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In Fortnite, there are hundreds of weapons that players can use. Epic Games regularly releases new ones for you to check out. Of the weapons, each one has a different rarity to them, including exotic. The Fortnite exotic weapons guide is here to go over this particular rarity.
The Fortnite exotic weapons guide will break down what you should know about this particular type of weapon. Exotics are one of the most unique and elusive weapons in the game. There are not many of them, but each is a valuable asset that can change the tide of a battle in your favor if you have one.
Bottom Line Up Front
The Fortnite exotic weapons are some of the rarest in the game. There are only around 16 in total that have ever been released in the game’s history. With so few of these, each one is a powerful asset that is among the best in its weapon category. There are sniper rifles, rocket launchers, bows, pistols, assault rifles, and many more in this group. For the most part, they are similar to the legendary version of the related weapon. However, they usually have a unique quirk to help them stand out. You can only get an exotic weapon by purchasing it from an NPC or, on infrequent occasions, finding it in certain areas. Here are all of the exotic weapons in Fortnite to date:
- Boom Sniper Rifle
- Burst Pulse Rifle
- Burst Quad Launcher
- Chug Cannon
- Dragon’s Breath Sniper
- Grappler Bow
- Hop Rock Dualies
- Icy Grappler
- Lazar’s Flight-Knock Pistol
- Marksman Six Shooter
- Night Hawk
- Shadow Tracker
- Storm Scout Sniper Rifle
- The Big Chill
- The Dub
- Unstable Bow
What Is an Exotic Weapon in Fortnite?
An exotic weapon is a particular type of gun found in Fortnite. There are very few of these in existence, representing that they are exceedingly rare and hard to find. Most Fortnite weapons fall under a few different rarity categories, including standard, uncommon, rare, epic, and legendary.
However, two more categories go beyond the main five. Those two are mythic and exotics. The latter is what I will cover today as it is an obscure group of weapons that is difficult to find. With them, though, players can guarantee a legendary-level weapon with some exciting additions.
For the most part, the exotic weapons in Fortnite are based around a normal ones. It might be an expanded version of an rifle or sniper rifle, for instance. It will take the stats of the legendary form of that weapon, matching it in strength, recoil, accuracy, and so on.
It will not make sense to have an exotic version if it is just the legendary one. That is why many of them will have a bonus to them that is exclusive to the exotic variant. This will make the weapon even more valuable and worth using than the legendary one.
And depending on the scenario, it is possible to find an exotic weapon more easily since it can be guaranteed in some scenarios. If a player wants to have the best chance of doing well in battle, they will enjoy the best equipment out there. Exotic weapons are among the very best that you can find in all of Fortnite’s arsenal.
Exotic Weapons vs Mythics
While I have already compared the exotic weapons in Fortnite to the legendary variants, there is another group that needs to be talked about, and those are mythic weapons. Mythic weapons are another extraordinarily rare group of guns that you can have in the game.
Beyond the regular five rarities, mythic is next alongside exotic. Like the exotic, they generally represent the best versions possible of certain weapons. In addition, they are hard to find most of the time. The similarities can end there as there are some significant differences between the two.
For one, there is the weapon itself. While the exotic weapons are spin-offs of the legendary ones, mythic weapons take it in a different route. They are based on existing guns most of the time, but they are tweaked to be a personalized variant. Usually, mythic weapons are owned by a particular NPC in the game.
On the other hand, the exotic weapons in Fortnite are not tied to anyone at all. At the same time, earning a mythic gun in the game is a different story. While the exotic weapons are relatively simple to get (more on this in a bit), it takes a lot of effort to get a mythic gun.
Most of the time, you need to defeat the NPC who owns the mythic weapon to get it. This also means that there is typically a single mythic weapon for each type in every match. Once a player has it, that is it unless you take that person out. On the other hand, exotic weapons can be acquired by multiple players so long as they meet the requirements.
How to Get an Exotic Weapon
When it comes to finding an exotic weapon in Fortnite, there are a couple of ways that you can do this. The first is simply finding one, but this is not a reliable method. For the most part, exotic weapons will not show up as normal loot. You have to see them in the supply llamas on the island and specific other locations.
However, this is a very RNG-based method that is not helpful. Instead, there is a much better way to find an exotic weapon in a match. This is by going up to the right NPC and purchasing it from them. To do this, you need enough gold bars to buy it.
Some of the exotic weapons are pretty expensive, too, in the several hundred gold bars. If you are not spending your gold bars on much and save them up, it should only take a few good matches to have enough to buy an exotic gun.
