It’s almost the start of another new season, and those still playing the iconic battle royale game are likely wondering what the rarest Fortnite skins in 2023 are. Well, we’ve put together this list of the rarest skins we could find and compiled them all into one handy list.
What Is the Rarest Skin in Fortnite?
45. Double Helix
The Double Helix is one of the rarest Fortnite skins. It came as part of a Nintendo Switch hardware bundle in October 2018, so only players who shelled out the cash to pick up this specific Switch SKU are the ones who have this outfit.
44. Hunstman Saber
Unlike some of these other promotional skins, you can still get your hands on the Huntsman Saber outfit. It is part of a specific Xbox Series S bundle called the Gilded Hunter Bundle. While that might not seem all that rare, the bundle is still $300, so it’s not something the average player is going to pick up just to get the Fortnite cosmetics.
43. Psycho Bandit
In August 2019, the Epic Games Store held a promotion where anyone who pre-ordered or bought Borderlands 3 on that platform before the end of December 2020 would receive the Psycho Bandit Bundle in Fortnite.
It’s hard to know how many players took advantage of this deal, but maybe everyone who didn’t will get lucky, and it will return with the potential release of Borderlands 4.
42. Frostbite
Frostbite was released in a bundle as part of a physical edition of Fortnite that included a download code for the game. The physical edition was released in November 2018 but is no longer available. Many sites that re-sell game keys have codes for Frostbite, but they aren’t exactly cheap.
41. Surf Strider
The Splash Squadron Bundle that contained this skin was first available to anyone who owned an Intel CPU, and they just had to visit the Intel site to redeem it. When that promotion ended, it later resurfaced, and anyone interested had to earn it through the Intel Gaming Access app. However, midway through that promotion, they ran out of codes, and it is unknown how many people actually got the skin that put in the work.
40. Xander
Xander was actually part of a long-running Fortnite event called Refer-a-Friend that started in July 2022 and required players to complete tasks with a friend who had either never played Fortnite or had played it less than two hours in the last 30 days.
While this sounds like it could be boosted with a second account, the final challenge to get the Xander outfit required the player and the friend account to gain 60 levels each. This was a huge barrier, so it would be understandable if not many people achieved that and got this skin before Refer-a-Friend ended in January 2023.
Related: How Old Is Fortnite? on Gamepur
39. Galaxia
While plenty of Fortnite Crew skins could fit on this list, Galaxia has the honor of being the first ever skin every offered as part of the subscription. When the Fortnite Crew was brand new, there likely weren’t as many adopters as it felt a little weird to pay a monthly fee for a free game.
Because of this, there are probably much fewer players that own Galaxia as compared to the rest of the Fortnite Crew offerings, making this skin certainly rare.
38. Jack Gourdon
A skin with a pumpkin for a head. We’re all about this one, and that’s why Jack Gourdon is our favorite rare skin in Fortnite.
Releasing back in October 2018 for the Halloween period, Jack Gourdon only returns once a year for Halloween, which makes this outfit extremely time-limited for players to add him to their collections.
37. Star-Spangled Ranger
The Star-Spangled Ranger is rare for the same reasons as Jack Gourdon in that the skin (and related set) only comes around once a year around the Fourth of July.
If you ask us, it’s a pretty bland skin. But for those looking to build their collection of rare Fortnite skins, this is one you’ll want to add to your Locker.
36. Codename E.L.F
Obvious festive Fortnite skin is festive… and rare! Codename E.L.F is one of the rarest skins in Fortnite due to the fact that it can only be purchased from the Item Shop, and it’s hardly ever in there.
Originally released in December 2017, the skin returned at the end of January 2018 for some reason before being part of the store for the first four months of 2020 as part of the Polar Legends Pack. At the time of writing, it was last seen 971 days ago, on July 10, 2020.
The fact that it was included in the Polar Legends Pack did allow the skin more visibility, but given this was a slightly more expensive bundle, it’s likely not many players picked it up.
35. Hollowhead
Hollowhead is like the aforementioned Jack Gourdon skin but on steroids that make his head glow ominously. Originally released via the Item Shop in Oct. 2018, the skin has only shown up four times for Halloween since then.
Three times in the buildup to Halloween 2018 and twice in 2019 around late October. Its lack of appearances in the Item Shop makes it a very rare Fortnite skin indeed.
34. Fable
The Fable skin was part of the Fortnite Chapter 1 Season 6 Battle Pass and required players to reach Tier 47 in order to unlock it.
