A new Fortnite: Battle Royale season is coming this Thursday, May 9. After what happened during The Unvaulting event, with the return of the Drum Gun and the destruction of Retail Row and Tilted Towers, players are eager to see everything that’s coming with this update. They won’t have to wait too long, though. Fortnite’s season nine update will be pushed live at 3am CT, Epic Games has confirmed. That’s when server downtime should start and players should be able to see the full patch notes of season nine on Epic Games’ website. Please note that Epic has yet to announce the official release time. We’ve converted the estimated start time of season nine to the time zone of a few regions in the table below. Region Update Time North America West (Pacific Time) 1am North America East (Eastern Time) 4am Brazil 5am United Kingdom 9am South Africa, Egypt 10am India 1:30pm Singapore 4pm South Korea, Japan 5pm Australia (Eastern Time) 6pm New Zealand 8pm Players will probably be able to jump into the game and test changes for themselves roughly two hours after the update has been deployed. Maintenance for new seasons usually takes longer than mid-season updates, so players should expect the servers to be closed for at least two hours. After season nine starts, Epic will probably keeping its usual schedule of weekly game updates on Tuesdays or Wednesdays, with occasional Content Updates on Thursdays. Epic has yet to announce if there will be any changes to this schedule after the community showed frustration toward the company’s reportedly intense working conditions and up to 100-hour workweeks to meet content demands. Regardless of future updates, that’s when Fortnite’s season nine should be released on May 9.<doc-sep>After over a month of buildup, the mysterious vault at the center of Fortnite’s Loot Lake is finally going to be open on Saturday, May 4, at 3 p.m. ET. The time was revealed to players with an in-game countdown clock that appeared above the sealed door on Friday afternoon. Whatever is going to happen, it appears that this will be this season 8’s big end-of-season event, with season 9 starting next week. Update: The vault has been opened and players chose the drum gun to bring back to the game. Also part of the event was the eruption of the season 8 volcano which threw molten rock around the map destroying places like Retail Row and almost completely leveling Tilted Towers. Where’s the unvaulting event happening? It should be in the middle of Loot Lake, where the giant metal door is right now. If leaks and assumptions are correct, that door should open revealing a special new area to explore. How did players get the vault to open? The door itself had five runes surrounding it, which appear to have been locks. Each one required players to complete a different kind of challenge or puzzle, most of which needed hundreds of players to help finish. But now all five of the runes have been unlocked and it appears that the event is finally ready to begin. What is the event going to be like? No one really knows. Thanks to some leaks there’s been speculation that this event could have something to do with old weapons and items, since Epic calls those items “vaulted.” But there’s no way to know exactly what this event will be until the door opens on Saturday. Where can I watch the Rune event? The event can be viewed live, in-game, on all platforms. If you’re unable to play, you can experience the event on Twitch. We’ll also have a replay of the event embedded in this post after it all goes down.<doc-sep>Fortnite developer Epic Games had been teasing an Avengers: Endgame crossover event for the battle royale title in the days leading up the movie's release. Now, with the arrival of update 8.50, we finally have all the answers. Below, in the patch notes are the full details behind the Endgame limited-time event, as well as the other changes that are now live in Fortnite: Battle Royale. The Fortnite Endgame LTM sees players split into two teams. Team Thanos, which is made up of Thanos himself and his Chitauri Invaders, must recover the six Infinity Stones hidden around the map. The Heroes, meanwhile, must defeat their opponents to win. Heroes respawn until either they win or Team Thanos recover all six Infinity Stones, at which point respawns are turned off and Team Thanos must simply hunt down the remaining Heroes to win. Whoever finds the first Infinity Stone will transform into Thanos, who becomes more powerful with each retrieved Stone--depending on the Stone, he'll gain more health and shields, be able to jump higher, and deal more damage, for example. If Thanos dies, another random Chitauri player will become the mad titan after a short wait. To help in their fight, the Heroes start the match with a treasure map that leads to a Mythic Avengers item, while more Avengers items can be found in chests. These