Gold bars are earned by taking out enemies, opening treasure chests, and completing bounties. While bounties were the original form of finding gold bars when they were first released, you do not have to do those if you do not want to. I don’t usually do bounties myself and regularly have more than 1000 bars saved just from opening up chests and eliminating players.
Once you have the gold bars that you need to buy the exotic, you need to find the correct NPC location. Only certain NPCs will sell the exotic weapon that you are looking for. Once you find them, purchase them, and you are good to go. You can only buy one of each exotic in a match.
All Fortnite Exotic Weapons Ever
There are around 16 exotic weapons that exist in Fortnite to date. This is still a relatively new category with only a handful of options at this time. Even still, the exotic weapons are prominent enough that you should know about each of them. Here is every exotic weapon in Fortnite’s history broken down. I will include details about what the gun does when it was available and more.
Boom Sniper Rifle
The heavy sniper rifle is one of the best in the entire sniper rifle category. Take that same idea and amp it up some, and you have the boom sniper rifle. It functions similarly to the heavy sniper rifle in terms of its slowness but immense strength.
Where it changes, though, is in the bullets that it fires. While the heavy sniper rifle just fires off high-charged heavy ammo, the boom sniper rifle is a bit different. It fires off clinger bullets that act like the explosive item. This means that it deals serious damage upon impact and then some.
Acting like a clinger item, the boom sniper rifle bullets will cling to the enemy and then explode a moment after. The only way that a player can get the bullet off is by using an emote but the time is far too short in most scenarios to escape it.
The boom sniper rifle is one of the best mid to long-range weapons because of this dual damage style. Furthermore, the boom sniper rifle tricked out with five bullets per magazine. This is impressive since the heavy sniper rifle only has one and that infamously long reloading time. It originally was released in Chapter 2, Season 5.
Burst Pulse Rifle
The burst pulse rifle is one of the few assault rifle exotics in Fortnite so far. If you could not guess from the name, it is a blend of the burst fire from some assault rifles with the pulse rifle from Chapter 2. In all honesty, there is not much to say about the burst pulse rifle since it is one of the lesser exotics out there.
The pulse rifle itself is a highly accurate gun that is reliable when aiming down the sights. However, this does come at the cost of the fact that it has a very slow firing rate that is detrimental to it. The pulse rifle can benefit from faster firing when firing from the hip, but it is pretty useless at that point.
I think that the pulse rifle on its own is one of the worst assault rifles in Fortnite. That said, the burst pulse rifle redeems the weapon, fortunately. The burst nature means that it eliminates some of the issues with the firing rate since it will shoot multiple bullets at once.
While I still think there are better ARs and even burst weapons out there, the burst pulse rifle is a solid one. It came out in Chapter 2, Season 7, and was only available during that time.
Burst Quad Launcher
The burst quad launcher is one of the best explosive weapons in Fortnite. It is the exotic form of the quad launcher, which was already pretty great. The deal with the quad launcher is the fact that it has four rockets that it can hold at once.
Instead of the usual launcher that needs to be reloaded each time, you can fire four rockets before needing to reload. The burst quad launcher kicks it up a further notch, allowing you to shoot two of those four rockets at once. You can then fire another two in a quick burst before you have to reload.
The burst quad launcher is quite impressive if a player is able to aim well and land their explosives. It will deal devastating damage to enemies and structures in a surrounding area when it lands. If you land it well, you can even deal twice the damage that you normally would with most other explosive weapons. It was introduced in Chapter 2, Season 5, and removed at the beginning of the following season.
Chug Cannon
The bandage bazooka remains one of the most unique weapons in Fortnite. This is largely because it is not a weapon at all. Instead, it is a healing gun that you can use to restore health to your teammates. The chug cannon is the exotic form of the bandage bazooka.
It is almost entirely the same as the bandage bazooka, a large gun that you can fire to heal other players. What is notable about this gun is that it does have aim assistance for it so that you are able to more easily target players for healing them with chug splash-like items. This makes it a bit easier to use than other weapons.
Furthermore, the chug cannon is actually a limitless ammo gun. There are no bandages or other ammo that you must use for it. The sole catch is that you can only heal for a short period before it needs to recharge over time. Oh, and there is the fact that the chug cannon takes up two inventory spaces instead of one like everything else. It first came out in Chapter 2, Season 5, and was last seen in Chapter 2, Season 8.
Dragon’s Breath Sniper Rifle
The bolt-action sniper rifle is the quintessential sniper rifle in Fortnite. The dragon’s breath sniper rifle is the exotic version that is slightly different. First and foremost for this gun, it is best to not get it confused with the wildly different dragon’s breath shotgun that also exists.
