Fortnite vehicles ranked: from the shopping cart to the Brute

Vehicles weren't always part of Fortnite Battle Royale. Epic Games' 2017 battle royale had none during its first explosion in popularity, and everything changed in Chapter 1 Season 4. From there, vehicles helped the game and sometimes hindered it. Some were fun ways to goof around. Others, like the X-4 Stormwing and the Brute, were far too powerful.

Here's how vehicles evolved through Chapter 1 and Chapter 2, what part they played, and which ones I think went wrong.

The shopping cart and the ATK brought the first Fortnite vehicles in Chapter 1

The first vehicle ever put in the game was a shopping cart. It held one person in the cart and one person pushing. It was "pretty janky," to be honest with you, and not very practical, but it was a fun time to goof around with. If you took it down a hill you could get some good speed and velocity out of it, although it couldn't damage the people you hit.

In Season 5 we got our first real vehicle, because I wouldn't call the shopping cart a vehicle. That was the All Terrain Kart, or ATK, which the community knew as the golf cart. It held one driver and three passengers, and all of the passengers could shoot at enemies while driving past. Driving it was pretty awesome. It went fast, it could drift, it could power slide, and it changed the way the game was played pretty drastically.

The Quad Crusher shook up the Fortnite meta in Season 6

Epic followed the ATK with the Quad Crusher in Season 6, and it shook up the meta. It was an ATV with a power booster and a bulldozer built into the front. As long as you were going at a high enough speed, you could smash right through buildings and structures.

The Quad Crusher could also fly across the map if you got airborne and boosted at the right angle, which changed how people rotated during solo games. Up to this point, people were pretty okay with vehicles in Fortnite. They were fun and they were strong, but they weren't so powerful that they became game changers. That was about to change.

The X-4 Stormwing was too dominant and was removed from the game

Season 7 brought the X-4 Stormwing, also simply known as the plane. It sounds like something out of Star Wars. It could carry one driver and four passengers, and it had a ridiculous 2,000 hit points, which made it extremely hard to destroy. It could fly around, activate a speed boost to fly through structures, and use a machine gun to harass people from a distance.

The Stormwing was "absolutely busted." It had to be nerfed countless times before Epic removed it from the game altogether for being too dominant.

Season 7 also gave us the Driftboard, which was pretty awesome. It was a hoverboard very similar to the one in Back to the Future Part II. It could only hold one person at a time, but it gave you tons of movement options. People got some awesome clips with it, and I still remember seeing players go for hunting rifle trick shots on it. Season 7 shook up the formula.

Ballers took over the end of ranked matches in Season 8

Season 8 brought yet another meta changing vehicle: the Baller. It was a glass ball rover, if you will, like the one from Jurassic World, but with a grapple cable built in. You could hook onto structures and swing around, giving yourself a tremendous speed boost or even getting airborne for faster rotations.

The Baller also damaged structures it ran into at high speed. You could get in one at the bottom of a build fight and take the whole thing down in seconds. Its low profile and excellent mobility made it an essential vehicle for competitive play. There came a point where the end of every ranked match would have at least five people driving around in Ballers, griefing the people who were trying to fight.

It was vaulted two seasons later, which was no shocker. But it was replaced by something even more busted, if that's even possible.

The Brute was one of the most negatively received additions in Fortnite history

In Season X, the Brute arrived. It has to be one of the most negatively received additions in Fortnite history. It was a giant mech suit that carried two people and had a ridiculous 1,250 hit points. One player controlled movement while the other controlled the weapons, although there were ways for one player to do both jobs.

The movement was good. It featured a dash, a stomp and a giant leap that could smash through structures like paper. The weapons were extreme: a close range rapid fire shotgun and an extremely powerful missile salvo. To make matters worse, you could self destruct the mech when it was running low on health, which turned it into a mini nuke that could kill anybody nearby.

It was way too powerful, and many people stopped playing Fortnite until it was removed altogether. Epic nerfed it several times, but that never got the job done. Frankly, "i'm kind of glad this one was never seen again." That brought us to the end of Chapter 1.

Chapter 2 added the motorboat, the Choppa and cars

Chapter 2 Season 1 introduced water vehicles, starting with the motorboat. It held four people, it was easy to find, and it got you around the water sections of the map rather quickly. You could also hit the speed boost on land to keep traveling across the map, a bit like a speeder in Star Wars. That drained your health rather quickly, but it is what it is.

Season 2 introduced the Choppa, a five person helicopter with 1,500 hit points. It was great for getting around the map quickly and dropping down on enemy players.

Chapter 2 Season 3 gave us cars, in a few different kinds. The Islander Prevalent held four players and had 800 hit points. The Victory Motors Whiplash looked more like a classic sports car and was faster than the Prevalent. The OG Bear was a pickup truck with less horsepower but more health than the standard car. The Mudflap was a six wheel semi with 1,200 hit points but not a very good top speed.

Each car came in a few variants you could find around the map, and you could gas them up to refuel. Cars were an interesting addition, and Chapter 2 Season 3 relied heavily on players using them to get around the map.

The Saucer and the Salvaged Brute closed out Chapter 2

In Chapter 2 Season 7 we got the Saucer, a five seat UFO with 600 hit points that helped you get around the map rapidly, albeit with rather low defenses. Saucers were fast, and if you knew what you were doing in squads you'd be pretty hard to catch. If you knew how to maneuver one, it was good. Then again, if four players were all spraying you, they could probably take it down pretty fast. It's safe to say it wasn't game breaking.

Chapter 2 Season 8 brought mech suits back, with a twist: the Salvaged Brute. It was a nerfed version of the Season X Brute, with most of the same weapons and abilities but only 900 hit points and much less damage per hit.

Frankly, I'm not sure why those adjustments weren't made back in Season X. I guess hindsight is always 20/20, and I have to give Epic props for getting there eventually with the Salvaged Brute. But then again, why even bring it back? I don't know. They probably just like having fun and laughing at us when they do these things.

At the time of writing, Chapter 3 was still very young. Some vehicles from Fortnite history had returned over the years, but Epic Games hadn't revealed everything it had up its sleeve for the future of the game.