Fortnite Battle Royale Update Adds New Item

By Anthony Taormina 12 January 2018

• pc
• ps4
• xbox one
• epic games
• fortnite

It’s mid-week which means that Fortnite is set to launch yet another update for its Battle Royale and Save the World modes. But of course, most of the focus is on the 1 vs. 100 Battle Royale mode, which has caught fire since debuting a few weeks ago.

This latest update does not offer anything too substantial compared to the holiday patch, but it does make some important changes to Fortnite BR. As far as new additions are concerned, the update will introduce the Campfire, a new healing item that is great for the Duos and Squad variants of Battle Royale.

The Campfire will function like a trap, which means that players need to put it onto a pre-built floor before it can be active. Once placed, the Campfire will heal any nearby players for 25 total seconds at a rate of 2hp per second. So standing next to the Campfire for its full duration should heal a player for a total of 50 hp.

What’s great about the Campfire is that it is an additional healing item that does not occupy a space in a player’s five-item inventory. Space is always limited in Battle Royale games, but now players can carry an additional healing option alongside their arsenal of weapons. This is also the first Fortnite Battle Royale healing item that can affect multiple players on its use, although standing around for 25 seconds is going to be dangerous in certain circumstances.

Other key changes included with the update are a fix to the bug where players were falling through their built objects upon placement. Most would recognize this bug when trying to build a square structure and then attempting to put a ramp in the center for height. Occasionally the player would fall through the ramp and then be stuck underneath. Not after the patch goes live.

Epic Games is also changing how the Boogie Bomb works in Fortnite BR so that it is a little weaker and a little harder to find. For starters, the Boogie Bomb will now be a blue/rare item, which means that players won’t find it as often as they were when the item first launched. And second, the Boogie Bomb will now deactivate once a dancing player takes damage so they are no longer helpless when affected by one.

Previously, if a Boogie Bomb hit you then you were as good as dead since a player could do enough damage during the dance. Now you will stop dancing as soon as you take damage and can defend yourself.

Check out the full Battle Royale patch notes below:

WEAPONS

• The Boogie Bomb dance effect is now removed upon taking any damage. We will continue to monitor and iterate on this item’s functionality.
• Changed the Boogie Bomb rarity to blue/rare to more accurately represent its true rarity.

GAMEPLAY

• Fixed an issue which caused players to pass through their recently built and edited structures.
• Fixed an issue which allowed sniper bullets to pass through players without applying any damage.
• Fixed an animation issue caused by entering the DBNO state while in the air.

AUDIO

• Increased the audible range of enemy footsteps, as well as their overall volume.
  • We’re aware of an issue causing footsteps to sometimes play at irregular intervals when offscreen. We’re working on a fix now, expect it next update.
• Enemy footsteps are easier to hear when performing certain actions such as building, shooting, or collecting resources.
• Fixed an issue which caused sniper bullet impact sounds to trigger more than once per shot.
• Fixed the phantom bullet sounds that are sometimes heard throughout a match.
• Adjusted the volume of the AC/DC Pickaxe.
• Reduced the volume of the drone that teleports player out of each match.

UI

• Fixed an issue which caused the “Push to Talk” setting to disappear from the Battle Royale settings when restoring default settings in Save the World.
• Shortened a few Daily Challenge descriptions which would run off the screen in a few languages.
• Daily challenge rewards are automatically collected if another challenge is completed in the same category.
  • For instance, if you complete a Battle Pass daily challenge but do not “collect” the reward, the reward will automatically be collected upon completing the next Battle Pass daily challenge.

GENERAL

• Fortnite Battle Royale now supports NVIDIA ShadowPlay highlights on PC.
• Fixed a rare Battle Royale server crash.

Overall, Epic is making some smart changes to the game and adding an item that could be beneficial but not game-breaking. But most players are really looking forward to the build bug fix, so hopefully, that truly does remove the problem.

Fortnite is available now on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.