Fortnite Battle Royale‘s Season 9 is finally here, bringing a host of changes to the popular battle royale game in the v9.00 update, which is available on Xbox One, PS4, PC, Nintendo Switch and mobile devices. 

As with previous new season launches, Epic Games released a number of teasers ahead of the official Season 9 kick off, which appeared to hint at a futuristic theme for Season 9 following the pirate overarching pirate theme which ran throughout Season 8.

• Read More: Leaked Fortnite Season 9 skins and cosmetics from the v9.00 update

It’s no secret that Season 8 was met with mixed responses from fans, thanks to a number of controversial decisions, notably removing the ‘siphon’ feature to players’ dismay.

The first teaser for Season 9 hinted at a futuristic theme.

The patch notes and cinematic trailer have been revealed for Fortnite Battle Royale’s Season 9 v9.00 update, and you can check them out below. 

Fortnite Battle Royale Season 9 v9.00 update – Patch notes

BATTLE ROYALE

WHAT’S NEW?

Season 9 – Battle PassNew Season, new Battle Pass. 100 levels, over 100 new rewards. Available in-game right now for 950 V-Bucks. Find out more information on this Season’s Battle Pass here.

SlipstreamsGet around locations quickly with the new Slipstream wind transportation system.

Slipstreams will allow players to travel around the map.

New LocationsExplore new points of interest that emerged from the destruction of the Volcano like Neo Tilted and Mega Mall.

Fortnite fans have new a version of Tilted Towers to explore.

WEAPONS + ITEMS

• Added Combat Shotgun
  • Semi-Automatic
    • Holds 10 Shells.
    • Fires 9 pellets per shot for 73 / 77 / 81 base damage.
    • Tight spread and fast fire rate.
    • Headshot multiplier of 1.70x.
    • Reloads 2 shells at a time.
  • Available in Rare, Epic, and Legendary variants.
  • Available from Floor, Chests, Supply Drops, and Vending Machines
• Adjusted Tactical Shotgun damage
  • Base damage increased from 66/70/74 to 71/75/79
• Reduced Drum Gun availability from 16.732% to 7.155%
• Reduced Boom Bow availability from 1.292% to .755%
• Unvaulted Grenades
• Vaulted Clingers
• Vaulted Buried Treasure
• Vaulted Pump Shotgun
• Vaulted Poison Dart Trap
• Vaulted Scoped Revolver
• Vaulted Suppressed Assault Rifle
• Vaulted Thermal Assault Rifle
• Vaulted Balloons

Bug Fixes & Improvements

• Turbo building after gliding now works correctly.
• The stink bomb damage audio and effects were not playing if you damaged yourself.
• Fixed the Shadow bomb occasionally not making the player invisible on the Xbox One the first time it’s used.
• Misplacement of Launch Pads in mid-air has been resolved.
• Pirate Cannon camera issues due to network latency have been resolved.
• The Reboot Card deposit sound effects no longer play in replay mode while the Van is on Cooldown.
• The Reboot Van card sound effects will no longer be heard when a squadmate disconnects.

GAMEPLAY

• Slipstreams
  • These tunnels of wind passively carry players down the stream.
    • Players can move faster and change direction when actively trying to move down the Stream.
    • Use directional input to gain extra velocity. Experiment with bobbing up and down for higher speeds.
  • Players are launched when exiting the tube based on their movement speed and exit angle.
  • Projectiles and Vehicles can also enter the Slipstream.
• Air Vents
  • The powerful gusts of air from these environmental items can launch players short distances and grant immunity to fall damage.
• Fortbytes
  • Fortbytes are a series of 100 collectible computer chips available to Battle Pass owners. As you collect Fortbytes, you’ll decrypt a mysterious image. Collect them all to unlock rewards and uncover the secrets of Season 9.
  • On the first day of Season 9, there are 18 Fortbytes available to find. At least 1 new Fortbyte will be unlocked each day. Check the Challenges Tab for detailed information on which Fortbytes are currently available and when the others unlock.
  • Fortbytes cannot be collected after Season 9 ends.
• Disconnected players will stay in the world for 60 seconds. They still take damage and count for elimination points.

