Season 8 of Fortnite Battle Royale is finally upon as and the v8.00 patch went live today, February 28, on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and mobile. In this article you’ll find everything you need to know about the all-new season, including the patch notes.

“Ahoy, mateys!” the Fortnite developers said on Wednesday, February 27. “Season 8 approaches and X marks the spot! Downtime begins tomorrow, February 28 at 4 AM ET (0900 UTC).”

For many fans, this Twitter post was more than enough to confirm the pirate theme that had been hinted at in the Season 8 teasers ahead of the official release. If you were one of those fans, you can give yourself a pat on the back.

What’s new?

Pirate Theme.

As mentioned above, it seemed all but confirmed that a pirate theme would feature heavily throughout Season 8. Whether this would simply involve some cool new skins or actually include the ability for players to take to the ocean was uncertain, though. 

Once the patch notes went live on February 28, some of the questions were answered. However, we’ll need to wait until the v8.00 downtime ends before we can find out more.

Pirate Cannon

• Push the Cannon into position, take aim, and fire! Alternatively, climb into the barrel and launch yourself!
• The cannon will fire cannonballs or players a great distance. Cannonballs and players can plow through a number of objects before stopping with a bang, causing damage and knockback to nearby players.
• Deals 100 Damage to enemies on a direct hit and 50 Damage to enemies within a small radius.
• Found throughout the environment.

Pirate Cannon: “Damage enemy locations or structures by launching a cannonball or become a special delivery by launching yourself!”

Season 8 map changes

A number of leaks heading into Season 8 hinted that the ongoing earthquakes would result in a volcano erupting and changing the face of the map forever.

The fourth and final teaser image for the new season, which was released on February 27, also appeared to confirm that this would happen.

On top of this, the trees in Wailing Woods had been rotting for a number of days as Season 8 approached, so many fans were convinced that the location would be changed once the v8.00 patch goes live.

New locations have been added to the map.

Changes from the patch notes are as follows:

New LocationsExplore new points of interest that emerged with the Volcano, such as Sunny Steps and Lazy Lagoon.

• Added Lava
  • Lava will deal 1 damage per touch and will cause players to bounce off the surface. Watch out!
• Added Volcanic Vents
  • Volcanic Vents will boost players and vehicles into the sky in a gust of hot air!

Check out our Fortnite Season 8 map changes article for a full gallery of the new locations and a sneak peek at the overhead view.

Season 8 Battle Pass

We already had an idea of what some of the Battle Pass skins would look like thanks to a leak from the Xbox dashboard! 

Unfortunately, they didn’t give away a great deal more than we already knew from the pre-season leaks and teasers, so we had to wait for the patch notes before we found out more.

Epic Games released a trailer video for the Season 8 Battle Pass along with the v8.00 patch notes. You can check out the trailer below or go to our Fortnite Season 8 Battle Pass article for more details.

Season 8 skins and cosmetics

Data miners started picking their way through the v8.00 patch files from the moment they were released – as a result, a number of upcoming skins and cosmetics have already been leaked.

You can check out every leaked Fortnite Season 8 leaked skin and cosmetic item here.

X-4 Stormwing Planes and vaulted weapons

One of the most controversial additions to the game for Season 7 was the X-4 Stormwing. The Fortnite developers nerfed it a number of times throughout the season, but could never find a sweet spot where players were happy with it.

With this in mind, they confirmed that the X-4 would be vaulted when Season 8 began. That’s not all, though, as a number of hints from the developers suggested that items and weapons that have been vaulted in past seasons could make a glorious return for the start of Season 8.

Here’s a full list of vaulted weapons and items for the v8.00 patch:

• Sneaky Snowman
• Chiller Grenade
• X-4 Stormwing
• Shopping Cart
• All Terrain Kart

Fortnite v8.00 Patch Notes

The rest of the February 28 Fortnite Battle Royale patch notes that have not been discussed above are as follows:

WEAPONS + ITEMS

• Updated Hunting Rifle Icon
• Reduced the availability of high tier Assault Rifles
  • Total number of Assault Rifles available remains unchanged
    • Increased chance of receiving a Common quality assault rifle from 48.56% to 56.30%
    • Increased chance of receiving an Uncommon quality assault rifle from 26.83% to 28.15%
    • Reduced the chance of receiving a Rare quality assault rifle from 16.17% to 10.91%
    • Reduced the chance of receiving an Epic quality assault rifle from 7.02% to 3.52%
  • Reduced the chance of receiving a Legendary quality assault rifle from 1.82% to 1.13%

Bug Fixes

• Supply Drops now properly appear on the map.
• If the fire button is pressed while the shotgun cooldown is still active after swapping weapons then the shotgun will automatically fire once the cooldown is over.
• Fixed Clingers causing damage through walls / floors when stuck to a player.
• Fixed players accidentally sticking Remote Explosives onto themselves after applying a Consumable Bush.
• Fixed Legendary/Epic Pump Shotgun pellet tracers and muzzle flash sometimes not replicating to other clients.
• Fixed an issue where players couldn’t use Auto-Run while using a Hoverboard with a gamepad.
• Fixed items occasionally being invisible to some players.

