Did you play them all?
Let's get started with the iconic Scar! The original sound was so satisfying and the weapon powerful as hell. The legendary Scar had a base damage of 39 with a headshot multiplier of 2.5 resulting in a possible 98 headshot damage!
Just true OGs witnessed this weapon until it was nerfed later in the season. | © Epic Games
For sure, this classic can't be missed out on a list like that. The original pump model looks so good, and we all miss it. The damage was also just insane:
Also, Double Pump was still a thing until it was nerfed 2 seasons later in season 4 — what a time to be alive that was. | © Epic Games
The Guided Missile was a remote-controlled rocket launcher. Back in the days, the weapon was actually OP because most people weren't able to counter build the rocket.
The gun also made it possible to "Rocket Ride" yourself, which ended up with a lot of streamers making insane sniper clips, riding this rocket. | © Epic Games
Back in the day, the Minigun was incredibly overpowered, to the point where most people barely recall the extent of it! In particular, during season 4, Epic Games enhanced its accuracy, increased its damage to structures, and made small ammunition more readily available.
However, the most overpowered aspect was that the Minigun lacked an overheat mechanic! This meant you could continuously fire all 999 small bullets at your enemies without any interruption—how ridiculous was that?! | © Epic Games
The iconic P90 was kind of an epic and legendary version of the classic Submachine Gun, which was also added in season 5. Even though, the P90 was called "Compact SMG" making it a new weapon on its own — and it was incredibly strong.
It was so strong, Epic had to hotfix the weapon immediately a few days later. But the legacy stats were unbelievable:
Yeah, who could have thought, that this weapon wouldn't be balanced at all? | © Epic Games
Coming closer to the end of season 6, Epic Games added a long awaited epic and legendary version of the Pump Shotgun to the game, while increasing the damage of the uncommon and rare one as well.
Pumps were now yet again able to deal 200 damage with one shot! And the new versions could do that from a slightly far range because there damage cap was 210 and 220. | © Epic Games
The AK was released in season 6 and got an accuracy hotfix already. But in season 7 Epic Games to make the weapon goated! Reducing the recoil and increasing the accuracy while aiming and standing still combined with the already insane damage made the weapon an absolute beast!
The legendary version could 48 base damage and an insane 96 damage to the head, reminding us of the OG Scar from season 1. | © Epic Games
To be honest, we just couldn't let out one of these insane guns! But let's look at each one separately:
Infantry Rifle
The Infantry Rifle was originally a mix of a Hunting rifle and an AR. But in season 8, the weapon got the hitscan mechanic, which meant hitting shots was now a lot easier with the huge zoom in of the weapon.
Also with the later added legendary version, you were able to tap 88 headshot damage on decent distances to your opponents, it was so powerful!
Heavy Sniper
The iconic heavy sniper was already added in season 5, but we couldn't find a spot to put it in, even though it was already insane back in the day. With 150 and 157 base damage, more than 300 damage to the head and more than 1000 damage to structures, it was almost impossible not to use a heavy sniper!
Because of the structure damage, a lot of players used the gun to claim walls or get into boxes of their opponents. | © Epic Games
When it first came out, everyone hated the new Combat Shotgun. Nobody was used to a fast-paced and precise gun like that.
But after understanding how the weapon works and adapting the play style, the weapon became one of the best of all time! You could deal 70 to 100 damage on distances, where the usual pump couldn't even connect a bullet! And the fire rate was so high as well!
After chapter 1 the combat came back sometimes, but was brutally nerfed. | © Epic Games
To find a favorite in this season was a hard task, but in the end, we chose the legendary version of the Tactical SMG!
Before season X, the Tactical SMG was only known from uncommon to epic rarity. Even though the upgrade to the legendary version wasn't that flashy, it was still a great feeling to see a classic like that in a new legendary flare.
You only could get the legendary version at Starry Suburbs, which was a POI emerged from the ruins in the north. | © Epic Games
With chapter 2 a lot has changed in Fortnite. And that's also fitting to the Tactical Shotgun, which introduced her epic and legendary variant in season 9 already.
But in season 11, the gun finally popped off! The structure damage was increased to 75 and 79 on the high tier models. That meant you could break fresh walls immediately and fully built wood walls with just 2 shots!
