Today officially marks the start of season six of Fortnite Battle Royale. Season five’s theme was based solely around different world’s colliding. New locations such as Paradise Palms and the Viking Village had made their way into the game, and other locations such as the Prison and Moisty Mire had been removed. The sole theme of season six is based on darkness. Currently, all locations are still present, but if Tomato Town taught us anything last season, it’s that no location is safe, and anything can change at any time. Here are the highlights of patch v6.0 of Fortnite Battle Royale and season six.

Pets

Fortnite presently has an abundance of different back-blings for players to outfit their character with. Some back-blings are more interesting than others, but they really are purely cosmetic. Epic Games has added pets into the game, which will operate as a back-bling, with a lot more life in them. When equipped, the pet will be stationary on your character’s back but will react whenever the player does various actions such as eliminating a player, going into a downed state, or even when winning a game. There are currently a total of three pets available as part of the season six battle pass. Players can also unlock varied appearances of the pets at higher tiers of the battle pass.

Shadow Stones

Shadow stones are a new consumable that lays docile in the epicenters of various areas imprinted by the purple cube. These locations originally had a bubble shield surrounding them in season five, that when entered would allow the player to move around at a lower gravity. Consuming one of the new shadow stones will put a player in shadow form. While in this form, players have increased movement, higher jumps, and are immune to fall damage. Standing still in shadow form allows you to become invisible to your enemies while moving around will make you more visible and cause you to leave a shadow trail behind you. The phase ability allows players to pass through solid objects. The phase is very short distance and does have a cooldown. The form lasts for 45 seconds, but can be canceled early by holding down the alternate fire button (aim down sights)

Gameplay Changes

  • A few weapons have been vaulted including the suppressed Submachine Gun, Light Machine Gun, Bouncer, Remote Explosives, and the Impulse Grenade. (Note: These weapons are still available in playgrounds mode.)
  • The number of charges for the Grappler has been reduced from 15 down to 10.
  • The damage on the Double Barrel Shotgun has been reduced. Epic rarity has been reduced from 143 to 114, while Legendary has been reduced from 150 down to 120.
  • The chance for dual pistols to drop from floor loot has been reduced from 1.49% to 0.88%.
  • Various changes to safe zones 4 – 9. The wait time before the storm starts moving for each circle has been reduced considerably, while the shrink time for each circle has been increased. The radius of some zones has been increased.
  • Players can choose a preferred menu music in the locker. New music can be unlocked from the season six battle pass.
  • Various changes to footsteps to help players identify if an enemy is above or below them.
  • The distance at which gliders can be heard opening or closing has been increased.

There are various bug fixes, many of which pertain to the grappler. The entire list of patch notes can be found here.