GAMEPLAY

• Party Assist Added
  • Prior to a match, enable Party Assist on a Daily or Weekly challenge to complete it with the assistance of everyone in your party.
  • Party members are able to provide progress to the selected challenge in addition to yourself.
  • This functionality excludes “fill” players who are added into the party during matchmaking or teammates from large team modes such as Team Rumble.
• Increased Infinite Dab duration from 11 hours to 12 hours in the lobby.
• Cozy Campfire now glows while active when viewed through a Thermal Scope.
• Starting in Season 8, daily quests will be automatically claimed once they’ve been completed.
  • Any Challenges that were ready to be collected will be auto completed and all rewards will be delivered. However, at this time there will be no in-game notification for you receiving these rewards.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a bug where the Lynx Outfit would jitter very badly when playing the original Wave emote in the lobby.
• Fixed an issue where players were able to aim down sights while jumping.
• Fixed an issue where weapons picked up would sometimes be incorrectly unloaded. This would happen if a player looted a weapon dropped by a player immediately after being eliminated.
• Fixed Bush consumable not being destroyed if player takes damage from a great distance.
• Fixed aim assist to work through windows.
• Fixed an issue where players could stop themselves from getting on a Zipline by standing too far behind it and colliding into the ground as they try to enter.
• Fixed an issue where the player couldn’t pick up items dropped around the Zipline pole.
• Fixed an issue where entering a vehicle while ziplining left the fall damage immunity visual effect on the player.
• Fixed auto-pickup of items not working when first landing from skydiving.
• Weapon auto-reloading no longer cancels emotes.
• Fixed an equipped Trap being swapped after dropping a stack of items or after using the last item of a stack of consumables or explosives.
• Fixed equipped traps being dropped when using hold to swap to pick up items.

LIMITED TIME MODE: 50V50

SummaryTwo teams of fifty players fight to the finish!

Mode Details

• Each team has a bus, approaching the island from opposite directions. On the map, the friendly bus has a blue outline, enemy has red.
• The map has a dotted line, which indicates the “battle lines” between the two teams. Crossing the line will make running into enemies more likely.
• Farming materials increased 25% over default.
• Chests & Ammo Crates spawn more often than usual, and carry extra ammo.

LIMITED TIME MODE: CLOSE ENCOUNTERS

SummaryClose quarters combat with Shotguns & Jetpacks!

Mode Details

• Players start with a Jetpack in their inventory.
• The only guns in this mode are the various types of Shotguns.
• The Storm moves in more quickly than normal mid to late game.

AUDIO

• Above/below footstep improvements.
  • More distinct sound for above footsteps.
  • Tuned the distance at which above/below footsteps travel to be more realistic.
• Improved footstep audio timings when the game simulation is under heavy load.
• Set Down-But-Not-Out alert sound spatialization from the location of the downed player.
• Added stereo sounds for all weapons for those carrying the weapon.
• Added foley audio feedback when crouching and ADS’ing with a weapon.
• Improved Rocket Launcher incoming audio. It now plays an additional warning layer if the rocket is coming towards you.
• Added distant perspective to the enemy glider audio tell.
• Improved damage/elimination audio feedback.
• Added a new shield break sound.
• Improved the “weak-point” hit sound when harvesting.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed in-air wind audio restarting when eliminating an enemy while they’re in mid-air.
• Fixed sniper projectiles not playing impact audio.
• Fixed “Hootenany” emote getting stuck on infinitely.
• Fixed Suppressed SMG sound effect occasionally looping continuously incorrectly.

UI

• Added the ability to access the Patch Notes website from the News Screen.
• Visual improvements made to squadmate names and indicators.
• World Marker Improvements
  • World Markers are now visible in the world when placed close to you.
  • Double-clicking the World Marker hotkey will place a “danger” version of that marker. World Markers placed while aiming with a weapon will also place the danger version.
  • Added 2D UI indicators to the World Markers, making them easier to see through objects.
  • World Markers now have an off-screen indicator and display the distance your character is from them.
  • Placing a World Marker on an item will display that item’s icon and rarity.
  • Placing World Markers remains on the same key for PC and console (KBM: Middle Mouse Button, Controller: D-Pad Left).
    • This button can be remapped to any button you want. Let us know on our social channels what works best for you!
  • Mobile also has a button that can be added to the HUD. Place this button by using the HUD Layout Tool.
• Added filter tabs to the locker for animated loading screens and pets.
• Added a card corner icon for certain types of animated cosmetics.