They function completely differently as the dragon’s breath sniper rifle is almost the same as the bolt-action. It holds a single bullet per magazine that it fires at a long distance for maximum damage. Given how long it takes to reload the gun, it is best to use in situations where you know you can land the shot.
However, what is unique about this one is that it is able to set some player-built structures on fire. This makes it basically the only sniper rifle that is useful for battling players in structures. You can set the area on fire and possibly land a shot on the hiding player as well. It came out in Chapter 2, Season 5 and is still around today.
Grappler Bow
The grappler bow is a strange mix of the standard bow and arrows, and the grappler. It does deal damage and acts primarily as a usual bow when fired normally. You can shoot at enemies and it will deal some solid damage at enemies, so long as you land the shot.
Like with other bows, the grappler bow must be drawn back by holding down the trigger or appropriate button. Once it is ready, it can go the maximum distance and hit a foe. That said, it also has a grappling hook that is attached to the end of each arrow.
What this allows you to do is have the grappler bow send you off to far away locations like you would with the regular grappler item. There is no fall damage that you take when you use this function of the weapon, either. The grappler bow made its debut in Chapter 2, Season 6 and was only seen in that season via the crossover with Tomb Raider’s Lara Croft.
Hop Rock Dualies
The dual pistols are one of the few in its category of handguns that I would actually recommend to players. The exotic version of that is the hop rock dualies. Like the regular dual pistols, the hop rock dualies are two handguns that you can carry around with one in each hand.
They are impressive in that they are much faster than the usual pistol since you are firing two shots at once basically. This can allow you to deal damage better and much quicker, making it a surprisingly useful gun. However, there is a little bit more to the hop rock dualies than just dual-wielding two pistols.
The name of the hop rock dualies come from the low gravity rocks. As such, the player will obtain the low gravity status effect on their character each time they fire these guns off. This can make you be a lot floatier on the battlefield and avoid fall damage. The hop rock dualies came out in Chapter 2, Season 5 and were last seen very briefly in Chapter 3, Season 1.
Icy Grappler
The grappler is one of the most popular items in Fortnite. While not necessarily a weapon, it functions and looks like one. The general idea for the grappler is the same as the icy grappler but with a twist. The icy grappler has the grapple at the end of it that you are able to connect to surfaces.
So long as it is within the range of the item, the icy grappler can grab onto it and allow you to fly towards that area. You have no fall damage in the course of this so it is good for quickly escaping the storm. The icy grappler retains these aspects of the original grappler but also adds the frozen feet status to your character.
This can be a blessing and a curse, depending on how you use it. It came out in Chapter 2, Season 8 and was only available then.
Lazar’s Flight-Knock Pistol
The flint-knock pistol is one of the most unique pistols in Fortnite. It is capable of knocking someone back when they are hit by the weapon. The flight-knock pistol from Lazar is a special version that intensifies the range of how far someone is shot back due to this weapon.
This helps with eliminating foes more easily with it. There is still fall damage associated with this, which can be more effective than the bullets. You can, for instance, blast someone off a cliff to fall to their doom. Lazar’s flight-knock pistol was only available Chapter 2, Season 5 during a special tournament.
Marksman Six Shooter
The marksman six-shooter is the ultimate form of the popular revolver. As such, it comes with the expected traits of that powerful handgun. It is capable of high damage that can eliminate foes quickly in short to mid-range fights.
For the marksman six-shooter, though, the added bonus is its two distinct firing settings. While aiming down the sight, it is slower and more akin to the revolver with his accuracy. On the other hand, firing using hipfire is less accurate but much faster. It came out in Chapter 2, Season 6 and is still in the game right now.
Night Hawk
The night hawk is a special pistol that, like the six-shooter, is based on the revolver. Released in Chapter 2, Season 5, it has a scope on it. Otherwise, the stats and general idea of this weapon is the same as the revolver. You have a very slow but extremely strong pistol.
The addition of the scope helps with this as it adds range and accuracy to the night hawk. But there is still more. The scope is a thermal one so this means that you can pick up on enemies through walls and the like. It is currently available in the game.
Shadow Tracker
Another exotic pistol, we have the shadow tracker. Stat-wise and function-wise, the shadow tracker is basically a simple suppressed pistol. While better than the basic handgun, it is not too terribly good in utility. That said, the added bonus for the shadow tracker elevates it considerably.