include Captain America's shield, Iron Man's gloves, Hawkeye's bow, and Thor's Stormbreaker axe. When Epic released a similar crossover event for Infinity War, it was quickly patched to make Thanos and the Infinity Gauntlet less overwhelmingly powerful. History has now repeated, as Epic hastily put out a hot fix for this LTM as well. It nerfs Iron Man's gauntlet blast to do less damage, and decreases the health gained from gathering the Infinity Stones. Thor gets a healthy boost to all of his special abilities, though. You can read plenty more about the new mode, as well as the changes to Save the World and Creative modes, in the patch notes below, via Epic Games. Separately from all of this, a Black Widow skin, emote, and harvesting tool are all up for sale on the in-game store. The shop resets later today, April 25, with those items going away then. However, Epic has teased that other Avenger-themed items are on the way "early next week." Going hand-in-hand with the LTM is a set of Avengers: Endgame challenges. These mini-quests task players with using the special new weapons, such as Iron Man's repulsors, finding Infinity Stones, and playing LTM matches. In return, they'll be able to get different cosmetic rewards to customize their character. The challenges are being rolled out every two days and those that complete 10 will get a special Quinjet Glider. This isn't the first time Epic and Marvel have collaborated: there was a similar Thanos-themed Fortnite crossover event for Avengers: Infinity War, which clearly proved popular enough to pave the way for this Endgame follow-up. The film is out now in some territories, and the critical reception has been positive. "Endgame is a love letter to the entire MCU--the whole thing," said Michael Rougeau in GameSpot's Avengers: Endgame review. "It's messy and confusing, and there's going to be a lot of discussion about whether the ending even makes sense--it basically breaks the rules set up throughout the entire movie leading up to it. But holy hell is it an emotional, fulfilling ride. I have no doubt we're going to spend the coming weeks picking and pulling it apart until we've over-analyzed every single aspect imaginable. But right now, in the aftermath, Avengers Endgame feels like a win." Limited-Time Mode Summary Thanos and his Chitauri invade the Battle Royale island, in search of the six Infinity Stones. Mode Details Endgame features a team of heroes fighting to stop Thanos and his Chitauri from claiming all six Infinity Stones. Both teams respawn when eliminated until the other side completes their objective. On one side is the Hero team. Heroes respawn when eliminated until the enemy team has found all six Infinity Stones. Heroes start with a treasure map that leads directly to a Mythic Avengers item. Other Avengers items can be found in Chests throughout the map. The goal for the Hero team is to destroy the Chitauri army and defeat Thanos. Team Thanos is comprised of Chitauri Invaders and Thanos himself. Chitauri Invaders start with a powerful laser rifle, an anti-structure grenade attack, and a jetpack that lets them briefly leap high into the air. The first Chitauri to recover an Infinity stone will be transformed into Thanos. Thanos has a powerful punch, a destructive beam attack, and the ability to jump high into the air and then smash anything in his way when he comes back down. Each time an Infinity Stone is claimed, Thanos' abilities grow more powerful and the Chitauri gain health. Reality Stone (Red) = Heath & Shields doubled (1000->2000) Soul Stone (Orange) = Siphon activated (grants Thanos shields only) Mind Stone (Yellow) = Jump height doubled Space Stone (Blue) = Ground Pound AOE size tripled, damage x6 Time Stone (Green) = Big knockback added to each hit, damage x3 Power Stone (Purple) = Laser damage x6 If Thanos is eliminated from the match, another Chitauri will become him after a short wait (unless Thanos is the last one standing). If Thanos & the Chitauri find all six Infinity Stones, Heroes will no longer be able to respawn. The goal for Thanos and his army is to find the stones and then eliminate the remaining heroes. Weapons And Items Bug Fixes & Improvements The Hold to Swap functionality is now confirmed upon releasing the Use button rather than when initially pressing it. This should help with the issue of accidentally swapping. If a player is eliminated by fall damage while inside a vehicle, the player that last damaged that vehicle will receive the credit for that elimination. Re-enabled hit markers to be server-side authoritative instead of client-side. This will help prevent instances where players see hit markers but no damage. Players that were Rebooted into Rifts were teleporting into the sky but would not enter skydiving mode. Vehicles weren’t getting impulsed away from the Reboot Van. Collision for the Reboot