This isn’t a reactive skin, nor does it have any kind of special ability or alternate style you can select. It’s rare simply because it’s never shown up in the Item Shop after its Battle Pass debut.
33. Dire
The Dire skin was the Tier 100 reward back in Season 6. In its Stage 1 form, it’s pretty basic and fairly common. However, to go full werewolf with this skin, players had to rack up 250,000 XP in order to get Stage 6.
It’s this Stage 6 Dire skin that makes it onto our list of rarest Fortnite skins. With the skin not coming back to the Item Shop, if you don’t already have it, you’re fresh out of luck.
32. Galaxy
If you had guessed that this is another one of the platform-exclusive Fortnite skins, you’d be right. The Galaxy skin was obtainable for those that picked up either the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 or the Galaxy Tab S4. Once you had either of these devices, you simply had to download Fortnite and log in with your account to add it to your Locker.
Alas, the Galaxy skin was discontinued after the release of these two devices, meaning if you didn’t get one back then, you’ll never be able to get the Galaxy skin again.
31. Omega
Fortnite’s Omega skin was the Tier 100 reward for the Season 4 Battle Pass. Completing all those challenges and grinding out enough games was what it took to unlock it.
The Omega skin had a number of additional parts and unlockable styles that players could earn by focusing on their Season Level back in Season 4. Therefore, if you spot anyone with a fully-decked-out Omega with red, green, purple, or yellow accents, then you know you’re messing with a pro.
30. Blue Team Leader
The Blue Team Leader wasn’t some Tier 100 skin. Nor does it rarely appear in the Item Shop. Instead, this skin is rare because it was exclusive to PlayStation Plus subscribers.
The first PS Plus Fortnite Battle Royale: PlayStation Plus Celebration Pack was a free download from the PlayStation Store for PS Plus subscribers in 2018 and contained the Blue Team Leader skin.
It’s possible that not everyone noticed the free bundle, so it’s impossible to figure out how many players might own this skin, but it likely won’t ever be available again.
29. Trilogy
Looking like something out of Splinter Cell with the PlayStation coloring, Trilogy was also first available through the eighth PlayStation Plus-exclusive bundle. While Blue Team Leader still looks like a default skin, this one instead looks perfectly tactical or taking down opponents.
The bundle including this skin was available in December 2019 and hasn’t been seen since.
28. Yuletide Ranger
Yuletide Ranger is a festive skin, as you might have guessed by its name. While it only costs 800 V-Bucks when it shows up in the Item Shop, it’s still fairly rare due to its limited time on sale.
It does stick around in the Item Shop every Christmas season, but it still remains one of the least-featured skins.
27. Merry Marauder
If you want to play Fortnite as an angry gingerbread man, look no further than the Merry Marauder.
This skin is, once again, a festive skin and has only appeared a handful of times in the Item Shop at Christmastime. It was also released back when Fortnite wasn’t massively popular, which certainly helped make it one of the rarest Fortnite skins.
26. Renegade Raider
Now we’re getting into some of the seriously hardcore rare Fortnite skins. The Renegade Raider was only available to those who played Battle Royale in Season 1. You had to reach Level 20 even to have the chance to purchase it for 1200 V-Bucks from what was then known as the Season Shop.
The Renegade Raider has never appeared in the Item Shop since and likely never will.
25. Aerial Assault Trooper
The Aerial Assault Trooper is another of the incredibly rare Fortnite skins for a similar reason to the Renegade Raider.
This skin was only available during Season 1 and required players to reach Level 15 before they had the choice to purchase it from the ‘Season Shop’ as it was called back then, for 1200 V-Bucks. Considering hardly anyone was playing Fortnite back then, these are stupidly rare.
24. Dusk
Dusk is part of the Nite Coven set and originally appeared as part of the Fortnite Chapter 1 Season 6 Battle Pass. Players had to reach Tier 71 in order to unlock it.
Since then, Dusk hasn’t featured in the Item Shop, and given her relatively high Tier unlock requirement on the Battle Pass all those seasons ago? It’s one of the rarer skins you can get in Fortnite.
23. Ghoul Trooper
The Ghoul Trooper is one of Fortnite’s spooky Halloween skins and is one of the OG skins sought after by so many. Releasing back in Oct. 2017 for Halloween, the Ghoul Trooper skin has only returned to the Item Shop briefly for stints around the spooky season every year.
Given its infrequent appearances, it’s still one of the rarest Fortnite skins.
