A practical guide to Fortnite’s South Park "Born in Chaos" event, covering the new Quints 5-player squads, mythic items, Cartmanland POI, the free mini-pass rewards and how this collab stacks up against past TV and film crossovers.
Event basics: dates, playlists and what’s actually live
South Park’s Born in Chaos event is a limited-time crossover in Fortnite, running from January 9 to February 5. During the event you get a dedicated Born in Chaos tab in the lobby, a special Quints playlist that pushes squads to five players, a new Cartmanland point of interest on the Battle Royale island, new mythic and utility items pulled from South Park lore, and a completely free mini-pass packed with cosmetics.
The core South Park outfits for Cartman, Stan, Kyle, Kenny and Butters are sold in the Item Shop rather than being earned through gameplay. The free pass is focused on themed cosmetics instead of full skins, so if you want to run the full crew you will still need V-Bucks.
How Quints 5-player squads work
Quints is Fortnite’s first five-player squad mode in the main Battle Royale ruleset. It is built around the joke that Butters is always the fifth wheel, but in practice it shakes up team dynamics more than the meme suggests.
When you queue Quints, you drop into the standard island with 99 other players but in teams of 5 instead of 4. Health, shields and damage numbers are unchanged and you still win by being the last team standing. The key difference is how you structure your roles and rotate around the map.
In practice, the best way to approach Quints is to lean into defined roles. Keep a traditional core of two slayers who take most of the opening duels, one IGL who calls rotations and storm paths, one hard support that focuses on heals, utility and reboot cards, and then use the fifth slot as a true flex. That fifth player can carry the new mythic, run utility like mobility items, or play a long-range overwatch role to keep fights from turning into scrambles.
Because there are more guns pointed into every engagement, third partying is more brutal than usual. Try to avoid drawn out box fights near Cartmanland and other hot spots. You want to collapse quickly on isolated duos or trios, then rotate before a second full squad crashes the fight. Communication is also more chaotic with five mics, so assign one shot-caller early and keep comms to short callouts rather than full play-by-plays.
Cartmanland: the new POI and how to play it
Cartmanland is a full-scale point of interest that replaces Wonkeeland for the duration of the event. It is themed after Eric Cartman’s personal amusement park, complete with rides, signage and deep-cut references from across the show.
As a drop spot, Cartmanland functions like a high-risk, high-reward arena. Chest density is strong, floor loot is generous and several of the new South Park items are more likely to spawn here than anywhere else. That makes it a magnet for early aggression in Quints and regular squads.
If you hot drop Cartmanland, aim to claim one side of the park first instead of pushing straight into the middle. Take a quickly lootable corner, clear teams that land on your side, then use the rides and vertical elements to reposition before you push the central attractions. Because of the park layout, sightlines are long and it is easy for a second team to beam you as you run between rides, so try to rotate around cover rather than sprinting across open plazas.
Later in the game, Cartmanland becomes an excellent mid-game rotate if it is just outside the next circle. Even if it has been looted, you can often find leftover heals, the occasional South Park consumable and useful mobility. What you want to avoid is walking into Cartmanland when it sits dead-center in a late zone, since the cluttered geometry makes it very easy to get pinched by teams on different rides and rooftops.
New mythic and South Park gameplay items
The Born in Chaos update injects several new items that are tightly tied to South Park’s history, and they are strong enough to actually change how lobbies play.
The standout is the Stick of Truth mythic. Inspired by the RPGs, it is a storm-manipulating weapon that lets you pull the storm edge toward your position. Used correctly, this turns safe areas into danger zones for other teams while you bunker down in well-built cover. If you are carrying the Stick, plan ahead. Claim a strong position on high ground on the edge of the next safe zone, wait for enemy squads to rotate and then drag the storm over their path to force them into bad pushes through your sightlines.
Alongside the mythic, you will see Cheesy Poofs as a key consumable. These are more flexible than regular heals because they can top up your own health, give small buffs to allies and, in some implementations, even damage nearby enemies. Practically, you should treat Cheesy Poofs like multipurpose utility. Keep a stack on your support player who can quickly throw them into a box to top up the team between skirmishes.
