Epic Games has just dropped the Fortnite 20.40 update, which brings back the Sideways Showdown week, kicks off the Funding Station battle between Shield Bubbles and Balloons, and even provides some hints at what the end of season event may entail.
The majority of the contents of the update are detailed in the official blog post on the Fortnite website. Here, we learn that the Sideways Showdown week will see the return of the Sideways weapons from now until May 24, 2022 at 8:59am ET. The two Sideways weapons are the Sideways Rifle and Sideways Minigun, and both of these can be upgraded without the use of Cube Monster parts this time around. Players can take them to an Upgrade Bench and spend their Gold Bars to make them more powerful.
To help players level up their Battle Pass further, the Sideways Showdown week also comes with its own set of quests for players to complete, which will end on May 24 at 8:59am ET when they’ll be replaced with a new set of ‘themed’ quests.
The patch notes also announced the start of the Shield Bubbles vs Balloons battle at Funding Stations found across the map. Following a trial period, for the past few days, players will now need to spend Gold Bars to help fully fund one item type over the other. Whichever item reaches 100% funded status first will be permanently unvaulted.
Fortnite’s 20.40 update also makes a permanent change to the Zero Build mode — the one without the building mechanic. The drop rate of Shockwave Grenades, Rift-to-Gos and Cow Catchers will remain increased indefinitely, following a successful period of increase droprates to coincide with the trickshot unvaults last week.
However, one of the most interesting part of the 20.40 patch actually comes via leaker HYPEX on Twitter, who have provided in-game screenshots of a Doomsday Device, which will appear on the map east of The Fortress and west of Coney Crossroads, on the east shore of the lake that sits between the two named locations. The device is a new named location now live on the map called The Collider and is occupied by IO Forces.
Currently, it’s unclear exactly what part the Doomsday Device will play in the end-of-season event, but given it’s rather ominous name and towering stature, it’s almost definitely part of it.
Outside of gameplay changes, the Fortnite 20.40 update also makes some performance improvements for the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S versions of the game. Players running Fortnite in 60fps should see a reduction in input latency for players who select “Low Input Latency Mode” in the game’s settings.
PS5 players, meanwhile get a simpler method of enabling 120fps mode. The mode can now be enabled in-game, rather than having to be down at the system settings level, making it easier to toggle on and off between matches.
What do you make of the Fortnite 20.40 update? Let us know in the comments below.
Featured Image Source: HYPEX