22. The Reaper
Before the officially-licensed John Wick skin was released last year, Epic Games was kinda sneaky and had The Reaper. Despite now claiming it’s not supposed to be John Wick since its release (it totally is, though), The Reaper was so sought-after because everyone wanted to be the Boogeyman of the Battle Royale island.
Getting the skin required players to reach Tier 100 back in Season 3. It was totally possible, but with significantly fewer players back then and a tougher grind up to Tier 100 back then compared to now, it’s still incredibly rare.
21. Blue Squire
The Blue Squire is another of the skins that can be tracked all the way back to Fortnite Season 2. This one wasn’t quite as tricky to get as the Renegade Raider or Aerial Assault Trooper, though. All you needed to do to get the Blue Squire was buy the Season 2 Battle Pass.
Despite how simple it was to get, people just weren’t really playing Fortnite back then, and those who did were more skeptical about spending money on skins or Battle Passes for a game that hadn’t yet proven itself.
20. Black Widow
The Black Widow skin originally featured as part of the Marvel’s Avengers event that celebrated the launch of Avengers Endgame in cinemas back in April 2019. While the skin was made available in the Item Shop for two stints of three days each in April and May 2019, Black Widow hasn’t returned since.
Epic Games did give players the chance to obtain a slightly different-looking Black Widow skin as a reward for earning a set amount of points in the Black Widow cup in the Marvel Knockout Super Series back in November last year. Still, it’s not the same as the original skin.
It’s been 1,390 days since this Black Widow outfit has been in the shop, which isn’t a great sign for its return. It wasn’t even brought back when the solo Black Widow film was released.
19. Purple Glow Skull Trooper
For a while, the original Skull Trooper was considered one of the rarest Fortnite skins. Having been released as part of the Halloween event in 2017, it had not been seen in the shop for a year.
In 2018, however, it returned, making it more common among the masses. However, only those who owned the original Skull Trooper from 2017 were given the Purple Glow style. The Purple Glow Skull Trooper now steals its crown as one of the rarest Fortnite skins.
18. Honor Guard
The Honor Guard skin has only ever been available for those who purchase the Honor 20 smartphone. Just like the Galaxy skin, those who played Fortnite on their Honor 20 would have the Honor Guard skin added to their Locker.
The racing jumpsuit look is rather basic, but that blue really pops. The skin was due to hit the Item Shop once the promotion had finished, but for whatever reason, this still hasn’t happened.
Given the Honor 20 wasn’t a massively popular phone, the Honor Guard skin is, without a doubt, one of the rarest skins in Fortnite.
17. Black Knight
The Black Knight was one of the original rewards for reaching the top tier of the Battle Pass. Specifically, if players reached Tier 70 in the Season 2 Battle Pass, they’d net themselves the Black Knight skin.
The skin has never been made available in the Item Shop, making it near impossible to get now.
16. Royale Bomber
Yet another platform-exclusive skin, the Royale Bomber could only be obtained by either purchasing a PS4 hardware bundle or by picking up a DualShock 4 controller with promotional packaging.
Either of these would net you a code that could be used to redeem the Royale Bomber skin alongside other cosmetics. It’s never come to the Item Shop or been made available any other way and likely never will.
15. Drift
Let’s get one thing right out of the way. The basic Drift skin isn’t what’s rare here. This could be unlocked by simply purchasing the Battle Pass in Season 5.
Instead, what’s rare is its Style 6 look, which required players to earn 200,000 XP to unlock. Drift cannot be purchased, so if you missed out on it then it’s a lost cause.
14. Ragnarok
Another big Season 5 skin was Ragnarok. This was earned by reaching Tier 100 on the Battle Pass. Just like Drift, though, Ragnarok had a number of additional styles that could be unlocked.
To unlock its final stage requires 500,000 XP. Only the most hardcore Fortnite players have Ragnarok’s full set, making it one of the rarest Fortnite skins.
13. Sparkle Specialist
Rounding out our list is yet another Season 2 skin. To earn the Sparkle Specialist, players needed to reach Tier 56 on the Battle Pass.
It has never been featured on the Item Shop and likely never will. A true rarity in the world of Fortnite.
12. Radiant Striker
Despite having featured a number of times in the Item Shop since its original release on March 14, 2018, Radiant Striker hasn’t returned to the Item Shop since May 2, 2021.
That means the skin has been missing for 674 days at the time of writing. It’s not the most exciting of all the rarer skins, so there’s a chance it’ll never return to the Item Shop in favor of more impressive designs.
11. Trench Raider
With a cool name like Trench Raider, you just know this has gotta be a cool skin anyone can get, right? Well, that would be some terrific wishful thinking.