Combined with the already OP 2.25 headshot multiplier, which meant a maxed hit of 195, the weapon was perfect for an aggressive playstyle! | © Epic Games
For sure, you could give the spot to multiple mythic weapons from the season like Skye's Scar or Brutus' Minigun. But Midas' Drum Gun was just a nightmare!
With 25 Damage per hit and 50 on the head, you could shredd enemies rapidly. Combined with controller aim assist being on it's peak back then, the only option to survive the Tommy Gun player was running! | © Epic Games
Besides the OP Catty Shockwave Launcher and the mythic Charge Shotgun, the Hunting Rifle celebrated a huge comeback!
Players loved the gun in the OG seasons, but always begged for a legendary variant. And here it was! The feared marauders carried this weapon all along and even though they were just NPCs, they showed how powerful this scopeless sniper can be. | © Epic Games
What a season! And of course, the best weapons you could find were around Stark Industries! Besides the comeback of the original SPAS Pump Shotgun, the new Stark Industries Energy Rifle was a killer!
With different fire rates and damage while aiming down or hip-firing, the weapon was the perfect hybrid between an SMG and an AR. So this unique rifle of course needs to be involved here. | © Epic Games
The Dub is an exotic rarity weapon that could only be bought by NPCs or vending machines, or later available in Holo-Chests.
It was obviously a Double Barrel Shotgun, but with a twist. While shooting, you get a knock back effect on yourself and the person you hit. So besides being a decent damaging shotgun, you also could move and rotate around the map pretty fast! | © Epic Games
In the primal season, of course a primal weapon had to be on top! Even though the AR was pretty bad, the primal shotgun was an insanely powerful weapon, that was pretty easy to play.
The shotgun fires two shots per second as a burst in a very fast pace! The damage was also pretty good which it a nightmare for a lot of the players. | © Epic Games
Slone's Pulse Rifle was one of the mythic weapons this season. It worked similarly to the Stark Industries Energy Rifle from season 4. While the ADS damage was increased, the hipfire damage was lowered a lot.
Although a legendary Stark rifle was still better than this mythic, in season 7 it was a pretty powerful gun! | © Epic Games
The Rail Gun is something like the Heavy Sniper V2! The damage on the legendary was much lower with 99, but the effect of the gun was gamebreaking at some point!
With the Rail Gun, you were able to shoot through one building structure while still damaging the opponent for 100%! There is no chance we can not leave this one unmentioned. | © Epic Games
With the start of chapter 3, the new MK-Seven rifles were game breaking!
It was a scoped AR, with a hitscan mechanic and the firerate of an SMG! Like, what is that?? Even though the other versions of the weapon were insane as well, the mythic one was just disgusting.
It was so powerful, even when it came back in chapter 4 season 4 with a huge nerf, it was still one of the best weapons around! | © Epic Games
Yes, maybe another SMG could take this spot here as well, but we don't wanna underestimate the power of the Combat SMG. It had a brutal fire rate with decent damage and first shot accuracy.
The only downside was the enormous recoil. But all in all a great weapon that was pretty easy to get... But as we told, there was another nightmare around at the same time... | © Epic Games
The Stinger SMG! It was pretty equal to the Combat SMG, without first shot accuracy but less recoil and spreading.
You didn't even need to use the mythic one, all the Stinger SMGs were such better than any Shotgun at the time, a pretty interesting meta to be fair. | © Epic Games
The EvoChrome might be a bad gun at first sight. It was upgradeable through dealing damage, even until the mythic variant. And while the damage was decreased by 1, 2 points, the fire rate was going up to an insane speed!
And if you unlocked the legendary or even the mythic one, this weapon was set to be an absolute GOAT! It was even better than the Herald's Burst Rifle you could get from a boss.
But isn't that a great system? Upgrading your weapon due to damage — maybe Epic will bring it back at some time. | © Epic Games
The Heisted Breacher Shotgun had the OG Heavy Shotgun model, but was totally different from that mechanic-wise.
Instead of shooting multiple spreaded shotgun bullets, you had just one single projectile to hit your opponent. While aiming down sights, you had a brutal first shot accuracy over an immense range!
