Fortnite best weapons tier list for Chapter 4, Season 1

The best weapons for your loadout.

Guide by Jessica Orr Senior Guides Writer

Published on 13 Feb 2023

The best weapons in Fortnite can help you get to the final Storm Circle and secure that sweet Victory Royale if you play your cards just right.

As there's so many weapons and items constantly being added, vaulted, and unvaulted in Fortnite, we've made a tier list of the best weapons in the current Chapter 4, Season 1 update to help you secure eliminations, or avoid being downed yourself.

This is a guide for the Battle Royale mode of Fortnite, so the reasoning and stats for each weapon listed won't apply if you're playing on Save The World.

On this page:

Best weapons in Fortnite explained
Best weapons in Fortnite tier list for Chapter 4, Season 1
List of vaulted weapons from Chapter 3, Season 4

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Fortnite Chapter 4 Season 1 Cinematic Trailer.

Best weapons in Fortnite explained

Our tier list of the best weapons in Fortnite will primarily focus on the offensive stats and capabilities of the various weapons found on the Battle Royale island.

Please keep in mind that just because we've listed a weapon higher than another, it does not mean you should only use those. Some of the better loot is harder to find, and how much you like using a weapon, or how good you are with one, should also factor in to what loadout you choose to go with.

We also won't move a weapon up in our tier list if a sudden exploit becomes available, as these weapons are usually vaulted by Epic as soon as it is aware of the bug, then brought back when the item is balanced properly.

Inventory space is limited - so choose wisely when coming across the best weapons in Fortnite!

Fortnite, official Epic Games image of a character aiming at a shielded one holding a pistol.

Best weapons in Fortnite tier list for Chapter 4, Season 1

There are 30 weapons in the current Chapter 4, Season 1 version of Fortnite. While the Guardian Shield, Grappler Bow, Chug Cannon, Nimbus Cloud, Port-a-bunker, Shadow Bomb, and Big Bush Bomb can technically be classified as weapons, they don't deal damage, so we've not included them on our ranking.

We have included the Impulse Grenade, however, as you can damage enemies with it if it's used in a specific way.

Here's what we think of each of these 30 damage-dealing weapons, in our Fortnite best weapons tier list for Chapter 4, Season 1:

Weapon	Tier	Rarities	Reasoning
Thunder Shotgun	SS-tier	Common Uncommon Rare Epic Legendary	The Thunder Shotgun shoots two shots at the same time, but has a low fire rate to account for this. Even with this balancing, it's an extremely effective weapon at close range that a lot of players will be able to handle with ease.
Red-Eye Assault Rifle	SS-tier	Common Uncommon Rare Epic Legendary	If you don't like shooting in first person, then you should actually avoid the Red-Eye. If you are skilled in first person combat, however, then this will be one of the best weapons for your loadout in Fortnite. The accuracy and speed that you can track opponents with at medium and long range is incredibly useful. Pair it with the First Assault Augment ability and you'll do even more damage.
The Ageless Champion's Shockwave Hammer	SS-tier	Mythic	With five bounce charges instead of three and better damage numbers than the ordinary Shockwave Hammer, this is an incredible damage-dealing weapon at close range that can also help you traverse the map quickly. It's tough to get, but if you come across it, you should definitely add it to your loadout!
Shockwave Hammer	S-tier	Epic	Although not as good as The Ageless' Shockwave Hammer, the ordinary version is still an S-tier item due to it being easily found on the island, and it still does impressive damage and adds to the ease of your traversal.
Twin Mag SMG	S-tier	Common Uncommon Rare Epic Legendary	This fast firing weapon has two magazines attached which speeds up your reload time significantly. A good trick is to fire one bullet when you're on the slow reload to force it back to the other clip, making your next reload in a combat situation the fast one.
DMR	S-tier	Common Uncommon Rare Epic Legendary	The DMR is very useful because it's a fast firing weapon with a scope, making it effective for firing at medium and long range targets. Keep in mind that if you don't like firing from a first person perspective, this might not be the weapon you want to go for.
Assault Rifle (also known as the SCAR)	S-tier	Common Uncommon Rare Epic Legendary	The Assault Rifle is a versatile, fully automatic weapon useful for almost every type of combat situation that is easily used (and widely loved) by a lot of players. It should be your go-to weapon if you want an all-in-one gun to free up inventory slots for other items.
The Ageless Champion’s Ex-Caliber Rifle	S-tier	Mythic	The best version of the Ex-Caliber Rifle in the game, this is a great medium to long range marksman rifle that does damage even if you miss an enemy, as it sticks a shot to whatever surface it lands on, then explodes. This makes it fantastic for damaging vehicles or structures as well.
Tactical Pistol	S-tier	Common Uncommon Rare Epic Legendary	With a 2x headshot multiplier, ease of use, decent range, and their abundance on the map, it's hard to go wrong with the Tactical Pistol. It basically acts like an SMG, but with a lot of the perks that come with a pistol - including the Light Fingers and Pistol Amg Augments.
Ex-Caliber Rifle	A-tier	Rare Epic Legendary	The only downside to this weapon is that it's not as powerful as the Ageless' version! It's still good for damaging vehicles, structures, and opponents alike.
Primal Flame Bow	A-tier	Rare Epic Legendary	This bow is effective at not only damaging enemies, but igniting surfaces and buildings on fire - drawing an enemy out. It's very easy to find, and benefits from some great Augments that can give you more ammo, or keep enemies marked. Just be careful not to set yourself on fire!
Mechanical Explosive Bow	A-tier	Rare Epic Legendary	A great headshot multiplier (2.5) makes the Mechanical Explosive bow desirable to accurate players, but for fellow players who weren't blessed with such a skill will be glad to know this weapon drops multiple explosions when you land a shot - letting you harm an opponent even if you miss. It's particularly good in Duos, Trios and Squads, where you can hurt multiple team members at the same time.
Rocket Launcher	A-tier	Epic Legendary	Fantastic for causing high numbers of damage, especially to a group of enemies, or when trying to blow up a structure or vehicle. It is fairly slow, however, and it's very easy to accidentally blow yourself up, so be careful with this one.
The Dub	A-tier	Exotic	Yes it's powerful, downing a fully shielded and healed up opponent in just two shots, but The Dub is very hard to use accurately, and you leave yourself open for attack while reloading it - especially if you've missed a shot.
Shadow Tracker	A-tier	Exotic	An A-tier weapon for its good damage potential, but we rank it higher more so because of its ability to mark an enemy after landing a hit, which is particularly useful in Duos, Trios, and Squads.
Kamehameha	A-tier	Mythic	Another unwieldy weapon, but if you catch an unsuspecting stationary target, then it's literally game over for them. You are vulnerable while charging this shot in the air, so it's best to make sure you have cover fire from your team, or are pretty certain you won't get shot at from someone else (like if it's just you and one other person left)
Deku's Smash	A-tier	Mythic	Works almost exactly the same as the Kamehameha, and we rank it as A-tier for the same reasons.
Firefly Jar	B-tier	Rare	If you like drawing your enemies out of structures or causing them to panic, then we recommend using some Firefly Jars! They probably won't eliminate somebody unless they're low on health and shields, but they're great for chucking down and switching to another weapon to finish a fleeing / panicked enemy off.
Combat Shotgun	B-tier	Uncommon Rare Epic Legendary	We like the Combat Shotgun for its fast fire rate, and its ability to cause decent damage even at medium range. Just be careful not to go toe-to-toe with an opponent at short range who has another type of shotgun, as their damage potential will be greater than yours.
Maven Auto Shotgun	B-tier	Common Uncommon Rare Epic Legendary	Another shotgun that does good damage at medium range! Similar to the Combat shotgun, but tends to be more forgiving to those with less accuracy, due to its recovery time between shots.
Heavy Shotgun	B-tier	Common Uncommon Rare Epic Legendary	As it only fires a single bullet, the Heavy Shotgun is also good at medium range - but can also be effective at long range. We don't recommend using it as your long range weapon unless you have to, though. That said, if you're lucky enough to get the Legendary variation, you can cause a lot of damage in just a few shots at any range.
Tactical Assault Rifle	B-tier	Rare Epic Legendary	This is a first person perspective weapon when aiming down the sight, so won't fit some playstyles. If you are a fan of that perspective, however, then the Tactical Assault Rifle is a great medium range weapon with its high rate of fire. It's one of the best 'normal' weapons you'll find in the game, easily wielded by a lot of players.
Machine SMG	B-tier	Common Uncommon Rare Epic Legendary	Originally called the 'Machine Pistol', this weapon fires fast, and is effective at close range. It's a decent inclusion in your loadout, but not essential.
Burst Assault Rifle	B-tier	Common Uncommon Rare Epic Legendary	While its headshot multiplier is only 1.5x, we still recommend aiming for the head at medium range with the Burst Assault Rifle due to the multiple shots it produces. You need to be accurate with it, but if you are, this is a deadly weapon to have.
Primal Stink Bow	B-tier	Rare Epic Legendary	It's a bow, so the 2.5x headshot multiplier is good, but the gas that poisons an enemy when a shot lands isn't a game changer, unfortunately. It can be used to disorient an enemy or enemy groups, and clear someone from a structure, but unless they're very low on health, opponents will almost always survive being gassed.
Mechanical Shockwave bow	B-tier	Rare Epic Legendary	It has a good 2.5x headshot multiplier, but it will knock the enemy back if you hit them. This can be good or bad, depending on the situation. You can also use it to knock back enemies into the storm during the final circle, or boost yourself while travelling across the island.
Impulse Grenade	C-tier	Rare	Good for knocking an enemy into the storm during the final circle, or boosting yourself across the map - but there's not really any other uses for it.
Revolver	C-Tier	Common Uncommon Rare Epic Legendary	Although it's headshot multiplier is 2x we don't rate the Revolver very highly due to its very slow firing speed. You need to be very accurate to be good with the revolver, so it isn't a friendly weapon for most players.
Grenade	C-Tier	Common	A pretty average explosive weapon, but good for causing damage to structures. For this reason we recommend it more if building is enabled.
Unstable Bow	D-tier	Exotic	Every shot of the Unstable Bow randomly changes it to one of the four types of bow currently in the game. If there was some way to control this, it would be a very useful weapon to have, but as there's not, we don't rank this bow very highly unless you're good with headshots.

Fortnite Chapter 4 Chapter 1 is here, complete with a new augments system, Geralt, the School of Llama web event, Falcon Scout, and the Ageless Champion to beat! Meanwhile, learn how to get XP fast, use the best PC settings, earn the Victory Umbrella, find character locations and earn a Victory Crown.

List of vaulted weapons from Chapter 3, Season 4

With a new Fortnite season comes a shakeup in the loot pool - for better and for worse. Some of your favourite weapons might no longer be playable on the current version of the ever-changing island, so we've compiled all the weapons below that got vaulted at the start of Chapter 4, Season 1.