Fortnite Battle Royale news and updates: what’s new in Fortnite

You've probably noticed, but Battle Royale games are having something of a moment. One of the biggest of the Battle Royale titles available at the moment is Fortnite Battle Royale from Epic Games.

Available for free on PC, Xbox One and PS4, Fortnite Battle Royale supports up to 100 players at a time in a game, either playing as individuals or in squads of up to four. When starting up, you're thrown onto an island with no weapons or armor and you must scavenge for supplies and fight for your life to be the last man or squad standing at the end of the game.

Like most Battle Royale games, Fortnite is split into matches of varying length with a map that shrinks as the match progresses, forcing players closer together.

Epic Games actively works on Fortnite Battle Royale, making changes through patches and updates. Here you'll be able to find the latest changes to the game.

What's the latest Fortnite update?

Season 3 is now live

Epic Games has now set season three of Fortnite into the wild and this is everything that you can expect to get from it.

60 FPS

Console players using PS4, PS4 Pro, Xbox One and Xbox One X will now have access to a 60 FPS mode. It’s going to be switched on by default and when it’s on you might see graphical quality dip a little so if you’d rather have the best looks instead you can always turn it off.

Improved building

Some changes have been made to building that should make it more enjoyable for players to use.

The first of these changes is a new Turbo Building Mode which allows you to, as the name would suggest, build at a much faster rate. Now you can hold down your primary fire button and effectively paint objects into the game world. Epic Games states that it sees this as being useful for fast-paced defensive building as well as constructing bridges as you run across them.

A further change to building is Auto Change Materials, which is also geared towards making the building process faster and easier. When you have this function turned on, it means if you’re building and you run out of the materials that you’re using, the game will automatically start using the next set of materials you have in your inventory.

Build Through Stuff basically means there are no more obstacles to your building. While it was possible to just build straight through smaller objects like bushes and pieces of furniture, rocks and trees were something of a problem. That’s no longer the case.

New weapons and changes

As you’d expect season three brings some new weapons, the Hand Cannon being the most notable. It uses Heavy ammo and you’ll be able to get Epic and Legendary versions. If you’re desperate to get your hands on it you’ll be able to find it in treasure chests and supply drops or you could grab it as floor loot.

In terms of weapons changes, grenades can no longer do critical hits, and the Pistol drop chances in floor loot have changed. Uncommon and Rare pistol drops have increased by 25% and 100% respectively, while Epic and Legendary Suppressed pistols have decreased by 33% and 20%.

You’ll also be devastated to know that the Valentine’s day skin has been removed from the crossbow, through the weapon itself remains in the game.

What's a Battle Pass?

The Battle Pass is a purchasable item in Fortnite that gives you access to exclusive in-game rewards.

As players complete daily challenges and level up their rank, they earn Battle Stars which can then be used to unlock Tiers in their Battle Pass. Each new Tier you unlock will bring both Free and Premium rewards. The Tiers vary from season to season but in season three you get around 100 items in each Battle Pass which can take anywhere between 75 and 100 hours of play to unlock.

Everyone that has a Battle Pass will get the Free reward they unlock, but only Premium Pass holders will get the Premium reward. Battle Pass Premium can only be purchased with in-game V bucks and not with real money.

You can purchase a Battle Pass for around £7/$10 in the Battle Pass tab of the game’s menu.

What's coming up in Fortnite?

Fortnite is a game that undergoes pretty frequent updates so week-by-week you can expect to see patches which either squash bugs or make small changes to gameplay which improve quality of life.

In the long term, Epic Games has said that it’s planning to make improvements to social features and Limited Time Modes as well as add Custom Matches.