The best weapons and loadouts in Fortnite Battle Royale and Zero Build

Fortnite Chapter 6 Season 4, Shock 'n Awesome, mixes new weapons with returning favourites such as the Sentinel Pump shotgun to create an interesting, varied lootpool—with some standouts.

If you want a victory crown in Battle Royale or Zero Build, you'll need to know what to drop, what to carry, and what to lean on in a tough situation.

Below I'll lay out the best rifles, shotguns, and other weapons to carry this season, including a tier list. I've got a separate section on the new exotic and mythic weapons, and then I'll discuss the best mobility and healing items to carry, including the Shockwave launcher and the joyful Flowberry Fizz.

If you just want to know my best five-item loadout, I'd pick the Holo Twister assault rifle as my primary weapon alongside the Wrecker revolver and the Sentinel Pump shotgun—you can switch between those final two and fire with zero delay, known as "double pumping". Then, I'd carry one mobility item, ideally Shockwave grenades or the Last Call knife. The final slot is for any healing item I find, but ideally the Flowberry Fizz or the Last Call knife.

My alternative loadout doubles up on mobility, and sacrifices either the Sentinel Pump or the Wrecker Revolver—hold onto your favorite.

Fortnite best weapons tier list

The Wrecker revolver and the Holo Twister rifle are the best weapons in Fortnite right now. The revolver is basically a shotgun with absurd range, while the Holo Twister is an assault rifle with a sight attachment that makes it easier to aim.

But there are plenty of viable weapons: use this list as a rough guide, but make sure to test different guns for yourself and find your favorites.

S-tier

Holo Twister assault rifle

I was surprised when Epic added the Holo Twister, one of Fortnite's best-ever assault rifles, into Chapter 6 Season 4 in September, essentially upending the entire meta. Surprised, but not disappointed: this is the ultimate versatile rifle. The sight on the weapon makes it easier to land your shots, especially paired with its low recoil, and it spits out consistent damage at both mid and long ranges. This should be your go-to rifle for the rest of the season.

A-tier

Wrecker revolver

Think of it as a shotgun that can deal 100+ damage shots up close, but also a reliable 40-50 per shot at mid-range. It has a decent firing rate and a tight bullet spread when you aim down sights, which you'll want to do most of the time. The slow-firing Sentinel Pump will do more damage with a single point-blank shot, but the Wrecker is more versatile.

When the season released, you could "double pump" these revolvers, switching between them with no delay between firing. An update fixed that but you can still do it between the revolver and a shotgun. The revolvers have recently had their damage and fire rate nerfed, which is why they've slipped from S tier to A tier in our list.

Sentinel Pump Shotgun

The old reliable. This is a high-damage, slow-firing shotgun that’s perfect for landing those 100-HP kill shots. You need to be close to your enemies, so chip away from afar with a rifle, use mobility items to close the gap, and finish them off. It's not as good as the Wrecker revolver but it's still a fantastic finishing weapon.

Fury assault rifle

The Fury has been a staple of Fortnite Chapter 6, and it's a reliable assault rifle for short and medium-range fights. It only deals 22 damage per bodyshot at the base rarity, so long-rate potshots are futile, but it's excellent in every other situation. Its fast fire rate and its larger 28-bullet magazine make it forgiving, and its relatively low bloom makes it reliable at tracking moving targets.

MK-Seven assault rifle

A red-dot sight rifle that fires faster than the Fury and has a bigger magazine, but deals slightly less damage. You need to practice to manage its considerable recoil (pull down and a smidge to the right), but once you've got to grips with it you can beam enemies at mid-range, out-damaging the Holo Twister. Beware of its haphazard hip fire: aim down that clear sight whenever you can.

O.X.R. rifle

This was the best rifle of the season until Epic added the Holo Twister, which trumps the O.X.R. as a mid-to-long range weapon. But if you don't find the Holo, the O.X.R. is still a solid stand-in: it's accurate whether you shoot from the hip or aim in, and it deals good damage from mid-to-long range with manageable recoil. It's also the only rifle with a 1.75x headshot multiplier, which can be the difference between life and death. The Fury and the MK-Seven beat it up close.

B-tier

Wood stake shotgun

An unconventional shotgun: rather than firing a spread of bullets it shoots a single wooden stake. It deals a lot of damage—upwards of 90 to the body, and 150 to the head—and can therefore be an excellent finishing weapon if your aim is tight. But the lack of bullet spread and its slow reload makes it less reliable than other shotguns in prolonged fights. Taking this into a 1v1 is high risk, high reward.

Modular Frenzy Auto shotgun

Epic added the Frenzy when it removed the Twinfire Auto shotgun, which had sadly dwindled into irrelevancy despite a series of buffs. The Frenzy is a slight upgrade: its stats are actually very similar, but its faster fire rate makes a big difference. Just know that its limited range means you need to get really close to your enemy, so I'd only recommend it if you have slick movement and an aggressive playstyle. Even then, the Wrecker revolver is still the better pick.

