Chapter 5 of Fortnite Battle Royale brings a beautiful new Island, but not all is what it seems. “The Society” is pulling the strings in secret, and they’ve taken Peely in their spite. Join “The Underground” and take down The Society’s bosses — including its most notorious boss Valeria. To help you out, take the Island’s train, modify your weapons, and use a “Ballistic Shield” while shooting a pistol. Join the fight in Chapter 5 Season 1: Underground!

NEW SOCIETY, NEW SIGHTS

The page has turned to a new Chapter, so what direction to turn to? There’s the chaparral biome in the west, containing the classy Ritzy Riviera marina. Looking for something more remote? Venture to the northwest’s boreal forest where the abandoned Rebel’s Roost mansion lies.

Down south in the center of the Island is the grassland biome, whose pristine views are seen by train passengers traveling to Grand Station at Reckless Railways. Take the train to get to various parts of the Island!

That’s the center and the west, now for the rest. In the east are the boreal tundra and boreal snow biomes, comprising the high alpine Hazy Hillside village and elaborate Grand Glacier Hotel. Here’s a look at just some of the Island’s locales:

Snow is in more than just the boreal snow biome during the first part of the Season. Fitting for the upcoming Winterfest 2023, the boreal forest and boreal tundra are covered in snow too!

HIGH SOCIETY: DEFEAT BOSSES FOR SOCIETY MEDALLIONS

Across the Island are five bosses: Oscar, Nisha, Montague, Valeria, and also Peter Griffin from Family Guy. Each boss will drop a Society Medallion once defeated. Keep a Medallion in your inventory for your Shield to regenerate over time! The more Society Medallions in your inventory, the more Shield that will regenerate with each tick.

You can’t get to the top without making enemies on the way — if you have a Society Medallion in your inventory, you’ll be marked on opponents’ map, and the more Medallions you have, the more precise the radius of your exact location.

FORGET THE PATH WITH THE TRAILSMASHER

The road too mundane for you? The train too predetermined? Go off-roading with the Grandeur Trailsmasher SUV and explore the Island your way!

Don’t take the beaten path, be above it with a luxury ride.

SPEAKING OF CARS…

You’ve equipped Outfits, Back Blings, and more — now get your engines ready for something new: Cars! Give your gameplay cars a fresh new look with this cosmetic category.

“Cars” is a new section in players’ Lockers. Cars are built with three new types of Locker items: Car Bodies, Decals, and Wheels. All players have the OEM Wheels from Rocket League in their Locker right now! With a Car Body and Wheels, you have all you need for a Car. Car Bodies, Decals, and Wheels grant no competitive advantage.

So once you have a Car assembled, what do you do with it? Enter a Sports Car in Fortnite Battle Royale or an applicable creator-made island, then watch it turn into your equipped Car! The Sports Car will keep the look of your equipped Car the entire match, even if you exit it and someone else enters it. To start out, players can transform only one Sports Car per match/gameplay session.

For all the Rocket League fans out there, the OEM Wheels aren’t the only Rocket League item in Fortnite. If you own the Octane, Cyclone, Jäger 619, or Lamborghini Huracán STO Car Bodies in Rocket League, you also own them in Fortnite! (Just make sure you’re playing Fortnite with the same Epic Games account you use to play Rocket League.) You also own certain Decals and Wheels you may own in Rocket League.

Car Bodies will soon be available in the Fortnite Shop via bundles that include other Car items. There’s also a Car Body in the Battle Pass…

SCORPION CAR BODY

The Big Bang Battle Pass has an unlockable Car Body! Give your Sports Car the ready-to-strike Scorpion. The Battle Pass also has unlockable Decals for Scorpion’s exterior.

GO BALLISTIC… SHIELD

Enough windshields, now just shields. Pick up a Ballistic Shield which includes a pistol, then defend yourself with the shield while shooting the pistol at the same time! The Ballistic Shield has infinite Health, but it can only withstand so much damage before it’ll temporarily be knocked from in front of you.

The shield itself is also a weapon — charge into enemies to deal damage and knock ‘em back! Your enemies in hiding? Charge into a building piece to wear it down and make your unwelcome entry.

ISLAND ARSENAL

The Ballistic Shield is just one of the new weapons in Chapter 5. Want your new suite of SMGs, ARs, and more? Chapter 5 introduces the Hammer Pump Shotgun, Frenzy Auto Shotgun, Nemesis AR, Striker AR, Thunder Burst SMG, Hyper SMG, Reaper Sniper Rifle, and Ranger Pistol:

GRAPPLE BLADE

While others party at Ritzy Riviera, study the blade. Fortunately, the Grapple Blade is pretty simple. Aim at a hard surface or another player, then grapple to your target! If you grapple to a player, attack with the blade to deal melee damage. Get enough practice with the Grapple Blade to pull off masterful maneuvers!

Also a great mobility item, use a Grapple Blade if there’s no car around.

