It’s nearly that time. The sky itself has cracked in Fortnite: Battle Royale, and Epic Games is teasing a dramatic map overhaul that looks like it’s going to incorporate elements of Japanese, Viking and American Western culture. The developer has been working hard to make the start of season 5 as cataclysmic as possible, beginning with a rocket launch a little while ago and continuing on through a series of rifts that have been both eating parts of the map and spitting out mysterious objects. There’s even an ARG that’s involved llamas scattered throughout the world and a giant Durr Burger head plopped in the middle of the California Desert. It all comes to a head with the start of Season 5, but you may be wondering when, exactly, that is. Here’s what time Season 5 will start in Fortnite: Battle Royale.
Turnover time in the world of Fortnite is 4:00 a.m. Eastern. That’s when new updates arrive, and that’s when Season 4 will end: on Thursday, July 12, at 4:00 a.m. Eastern. Season 5 likely won’t begin at that exact moment, however. This is a big update, and will likely require some downtime to implement. So Season 5 will start whenever downtime ends, which is usually about 1-2 hours after it starts. So we can expect Season 5 to begin between 5:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m. on Thursday, July 12.
When that happens, expect a few things to go down. The most obvious will be those map changes: we don’t know exactly what’s going to happen, but at this point we have a pretty good idea. Expect something to happen involving the giant rift in the sky, though that will probably be in the form of an opening cinematic. It will likely spit out three large new points of interest along Japanese, Western and Viking themes, or cause them to materialize in other ways. There will probably be a bunch of other map changes as well, but that looks like it will be the big one.
There will also be a new battle pass, which is what these seasons are all about, after all. You’ll have to buy it if you want to partake, but it will come with a bunch of new skins and other cosmetics themed around what looks to be some sort of time travel theme, though there’s always some wildcards as well. Expect emotes, contrails, skins, pickaxes and gliders, all of which you’ll have to level up through completing battle pass challenges.
There will probably be a new lobby screen, as well, and maybe a dramatic new limited time mode.
So check back sometime after the wee hours of Thursday, July 12 to see what’s new: there’s bound to be a lot.