Swarmstrike rocket launcher

A skilled player with shockwaves and one of these launchers is a menace. It fires a swarm of seven rockets, and one salvo can kill a 200HP enemy in build mode (and leave a zero-build player with a slither of health). You can shoot from the hip or right-click for a laser sight that guides your missiles after you've fired them.

If you can grab mobility items and get airborne so that you're firing on opponents from above, you can rampage through a group. Its downsides are that you might get beamed out of the air, and that it's hard to deal much damage firing from the ground. It also reloads slowly.

Veiled Precision SMG

If you love red-dot scopes then try this SMG. It was buffed in September to fire faster and given a bigger magazine, making it a viable weapon for mid-range fights. It's not quite as good as any as the assault rifles, but it's a fantastic weapon to find as you drop off the bus, or to carry as a side-arm while you're building your loot up.

Precision air strike

A single-use airstrike that drops bombs from the sky, destroying buildings and players in its path. It's relatively easy to get away from with mobility items, but it's useful in the end game for controlling the zone and destroying cover, particularly in build mode and in team fights. Just make sure you don't waste it early in the round.

Hyperburst pistol

A sneaky powerful and accurate burst-fire pistol that can rip through health bars, especially if you land headshots. In the right hands, at higher rarities, it'll out-damage assault rifles, and its magazine capacity has recently been boosted so you can fire for longer without reloaded. Ultimately, I prefer the versatility of ARs, but this is still a fun pistol.

C-tier

Pumpkin launcher

This novelty Halloween launcher deals solid damage to both players and structures, and there's few things as satisfying as blowing up a bush camper with it, but it's simply a worse pick than the Swarmstrike because its projectiles are slower and therefore easier to dodge. It is, however, everywhere on the map, so if you like launchers then use it until you spot the better Swarmstrike.

Falcon Eye sniper

It's exciting to have a proper sniper rifle in the loot pool, but it's one of the worst ever in Fortnite. At high rarities it will one-tap enemies to the head in build mode (not in Zero Build), and for that reason it can be worth a player in your squad carrying it. Epic has also reduced the bullet drop from previous versions of this weapon, making it easier to handle—but ultimately it doesn't deal enough damage (80 for a body shot) to justify its tiny three-bullet magazine.

Hand Cannon

This Deagle-like pistol sounds menacing, and landing a headshot is satisfying. But its high damage isn't enough to offset its sluggish fire rate: the aiming reticle takes an age to reset after you squeeze the trigger. Good for some pre-engagement hotshots, but it struggles when the fight begins.

Leadspitter 3000

This minigun can tear down enemy builds, but I wouldn't recommend it as a primary weapon because you move slowly when you're firing it, and because it's hard to handle beyond close-range fights. If you're stuffing all 12 of your barrels in an enemy's face and holding the trigger you will melt them—but if you take a step back, the recoil kicks in.

Bug blaster

This explosive blaster should never be your go-to weapon, but it hits surprisingly hard and you never need to reload it. Uncharged shots deal 50 damage and charged shots 100, and its generous area of effect, which can also damage people in builds or behind cover, makes it easy to aim.

It was particularly powerful against queen mini-bosses and bugs (dealing 2.7x damage), but they've been removed from the map completely, negating one of this weapon's biggest upsides.

Sweeper shotgun

Its horizontal fire pattern is far from ideal and the Wrecker and Sentinel Pump are far better, but at higher rarities this is a perfectly fine shotgun that can deal decent damage up close.

D-tier

Stinger SMG

This season's dud. The Stinger fires fast and can pump out tons of damage up close, but it's not versatile enough for me to recommend carrying. It is, however, decent at shredding opponents' builds, so give it a go if you struggle with that.

Exotics

Fortnite Chapter 6 Season 4: Exotics from OXR bunkers

Epic has done the hokey-cokey with the exotics this season: in, out, and now they're back in again. During the second zone, a single bunker will appear on the map, and inside there will be one of the following exotics. Having only one bunker makes them really busy, and I only really love two of the exotics (the fizz and the Wrecker), so I generally steer clear unless I happen to be nearby.

• Eradicator Shadow Precision SMG: This SMG marks your targets with a red diamond after you hit them. Effective at tracking enemies who are trying to escape, and especially good in team modes because it highlights damaged opponents to your teammates.
• Eradicator Hoprock Fury assault rifle: Gravity is floatier when firing this exotic version of the Fury rifle, and you can aim down sights in mid-air (which you can't with any other weapon). The idea is you fire it, jump, aim down sights, and fire it some more, catching enemies off-guard. You're vulnerable when you're airborne, but getting above enemies confuses them and makes it easier to land headshots.
• Exotic Slap Berry Fizz: This season's best healing item. It sprays liquid over you and nearby teammates that replenishes both health and shield, and heals for 300 rather than the 200 of the regular Flowberry Fizz.
• Eradicator Marksman Wrecker revolver: This exotic does less damage per shot than even the most common Wrecker revolver—but it fires a lot faster from the hip and it has a 3x headshot multiplier. A beast in the right hands.

