It was delayed for a reason. This is a huge Fortnite patch, with v5.30 probably being the biggest of the season so far. It introduces a new item, tweaks existing things, and even added a big new zone to the map.
What’s the full extent of what’s in the patch? You can read every note here for yourself courtesy of Epic, but here are the highlights of what you can expect to find added/changed in Fortnite: Battle Royale specifically going forward.
Rift-To-Go
It’s the next Port-a-Fort but possibly a bit more useful. It’s an epic rarity grenade that allows you to spawn a rift wherever you want.
- It lasts for ten seconds and in that time, other players can go through it.
- You can only hold two at a time
- It pretty much functions exactly like all other rifts do, flinging you up in the sky for a short skydiving/gliding stint
I’d say it’s more useful than the Port-a-Fort because there are way more uses for it, escaping combat, outrunning the storm, even gaining ground on unsuspecting players, where the Port-a-Fort is just…a fort for people who don’t like building. A good addition, and I hope it sticks around past this season.
Shotgun Buffs
The Pump shotgun has had its equip time reduced by about 10% from 0.96 seconds to 0.88, which isn’t a ton, but certainly moving in the right direction. The double-barrel shotgun now has a 15% reduced spread while crouched, making it more accurate.
Clinger Changes
The exact wording here is “Clingers will no longer explode if the object they are attached to is destroyed. They will be affected by gravity and fall until they stick to another object or their fuse expires.”
What this means is that the trick where you can throw two clingers and have the first one explode the wall, and the second explode the person behind will not work anymore. Well, it still might work if the fuse timing is exact, but it won’t be instant like it’s been.
Tomato Temple
This isn’t the patch notes, but Tomato Town has been replaced by an enormous, ancient temple that appears to have been built when the Tomato Head was sent back in time and worshipped as a god. I already wrote an entire article about this new spot, but I high suggest you go check it out, as it’s quite the zone to behold now.
Auto-Sort
There are a few different gameplay changes here, but the best one by far is that Epic has added the ability to auto-sort consumable items into the rightmost quickbar slot when picked up. No more messing around in the inventory screen to make that happen every single time! Rejoice!
Score Royale
The points-based LTM is here. The first person to cross the high score threshold wins, and you’re given points from everything from kills to farming items to random coins scattered around in the mode. Here’s exactly how points break down in the system:
Upgradeable Skins
Also not in the patch notes, but Epic has introduced upgradeable skins that are outside the battle pass. The first up is our friend Tomato Head who can now be upgraded into his ancient king form if you complete three relatively simple challenges for the skin. Obviously more of these are going to be coming, making these skins even more attractive in future. Probably only for legendaries, but we’ll see.
There’s more, but those are the highlights I can rustle up.
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