Bug Fixes & Improvements

• Resolved an issue with the UI showing health gains incorrectly if the player canceled the consumable close to completion time.
• PS4 controller lighting not always matching your pin color when in Squads.
• Players not able to use Hold to Swap if they previously picked an item up normally
• Adjusted turbo building to be more forgiving under poor network conditions
• Fixed cases of jittery movement under certain conditions.

LIMITED TIME MODE ROTATION:

TRIOS

Classic Battle Royale with Three-Person Squads.

SOLID GOLD

Fight to the finish using Legendary weapons!

ONE SHOT

Low Gravity. Every player has 50 health. Sniper weapons are the only weapon, Bandages are the only healing item. Jump high and aim well!

EVENTS

• Players who have already qualified to be in the World Cup will be marked with a World Cup badge on the event leaderboards
• Leaderboards now have a button to sort games by the number of top leaderboard players in them. This will help identify the most critical active games from a leaderboard standing view.
• The in-game HUD now has different icons for points for Arena matches and weekend tournament matches.

PERFORMANCE

• Improved frame rate on Nintendo Switch, particularly when large numbers of characters are onscreen.
• Addressed some cases of invisible characters after skydiving.

AUDIO

• Better tactical audio when inside player-built structures:
  • Enemy Pickaxe impact within ~one building tile radius has new, louder sound.
  • Wallbreak by enemy close/behind player much clearer/louder.
• Explosion audio improvements- shorter, higher dynamic range sounds that will make explosion audio clearer and punchier.

UI

Bug Fixes & Improvements

• “Swap” text appearing in the pickup UI will no longer appear when picking up more resources than the player can carry.
• The initial storm warning timer was incorrectly showing as 0.
• Spectators and replay watchers can now report users.
• Fixed party invites not showing up in the UI if the user logged out and back in again.

SPECTATING

• Spectating a player’s match will now automatically follow that player. 

MOBILE

• Auto fire will now trigger on vehicles.
• Added option for increasing elimination feed line count in the HUD Layout Tool.
• Dragging/Dropping from the quickbar is now allowed while jumping.
• The location of the boost button on Android for the X-Stormwing has been moved to avoid triggering the Home button.
• Squad formation is now accessible.

Bug Fixes & Improvements

• The delay with interacting when using the quickbar slots has been resolved.
• Weapon icons now correctly display icons on the quickbar.
• Fixed sliders that were broken in the Dead Zone tab of the Controller Options.
• Auto fire adjustments:
  • Semi-automatic weapons now fire correctly.
  • Increased acquisition delay for shotguns.
• Dynamite trajectory indicator is now correctly displayed during use.
• Ziplines can no longer be ridden past their endpoints.
• Autorun no longer takes more than two taps to initiate after jumping from Battle Bus.
• Cooldown Timer visual for boost buttons on vehicles is now displayed correctly.
• The camera no longer shakes when entering the X-Stormwing.
• Left virtual thumbstick no longer becomes invisible when holding left or right and pressing the fire button.
• The Harvest Tool UI button in HUD layout is no longer invisible.
• The stair railing in Pleasant Park no longer clips through the door.
• Variant numbers partially hidden in the preview screen by the “X” button.
• The Dream cosmetic is now correctly displaying:
  • The butterfly
  • Eye glow effect
• Widow’s Bite pickaxe visual effect issue has been resolved.
• The Cooldown ring timer showing briefly when switching seats in Cannon.
• Interact Icon is no longer missing with certain consumables.
• Input Blocked text will no longer appear when opening the inventory.
• The Item Shop arrows now display correctly on iPhone XS Max.

GENERAL

• Reworked default button layout to be consistent across vehicles (Enter, Exit, Switch Seat and Boost)

UI

• Sub-game select screen has been refreshed.

Bug Fixes & Improvements

• Improved visibility of squad icons on lobby player pads in large parties
• Squad icons in large parties can no longer show an empty slot as ready
• Selecting a highlighted team member in the lobby with a controller can no longer show options for a different member
• Players will now appear correctly as a hologram, when joining a player currently in match
• Reworded Squad formation messaging to be more clear
• Fixed invisible character parts of players who are still loading into the match.

