Fortnite's New Battle Star System Explained: Choose Your Favorites

Epic overhauled its Battle Pass system for Chapter 2 – Season 7, which was released in the early morning hours today. Rather than players unlocking Battle Pass rewards linearly like in past seasons, the new system introduces Battle Stars and the ability to unlock any item you want regardless of where it falls on the list.

The Battle Pass system offers various rewards, including skins and other cosmetics. These items have been limited to Battle Pass tiers, meaning that even if you didn't care about getting items 20 – 40, you'd have to pass through all those levels if you wanted the skin that unlocked at level 40. Epic has done away with that with the Battle Star system.

Instead, leveling up in the game gives the players Battle Stars, which can then be spent to redeem the particular Battle Pass item you want. The catch is that Battle Pass pages are unlocked until players continue to level up and redeem items, meaning you can't immediately skip to the end of the Battle Pass to get the high-tier rewards.

As well, each Battle Pass page has a special locked item that is only unlocked once all of the other items on the page are claimed. You'll need to reach Level 100 to get the Rick Sanchez skin from the Rick & Morty crossover, meaning the new system still requires a fair bit of grinding and completing challenges. This season also includes super-leveling to continue claiming rewards past Level 100.

You'll get the same number of Battle Stars as everyone else even if you don't get the Battle Pass, according to Epic. All players can claim some rewards from the Battle Pass page, though you'll get more from the Battle Pass. Assuming you're a Fortnite Crew subscriber, you'll have already have received the Battle Pass for this new season as part of the plan.