Bug Fixes

• Fix cases where the Bad Network Indicator would appear at the beginning of the match due to slow loading conditions.
• The Battle Pass / Battle Bundle purchase screen now shows your supported creator if one is set.
• Fixed an issue where the team elimination count was sometimes inaccurate.
• Fixed an issue where eliminations weren’t properly counting when playing in Playgrounds.

REPLAY

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue where scrubbing through a replay could cause the player’s hero model to disappear in the lobby.
• Fixed issue with cosmetic styles not displaying properly during replay playback.
• Fixed elimination damage numbers being inaccurate in replays.
• Fixed weapon firing animations sometimes playing twice in replays.

MOBILE

• Added more visual feedback when buttons are pressed.
• Changed gliding/freefalling HUD visibility to be more consistent between mobile/other platforms.
• Player are now able to toggle between crouch and standing states while in build and edit modes.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed bug which caused the lobby background to disappear when closing the Report Player dialog.
• Fixed an issue where trying to switch to build mode and tapping the quickbar at the same time would switch back to combat mode.
• Fixed an issue where attempting to place a trap using a mobile controller made the player animate as if they were trying to open a door several times before the trap is placed.
• Fixed players ability to un-crouch while gliding.
• Fixed action button remaining on the UI during the Battle Bus phase.
• The ‘Resources’ HUD setting now properly shows in-game after making changes on mobile devices.
• Fixed an issue where using touch to edit a structure breaks the ability to continue crosshair editing until the button is pressed again.
• Fixed an issue where dragging an item off the hotbar triggered a double click.
• Fixed an issue where pick up and zip line activation icon’s default position overlapped with the aiming icon.
• Fixed controller art sometimes missing in the Controller Setting screen.

CREATIVE

WHAT’S NEW?

Voice Chat UpdatesNew voice chat options have been added to Creative Island Game menu! Share a single channel while in Creative, regardless of team, then choose who you chat with when playing.

New voice chat options have been added.

Jungle Temple ThemeSet up deadly traps or harrowing trials in your own adventure games using the new Jungle Temple Prefab.

Playgrounds UpdateRenovations have been made to Playground, moving it over to Creative and allowing even more friends to join in on the fun!

ISLANDS

• You can now customize your island’s time of day!
  • A new “Time of Day” option has been added to the My Island menu.
  • By default, time of day will advance normally, which is shared between all islands on the server that are also set to “Default”.
  • You can select a specific hour of the day, which will force your island to always be at that time.
  • Selecting “Random” will automatically choose a random time of day when your island is loaded, and will stay at that time.
• Islands now load much more quickly.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue where corn, various bushes, and chain link fences would prevent players from taking damage from bullets.
• Fixed an issue where Island portals would always result in players spawning in a skydive animation, forcing a player’s camera to look down even when teleporting onto land.

GAMEPLAY

• Added a new Creative Volcano Island
• Added a new Creative Hub island
• Playgrounds update
  • Matchmake with 15 others (total of 16 players) into the new Playgrounds Hub to explore 4 Featured Islands. Or drop into one of five locations on the Battle Royale map to practice.
• Added new Jungle Temple Galleries
• Added Visualizer Gallery XL
• Added Starting Inventory, Chiller Grenade and alt Village Set

Bug Fixes

• Players will now be reset and Island health settings will apply upon joining an Island.
• Fixed a bug where be eliminated and entering a vehicle at the same time would cause the player to lose most controls.

Known Issue

• Your friends’ Playgrounds sessions will appear when browsing Creative servers.