SOCIAL

• Players now remain in the Party voice channel by default when entering a match. The Game channel is still available, but the switch is no longer automatic.
• Added a setting for the display of voice chat indicators.

Bug Fixes & Improvements

• Suggested friends in the social panel match the suggestions in the launcher
• The “Sit Out/Jump In” button in Squad Formation is now displayed correctly
• Sending a friend invite to a suggested friend no longer fails
• Can now still send party invites after joining and leaving a party while set to “Friend” party privacy
• Fixed potentially incorrect notification message when joining a channel
• Voice indicators are no longer stuck on screen when leaving a party while members are speaking
• Fixed duplicate voice indicators appearing for the same speaker

PERFORMANCE

• Optimized the eye adaption rendering effect
• Optimized animation performance for ControlRig (Werewolf, Krampus).

SEASON 9: CINEMATIC TRAILER

Season 9 sees a huge shift in the game, with a large number of items vaulted, including the popular Pump Shotgun. A new mode of transportation has also been added in Slipstreams, while Tilted Towers and Retail Row have received a futuristic update.

• Read More: When does Fortnite Season 8 end? Season 9 start date, teasers, downtime and battle pass details

Neo Tilted and Mega Mall

In the final event of Season 8, popular locations Tilted Towers and Retail Row met their untimely demise, flattened to rubble by the Volcano, and leaving players wondering if some of the game’s most iconic locations were gone for good. 

Thankfully for Fortnite Battle Royale fans, Epic Games have included two new versions of the locations in Season 9, giving them a futuristic makeover. Now known as Neo Tilted and Mega Mall, bboth locations now look they were taken straight from a futuristic sci-fi movie, and new look for some of the game’s most legendary spots.  

Combat Shotgun

While many Fortnite fans will mourn the loss of the Pump Shotgun, one of the game’s most popular weapons, they will be able to get their hands on the latest powerful addition to the game, the Combat Shotgun. 

The semi-automatic weapon will hold 10 shells at a time, and deal 73/77/81 base damage when its nine pellet spread hits an enemy. With a headshot multiplier of 1.70x, the Combat Shotgun – which can be found from Floor Loot, Chests, Supply Drops and Vending Machines, will certainly pack a punch.

The Combat Shotgun replaces the now-vaulted Pump Shotgun.

New skins and cosmetics in Season 9

Back at the start of Season 7, new ‘wraps’ for weapons and vehicles were introduced, and in Season 8, new animated skins were added. Fans will be expecting another new addition to the cosmetic content pool.

Read More: When does Fortnite Season 8 end? Season 9 start date, teasers, downtime and battle pass details

A leak revealed the names of two of the new characters that are included in Fortnite Season 9, called Rox and Sentinel, with Rox acting as one of this season’s progressive skins meaning players can unlock new stages of the outfit by earning XP.

A look at the Fortnite Season 9 Battle Pass skins.

Slipstreams

Slipstreams are a new way for Fortnite fans to traverse the map, with these massive wind tunnels firing players and vehicles down the stream of air at breakneck speeds. Players can change direction while inside the stream, while bobbing up and down can increase the velocity and max speed of players using them. 

These should allow for quick rotations around the map, and give players another way to escape enemies or the storm at a quick pace. 

New tactical assault rifle

Both the suppressed and thermal assault rifles were added to the vault in Season 9, but they will soon be replaced with a brand new tactical assault rifle according to leakers. The weapon will be available in rare, legendary and epic rarities and shoots light ammunition. 

Season 9 Battle Pass

Many of these new skins and cosmetics will be part of the battle pass too of course, which is one of the main attractions with every new season.

Expect another 100 levels, and for it to cost the standard 950 V-Bucks ($10 or £8), but leaks have suggested that the gifting feature could make a comeback, and it will allow players to gift battle pass content to friends.

Last updated on May 9 2019 at 08:40 am Eastern Time.