Chasing Special Sprites in Fortnite Chapter 7 Season 3 usually comes down to luck. The Sprite Hunt Rift Anomaly cuts through that. When it fires mid-match, it buries chests inside the current Storm circle and pins each one on your map, and every one of those chests is guaranteed to hold a Special Sprite.
Quick answer: When the “Sprite Hunt” Rift Anomaly notification appears at the top of your screen, open your map, sprint to a marked buried chest, hit it with your pickaxe to dig it up, then open it for a guaranteed Special Sprite.
What the Sprite Hunt Rift Anomaly does
Rift Anomalies are random Battle Royale events that can trigger after a Storm phase begins. Sprite Hunt is the one that matters for collectors. Once it activates, buried Sprite Chests spawn across the map within the active Storm circle, and each is marked with a chest icon so you can find them fast.
These buried chests are different from the regular Sprite Chests scattered around the island. The ones from the anomaly always drop a Special Sprite. The behavior mirrors the Lucky Locator and Sprite Locator items, which also reveal buried Sprite Chests, except the anomaly costs you nothing to set off.
One catch worth planning around. Every player in the lobby sees the same chest markers, so you are racing the whole server for each dig site. Gear up before you commit to running toward one.
When it appears and how many chests spawn
Sprite Hunt is not guaranteed in every match. Any given Storm phase can instead roll a different Rift Anomaly, such as Battle Bus Victory Royale or a Safe Extraction event. Your best odds come during Power Hours, where the anomaly stays active throughout each match. During Web Shooter Hours, for example, the Sprite Hunt Rift Anomaly runs the entire game alongside boosted Sprite spawn rates.
The chest count has changed since launch. Early on, a single event dropped between 10 and 15 buried chests. Epic later cut that down to 3 to 5 chests per event. Fewer chests means tighter competition, so if you arrive late, you may find every dig site already cleared.
Special Sprites you can pull
Buried chests only drop Special Sprites that are currently in the active loot pool. The drop is always a Special variant, but the tier is randomized. Rare pulls are the most common, while Legendary and Mythic are far less frequent.
| Special Sprite | Image | In loot pool? |
|---|---|---|
| Gold Sprite |  | Yes |
| Gummy Sprite |  | Yes |
| Galaxy Sprite |  | Yes |
| Holofoil Sprite |  | Yes |
| Cube Sprite |  | Yes |
| Gem Sprite |  | Not yet (coming August 6th, 2026) |
Quack Sprites will never drop from these chests. They are tied exclusively to Sprite Mastery rewards, meaning you have to fully master a Sprite before its Quack variant unlocks.
How to open a Sprite Hunt buried chest
Carry a Portable Extractor to lock the Sprite in
Finding a Special Sprite is only half the job. To add it to your collection, you have to extract it. Keeping a Portable Extractor in your inventory while these events are active lets you extract a rare pull on the spot, instead of hauling it to a fixed point and risking a fight along the way.
The Sprite Hunt Rift Anomaly remains worth stopping for every time it triggers, even after the chest count was trimmed to 5. Fresh Special Sprites keep rolling into the loot pool, with Gem Sprites arriving August 6th, 2026. When you see the notification pop up mid-match, drop what you are doing and go dig.
