All about patch v5.40

As part of their never ending work on Fortnite, Epic have released the latest patch for Fortnite. As well as bug fixes, there are a few other significant changes which may change the way you play.

Perhaps the most noticeable change has been adding The Getaway LTM, a new squad based game with the objective of securing a jewel and escaping with it alive. The patch also introduces a new weapon as part of High Stakes – a grappler which allows you to move around a little quickly or steal the high ground without building. Although be warned, the range is a little limited. It can be found like any other weapon on the ground, in chests, supply drops or loot llamas with epic rarity and contains 15 shots. Once all are used, it is automatically discarded.

With the addition of the grappler, there has been a weapon removed – the revolver. While it packed a punch up close, it was a little slow after recoil and useful early game in the beginning frenzy.

A few other weapons were removed as part of the rarity colour updates but the actual stats and effectiveness of the weapons remain the same while others have decreased in their rarity level. The removed weapons are as follows…

• Common Suppressed Sub Machine Gun
• Rare Rocket Launcher
• Legendary Bolt-Action Sniper Rifle
• Rare Pistol

Perhaps one of the bigger game changes of the patch is the large Shield Potion, where players can now hold up to three instead of just two. Similar the Stink Bomb has increased from five to six, and Boogie Bombs from one to two (allowing you more chances to accidentally Boogie Bomb yourself which is all I’ve ever seen with it).

The patch also introduces a new feature where player built structures along the edge of the storm circle will be destroyed. This will force players to think differently at the end game, particularly as the Summer Skirmish series frequently saw a large number of players towards the end game hovering closely at the storm edge. The result will likely be a faster paced endgame with less turtling.

These are only a few of the updates, several bugs have also been fixed across a variety of platforms.