Ever since Season 1 of Fortnite, cosmetics and skins have always been a significant part of the game. Whether it be the newest collaboration with a major IP like Jujutsu Kaisen or one of the old Battle Pass skins like the Black Knight or Reaper, skins have always had some sort of value and appeal toward players beyond their price. Whether it provides some sort of perceived competitive advantage or just personal preference, players tend to be drawn toward skins for one reason or another. In this article, we are going to cover everything about skins from how the shop works to the way hitboxes work.

How Does the Shop Work?

The Fortnite in-game shop is where most cosmetics like skins, harvesting tools, emotes, and back-blings are purchased. Using the required amount of Fortnite’s in-game credit V-Bucks, you can buy everything that is made available to you on the shop page. In some instances, there are bundles you can buy for your country’s currency that typically come with a skin, some other related cosmetics, and a small amount of V-Bucks. While the shop seems simple enough to understand, there are some things about it to keep in mind regarding what skins are made available and when. The shop timer in the lower left corner of the screen indicates when the items in the shop are going to be updated. After this timer, certain items may leave and be replaced by new ones.

Daily Shop

The simplest portion of your shop that you will see when scrolling through the page is your Daily Shop. This Shop is unique since it is the only one in the game that rotates every day. After 24 hours of being up, the Shop changes for everyone and new cosmetics are offered until the next day. The Daily Shop is a good way of getting a skin or emote that you may have missed out on in the past, so make sure to check it every day to see if what you are looking for is there. Do keep in mind, however, that items you already have can also appear in this shop.

Featured

The Featured portion of the shop is where Epic showcased the newest edition to the vast pool of cosmetics they have. Typically, these skins last for around two days, they are then rotated out with a different cosmetic line, and the cycle will repeat itself like how the Daily Shop works. However, unlike the Daily Shop, the Featured Shop has a set theme with its skins, and it is not random with the skins it provides.

Events

Sometimes when Fortnite has a big collaboration with another IP, there are events in-game that coincide with the current shop. Dragon Ball, Attack on Titan, Star Wars, and other popular titles are all examples of this. When this happens, the skins that are offered in the Shop will usually last a bit longer than the items in the Daily and regular Featured shop.

Skin Costs

Rarities

Skins added to the game will cost differently depending on the rarity that the skin has. Unless Epic changes the price of each tier in the future, the current costs of each rarity are as follows: Uncommon: 800 V-Bucks, Rare: 1,000 V-Bucks, Epic: 1,500 V-Bucks, and Legendary: 2,000 V-Bucks. There are exceptions to this rule, since some skins that are part of an entire series like Marvel and Star Wars can vary in price, and they do not have a specific rarity but are instead listed as part of their respective franchise’s series.

Bundles

A very common thing that you will see when scrolling around the shop is bundles, where you can buy multiple different skins or a skin that comes with several other cosmetics for a discounted price. Typically, with bundles they are worth the price if you plan on buying at least one other cosmetic or skin with your purchase since the discount is so large. A common bundle to see is a skin, harvesting tool, emote, and back bling. For example, at the time of writing this article, the Megumi Fushiguro skin from the Jujutsu Kaisen series is 1,500 V-Bucks. However, if you were to buy the bundle that also comes with the harvesting tool, back bling, and emotes it would only cost 400 more with a total cost of 1,900. If you were to buy everything separately it would cost 1,000 more V-bucks in addition to the skin at 2,500 V-Bucks.

Battle Pass

As was mentioned earlier Fortnite provides players with the option of purchasing a Battle Pass with every new season. Now, while players are given a free Battle Pass each season it does not offer anything outside of some V-Bucks and a few other things like loading screens, icons, and the occasional cosmetic aside from skins. However, purchasing the Battle Pass allows players to unlock all the skins that it offers in addition to the free Battle Pass given to players. Along with purchasing the regular Battle Pass, in recent seasons there has been bonus content to earn for players who unlock all the tiers of the original pass. As it was mentioned earlier, all Battle Pass skins do not reappear in the game once they are gone.

(Image taken from Epic Games via Dexerto)

Hitboxes

One interesting topic that people tend to bring up is that of Hitboxes in Fortnite. Specifically, with different skins since many skins seem slimmer, taller, wider, or shorter than others. It is reasonable to assume that this means that since this is the case, these different skins would result in different hitboxes. However, this is not the case. Epic has confirmed that all Fortnite skins from the default skin to Goku all have the same hitbox. However, this is not to say that some skins do not provide a competitive advantage.

Several skins are better than others if you are looking for a slight edge in-game. For example, skins like Vegeta, Midoria, Eren, or any other skin with cell shading can tend to make you pop out more to enemies, making it easier for you to get spotted from afar or tracked during gunfights. Another thing to keep in mind is the size of each skin’s model. While we already have covered the fact that all skins have the same hitbox, the model of a skin is completely different. This article from Dexerto touches on this topic. To sum things up, while all the hitboxes are the same, bigger models take up more of your screen as opposed to smaller or slimmer models.

Conclusion

At the end of the day, skins are a part of Fortnite because they add a bit of flair and fun to the game, so choose whatever skin you enjoy playing with the most. Hopefully, this article answered any questions you may have had when it comes to skins and cosmetics in Fortnite. Spend your money responsibly and remember that skins are a completely optional portion of the game.