Van was not affecting some vehicles, allowing them to hide inside of the Reboot Van. The yellow “invulnerability” effect wasn’t appearing on players who were revived by the Reboot Van. The Reboot Card was still playing its spawn sound even if the player disconnected. Dropping inventory items while in vehicles with weapons is now blocked to prevent various camera issues. Traps were occasionally being placed in the middle of a tile rather than against a wall when using Builder Pro. When exiting vehicles, the equip animation will now always play before weapons can be fired. This will prevent the issue where players would occasionally see themselves fire right after exiting a vehicle before the server had time to register the shot. The elimination feed text will no longer display the “eliminated by ally” message if an ally interrupts a player reboot animation. Fall damage was being taken when using a Jetpack (in supported Limited Time Modes) after being launched from the Pirate Cannon. Players were not able to negate fall damage using a Flintlock Pistol while crouching. Players couldn’t see the nameplates of party member’s Reboot Cards in the UI. Players would not drop a Reboot Card if they were eliminated after confirming a Reboot but before their teammate actually spawned. Gameplay Bug Fixes & Improvements We've resolved an issue that was preventing the correct amount of Survival XP from being granted after games and have gifted XP to players as compensation. You’ll receive this compensation via the Gifting system. Competitive New Tournament - April 27 & 28: Fortnite World Cup Online Open Week 3 ($1,000,000 total prize pool!) Top performers in each server region will qualify to the Fortnite World Cup Finals in New York City. Full Fortnite World Cup details and official rules can be found here: https://www.epicgames.com/fortnite/competitive/events/world-cup Solo Game Mode Participation in this event requires both players to have reached Champion League in Arena.<doc-sep>
As is custom when a season of Fortnite approaches its conclusion, Epic Games held a one-time world event that gave people in the right place at the right time the opportunity to see something cool happen on the island. Except, this time it didn't go off without a hitch, and in response Epic has offered those who encountered a problem a make-good gift. On May 4, players gathered around Loot Lake for an event called the "Unvaulting." As the name implies, the mysterious vault at the center of the location opened up and Fortnite players jumped in. Inside they were faced with a number of pillars that represented different weapons and items. Players effectively chose which of these to free from the vault by collectively striking down a pillar using their pickaxes. The liberated item was the Tommy Gun, and once freed everyone was launched back onto the island. After being returned from the vault, players got to witness the volcano that appeared for Season 8 erupt and destroy Tilted Towers, effectively reshaping the island and laying the groundwork for Season 9. That's how it should have gone, and for many that's what they saw. However, a large contingent of players that gathered for the event encountered issues and were not able to see the event unfold as intended. Epic Games has acknowledged the issue and said, "We apologize to those who were unable to witness the event and place their vote." To make up for the snag, those that were in the Unvaulting playlist at the right time will be given the Arcana Glider free of charge. If you already purchased the Arcana Glider using V-Bucks, you will be refunded the 1200 V-Bucks. We apologize that some players were unable to view the Unvaulting event. Anyone who jumped into the Unvaulting playlist will be granted the Arcana Glider in the coming days. Players who purchased the Arcana Glider previously will be refunded their V-Bucks. — Fortnite (@FortniteGame) May 5, 2019 In addition to the freebie, Epic is also taking the unusual step of allowing players to rewatch the event go down with a special replay. You'll have to jump through a few special hoops including downloading a replay file from Epic, but it will be almost like you were there. Fortnite Season 8 is now its 10th week and the season is coming to a close very soon. But before you start thinking about what's next, we recommend wrapping up the season's challenges as quickly as possible. Once the transition to Season 9 happens, older challenges will no longer be available and rewards attached to Season 8's Battle Pass will also expire. If you want any of those, act fast. We've got a breakdown of and guides for Season 8, Week 10's challenges, and if you're playing catch-up on challenges from earlier than that, head over to our full Fortnite Season 8 challenge guide, which will get you through all the trickiest challenges for the season in no time.