Weapon Upgrading

Weapon Upgrading is a Gameplay Mechanic introduced to Fortnite: Battle Royale with Chapter 2: Season 1. It has had several reworks since its inclusion, with the most recent being Chapter 2: Season 7.

Weapon Upgrading was overhauled slightly from its Chapter 2: Season 5 version, changing the location and prices of Weapon Upgrades. Upgrading was completed by once again using Upgrade Benches, but using Bars instead of Materials. Players could seek out an Upgrade Bench, and pay a number of Bars to upgrade their weapon to a higher rarity. Weapons can be upgraded one tier at a time for increasingly higher numbers of bars, with an increased cost compared to earlier seasons. The only non-weapon item that can be upgraded is the Fishing Rod to a Pro Fishing Rod, on top of this, it is the only item which upgrades multiple rarities at once. Weapons cannot be sidegraded.

Note: The Common to Rare upgrade is exclusive to the Fishing Rod to Pro Fishing Rod upgrade. Weapons cannot be upgraded to Mythic or Exotic.

Original Rarity	Upgraded Rarity	Cost in Bars
Common	Uncommon	200
Common	Rare	300
Uncommon	Rare	300
Rare	Epic	400
Epic	Legendary	500
Legendary	Mythic	750

All weapons that were currently available could have been upgraded. If a weapon has a variant which is higher rarity, but is vaulted, it cannot be upgraded further.

Crafting[]

Main Article: Crafting (Battle Royale)

In Chapter 2: Season 8, players could use Crafting to upgrade the Sideways Rifle, Sideways Minigun and Sideways Scythe in the same increments. It also allowed players to upgrade to Mythic versions of the weapons. Upgrading was completed using Cube Monster Parts.

In Chapter 2: Season 5 to and including Chapter 2: Season 6, upgrading was completed by talking to Characters in exchange for Bars. Chapter 2: Season 6 also had a Crafting Mechanic which could upgrade weapons. Depending on the Weapon, the available rarities of it, and also the amount of bars a player has, a player could upgrade their weapon to a higher rarity. Only some Characters offered this feature. Weapons can be upgraded one tier at a time for increasingly higher numbers of bars. The only non weapon item that can be upgraded is the Fishing Rod to a Pro Fishing Rod, on top of this, it is the only item which upgrades multiple rarities at once. Weapons could not be sidegraded.

Note: The Common to Rare upgrade is exclusive to the Fishing Rod to Pro Fishing Rod upgrade. Weapons cannot be upgraded to Mythic or Exotic.

Original Rarity	Upgraded Rarity	Cost in Bars
Common	Uncommon	25
Common	Rare	50
Uncommon	Rare	50
Rare	Epic	145
Epic	Legendary	345

All weapons that were currently available could have been upgraded. If a weapon has a variant which is higher rarity, but is vaulted, it could not be upgraded further.

Crafting[]

Main Article: Crafting (Battle Royale)

Crafting was a mechanic introduced in Chapter 2: Season 6. It used a new system of resources and items to upgrade weapons, to create new ones. Animal Bones as well as Mechanical Parts are used to upgrade Makeshift weaponry into Primal or Mechanical Weapons respectively (Mechanical weapons are standard weapons, such as the Assault Rifle or Revolver). Unlike weapon upgrading, it did not use Bars. Furthermore, Crafting would only create new weapons, and could not upgrade the current rarity of a weapon, as all crafting advances a weapon by a rarity, but creates a primal or makeshift weapon. Crafting was completed in the player inventory.

Players could still upgrade weapons using bars, alongside this system.

From Chapter 2: Season 1 to and including Chapter 2: Season 4, Upgrade Benches could have been found in key locations across the Island, primarily in named POIs, but still often found in other areas across the map. Using an Upgrade bench allowed players to upgrade or sidegrade their weapon using materials. Not every weapon had a sidegrade function.

Upgrading[]

Note: The Common to Rare upgrade is exclusive to the Fishing Rod to Pro Fishing Rod upgrade.

The higher the rarity the more expensive the upgrade and the longer it took. Weapons could not be upgraded to Mythic.

Original Rarity	Upgraded Rarity	Cost of all resources
Common	Uncommon	10 of each
Common	Rare	100 of each
Uncommon	Rare	100 of each
Rare	Epic	150 of each
Epic	Legendary	200 of each

The list of Upgradable Weapons were as follows. Although some weapon rarities go lower than stated, their lower rarities lacked the functionality to be upgraded.

Weapon	Class	Lowest Rarity	Highest Rarity	Notes
Assault Rifle	Assault Rifle	Common	Legendary
Burst Assault Rifle	Assault Rifle	Common	Legendary
Heavy Assault Rifle	Assault Rifle	Common	Legendary
Scoped Assault Rifle	Assault Rifle	Uncommon	Legendary
Light Machine Gun	Assault Rifle	Rare	Epic
Stark Industries Energy Rifle	Assault Rifle	Rare	Legendary
Suppressed Assault Rifle	Assault Rifle	Rare	Legendary
Pistol	Pistol	Common	Legendary
Revolver	Pistol	Epic	Legendary	Although comes in Common to Rare, these rarities do not have the functionality to be upgraded.
Hand Cannon	Pistol	Epic	Legendary
Tactical Shotgun	Shotgun	Common	Legendary
Pump Shotgun	Shotgun	Common	Legendary
Combat Shotgun	Shotgun	Rare	Legendary
Charge Shotgun	Shotgun	Common	Legendary
Bolt-Action Sniper Rifle	Sniper Rifle	Common	Legendary
Suppressed Sniper Rifle	Sniper Rifle	Epic	Legendary
Hunting Rifle	Sniper Rifle	Uncommon	Legendary
Submachine Gun	SMG	Common	Legendary
Compact SMG	SMG	Epic	Legendary
Tactical SMG	SMG	Common	Legendary
Rapid Fire SMG	SMG	Common	Legendary
Suppressed Submachine Gun	SMG	Common	Rare
Rocket Launcher	Explosive	Common	Legendary	Includes Pumpkin Launcher.
Fishing Rod / Pro Fishing Rod	Fishing Rod	Common	Rare	Upgrades straight to Rare, also changes the item.

Sidegrading[]

Sidegrading a weapon of any kind always costs 20 of each material. All Detailed weapons are vice-versa.

Weapon	Sidegraded to	Class	Notes	Season(s)
Assault Rifle	Heavy Assault Rifle	Assault Rifle		Chapter 2: Season 1, 2, and 3
Pump Shotgun	Charge Shotgun	Shotgun		Chapter 2: Season 4
Bolt-Action Sniper Rifle	Hunting Rifle	Sniper Rifle		Chapter 2: Season 3
Submachine Gun	Rapid Fire SMG	SMG		Chapter 2: Season 3
Suppressed Submachine Gun	Tactical SMG	SMG	Common to Rare only.	Chapter 2: Season 4