Fortnite is not going to stop milking the return of Skull Trooper for all its worth. So far we have not only the return of Skull Trooper himself, but a companion, Skull Ranger, a new scythe, a new glider, earnable back-bling (which just had its challenges nerfed) and three color variants. There’s standard black and white, a green glow, and then a purple glow if you owned the original OG Skull Trooper skin.
But that may not be all.
According to Fortnite leaker @FNBRleaks, he has datamined an entirely new set of assets for both Skull Trooper and the Ghost Portal back bling that imply a red and white version of Skull Trooper is coming. The skin is labeled “Red Flames,” implying it may be some sort of demonic variant for the skin.
When it is coming and how do you unlock it? That’s anyone’s guess.
There is going to be a “Skull Trooper event” running this weekend, assuredly meant to lure people away from Black Ops 4, which will give you the Ghost Portal back bling skin if you simply complete 20 games rather than doing the tougher challenges to unlock the skin that were previously revealed.
It would seem like a Skull Trooper event would be a good time to roll out another skin variant, but who knows. It could be something closer to actual Halloween, which is still several weeks away. Most often skin variants are earned, not bought, so we could be looking at another set of challenges, or that you have to gain a certain amount of XP with Skull Trooper in order to unlock his demon variant.
I’m a little bummed that Skull Ranger isn’t given the same kind of love as Skull Trooper in this event. You can’t use her to unlock the Ghost Portal back bling. She only has two variants, she does not appear to be getting a red one. I get that he’s the OG, but come on.
After this month, it’s clear that Skull Trooper mania will probably fade for good. The only reason people wanted him so badly was that he was an exclusive skin offered before Fortnite got really popular, but now everyone’s got him, so he’s a lot less special, purple bone variant or no. With that said, I definitely want the red version all the same.
We are probably also going to be seeing the return of Ghoul Trooper, Skull Trooper’s less impressive cousin, by the time this month is over, which will hopefully include a rework so her zombie effects don’t just look painted on her skin. But the low quality of the skin is actually kind of part of its charm, so who knows. Regardless, Epic knows that they can print money by bringing back old skins, and they’re going to go all out this entire month between these two.
Stay tuned for more information about Red Skull Trooper when there is anything to report.
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