Best Fortnite items

This season you’ll want a mix of heals and mobility. The number of slots you have to fill depends on what weapons you're carrying: if you're carrying three weapons (ideally three of the Holo Twister, the O.X.R. rifle, the Wrecker revolver, the Sentinel Pump and the Swarmstrike launcher), you'll want one healing item and one mobility item.

If you're only carrying two weapons, I recommend doubling down on mobility. Or, you could take one mobility item plus one of the items that will help late in games, such as the precision airstrike or the Port-a-Bunker.

And if you're playing as a team, think about your overall loot: if one of you has lots of area-of-effect healing, the other could pick up utility items, such as the flare gun.

Heals: Anything will do

The best item is the legendary Slurp juice, which heals you over time for 200, but you can only get it from the rift pod near the end of the game and from defeating two of the bosses (Jason Voorhees and the Mother of Thorns), so you'll be using something else most of the time.

My favorites are the Flowberry Fizz and the new Scooby Snacks.

The fizz sprays everywhere, healing anyone nearby, including teammates, for up to 100 shields (but not health). It also makes you jump farther and floatier, which pairs brilliantly with mobility items.

Scooby snacks can patch both health and shield, starting with health, for 10 every half-second, and at full charge they can give you 250 HP total. They also grant faster sprint and unlimited stamina for a short time. They work wonderfully with mobility items

There are other viable healing items: the Chug Splash is particularly good in teams because you can heal multiple people at once, both health and shields, and you can spray the Med Mist on either yourself or teammates to restore health.

But remember, anything will do. If your health is low then a Med Kit works in a pinch.

One tip: look for Slurp Barrels in the early game, and break them rather than wasting your healing items, which you can save for later.

Mobility: Shockwave mastery

There are three solid mobility items right now: Shockwave grenades, the Last Call knife, and Crash Pads (the shockwave hammer was recently vaulted).

If you can get your hands on them, Shockwave grenades are the most versatile mobility item in the game right now. They work in every situation: escaping enemies, chasing a weakened foe down, or travelling large distances by chaining them together. Their only limitation is they're relatively rare, so for that reason you might end up carrying the Crash Pads instead: they work in a similar way except you throw them on the ground and then run onto them to fly in the direction you're facing.

The Last Call knife is, on the surface, a melee weapon, but it boosts your sprint speed and has a trick where you can move even faster. If you jump, attack, and slide, you travel even faster. Chain these together to zoom around the map. It even has a short-range scan on its right click that will ping nearby enemies. Neat.

As I've said, doubling up on mobility works very well right now: pick one of the shockwave items plus the teleport mask.

There are two more mobility items that I carry less frequently: the chainsaw and the Witch's broom, which are both new. You can ride the chainsaw to move around quickly, while the witch's broom sends you high into the air to glide back down. I think the other items mentioned above are better options.

There are three final items to consider

• The Flare Gun: when you fire it into the distance, it pings any enemies in that direction. It's not worth ditching heals or mobility to carry it, but it can be useful for one person in your team to carry it.
• Port-a-bunker: A Zero Build item that gives you portable cover. Can be helpful in the late game.
• The launchpad: Bounces you skywards and deploys your glider. If you see one, slam it down, loot up, and use it to get to a new POI.

Fortnite loadout tips

Experiment to find your perfect loadout

Now you have a feel for all the weapons and items, here are some simple tips for picking your ideal combo:

• Play to your strengths: Everyone’s playstyle is different. If you’re good at closing distances with shifty movement, you could ditch a longer-range assault rifle and double up on shotguns (the rfevolverf and the Sentinel Pump, for example). Test different combos until you find some you enjoy.
• Pick weapons that synergise: Ideally, that means something short-range and something for mid-range fights. Also think about your weapons’ strengths and weaknesses, and how they fit together. The O.X.R. rifle is weak up close, so if you’re only carrying one other weapon, you’ll need something that can deal sustained damage at short-range. A weapon that fires faster and has a larger magazine (the Frenzy Auto shotgun, for example) might work better than a Sentinel Pump.
• Consider swapping to a worse weapon of higher rarity: The Holo Twister is the best rifle for me, but given the choice between a common (grey) one and an epic (purple) Fury assault rifle, I'll leave the O.X.R. behind.
• Remember, there are no rules: Find a loadout you enjoy and stick with it, or vary it up every match depending on your mood.