How to claim a Floating Island capture point in Fortnite Chapter 5 Season 1

Claiming the Floating Island capture point can help give you some powerful loot as you close out matches in Fortnite.

The Floating Island — also known as the Loot Island — is a reoccurring landmark in Fortnite seasons, and usually has unique requirements for appearing.

Both this and the addition of the train are subject to a Week 1 Challenge in Chapter 5 Season 1 — “Complete a Train Heist and Claim the Floating Island capture point” — though these steps can be completed in separate matches if you prefer.

Whether you’re ticking off the challenge, or want to learn the Floating Island location, this page can help.

Floating Island location in Fortnite

The Floating Island isn’t there at the beginning of the match. Instead, the Floating Island spawns in at some point between the remaining player count hitting 30 and 15. We’ve seen it happen near both ends of the spectrum, and whenever it does appear, you’ll first notice it as a marker on your HUD, just as below.

Image: Epic Games via Polygon

Check your map, and you’ll see there’s the weird blue ‘butterfly’ symbol below in place of the actual island. This is a rift, and it precedes the Floating Island spawning in. Roughly 30 seconds later, the rift will be replaced by the Floating Island itself, and it’s basically fair game for anyone.

Image: Epic Games via Polygon

How to claim a Floating Island capture point

If you want to claim the Floating Island capture point, you need to head there straight away. You can use nearby ziplines to get up to the map, descending from the island itself, or you can look for nearby jump pads to boost yourself up. Unlike the ziplines though, there aren’t guaranteed to be any jump pads nearby.

Image: Epic Games via Polygon

Once you’re on the floating land mass, you’ll see a large flag in the middle of a plaza, and you need to stand within the radius to begin claiming the capture point. Again, the entire process takes roughly 30 seconds, so you’ll need to hunker down somewhere and be on the lookout for anyone trying to sabotage your claim by getting close enough to the flag itself.

Image: Epic Games via Polygon

Just like with completing a Train Heist, you’ll bag yourself some loot when the capture process has completed, including weapons and health items. Unlike the train though, we’ve typically seen purple (epic) and gold (legendary) tier weapons and items here, including sniper rifles, assault rifles, and shotguns.

How to make capturing the Floating Island easier

If you’re struggling to capture the Floating Island, we recommend waiting until later in the season when it is a less popular destination, as over time, more players will have completed the challenge.

Unlike the Train Heist, however, the Floating Island can give high grade loot, so you can expect it to have a degree of attention all season. All the same, it’s likely to be more popular at the start of Season 1 due to the Week 1 Challenge requirement, so waiting might help if you’re wanting to complete that in particular.

Also, remember you can capture a Floating Island with other teammates in Fortnite. In either the Solos, Duos, Trios, or Quads mode, an entire team can sit inside the radius and arguably defend it easier than with a solo player, who might feel more exposed.

Looking for more help during Fortnite Chapter 5 Season 1? We have guides on finding Peter Griffin and Weapon Cases, plus explainers on Society Medallions, the gold circle on the map, and linking your Fortnite and LEGO Insider accounts.