CREATIVE TOOLS + PHONE

• Improved Resize mode:
  • The Phone’s Resize mode now allows you to stretch and squash props along a specific direction, either Width, Height or Depth.  This works the same as changing Rotation Axis while in Rotate mode.
  • When Resizing props, you can now “flip” props backwards by continuing to Shrink them beyond their minimum size.  This also works when a specific resize direction has been selected, and enables new possible arrangements of props!
  • When the Phone is in Resize mode, you can now reset the size of the object to its default size.  This works the same as resetting Rotation while in Rotate mode.
• You can now embed props inside the island terrain.
  • Set your Collision mode to “Nothing” to allow props to be moved right through the terrain.
  • The existing Collision “On” mode has been renamed to “Everything”, and “Off” was renamed to “Terrain Only”.
• Added new helper visuals while placing props:
  • The “Snap Center” position of props is now displayed while Snap is turned on.
  • While rotating props, guides now appear to show you the selected axis of rotation.
  • While resizing props, guides now appear to show the selected direction the prop will grow, shrink, stretch or squash.
  • These visual guides will also briefly appear when switching between Rotate, Resize or Snap modes.
• Players can now interact with objects like doors, devices and traps even while flying.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed the holographic preview of certain (flipped) props appearing in the wrong location when Copy or Cut was used.
• Fixed some types of props (like Music Blocks) not landing on the ground as expected when Drops mode was enabled.
• Fixed props falling below the terrain when Drops mode was enabled in some cases.
• Fixed props moving unexpectedly when copying them with the phone if they were already resized before grabbing them.
• Fixed many objects being able to be placed faster than the turbo build speed by spamming button presses.
• Fixed up the word “Rapidly” for the Turbo build delete text.
• The phone now tries to use the visible prop to determine bounds whenever possible. Ignoring things like the barrier device, elimination zone, etc.
• Returning the rotate code to use its old pivot logic.
• The Phone now respects the Size and mirror state of every prop that is spawned from prefabs or catalogs. The move tool now takes the absolute value of the scale before setting the scale values.
• When placing props beneath the level, drops will not activate and cause them to fall even further beneath the floor. Preventing drops code from setting the new lower transform of the actors if those actor.

PREFABS

• Added 5 all new Jungle Temple Prefabs
  • Great Pyramid
  • Pyramid
  • Courtyard
  • Temple
  • Shrine A
  • Shrine B
• Added 4 all new Jungle Temple Galleries
  • Jungle Temple Gallery
  • Jungle Temple Prop Gallery
  • Jungle Nature Gallery
  • Jungle Temple Wall Extended Gallery
• Added Elemental Cube Gallery
• Added 5 different color Bridge and Girder Galleries
  • Orange, Grey, Green, White, Blue
• Added Ring Part Gallery
• Added the Visualizer Gallery XL
• Added the Ambient Gallery Large
• Added 8 different color Obstacle Course Galleries
  • White, Orange, Black, Blue, Purple, Grip Tape, Red, Green
• Added an Obstacle Course Stairs Gallery

DEVICES

• Added a Billboard
  • Write and publish text to the Billboard that can easily be placed on Creative Islands.
• Added the new Pirate Cannon
  • Push the Cannon into position, take aim, and fire! Alternatively, climb into the barrel and launch yourself!
  • The cannon will fire cannonballs or players a great distance. Cannonballs and players can plow through a number of objects before stopping with a bang, causing damage and knockback to nearby players.
  • Deals 100 Damage to enemies on a direct hit and 50 Damage to enemies within a small radius.
• Added Pinball Bumper and Flipper
  • Placeholder
• Added additional options to the Barrier Device
  • Base Visible In Game – Added ability to toggle the visibility of base plates.
    • Turn off to hide the device base during a game.
  • Block Weapons In Game – Turn off to allow weapons and projectiles to pass through the barrier.
• Speed Boost traps can be placed on vertical walls.
• Added option to hide the checkpoint device during games.
• Added option to clear the player’s inventory when they reach a checkpoint device.
• Barrier device can now be set to be all black.
• Elimination Zone renamed to Damage Zone.
• Added multiple options to Damage Zone.
  • Base Visible In Game – Turn off to hide the device base during a game.
  • Damage Type – Allows for immediate elimination or damage over time.
  • Damage – How much damage is applied each damage over time tick.
  • Damage Tickrate – How often damage over time is applied.
  • Safe Team – Designate a team that won’t be affected by the Damage Volume.
  • Shield Damage – Turn off to skip damaging player shields and directly attack their health total.
• Players can now customize the team a Sentry is assigned to.
• Added option to turn on/off the bonus ammo for weapons that are spawned from the item spawner.
  • When off, some weapons will have very small amounts of ammo when picked up.
• Added an option for the Movement Modulator effect to last for infinite time during a match.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed issue where starting inventory device would grant duplicate items if the “Drop items when eliminated” game option is set to Off.
• Fixed challenge gallery items colliding with Hoverboard.
• Sentries will target players more reliably when they are crouching now.

TEAMS

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a bug where pressing Apply on the Team Select dialog could cause players to change to team 1 when that was not intended.
• Fix a bug where swapping teams could result in going into the Down-But-Not-Out state instead of respawning.
• Fixed a bug where setting a Player Start to Team None would behave instead like Team All.

UI

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue where the Game Description screen was displaying on screen even while still restoring from a previous game.