Fortnite Is Down: Here's When Servers Will Be Up For Chapter 5 Season 2

Update: Fortnite Chapter 5 Season 2 should now be live, but servers are still down on Friday afternoon due to earlier issues with the new season's patch being deployed. The official Fortnite Status account on X/Twitter has now revealed that players can "pre-download an updated version" of the game later around 6 PM PT / 9 PM ET. This doesn't seem to clearly say the game itself will be playable at that time, just that the latest patch will be downloadable, so it may be later than that when you finally get to play. Whenever it returns online, brace for long queue times, too.

In the meantime, you can check out our rundown of everything that's new, the map changes, the new weapons, and what's in the Season 2 battle pass.

Fortnite Chapter 5 Season 2 start time: when will Fortnite servers be back up?

Fortnite is currently in scheduled downtime following the end of Chapter 5 Season 1. This means Chapter 5 Season 2 is just around the corner, and with it will come new weapons, a new look for the island, and a new battle pass, among other things. But none of that matters until the Fortnite servers are letting players back into the game.

Epic likes to keep this a surprise, but history suggests Fortnite will be playable again sometime around 4 AM - 7 AM PT / 7 AM - 10 AM ET on March 8. However, as noted above, downtime has been extended, with the "8 additional hours" comment suggesting it may not be until 2 PM PT / 5 PM ET / 10 PM GMT that Fortnite Chapter 5 Season 2 actually goes live.

Downtime is always needed to apply the game's latest patch. It's also worth noting that most new Fortnite seasons as of late featured a queue system that slowed players' ability to get into the game past the main menu. This is done so Epic can prevent server overload and usher players in at a steady but manageable rate. You should expect a queue when you first boot up Fortnite on launch day of a new season.

What's the theme for Chapter 5 Season 2?

It's been rumored for months that a Greek mythology season was in the works, and the Chapter 5 map being full of Mediterranean scenery and architecture, not to mention the whole Ruined Reels POI, has only fueled that rumor. And that theme has now been confirmed with the release of the Season 2 key art.

We've also gotten one short cinematic teaser.

Will there be a live event to end Season 1?

There won't be anything like the Big Bang event that introduced Chapter 5, but there are now new quests and a major change to the island as part of the ramp-up to Season 2. The quests come courtesy of a new character, wearing ancient Greek armor, hanging out in the ancient Greek POI Ruined Reels, who's called Odyssey.

As part of this ramp-up, the map just grew a new arm near Ruined Reels, and it was holding Pandora's Box. After the community spent about 24 hours last weekend pickaxing the chains that held the box, it opened and revealed a massive fire tornado that you can use to launch you high up into the air--an exciting occasion, because we haven't seen a tornado in battle royale since Chapter 3 (I miss them).

The arm, by the way, looks a lot like that of the Chapter 1 Season 7 battle pass skin The Prisoner, though given the theme and the Pandora's Box thing it could be Atlas instead--or maybe The Prisoner is Atlas. Or maybe it belongs to something else entirely that we'll get on this new battle pass.

Fortnite Chapter 5 Season 2 battle pass skins

The key art and the teaser show seven (7) new skins, including Zeus and Hades and other mythological folks. Conspicuously absent is any sort of collab skin, though. But there are eight skins on each full battle pass, so something remains hidden for now. Could this season's bonus skin actually be a secret until it becomes available like it was in Chapters 1 and 2?

It's also probably a decent guess that Odyssey will be a battle pass skin, or possible a free reward. The thought that it might be free comes from the fact that it seems like it will have style options that reflect your Season Rank in Ranked Play. We've been getting victory umbrellas that work that way for a few seasons now, but a skin would be a much better motivator to play Ranked than an umbrella that few other people will ever even see.

We haven't seen any other potential skins yet, but I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that Ruined Reels has statues of Fish Thicc wearing a toga and holding a trident--Fisheidon's gotta be a candidate. Also, a Greek theme presents an opportunity for a new Midas skin.

Fortnite Chapter 5 Season 2 gameplay changes

There's nothing confirmed just yet, but there's been one relatively unknown but emerging leaker who's been sharing info that they say comes from a Season 2 play test in December. This person, who has no track record of being right, claims there will be a number of boss characters with mythic items, including Zeus's lightning bold, Hades's Chain Whip, Poseidon's Trident, Cerberus's tac shotgun and Ares's burst assault rifle. They indicate that there will be a separate movement item--probably not a unique item like the boss weapons, but something lootable from chests like this season's grapple blade.Take everything from this source with a grain of salt.

Fortnite Chapter 5 Season 2 collabs

There's no word yet on what collaboration skins might be included with the battle pass in Season 2. But with the Greek mythology theme, multiple Gaming Legends skins are possible, like a classic Kratos, or Kassandra from Assassin's Creed: Odyssey. And keep your fingers crossed that the existing Norse-themed Kratos from the God of War reboot will return for the first time in three years during the season.

Dataminers have also found references in the files to a new wave of Jujutsu Kaisen skins, which folks have been expecting, as well as a potential collab with World of Warcraft, which would be somewhat surprising since Epic and Activision Blizzard don't usually do that.

The leaker mentioned in the previous section also mentioned that the unnamed Persona 3 protagonist character would get a skin during this season--info allegedly based on a poster seen on the battle royale island during a playtest.

Fortnite Chapter 5 Season 2 collab mini-pass

As is becoming tradition each season, we've already got rumors about Season 2's mid-season mini-pass, a la the TMNT event that just ended. The word is that this event will be for Avatar: The Last Airbender, and that you'll be able to unlock an Aang skin with the premium track of this mini pass.

Fortnite Chapter 5 Season 2 Starter Pack and Save the World pack

A new season means a new starter pack--which includes a skin, back bling, pickaxe and 600 V-Bucks for $4.49--and a new Save the World pack--which comes with access to Save the World, quests for 1500 V-Bucks, and a set of cosmetics. And we already know what they will be. The starter pack skin will be Clara, a ballet dancer/assassin a la Jennifer Lawrence's Red Sparrow. And the Save the World pack's skin will be Dr. Vinderbot.

Fun fact: V-Bucks is actually short for Vindertech Bucks, because it's named after the guy who made this robot. Surprise!

When will more Rocket League cosmetics cross over to Fortnite and Rocket Racing?

There's been plenty of recent buzz about some more of Rocket League's massive vault of cosmetics being ported into Fortnite, including some false rumors about Batmobiles and other collab vehicles. But we do have some great news: the two new car bodies in the Season 14 Rocket Pass will both transfer over to Fortnite. We don't know about the other items on the pass yet, but it seems like porting what items they can from this pass is a priority for Epic.