CLUSTER CLINGER

This explosive explodes explosives. Throw a sticky Cluster Clinger on a surface or player, then after a short delay, watch it pop out smaller explosives. Cut and run when someone throws a Cluster.

MODIFY YOUR WEAPONS

“Customize your loadout” now has a whole new meaning. Located in vaults are Mod Benches, which have mods available for many weapons in exchange for Bars. Add mods that reduce recoil, increase mag capacity, and more! Save up your Bars wisely, though, as not every mod works with every weapon.

You don’t need a Mod Bench to wield a modded weapon. In fact, most mod-compatible weapons are already modded! If it’s of Uncommon rarity, it’ll already have one mod. If it’s of Rare rarity, it’ll have two mods. Epic rarity, three mods. And Legendary, four. If you want different mods than the ones that came with your weapon, you can still replace them at Mod Benches in exchange for Bars. Experiment with different combos to see what’s best for you!

Mod-compatible weapons aren’t for sale from Characters or Vending Machines, so keep your eyes peeled for loot.

FLOW-T ON

The new Island yields a new fruit! Upon consumption, a FlowBerry will recover a bit of your and your nearby teammates’ Shield. FlowBerries are best eaten before a jump, as they also grant you and your nearby teammates a temporary low-gravity effect (with fall damage immunity).

A MEDKIT MIRACLE AND SHIELD POTION SURPRISE

Medkits and Shield Potions have changed! Both restore the same amount of stats as before, but the way they do it is different. They now start restoring immediately, and you can now move slowly while they restore. Be a sitting Quackling no more with these two items. But take note: you won’t be able to cancel once you start restoring with these items, so use them wisely!

REVIVE, REBOOT, THRIVE

Reviving and rebooting got a renovation! When you’re reviving a teammate and accidentally move out of range, the revive timer will slowly go down instead of hard reset. Rebooting works the same way — the reboot timer will slowly go down if you move out of range, not hard reset.

Also, only one squad can use each Reboot Van at a time. If a squad eliminates or scares away the current squad, they can continue the current reboot timer to quickly reboot their teammate!

GAME, SET, MATCH QUEST

Besides going for the dub, what goal do you wanna go for in your next match? Chapter 5 Season 1 gives you that choice with Match Quests! At the beginning of each match, you’ll be presented a choice of three Match Quests that expire at the end of the match. Match Quests replace Daily Quests to give you the ability to pursue what you want to accomplish while having less distractions in battle.

Match Quests are personal to each player, and squadmates cannot contribute to their progress. (Match Quests are tuned to be completable by a single player.) You will have Bonus Goals that reset each day to reward you additional XP for completing Match Quests.

BUILDS TO SCALE

There’s a new way to scale enemy structures! Walls built by players now have a plank for propelling yourself upwards. Keep an eye out for these planks in the environment too!

IMPROVED ANIMATIONS

Enjoy smoother gameplay thanks to more fluid and detailed animations! Players on all platforms will experience Motion Matching and Procedural Layering in Fortnite Battle Royale. These are features that result in improved animations for things like transitioning from walking to running, changing directions, and using a weapon.

Additionally, Fortnite Battle Royale players on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and PC will experience Physics Based Animation! With this feature, Gliders in action will have more detailed animations.

Motion Matching, Procedural Layering, and Physics Based Animation require no setting to be enabled — jump right into a better-feeling battle!

THE UNDERGROUND AND SOCIETY COLLIDE IN THE BIG BANG BATTLE PASS

In the Big Bang Battle Pass, unlock rewards in Fortnite by earning XP across Fortnite Battle Royale, creator-made islands, and the upcoming LEGO® Fortnite, Rocket Racing, and Fortnite Festival! The Big Bang Battle Pass is purchasable for 950 V-Bucks and has Outfits, the Scorpion Car Body, and more. Earn up to 1,500 V-Bucks back by progressing in the Battle Pass!

The Outfits are Underground underdogs and The Society’s crème de la crooked. With the Big Bang Battle Pass purchase, you’ll auto-unlock troublemaker Hope, the hope of The Underground. Progress in the Battle Pass to unlock more Outfits:

• The catwalk-ready Oscar
• The other hope of The Underground Vengeance Jones
• The honorably dishonorable Nisha
• The steel-nerved Montague
• Freakin’ Sweet! Peter Griffin
• The most notorious of the notorious Valeria

Those aren’t all the Outfits in the Battle Pass. Later on, unlock Solid Snake of the Gaming Legends Series! The Big Bang Battle Pass will be available to progress in until March 8, 2024, at 2 AM ET.

COMPETITIVE NOTES

Competitors! Learn about Chapter 5 Season 1’s tournament lineup at our Chapter 5 Season 1 Competitive Details blog post. Chapter 5 Season 1 features not in tournaments include (but aren’t limited to):

• Trailsmashers
• Sports Cars
• Cluster Clingers