With the new season of Fortnite officially underway, developer Epic Games is gearing up to release a stream of updates to keep the action chugging along.
As revealed in a leak by a prominent Fortnite fan account, the multiplayer game has four major patches planned for Chapter 5, Season 3 – with the next update right around the corner.
The same leaker claims the game has some exciting content up its sleeve for the next couple of months, including the long-awaited Fall Guys minigame and a Pirates of the Caribbean event – all of which are slated for the current season.
Now there’s not long to wait until the update arrives, here’s what we know about the changes it will bring to Fortnite.
When is Fortnite’s next update?
According to Fortnite leaker Shiina, Epic is planning four meaty updates for the game throughout Chapter 5, Season 3.
The first of these, known as patch v.30.10, will land on Thursday, June 13, and it will be followed by subsequent updates on June 25, July 23, and August 26.
The update will introduce two new modes, the cozy mode and the extra challenge of expert mode.
With combat set to easy and survival settings turned off, cosy mode mixes Sandbox and Survival modes. This allows you to concentrate on constructing and farming in Lego Fortnite while still engaging in some light combat.
Expert mode, on the other hand, increases the challenge for gamers who prefer survival mode but need more challenge. There will be new adversaries known as Storm-Wild, which are more powerful, have more health, and move more quickly than typical enemies.
There will also be a range of bug fixes and improvements as well as an array of Lego-style outfits for plenty of existing characters.
Shiina also noted that the last two updates could drop a week earlier than listed based on Epic’s summer work schedule. That would make sense as Fortnite Chapter 5, Season 4 is estimated to drop on August 16.
As usual, players can expect the game to be taken offline for a couple of hours on the morning of the updates as Epic implements the changes.
When will the downtime take place?
Fortnite has said that the downtime schedule will be announced closer to the release date.
Though updates are exciting, this usually brings with it a period of scheduled downtime. We can generally expect Fortnite servers to be down for three to four hours.
For the v29.30 update, downtime began at 9am UK time/4am EDT /1am PDT.
The normal procedure is that matchmaking servers go down 30 minutes before the official downtime starts, so that players can finish off their match before it goes down.
What features will it introduce?
Very little is known about the next update apart from one significant tidbit.
Earlier this year, one of the biggest leaks in Fortnite’s history outed the game’s entire roadmap for the rest of the year. It revealed that Fortnite Festival, the game’s Guitar Hero-style music mode, would add Metallica as the featured act in a subsequent update, which some believe could be the upcoming patch. That would mean players will be able to rock out to the band’s fearsome hits, like Enter Sandman, Nothing Else Matters, and Sweet Amber.
Fans were initially sceptical about the leak, but it has proven pretty accurate thus far. For instance, it turned out to be correct about Billie Eilish being a featured artist when she made her debut in Fortnite Festival Season 3 on April 22.
Shiina also recently revealed several content drops for the game that Epic said are confirmed for the current season. Players can expect a minigame based on the viral party game Fall Guys, which is also published by the Fortnite maker.
All confirmed content for Fortnite Season 3:
— Shiina (@ShiinaBR) June 3, 2024
- Fall Guys minigame
- Metallica Battle Royale content
- Fortnite Summer Event 2024
- Pirates of the Caribbean event
All this content drops within the next 60 days 🔥 pic.twitter.com/dqNIQS7MLt
In addition, Fortnite is expected to offer a summer event, details on which are scarce, and a Pirates of the Caribbean event (also included in the leaked roadmap) that could be part of a season 3 mini-pass.
We may also get more Fallout cosmetic items as part of the collaboration between the two games, which is a perfect fit for the current post-apocalyptic theme. Fortnite’s latest season, known as Wrecked, introduced vehicular combat in a new biome on the map called the Wasteland.
Of course, the next update should include the usual array of bug fixes and new items and quests for each of the various modes, like Lego Fortnite and Rocket Racing.
Epic released a surprise patch (v.30.01) on May 31 that was solely dedicated to addressing niggles borne out of the Chapter 5, Season 3 update.
