Since it took the world by storm in 2017,Fortnitehas introduced a wide array of cosmetic items to customise your playing experience. One of these features is the inclusion of emotes, which include short snippets from TikTok trends, memes and real-life dances, among many more.
With over 700 emotes in the game, you are spoiled for choice. No matter your preference, there is no doubt you will find a specific set of emotes that fit your character to flex on your opponents when you claim that Victory Royale. However, if you’re looking to flex the hardest, try out one of these rarest emotes — if you have them.
10Out With The Old
A Nice Way Of Saying Goodbye To The Year 2020
Out With The Old was an emote sold in the Item Shop to celebrate the end of the very eventful year of 2020. It appeared in the Item Shop for four consecutive days from July 22, 2025, until New Year’s Day in 2021.
The emote has your character taking a pin to a series of balloons that spell out the year 2020. Because it was part of the New Years 2021 Event, it’s extremely unlikely that we will ever see this emote make a reappearance. It is now used as a symbol of how long players have played the game.
9Scenario
The Time Monetisation Went A Little Too Far
Any emote that requires you to own a specific brand of phone is bound to not only cause controversy amongst the community, but also end up becoming extremely rare. Unfortunately, many missed out on this emote simply due to not owning an eligible Samsung Galaxy S10 device.
While the promotion ran for a lengthy amount of time, from July 12, 2025, until the last day of the year, people were rightfully upset with the depth Fortnite’s in-game monetisation practices had stooped to. This resulted in players refusing to even borrow eligible devices off of people they knew simply out of principle.
8Zombie Shambles
A Late One-Time Only Halloween Emote
When purchasing cosmetics from the Fortnite Item Shop, you typically say, ‘Oh, that’s cool,’ make your purchase, and then equip it, if you really want to. You don’t often think about whether the specific item will only be around once.
Zombie Shambles is one item that will now make you question if every emote is worth purchasing. It only appeared in the Item Shop once, and that was for less than a day. Those who bought this emote, either due to their love of horror-themed items or because they hadn’t gotten out of the Halloween spirit just yet, now have an incredibly rare emote that a lot of us wished we had thought more about getting.
7Sweaty Rotation
A Reward For Completing Tedious Quests
In the Summer of 2022, if you didn’t pay a lot of attention to Fortnite, or its Summer quests, it’s very likely you missed out on getting this emote. Sweaty Rotation was a reward given out by completing 14 No Sweat Summer Quests.
While none of the quests were particularly challenging, some did involve you surviving long enough to make it to several different spots on the map. Other challenges involved you jumping along umbrellas and ringing doorbells until they broke. Due to being a reward from a specific time period, it’s unlikely we’ll ever see this emote in the Item Shop.
6Introducing…
The First Ever PlayStation Exclusive Emote
Introducing… was the first ever PlayStation Plus exclusive emote released as part of the PlayStation Plus Celebration Packs. This wasfree on PlayStation 4to those that had a subscription during the time of the tenth Celebration Pack release.
5Hot Marat
Break The Internet And Wreck-It On The Dancefloor
The emote Hot Marat was the first collaboration cosmetic that used an original Disney property. The emote took inspiration from a similar dance Wreck-It Ralph performs in the Disney movie Wreck-It Ralph Breaks The Internet.
It’s a dance known for its cheekiness — when performed, the player bends at the knees and gives a different take on jazz hands. Those that did manage to get it during the two-day period it was in the Item shop are incredibly fortunate. Not only was it free, but it has since never returned.
4Welcome!
An Emote That’s Rare Due To A Horrid Season
The tenth season of Fortnite’s first chapter brought in a ton of new features. One of these new inclusions was a two-person Mech suit named B.R.U.T.E, where one player would control the movement, where the other player would shoot with it.
This feature created quite a bit of controversy amongst the community, and as a result, players took to other games to get their enjoyment. However, it was during this season that the Welcome! emote was released over a three-day period. Despite its extremely low cost, it wasn’t an eventful emote that people connected with. Therefore, no one had a reason to buy it, and during a season where player count had already dwindled, the fact very few purchased it, along with its limited stay in the Item Shop, led to it becoming an extremely rare emote.
3Kiss The Cup
A Celebration Of One Of The Biggest Gaming Tournaments
If you happen to be one of the very few people that own the Kiss the Cup emote, then you will know it allows you to relish your victories. If you haven’t got this emote, then it may be unlikely you will ever acquire it, as this emote has only appeared in the Item Shop twice.
These were back-to-back days commemorating the 2019 Fortnite World Cup. An esports tournament competition that took place between July 26 - 28, 2019, which was eventually won by the player Bugha.
2Fresh
An Emote Surrounded By Controversy
Despite appearing in the item shop 28 times, Fresh has become extremely rare emote. This emote is a remade version of a dance move that was once performed and made famous by Alfonso Ribeiro as he played the on-screen character, Carlton Banks, in The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. There’s a reason why we haven’t seen this emote in a long time, and that is due to the trouble Epic Games found itself in with the actor over the emote.
Alfonso Ribeiro filed a lawsuit against Epic Games due to copyright infringement on the dance. While a judge dismissed these claims of copyright infringement, it’s unlikely Epic Games is willing to rehash any bad publicity that’ll undoubtedly come with bringing this emote back.
1Floss
They Can Remake It, But The Original Will Always Be Better
Floss is a dance made popular by Russel Horning, also known as ‘The Backpack Kid’. It was included in the Chapter One, Season Two Battle Pass, requiring you to reach level 49 of the Pass to unlock this emote. Not only did reachinglevel 49 of the Battle Passtakea considerable amount of time, this was also around the time when Fortnite was still relatively new, so the number of people that do own the emote is naturally going to be low.
While other variations of the Floss do exist, none truly compare to the original. While it is unfortunate that we’ll never be able to get the Floss emote as a special item in the Item Shop, it’s nice to know that Fortnite still has some cosmetics that reward you for being a true old school player.