Sometimes when we say something has only shown up twice on the Item Shop, we mean it was available for two stretches of time. For theTrench Raiderskin, it has shown up literally twice, meaning one day each time. The first was its debut on Nov. 16, 2019, and the last time was 1,145 days ago, on Jan. 18, 2020.
10. Cole
The Cole outfit has a few thing going for it’s rarity, the least of which is that it’s one of the only uncommon rarity items on this whole list. The main evidence towards Cole being usually rare is that this skin appeared in the Item Shop merely three times on separate days.
After first releasing on May 6, 2019, it was later seen later that year in June and on Dec. 8, 2019, 1,186 days ago.
9. Special Forces
The Special Forces skin was originally available in the Item Shop for 1,200 V-Bucks back in Nov. 2017. It has made a couple of returns in 2018 and 2019 but hasn’t been seen since Jan. 24, 2019, which was 1,478 days ago.
8. Aeronaut
Aeronaut is a rare Fortnite skin that first debuted back in Chapter 1 Season 10. It’s part of the Sky Stalker set and was available to buy in the Item Shop for 1,200 V-Bucks.
The Aeronaut skin is rare for similar reasons to the Trench Raider skin, it’s only been seen twice in all of the Item Shop history. However, it’s a comparatively older skin, which reduces the chances a bunch of players own it.
This makes it an incredibly rare skin, and it will only get rarer and rarer the longer it doesn’t show up in the Item Shop.
7. Tracker
The Tracker skin was first added in Fortnite’s very first season, arriving in the Item Shop for 800 V-Bucks. It’s another fairly generic-looking skin based on one of the default skins you get if you don’t equip your own.
Tracker hasn’t been in the Item Shop since 1,194 days ago on Nov. 20, 2019, and has only appeared in the shop on nine separate days since it first debuted on Nov. 1, 2017.
6. Infiltrator
Infiltrator is another early Fortnite skin that’s skyrocketed in popularity since its rare appearances in the Item Shop. Originally released in Nov. 2017, the skin has only appeared in the shop 25 times, the most recent of which was on August 1, 2019, 1,315 days ago.
5. Deadfall
Introduced all the way back in Fortnite Chapter 1 Season 10, the Deadfall skin is part of the Siege Strike set and was available to purchase for 800 V-Bucks from the Item Shop.
Sadly, it’s not been seen for 1,253 days since Oct. 2nd, 2019, which coincidentally was the first and only day it ever showed up in the Item Shop.
4. Sureshot
Sureshot is another uncommon-rarity Fortnite skin that’s become increasingly rare thanks to its lack of appearances in the Item Shop.
In breaking with some of these other entries, Sureshot showed up in the Item Shop 48 days ago. However, that was also only the second time it had been seen since first being released on Sept. 26, 2019. So unless everyone playing Fortnite that day bought the skin, it’s still exceedingly rare.
3. Chief Hopper
Chief Hopper is one of the Stranger Things skins that was added to Fortnite in July 2019 to celebrate the release of the third season of Netflix’s supernatural series.
Appearing for a three-day stint from July 5-7, 2019, as its debut, Hopper only ever returned to the Item Shop on Nov. 6 that year. As such, it has been 1,219 days since it was last seen.
There’s no word on if or when Chief Hopper will revisit the Item Shop, but it’s a bad sign that it didn’t return to celebrate the release of Stranger Things Season 4 in 2022.
2. Demogorgon
You can’t have a good guy skin like Chief Hopper without their evil counterpart, and that’s what the Demogorgon skin represents. The big-bad of Stranger Things appeared in Fortnite’s Item Shop for the same three-day stint in July 2019 as Chief Hopper, as well as the one-day appearance on Nov. 6. This makes it also 1,219 days since this skin has been seen.
Like the Chief Hopper skin, there’s no announced return for the skin, but it also didn’t return with the release of Stranger Things Season 4 in 2022.
1. Shaman
Easily one of the coolest-looking of the rare Fortnite skins in December 2021 is the Shaman skin. This Epic-rarity skin was available in the Item Shop for 1,500 V-Bucks but was only available for four days, beginning March 31, 2019.
Since then, it only appeared in April, July, and December of 2019 for a single day, which puts it at 1,119 days since its last appearance. It remains to be seen whether or not the skin will return, but we really hope so, as it’s an exceptionally well-designed skin.
For more tips, tricks, and guides, be sure to check out our other Fortnite content in the links below and look over the start and end dates for all Fortnite seasons.
About the author
