Fortnite Season 5 is just around the corner (servers are currently offline, but maintenance is due to end in the next few hours). However, the patch notes for the beginning of Season 5 are already live, revealing new locations, vehicles, and a host of new features coming to the game.
The biggest changes are to the Fortnite map. The patch notes state that there’s a brand-new desert biome, which could be a re-skin of the entire map (or part of it). There are also two new locations – Paradise Palms and Lazy Links. We don’t yet know where those are, but we’ll update this story once the new season has gone live. There are also a handful of unnamed locations scattered across the map.
Here’s everything we know about Fortnite Season 5.
There’s also a new vehicle joining the Shopping Cart. The All Terrain Kart can fit an entire four-person squad, offers a speed boost after drifting, and allows passengers to lean back in order to get greater height on jumps. If that weren’t enough, there’s also a Bounce Pad on the roof.
Other changes include alterations to progressive challenges, which Epic says “will no longer be restricted to a single season,” allowing you to progress at your own pace. It’s not entirely clear, but it suggests that your Battle Pass tiers can now carry over to future seasons.
Late game Storm Circles are also changing slightly, allowing them to move around the zone rather than continually shrinking. There are also mysterious new ‘Rifts’ appearing around the map, which could act as teleporters to let you jump around the map.
When it comes to weapons, there are a handful of changes to shotguns, allowing you to see how many pellets hit your opponents. Pellet spread is also less randomised now, allowing for similar accuracy across multiple shots. There are also some damage and bullet drop-off changes to the SMG.
You can check out all the changes to the Fortnite Season 5 map in the patch notes. As I mentioned earlier, servers are still down at time of writing, but there’ll be updates to this story later today. Check out our Fortnite tips guide to help you get the best of your opponents at the beginning of Season 5 – although please be aware that we do not condone your inevitable decision to drive your entire squad off a cliff.