How to use the rifts in 'Fortnite' to teleport away from enemies

fortnite rocket launch, rift

The changing of Battle Pass seasons in Fortnite: Battle Royale is a big deal, and the introduction of Season 5 on Thursday may be the most highly anticipated yet, thanks to a one-time event — featuring a rocket launch and "rifts" in the space-time continuum — that marked the end of Season 4 and predicted an entirely new game mechanic.

When the rocket embedded into the side of the mountain just northeast of Snobby Shores launched into the sky on June 30, a series of cracks in the sky seemed to act as portals, eventually swallowing up the rocket.

These cracks were immediately dubbed "rifts," and became a constant, mysterious presence on the island, causing beloved landmarks to disappear and occasionally spitting out foreign-looking objects — presumably from another universe — giving rise to the "Worlds Collide" theme.

When Season 5 went live Thursday, Fortnite players found that they could now interact with the rifts for the first time, offering a whole new mechanic to the otherwise consistent battle royale-style game.

Here's how to find and use the rifts in Fortnite:

Before you can teleport through a rift, you'll have to find one. In Epic Games' promotional photos and trailers, the rifts looked like this...

...but in the game, they look like this. I saw this rift as I was being pursued by another player behind me, who had already gotten one good shot in, so I booked it toward the rift.

The rifts seem to be scattered randomly across the map, and only stay in one place for a short amount of time before disappearing again, but I had great luck finding a few just to the southeast of Loot Lake.

They're pretty easy to spot, just because they shine so brightly from a distance.

As you can see in the screengrab above, they shine even brighter than the treasure chests.

In fact, as I got closer, I noticed a second one close by.

It's not yet clear how many rifts are on the island at a time, but I found a handful without having to look too hard, so they must not be very rare yet.

But you can only use a rift once. They simply disappear after the first player enters.

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