Fortnite V-bucks: how to get free Vbucks
Fortnite V-Bucks is the currency you'll need to unlock the Battle Pass and the latest cosmetics in the battle royale game - here's what you need to know
Can you get free Fortnite V-Bucks? If you’ve seen an offer promising V-Bucks free of charge, take it with a pinch of salt. There are various ways to win free V-Bucks and there are loads of things on which to spend them, but make sure you know that there are plenty of unscrupulous folks out there ready to scam you. Don’t panic, though: we’re here to help you with all you need to know about acquiring and using Fortnite V-Bucks safely.
But, first, what are Fortnite V-Bucks? You might have been playing Epic’s battle royale game and spotted other players looking much snazzier than you do. Perhaps they’re flexing by dancing before the game starts. That is because they have been spending V-Bucks, which you can use to purchase a range of cosmetics, adding some sartorial spice to your 100-player king of the hill scrap – while paying close attention to our top Fortnite tips, naturally.
From the latest Fortnite skins to harvesting tools, gliders, emotes, and the current season’s Battle Pass – which you can use to unlock even more cosmetics – you have plenty of options when it comes to spending V-Bucks. But how do you get this premium currency? And, if you’re time-poor, how do you buy them? Here’s our Fortnite V-Bucks guide to help you find out what they are, how you unlock V-Bucks, and if there really is such a thing as free V-Bucks.
Fortnite V-Bucks: what are V-Bucks?
Epic’s battle royale game is free, and with its stonkingly high Fortnite player numbers in mind, Epic has to make money from it somehow.
Its answer is Fortnite V-Bucks, a virtual currency with which you can acquire a handsome collection of colourful cosmetics in exchange for real money. However, you can’t spend your digital dollars on anything that will give you a competitive advantage. These items are purely for fashion purposes, which is an end unto itself in our book.
You can also use your Fortnite V-Bucks to grab yourself a Battle Pass, a tiered system within each season in which you can unlock challenges to win yourself more cosmetic stash. Battle Passes, including the Fortnite Chapter 2 Season 8 pass, cost 950 V-Bucks and, in the item store, outfits and emotes tend to cost between 1500 and 500; legendaries cost 2000. Fortnite V-Bucks are now on sale permanently, with V-Bucks now discounted at 20% off across all platforms.
Fortnite V-Bucks: can I get free V-Bucks?
You can buy Epic’s virtual currency with real money, but how do you get free V-Bucks? There are a couple of ways to do this, but the catch is you need to have purchased Save the World, first. Legitimate Fortnite V-Bucks giveaways do exist, but you should be very careful. Plenty of links and sites claiming to offer free V-Bucks will more often than not be scams. In March 2018, Epic used the tweet above to urge Fortnite fans to be careful with their personal details.
If you have bought Fortnite Save the World, then you can hoover up free V-Bucks just by logging into the game and claiming the daily login rewards. Note: you might not always get free V-Bucks for logging in, as sometimes you might get a llama loot box. That means daily logins are not exactly the fastest way you can build up your stockpile, but every little helps. Even if you do not have time to play, make sure you login anyway to give yourself the best chance to get that sweet, sweet digital coin.
One last thing to note on this is that Epic Games has changed its reward system for Save The World so that only founders are eligible for free V-Bucks – here’s how they currently classify founders and non-founders.
You can also get free V-Bucks from daily and challenge quests in Save the World: 50 for completing one of each. Storm Shield Defense main story missions are another means of doing so, and they net you 100 V-Bucks each. You can then spend Fortnite V-Bucks earned in Save the World on new threads in Battle Royale.
Earning free V-Bucks in Fortnite Battle ROyale
Even without buying the Battle Pass, you can earn a total of 300 free V-Bucks from it, via unlocks that are available to all players, not just premium Battle Pass owners.
If you do spend the money on a Battle Pass – bear with us – you can also earn free V-Bucks as you fight your way through the game’s progression system. While they might not technically be free, if you progress far enough in a season, you could well have hoovered up enough of the premium currency to get the future season’s pass free, and then some. That’s provided you don’t blow it all on a tasty legendary skin before the current season ends.
Fortnite Chapter 3 Season 1 provides 1500 V-Bucks if you level it up completely, which nets you the 950 V-Bucks it cost to buy the Battle Pass in the first place, plus an extra 550 V-Bucks. If you don’t spend any V-Bucks earned during a season, you only need to level up to Battle Pass rank 68
Fortnite V-Bucks prices: how much do v-Bucks cost?
Fortnite V-Bucks are sold in specific quantities: you cannot see an outfit with a 1500 V-Bucks price tag and buy only 1500. Below you will find the V-Bucks bundles available and their real world cost with the new 20% off applied. In a statement released by Epic Games, they outline exactly how the discount works across platforms and their reasoning for the discount on V-Bucks saying, “Currently, when using Apple and Google payment options, Apple and Google collect a 30% fee, and the up to 20% price drop does not apply. If Apple or Google lower their fees on payments in the future, Epic will pass along the savings to you”.
- 1000 – £6.49/$7.99
- 2800 – £15.99/$19.99
- 5000 – £25.99/$31.99
- 13500 – £64.99/$79.99
As you would expect, you get more bang for your Fortnite V-Bucks the more you spend. To get in on the Battle Pass, you usually need to spend 950 V-Bucks, so the 1000 option will cover you there for just shy of £7/$8. That gives you access to weekly challenges and opportunities to unlock more cosmetics. The Battle Pass is valid for one season, which itself lasts for at least ten weeks. Complete challenges to earn battle stars and progress through each of the Battle Pass’s 100 tiers, or you can pay to unlock each tier for 150 Fortnite V-Bucks each.
If you are a dedicated player and want to absolutely maximise the quantity of skins and V-Bucks that you can get for your money, then the Fortnite Crew subscription package – first introduced in Fortnite Chapter 2 Season 5 – may be what you’re looking for. For a £9.99/$11.99 monthly fee, you will not only receive 1,000 V-Bucks, but you will also be able to get your hands on an exclusive monthly Crew Pack – which includes a skin plus at least one matching accessory, such as a glider, pickaxe, or emote – as well as that month’s Battle Pass which will provide a further 1,500 V-Bucks as you complete it.
FORTNITE V-BUCKS: HOW TO BUY V-BUCKS
If you don’t have the time to earn cosmetics through play, or you have found a pickaxe skin that simply has to be paired with your favourite outfit, then you can always just buy Fortnite V-Bucks. The easiest way to do that is in the pre-match menus; just navigate to the top right of the window once you are in the lobby. The number next to the coin icon with a ‘V’ on it indicates the current state of your V-Bucks wallet. Clicking on that is one way to get to the V-Bucks payment screen.
Equally, you can click on the Battle Pass tab in the pre-match menu which gives you more information on what you can get if you purchase one. If you do buy one this is the place to pay to unlock further tiers, too. You can also click on the ‘Item Shop’ tab to browse the featured cosmetics that are for sale. Clicking on them will allow you a closer look at each piece of loot and an option to ‘Get V-Bucks’ by selecting the flashing yellow button.