Each player that you shoot with this gun will be marked for a short period for you and your entire team. You will be able to track them down and finish them off. It came out in Chapter 2, Season 5, and is still available at this time but in limited format.
Storm Scout Sniper Rifle
The storm scout sniper rifle is a fascinating weapon that has existed in the past without an exotic version. There is an exotic variant, though, that shares the exact same name. There is very little difference between the two versions in their functionality.
The storm scout sniper rifle is a standard sniper rifle with a twist. While you are aiming down the sights, you are able to see the location of the next safe circle on the island. This is insanely OP as you can prepare and get to the next location long before anyone else knows where it is. It released in Chapter 2, Season 5 and just came back in Chapter 3, Season 2.
The Big Chill
The Big Chill is one of the unique launchers in Fortnite. This exotic weapon is somewhat like a grenade launcher. Well, that is if the grenades launched from it were chiller grenades, instead. It fires in a large radius while freezing the feet of anyone caught within it. The Big Chill had its launch, unsurprisingly, in Chapter 2, Season 5 but only stuck around then.
The Dub
The only exotic shotgun, for now, The Dub is essentially a take on the double-barrel shotgun. It deals insane damage in close quarters and decimates enemies. But if you cannot take them out with this alone, The Dub has the added knockback feature from the flint-knock pistol. It was introduced in Chapter 2, Season 5, and is still around now.
Unstable Bow
The unstable bow is a fascinating bow that is basically glitching constantly. With every shot that you do, it will switch between four different bow types. These included the mechanical explosive bow, mechanical shockwave bow, primal flame bow, and primal stink bow. It is a high damage and highly versatile weapon. Sadly, it was only available in Chapter 2, Season 6 where it was introduced.
FAQs
Question: What is the best exotic weapon in Fortnite?
Answer: This is going to be a question that is based on personal preferences. If someone is not a fan of sniper rifles, for example, they are likely not going to give one of the snipers as the answer for the best exotic weapon in Fortnite.
In my opinion, the best exotic weapon in Fortnite comes down to two options: the burst quad launcher and the hop rock dualies. For the former, I think that it is one of the best explosive weapons ever in Fortnite’s history. The quad launcher alone was already my favorite of the explosive weaponry.
Having the ability to fire off multiple rockets in quick succession without having to reload each time was a blessing already. Now, add in the fact that you can fire them in quick bursts of two rockets each and you have an insanely powerful weapon. That is, if you line up your shots right.
For the hop rock dualies, it is the case of it being a dual-wielding weapon. I’m a sucker for dual-wielding in Fortnite (or, really, any game that allows it) and the hop rock dualies are among the best. They are one of the best pistol weapons in the entire game. Not only are they a surprisingly useful weapon in battle but they have the added low gravity effect for good measure.
Question: How do you get exotic weapons in Fortnite?
Answer: Here is a quick refresher of what was mentioned above in the main guide. For getting exotic weapons, it is possible to find them in llamas and a couple of other areas. However, that is RNG-based and not too reliable. The best way to get an exotic weapon is to save up gold bars and purchase one from the correct NPC.
Question: What are the exotic weapons in Fortnite Chapter 3?
Answer: There are a few exotic weapons that are currently available in the most recent season of Fortnite Chapter 3. Almost half of all of them in existence are still usable in the current game’s meta. Here are all of the exotic guns that you can find in the game at this time along with their respective locations at this time:
• Boom Sniper Rifle: Agent Jones, Peely, and The Visitor NPCs sell this weapon for 400 gold bars.
• Dragon’s Breath Sniper Rifle: Malfunctioning vending machines.
• Marksman Six Shooter: 400 gold bars at Cuddle Team Leader and Quackling NPCs.
• Night Hawk: Braniac and The Origin sell it for 400 gold bars.
• Shadow Tracker: Cuddlepool and Metal Team Leader sell it for 400 gold bars.
• Storm Scout Sniper Rifle: The Foundation, The Imagined, and The Scientist sell it for 400 gold bars.
• The Dub: 400 gold bars from Bunker Jonesy, Jonesy the First, Ludwig, and Mullet Marauder.
Conclusion
The Fortnite exotic weapons are some of the most powerful in the entire battle royale game. Though they are small in number, there is no doubting how useful they can be in fights. There are options for everyone, too, whether you are a sniper fan or an explosive fan, or even an AR player.
Even still, exotic weapons are just one slice of the Fortnite arsenal. There are so many more weapons and items that you can use to nab that victory royale. If you would like to know more about the other weapons that you can use in the game, I suggest our Fortnite weapons guide for more information.