Fortnite Season 8 Battle Pass: What Is It And How Do You Get One?

Fortnite Season 8 is officially underway. As longtime fans of the wildly popular battle royale title will know, the new season breathes new life into the game by overhauling numerous aspects of the game. For Season 8 developer Epic has changed the island on which all the action takes place, introduced new gameplay features, and made quality of life improvements. However, for the dedicated Fortnite players the most exciting thing that Season 8 brings is a new Battle Pass.

For those that are jumping into Fortnite for the first time (hey, hello, welcome to the Fortnite party!), here’s a quick overview of what the Battle Pass is, what it offers, and how you can best make use of it to enjoy the coming weeks and months of playing Fortnite.

The Battle Pass is effectively the means by which players unlock new cosmetic items such as skins, emotes, wraps, gliders, and back bling—basically anything cool you see on other players running around the island. This is done by playing Fortnite; taking out enemy players and scoring Victory Royales, and completing the weekly challenges. The Battle Stars you accrue while doing all this levels up the Battle Pass and, in turn, the cosmetics become available.

You’re not required to have a Battle Pass as, by default, everyone is able to unlock some cosmetics. However, with what is effectively the free version of the Battle Pass, it takes much longer to level up the Battle Pass and unlock these cosmetics. This is because a portion of the weekly challenges are exclusive to those that have spent V-Bucks on a Battle Pass. More challenges to do means more Battle Stars earned, which levels up the pass quicker and gets players those precious cosmetics. There are also some rewards that are exclusive to paid Battle Pass holders.

The Battle Pass costs 950 V-Bucks from the in-game store. V-Bucks is a Fortnite specific currency that you can purchase with real money. Those that completed the 13 free Overtime Challenges during the Share the Love event towards the end of Season 7 are entitled to a Season 8 Battle Pass at no cost. If that’s you, head to the Battle Pass tab to get it or upgrade to a Battle Bundle at a discount.

As with previous Battle Passes, there are over 100 levels to upgrade through. When you acquire a Battle Pass, you’ll automatically get the Blackheart and Hybrid progressive skins. These outfits can be levelled up to evolve into different styles, which is a neat touch introduced in Season 7.

One thing to note for Season 8 is the introduction of Party Assist, which should make completing the weekly challenges significantly easier. This new feature allows a player to group up with friends and, prior to starting of a match, activate Party Assist so all the players can work towards challenge progress together.

For Season 8 Epic has once again rolled out a cool new world event. This time around a huge volcano has appeared, introducing lava onto the island. At the same time a powerful figure has escaped the Ice King and pirates have shown up too. There’s treasure to be found too, and all of these factions are after it. The island looks different and new locations have appeared, so whether you’re a seasoned Fortnite player or a newcomer, it should be exciting.

Epic had detailed everything new in its Fortnite update 8.0 patch notes. Along with more information on the world event, you can find out about the new cannon weapon, learn about the latest limited time modes, and more in the notes.