Fortnite Changing Storms, Vaulting Revolvers With Next Update

Next week is shaping up to be a particularly busy one for Fortnite. Not only will it mark the start of the recently announced High Stakes event, developer Epic Games will also roll out Fortnite's new 5.40 patch, and it looks like it'll make some major changes to the popular battle royale game.

The studio outlined some of the incoming changes in a new developer update. First, the 5.40 patch is making some tweaks to the storm. Specifically, the edge of the storm will now deal damage to player structures "in the final phases" of the match. Epic says this change was made in an effort to "provide a little more dynamic gameplay" during the last stretch of the game.

Additionally, Epic has announced it is putting another weapon into the Vault with the 5.40 update. This time, the Revolver will be vaulted, effectively removing it from the game. "This is part of an initiative to keep the item pool feeling fresh and dynamic," Epic said. While that means players will no longer be able to find the weapon for the time being, Epic reiterates that it could always return to the game in the future.

Epic also teased that it is introducing a new "mobility item" as part of the 5.40 update, although the studio didn't provide any further details about it. Beyond that, Epic says it will increase the Remote Explosives rarity from Rare to Epic "to match its effectiveness," and it will tweak stack sizes for certain items when they drop, such as the Boogie Bomb. You can learn more about the 5.40 patch in Epic's developer update video.

Along with the 5.40 patch, Fortnite players have the aforementioned High Stakes event to look forward to next week. Epic hasn't shared many details about the event thus far, but it appears to be themed around gambling and heists and will encompass a new limited-time mode called Getaway, a new Wild Card skin, and a set of High Stakes challenges to complete.