter 2 Season 8 and unlike some on this list, it regularly pops up on the store so you can earn it pretty easily.

There’s something about its slumped, despondent posture that sets it apart from the cheery crowd you board the battle bus with. It says ‘I’m not hugely up for this battle’ and sometimes we all feel that.

So the legend goes, Dr. Harleen Quinzel was a psychiatrist who fell in love with one of her patients at the Arkham asylum, one ‘Joker’ whose influence on her was not altogether positive. Her first appearance in DC comics was in 1999, but Harley Quinn took her sweet time to appear in Fortnite, cropping up in Chapter 2 Season 1. Since then the skin’s returned to the store once every 193 days so she’s still something of a rarity.

In space, no one can hear you in space. So sayeth the famous tagline for 1979’s Alien (don’t look it up, just trust us) and while it’s a scary thought it doesn’t really apply to Greasy Grove or Camp Cuddle, where everyone can hear you just fine.

Still, the xenomorph is as terrifying and beloved as a phallic death-being can be, and first appeared in Chapter 2 Season 5. It crops up on average every 122 days, so if you really want it you’ve got a fighting chance.

Another easy to get skin next, and Jellie’s gregarious eyes and nonchalant way of holding a high-caliber sniper rifle belie the absolute savagery beneath.

Originally released as part of the Fish Food set in Chapter 2 Season 1, the skin’s always popping up on the store so you’ll have no problem tracking it down. That one boot, presumably salvaged from the ocean itself, is extremely cute. And we didn’t know we found sea anemones cute before.

One part Captain Planet, one part Daft Punk, Eco is in fact a clever and rather detailed homage to the game’s first map. The original map layout holds a warm and fuzzy spot for many players who were there in 2017 when the game originally released, and ever since it disappeared in the wake of in-game events that changed the landscape, fans have been asking for its return.

In Chapter 2 Season 6, they almost got what they asked for – the map came back… as a skin. Better than nothing, we guess. And never say never – that actual map return may be just around the corner.

Written by Phil Iwaniuk on behalf of GLHF.