Fortnite Season 5 is finally upon us! Epic Games have dropped some new details and information about what the coming update will bring to the Battle Royale title in their latest official patch notes.
Safe to say, its pretty nutty. If you’ve got a history of nut allergies, we recommend you stop reading here. But if not, strap yourselves in. It’s a wild ride.
The largest update is the map! No, not a new map – instead, the good ‘ol map that everyone knows and loves has received a boatload of serious updates. First is the introduction of rifts – you know, those things that were previously only visible as eerie blue cracks slowly consuming the sky.
Jump in a rift and you’ll be teleported to a different point on the map – kind of like a warp gate. This might make slower, more cautious play more effective, or might allow for multiple points of contention mid-match. Now, if there’s a rift towards the outside of the non-storm area that leads to deeper into the safe circle, players can use that rift to save themselves from the danger of traversing inwards out in the open. They’ll also open themselves up to the dangers of anyone closely watching points like these, however.
Fortnite also now officially has a vehicle. The ATK, or All Terrain Kart, is a tricked-out golf cart capable of housing an entire squad of players. Players can drift to accumulate boost power for extra speed, and can also use the top of the vehicle as a bounce pad. Perhaps this is part of Epic’s previously stated effort to make different strategies more viable and put less focus on the “Shotgun and Build” meta that had been going on for some time. This Kart might enable players to re-position more quickly, or even smash through the tall but structurally unsound buildings that other players had created.
There’s also a new desert-themed map location, aided by the addition of many new assets to the game in an update to Fortnite’s PvE Save The World mode.
In addition to new stuff, a bunch of old stuff is getting a new coat of paint. Not in terms of skins, mind you (although there are a bunch of new skins, because, well, isn’t there always). These are balance changes, and there’s a LOT of them.
Full details are available via Epic’s Patch Notes, but here are some of the changes we found most interesting:
-Shotgun pellet spreads are now consistent with every shot and are no longer random. Also, the heavy shotgun now shoots 10 pellets up from 5, with no change to damage. It’s unclear whether this means the shotgun now does essentially double damage, or whether it’s original damage is now spread over 10 pellets as opposed to 5.
-SMG damage fall off now starts sooner and degrades faster, meaning the weapons deal far less damage over range in general.
-Storm Circles can now move in addition to closing in. An outer circle does not allow players to accurately predict where the exact center will be; The storm may move slightly in addition to shrinking.
We’re interested to see what effects these changes will have on the game, as well as what kind of stupid stunts people will be able to pull off with the ATK.
The clock is ticking until the first person inevitably falls from the sky onto the bounce pad of a moving ATK that they didn’t know would be there, only to rocket back up and get a sniper kill from 300 feet in the air. Come on, people. We all know it’s gonna happen.
