Fortnite Ranked Play is finally arriving in Battle Royale and Zero Build modes in the upcoming V24.30 patch, which looks to be set to arrive on May 16, 2023.
The Fortnite Team shared the details of Fortnite Ranked in a blog, confirming that players will be competing against others across the globe to reach Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, Elite, Champion, and Unreal ranks. Bronze through Diamond will have three ranks, and Elite, Champion, and Unreal will only have one.
Fortnite Ranked’s first season will be Ranked Season Zero, and it will last until the end of Battle Royale Chapter 4 Season 3. When Ranked Season Zero begins, players will be ranked “based on your past match performance, as well as your performance in your first Ranked Battle Royale and Ranked Zero Build match.”
Players will be able to see their current rank on the left of the screen if they have “Ranked” set to “On.” There will also be a progress bar that will show you how close you are to advancing or losing a rank. This bar will increase or decrease based on your match placement and the amount of eliminations your or your team got in a match. Eliminations later on in a match will count more than those earned earlier and the ranks of those players you eliminated will also “be taken into account.”
If you are playing as a team, all members will gain and lose progress “based on team eliminations and team placement calculated at the end of a match.” Also, your team’s rank will be based on the player with the highest rank at the start of the match.
One thing to note is that players who reach Unreal rank will keep it for the entirety of the season it was earned, no matter how they play for the rest of the time. Instead, players can continue to work on their placement in the Unreal rank and prove they really are the best of the best.
A new way to grab the Victory Royale is coming…
Will you rise through the ranks? pic.twitter.com/3RXE50KYCx
— Fortnite (@FortniteGame) May 12, 2023
When V24.40 arrives, Ranked will be supported in Battle Royale’s Solo, Duos, and Squads modes and Zero Build’s Duos mode, and there will be separate ranks for Battle Royale and Zero Build.
As for how you can participate in Fortnite Ranked, new players will need to outlast 500 opponents so they can get a feel of the game. There will also be in-game seasonal cosmetic awards for playing in Ranked matches, and they can be achieved by completing Ranked Urgent Quests. There will be a new Ranked Urgent Quest given to players for every match, but previous quests’ progress does not carry over between matches. The final cosmetic reward for Ranked Season Zero will be the Burn Bright Emote that will show off your current rank to other players in-game.
With the launch of Ranked, Arena mode will be discontinued. Furthermore, your rank in the next Battle Royale Season will be a factor in your eligibility for Epic-hosted tournaments.
Fornite’s V24.40 update will make a few balancing changes that will also be implemented in Ranked, including Material caps being decreased from 999 to 500, harvesting rates being “slightly increased,” and a new penalty for getting eliminated that will see players dropping 50 of each material.
For more, check out the details on Fortnite’s Unreal Engine 5 editor, how Fortnite Creative 2.0 players are already rushing to remake the original Fortnite chapter, and everything to know about the Fortnite x Star Wars update.
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Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.