Another important addition is Kenny’s Respawn Token. This rare item automatically reboots you the first time you die, without needing a van or a teammate’s card. It functions as an extra life, which is huge in the chaos of Quints. If you find one, prioritize giving it to your primary fragger or IGL. Their survival has the biggest impact on your team actually converting late-game fights.
Because these items are all highly contested, especially near Cartmanland, you should decide before the match who will carry which piece of kit. For example, give the Stick of Truth to a player who is confident with macro calls, let your support hold Kenny’s Token if your main slayer already has high-value mobility, and keep Cheesy Poofs on anyone with a free inventory slot who stays near the center of the group.
The Born in Chaos free mini-pass
Epic has framed Born in Chaos as a free event mini-pass that sits alongside the normal seasonal battle pass rather than replacing it. You can access it from its own tab in the main menu and it tracks progress based on event quests and normal play during the crossover.
The pass contains 13 South Park themed rewards. These are mostly back blings, emotes, pickaxes, sprays and a glider rather than full outfits. Items like a Cheesy Poofs Rocketship emote, a Terrance and Phillip pickaxe, a Backpack of CRED back bling and the Imaginationland Airship glider have all been shown. Progress is simple: complete South Park quests, play matches in Quints or standard playlists and make sure you claim rewards as you level the mini-pass.
Because the pass is free and limited-time, your priority should be to knock out quests early, especially the ones tied to specific tasks in Cartmanland or using the mythic items. These location and item-specific quests tend to be most crowded in the first few days and then easier in the closing week, so if you are only jumping in occasionally you should at least try to clear the early tiers that unlock the more distinctive cosmetics.
It is worth stressing that the mini-pass does not contain the main South Park outfits. Those are in the shop as separate purchases. The pass instead fills in the fantasy around those skins, letting you run a South Park themed loadout even if you only pick up one of the boys or skip the outfits entirely.
Comparing Born in Chaos to past TV and film crossovers
Fortnite has turned big media crossovers into a science, but Born in Chaos still stands out in a few important ways.
Compared to straightforward skin drops like the Stranger Things or Terminator collabs, South Park is much more integrated into the core gameplay. Quints changes team structure for everyone, the Stick of Truth literally alters the storm, and Cartmanland reshapes part of the map for a full month. It feels closer in spirit to the larger Star Wars or Marvel season-long pushes, but condensed into a focused event.
It also differs from The Simpsons collaboration, which reskinned the entire island as Springfield and leaned heavily on sightseeing and nostalgia. With South Park, Epic struck a middle ground. You get a major new POI, mythics and a new playlist, but the overall island remains the current Chapter 7 Season 1 map. That makes Born in Chaos less of a total takeover than Springfield Island, while still feeling more substantial than cameos like John Wick’s house or the original Gotham City zone.
On the monetization side, the decision to make the Born in Chaos mini-pass completely free is notable. Previous mini-passes tied to collaborations often came with a V-Buck price tag or locked the headline skin behind paid tiers. Here, Epic is clearly banking on the appeal of the five mecha-styled South Park skins in the shop while letting the pass serve as a pure engagement driver. If you played the Jujutsu Kaisen or Dragon Ball events, this one will feel mechanically familiar in terms of quest structure, but with a more generous price of entry.
Finally, in terms of tone, South Park is one of the edgier properties Fortnite has pulled in, yet the collaboration still fits the game’s broader all-ages direction by framing the kids in mech suits similar to how Epic handled The Simpsons’ shorter characters. The event leans into self-aware humor rather than shock value, with Professor Chaos literally rewriting Fortnite’s rules to justify a five-player mode.
If you are a regular Fortnite player, Born in Chaos is worth engaging with even if you are not a South Park fan, purely for the shake-up of Quints, the new mythic and the free cosmetic track. If you are coming in from the South Park side, you get one of the most mechanically involved TV crossovers Fortnite has done to date, with plenty of references to chase across the island and a full month to earn them.