Second big change, the structure damage was set to 759 which could break literally anything like a heavy sniper but with 5 bullets in a magazine. | © Epic Games
Again, we couldn't figure out one winner. And also, these two weapons combined were maybe the best loadout ever in Fortnite history! We again will look separately:
Enhanced Havoc Shotgun
The mythic Havoc was always in the vaults around the map. You could enter them by getting a key from Highcard-Guards. The gun had an insane base damage of 138 to the body and 210 to the head!
It was also more precised than a usual Pump Shotgun. Combined with a decent range and 70 structure damage, that was probably one of the best shotguns ever!
Overclocked Pulse Rifle
What can we say here... It's again a pulse rifle, and again it's similar to the Stark rifle. But this one is different anyway! You could only get it by claiming a rift island.
With 199.5 damage per second while aiming down, the damage per second is even better than the one of the Stark Industries Energy Rifle while hipfiring! The hipfire damage per second is by the way 237.5, which is basically better than any SMG!
On top of that, the hipfire is still so precise, you don't even have to aim until a certain range, because it wouldn't be worth it! Maybe one of the best weapons ever in the game! | © Epic Games
The Mammoth Pistol is yet again a pretty interesting gun with a new mechanic.
Despite being pretty much likely a deagle or revolver, the Mammoth Pistol had a much bigger caliber. That means it was a lot easier to hit enemies! Although it was a hitscan weapon, if your crosshair was a little bit off the target, it would still hit!
Before being nerfed, the maxed headshot damage was 183, which makes the weapon even more disgusting. But it was pretty fun to play with at least. | © Epic Games
The Sticky Grenade Launcher was one of the dumbest guns in the game. 4 bullets per magazine that destroyed everything were just not it. Playing against this weapon was pretty annoying.
Only bad part about this weapon is the reload time of 7.2 or even 7.6 seconds which feels like 3 shipping days. | © Epic Games
Season OG yet again had a grenade launcher as it's best weapon. But for a good reason!
The grenades of the actually OG grenade Launcher exploded at a certain time. But in season OG it was different. If you hit anything with your nade, it would explode shortly after, so it was extremely easy to play this gun and just annoy people. | © Epic Games
Despite having a lot of insane mythic weapons like Nisha's Striker AR or Peter Griffin's Hammer Pumpgun, this weapon was actually the best.
If you put a Laser on it, you got a full 100% precision every time — even while jumping! Also, every rarity besides the grey one was able to destroy wood walls with just two burst. And if the enemy holds his wall, you will always be able to shoot at least one or even two bullets through his turbo-build. | © Epic Games
Finally, we got the Gatekeeper Shotgun. Just like the Combat Shotgun, people had to figure out first how to play this one. It worked pretty much like a Tactical Shotgun but with only 3 bullets.
However, it wasn't that hard to actually kill somebody with those 3 or even just 2 bullets. With a good range, fast fire rate and decent damage, this weapon was a banger if you mastered it, especially the one from Cerberus. | © Epic Games
In a season full of cars, explosives and cringe Nitro Fists, we could also pick a lot of other weapons like the mythic Boom Bolt or the mythic Combat Shotgun. But we chose The Machinist's Combat Assault Rifle, because the new mythic version is just so broken compared to the legacy weapon!
The old one was known for a massive recoil, which made her pretty balanced due to the high fire rate and decent damage. But now, the weapon has a scope, equal magazine size, 25 damage, which is more than the legacy legendary version, almost the same fire rate and almost no recoil due to the vertical foregrip! With the new weapon mods, this gun is just insane and would be too good by far in any other season, where cars aren't the meta! | © Epic Games
In Season 4 Captain America’s Shield is the standout weapon. It can be thrown to deal significant damage to enemies and then returns to the player, similar to a boomerang. Additionally, it provides excellent defense by blocking incoming attacks. Its iconic design and powerful capabilities make it a favorite among players, adding both style and substance to gameplay.
| © Epic Games
With Fortnite chapter 5 season 4 starting soon, we wanna look back at all the best weapons from the past 30 seasons. Which one will be on the top this time?
If you like those nostalgic Fortnite galleries, maybe this one is what you never know you needed, but you actually need to see:
