Map Changes
Arguably the biggest changes that come with every new season of Fortnite Battle Royale are those that are made to the game’s island map. And, no surprise here, but Season 5 adds in an entirely new biome, which includes two new locations. The biome will have a desert theme, and the two new location names are Lazy Links which now replaced Anarchy Acres and Paradise Palms to replay the old Moisty Mire.
The Season 5 patch notes also reveal that a number of unnamed places of interest have also been added onto the map. This could include hints to Season 6’s theme, or the event that’ll take place towards this end of this season, if Season 4 is anything to go off.
Rifts
Rifts are the next exciting big feature that’s been added to Fortnite as part of Season 5. Currently, very little is known about the Rifts, with the patch notes simply stating “Test your courage and step through a Rift. You’re in for a wild ride.” However, now that we’ve had some time to sit down and check the Rifts out for ourselves, we can tell you a little bit more about them.
Rifts will spawn randomly across the map at the start of each game. If you walk over to one, you can interact with it to step through and zip through the fabrics of space and time. You’ll be transported to the large rift in the sky, enabling you to glide out to safety, or catch a nearby player off-guard. They’re a pretty neat little addition, but not quite the teleports some players had expected.
All Terrain Kart
Shopping carts were a cool introduction to vehicles in Fortnite and all, but this is what we’ve really been waiting for. The All Terrain Kart allows up to four players to hop on for a quick drive across the peaceful Fortnite island countryside. Powersliding in the All Terrain Kart grants a boost, and the roof is even a Bounce Pad, which makes it perfect for scaling opponent’s structures once you pull up at the bottom.
All Terrain Karts are just like shopping carts in that you’ll just find them lying around in random locations across Fortnite’s map. However, we do suggest heading to any car parks you see on your travels. I mean, c’mon, where else are they likely to be tucked away?
Weapon Changes
Season 5 isn’t just bringing new content to the table and nothing more. It also makes changes to some of the weapons already in Fortnite to make for a (hopefully) more balanced and enjoyable experience. It seems as though shotguns have been given the focal point in this update, with double pumping now nerfed, heavy shotguns firing double the amount of pellets (though its max damage has remained unchanged), and more.
The most notable changes or tweaks to shotguns appear to try and resolve the confusion around those low damage-dealing critical hits players have been complaining about for a while. From Season 5, shotguns will now indicate the number of pellets that landed on your target. This will be visible within the reticle, making it easy to see at a glance how accurate your shot was.
However, Epic has also made changes to shotgun spread patterns to be more consistent with no random variation. What this means is that your shots should feel more accurate, and combined with the pellets hit indicator, should resolve the low damage-dealing critical hits.
Hunting Rifles didn’t get away safe from Season 5, either, with their aim assist being nerfed to that of other snipers with projectile bullets. And finally, the Suppressed SMG buff was short-lived and its damage drop-off profile has been adjusted to the same as other SMGs.
Changes to Challenges
Fortnite’s Season 5 will, of course, bring a new paid Battle Pass filled with skins and cosmetics from a variety of different locations as ‘Worlds Collide.’ However, it also looks like Season 5 will give Free Pass players a little more content to sink their teeth into.
The patch notes for the update mention a couple of changes regarding challenges. From Season 5, Weekly Challenges are split into two different sections: Free, and Battle Pass. There are three challenges each week available to all Fortnite players, and then the other four of the seven that drop each week will be for Battle Pass owners only. Though, it’s worth noting if you don’t have a Battle Pass, you won’t be able to get the weekly challenge reward, as that requires you to still complete four.
Progressive challenges are also no longer restricted to a single season and are completed by acquiring fixed amounts of XP, rather than your Season level.
Skins and Cosmetics
As if you hadn’t guessed, of course Fortnite Season 5 brings a bunch of new skins, dances, emotes, and other cosmetics to really bring some character to the Battle Royale action. With the theme of the season being Worlds Collide, chances are we’re going to get a real mash-up of themes, from ancient masks, Celtic-looking characters, and what looks like Rainbow Six Siege’s Blackbeard to the right of that image above. You can’t deny the similarities now, can you?
While there will be skins and other bits and pieces tied behind Fortnite’s Season 5 Battle Pass, there will also likely be some free bits given out as part of the Free Pass, as well as a new glider as a reward for getting your first Season 5 Victory Royale. Oh, and don’t forget the new skins we’ll see hitting the Item Shop every so often, too. It’s a good time to be a skin collector in Fortnite!
Storm Circle Changes & More
Season 5 also makes a number of other changes to the way that your average game of Fortnite plays. One of the more important ones is the way in which Storm circles 7, 8, and 9 will now act if your game happens to reach this far. In the event that they do, these will shift in random directions, rather than simply shrinking down. This should make the end game less predictable and a little more balanced for everyone involved, as it reduces the effectiveness of giant base building. Oh, and the first storm circle now consistently does 1 damage as it always should have done. A handy bug fix nonetheless.
Alongside all of these major features, the Fortnite Season 5 update does bring with it a bunch of other neat little improvements, such as gyro controls for Nintendo Switch owners should that be your thing, fixes to audio issues, distance traveled in the Match Stats screen, and more. If you want to check out the full patch notes for yourself, you can check them out here.
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