A spectacular mash-up of resource gathering, base-building, and third-person shooting, Fortnite is filled to the brim with a staggering number of elements to manage: Heroes, Survivors, Schematics, Expeditions, Skills, Research, Gadgets, and an odd option called the Collection.
Not available straight from the beginning of the game, the Collection book has some players scratching their heads about its functionality and why it’s worth playing around with at all.
Below we cover everything you need to know to access the Collection — and how to earn some nifty rewards along the way.
Just getting started? Be sure to check out our other Fortnite guides:
- Map Exploration and Resource Gathering Guide
- Fortnite Class Guide
- Beginner’s Guide to Defending Storm Shields
- Fortnite Base Building Layout Guide
- Navigating the Skill Trees
- Understanding F.O.R.T. Stats and Using Squads
- V 1.03 Bug Fixes
Fortnite Collection Book
Accessing The Fortnite Collection Book
Before you can even pull up the Collection book screen, you need to have earned at least 10 skill points (if you go straight for the Recycling And Collection Book skill and don’t take any detours).
This starting skill is available in the Tier 1 Skill Tree in the horizontal blue segment, just after the first Tech upgrade. You can’t automatically put anything in the Collection straight away, though, even after picking up that first skill to unlock the book.
More Collection retiring skills are required to let you recycle better cards of any given type. For instance, the Recycling And Retirement II skill lets you retire up to rare quality Schematics, Survivors, Defenders, and Heroes.
This one is also in Tier 1 and is found just to the right of the Unlock Survivor Squad: Scouting Party entry. To get here (without any detours) will require a minimum of 15 Skill Points.
Unlocking Recycling And Retirement II
Using The Fortnite Collection Book
Now that you’ve got the Collection book unlocked, what exactly does it do? It’s basically a scrap book of cards you’ve found through loot chests and reward llamas… but you have to give up those cards to add them to a book page.
That’s right — retiring an item to the Collection is permanent. You actually lose that card from you armory entirely and can no longer use that Hero, Schematic, Survivor, etc. If you give up a Trap, you won’t be able to build that Trap in a quest or on your Storm Shield base.
It’s usually a good idea to wait until you get a second instance of any particular card through a loot llama, but if you find you never use a particular Hero or Trap, then go ahead and retire it to the Collection because there are significant rewards for filling up pages of the book.
Retiring Heroes (over any other type of card) levels up your Collection the fastest, but more rare cards of any type will offer faster leveling than less rare cards, as does retiring cards that are higher level.
In fact, you may notice that if you click Inspect Collection Item, the Level Up and View Evolution commands remain in place for retired cards just like with any other card. You can continue to level up cards after you retire them, and this does give you a boost to your Collection experience.
Getting rewards for leveling the Collection
Collection Book Rewards
Every time the Collection book hits a new level, you receive rewards just like you had completed a quest. Leveling up the Collection frequently gives rare materials you need for evolving cards, like Drops of Rain, Lightning in a Bottle, or Training Manuals. You can also earn Skill Points, which makes leveling the Collection a very lucrative option.
Unlike the randomized loot chests and reward llamas, the Collection book level rewards appear to be the same for everyone at each level (although since the game is in Early Access, these may change over time). The current reward load out is as follows:
| Level | Reward |
|---|---|
| Level 2 | 500 Hero Experience |
| Level 3 | Random Green Schematic |
| Level 4 | 500 Survivor Experience |
| Level 5 | 6 Drops of Rain |
| Level 6 | 500 Vbucks |
| Level 7 | 7 Drops of Rain |
| Level 8 | Green Constructor and Survivor |
| Level 9 | 1 Skill Point |
| Level 10 | 500 Schematic Experience |
| Level 11 | 8 Drops of Rain |
| Level 12 | Choice of Green Melee or Green Shotgun |
| Level 13 | Gold Llama |
| Level 14 | 1000 Hero Experience |
| Level 15 | 3 Training Manuals |
| Level 16 | Blue Ranged Weapon |
| Level 17 | 9 Drops of Rain |
| Level 18 | 2 Skill Points |
| Level 19 | 1000 Survivor Experience |
| Level 20 | 10 Drops of Rain, 5 Lightning in a Bottle |
| Level 21 | Experience Candy Pack |
| Level 22 | 3 Training Manuals |
| Level 23 | Blue Ninja or Outlander |
| Level 24 | Green and Blue Survivors |
| Level 25 | Purple Survivor |
| Level 26 | 500 Vbucks |
| Level 27 | 10 Drops of Rain |
| Level 28 | Blue Trap |
| Level 29 | 5 Lightning in a Bottle |
| Level 30 | 1000 Schem Experience |
| Level 31 | Trap Pack |
| Level 32 | Blue Survivors |
| Level 33 | 2 Skill Points |
| Level 34 | 12 Drops of Rain, 5 Lightning in a Bottle |
| Level 35 | 1200 Hero Experience |
| Level 36 | 8 Training Manuals |
| Level 37 | 1200 Survivor Experience |
| Level 38 | Blue Hero and Survivors |
| Level 39 | 1200 Schematic Experience |
| Level 40 | Blue Survivor |
| Level 41 | Weapon Pack |
| Level 42 | 3 Eyes |
| Level 43 | 8 Training Manuals |
| Level 44 | 1500 Hero Experience |
| Level 45 | Purple Survivor |
| Level 46 | 2 Skill Points |
| Level 47 | 14 Drops Of Rain, 5 Lightning in a Bottle, 1 Eyes |
| Level 48 | 1500 Hero Experience |
| Level 49 | Purple and Blue Survivors |
| Level 50 | 1500 Schematic Experience |
| Level 51 | Choice of Blue Hero |
| Level 52 | 5 Lightning in a Bottle, 2 Eyes |
| Level 53 | 4 of each Training Manual |
| Level 54 | Trap Pack |
| Level 55 | 2000 Hero Experience |
| Level 56 | 2 Skill Points |
| Level 57 | Random Blue Weapon |
| Level 58 | 2000 Survivor Experience |
| Level 59 | 2000 Schematic Experience |
| Level 60 | 5 Lightning in a Bottle, 1 Eyes |
| Level 61 | Trap Pack |
| Level 62 | Green Schematic, 2 Green Traps |
| Level 63 | 4 Training Manuals |
| Level 64 | Experience Candy Pack |
| Level 65 | Purple and Blue Survivors |
| Level 66 | 3 Skill Points |
| Level 67 | 16 Drops of Rain, 5 Lightning in a Bottle, 2 Eyes |
| Level 68 | 2000 Hero Experience |
| Level 69 | 3 Skill Points |
| Level 70 | 18 Drops Of Rain, 5 Lightning in a Bottle, 3 Eyes |
| Level 71 | Legendary Weapon NPack |
| Level 72 | 2000 Survivor Experience |
| Level 73 | Purple and Blue Survivors |
| Level 74 | 10 Training Manuals |
| Level 75 | 20 Drops of Rain, 10 Lightning in a Bottle, 4 Eyes |
| Level 76 | 2000 Schematic Experience |
| Level 77 | 3 Skill Points |
| Level 78 | 3000 Hero Experience |
| Level 79 | Purple and Green Survivors |
| Level 80 | 3000 Survivor Experience |
| Level 81 | Epic Trap Pack |
| Level 82 | 2 Purple Survivors, 1 Purple Hero |
| Level 83 | 10 Lightning in a Bottle, 4 Eyes |
| Level 84 | 3 Skill Points |
| Level 85 | 3000 Schematic Experience |
| Level 86 | 1 Purple Survivor, 2 Blue Survivors |
| Level 87 | Choice of Purple Hero |
| Level 88 | 22 Drops of Rain, 10 Lightning in a Bottle, 5 Eyes |
| Level 89 | 3000 Hero Experience |
| Level 90 | 3000 Survivor Experience |
| Level 91 | 500 Vbucks |
| Level 92 | 3000 Schematic Experience |
| Level 93 | Rare Schematic |
| Level 94 | 4 of each Manual |
| Level 95 | Experience Candy Pack |
| Level 96 | Green Defender |
| Level 97 | Purple and Blue Survivors |
| Level 98 | 3 Skill Points |
| Level 99 | 4000 Hero Experience |
| Level 100 | Random Epic Schematic |
What’s the highest level and rarity of card you’ve had the courage to retire yet, and did you get any different rewards for leveling the Collection book? Let us know in the comments section below!
