Fortnite: All 5 Battle Royale Maps, Ranked

Fortnite

By Jake Fillery

Published 2 days ago

Thread 1

Fortnite

Highlights

Fortnite's maps evolved with distinct styles and meta shake-ups, but faced challenges like clutter and lack of identity.
Chapter 5 plays it safe with standard POIs, while Chapter 3 offers a range of biomes and new POIs for versatile gameplay.
Chapter 1 remains the best map for its nostalgic design, balance, and excitement around new areas.

Fortnite Battle Royale has endured a plethora of changes throughout the years. Beginning as a humble and fun time on a simplified map, and evolving into one of the biggest games of all time, Fortnite has a great history, and a great set of maps to be remembered fondly or otherwise for their distinct styles and meta shake-ups.

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Fortnite’s best maps provided players with an integral sense of fun that would rarely run dry, and the design of these maps would constantly twist and change to shape up into something exciting and fresh. With Fortnite currently in Chapter 5, it’s time to look at every Fortnite Battle Royale map and see just how they compete.

5 Chapter 4

Cluttered And Difficult To Navigate

Release Date: December 4, 2022
End Date: November 3, 2023

Chapter 4’s map was impressive on a technical level, providing players with new details and expansive areas that were not seen in previous chapters. However, the flaw of Chapter 4’s map was its own ambition, as too many invasive locations sprouted throughout Chapter 4 to make the map feel cluttered, hard to navigate, and difficult to fight within.

Whilst Mega City was visually stunning, it lacked a sense of Fortnite’s identity, as most of the city was indestructible, making it feel like a lacking neo-Tilted Towers. Perhaps the biggest point of interest was the jungle, which provided players with dire height advantages and disadvantages, as well as a punishing terrain for those in Zero Build.

4 Chapter 5

Expansive And Spacious At The Cost Of Staying Too Safe

Release Date: December 3, 2023
End Date: TBC

Chapter 5 is the most recent content of Fortnite, with the map still set to receive a few more updates before the dawn of a new map. With what has been played in Chapter 5 so far, it’s worth respecting, as there’s a lot about this map that works thanks to inspiration from previous designs. However, there lies a fault that some may have since Chapter 5 plays it all a bit too safe with standard POIs that don’t draw much attention.

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Chapter 5’s POIs are fairly spread apart, allowing 100 players to compete without feeling like their landing spot is overcrowded with competition. The variety of POIs is fun to loot up at, but there isn’t much risk in their locations, and Season 3’s desert storm continued that trend, but with a vehicular twist.

3 Chapter 2

Friendly Design Held Back By Repetition

Release Date: October 15, 2019
End Date: December 4, 2021

The first new map in Fortnite’s history, Chapter 2 offered something new and exciting for players. Yet, it didn’t take long for the Chapter 2 map to feel somewhat stale, as the constant rotation of matches would end towards the center due to the spider web-like map design. The center of the map was Chapter 2’s biggest downfall, as it felt like POIs were added in orbit of this location, keeping the center unchanged and untouched outside of visual tweaks.

Chapter 2 was fun for its cluster of POIs that seem to be thrust in abundance on the map, but it also suffered for some POIs that were just frustrating to be in. Areas like Coral Castle were so far out of the way that getting back to the main island was a chore.

2 Chapter 3

Range Of Biomes And Constant New POIs

Release Date: December 5, 2021
End Date: December 3, 2021

At first glance, players might find themselves overwhelmed by the sheer size of Chapter 3’s map. Yet, familiarity is key, and a few drops from the battle bus will have players discover a second home in Chapter 3. A wide range of different biomes makes the Chapter 3 map feel lived in, and the somewhat tightly woven POIs made for accessible and surprising gunfights just around the corner, leading to some more competitive and high-energy games.

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Chapter 3 certainly had versatility to its design, with new POIs every season, as well as the return of some classics like Tilted Towers. The winding roads and high hills of Chapter 3’s map did make things difficult to traverse, especially if one was trapped within the Daily Bugle on Zero Build. The charm of Chapter 3’s map was the chaos of its POIs, allowing for unpredictable games, even if they could be a tad more stressful.

1 Chapter 1

Nostalgic, Fresh, Accessible To All

Release Date: September 26, 2017
End Date: October 13, 2019

It’s hard to beat a classic, and the ten seasons gifted to Chapter 1 couldn’t be better. Chapter 1 was the best map of Fortnite for a few reasons, and this is a notable fact considering Fortnite OG brought the map back with updated gameplay. Chapter 1 wasn’t just fun for the laid-back attitude that players had, as opposed to today's overly competitive meta, but the map design itself warranted grand nostalgia.

Chapter 1 had a plethora of map changes, alterations, and additions to POIs that would be welcomed on the map by players. Each season added something new, and even the in-between had a level of excitement around new areas. Chapter 1 had a great balance of height zones and POIs to make for exciting battles on the ground, proving that sometimes it's better to keep it simple.