Fortnite Crescent Shroom Pickaxe Will Be Free Alongside Power Leveling Weekend

After Fortnite experienced some unintended downtime on three different occasions in December, Epic Games has announced a weekend of increased XP and a free item as an apology.

A Power Leveling Weekend will kick off in-game starting January 7 at 4 PM PT / 7 PM ET, running until January 10 at 4 AM PT / 7 AM ET. Experience will be supercharged throughout the weekend, letting players earn extra XP for their battle passes for the duration of the event.

Any players who logged in during the recent Winterfest event will receive a brand new pickaxe called the Crescent Shroom before it enters the Item Shop for purchase.

The game experienced downtime on three separate days in December: the 17th, the 22nd, and the 29th. The first instance on the 17th lasted for five hours, during which time anyone trying to log in would get stuck at the title screen. All three outages came during the aforementioned Winterfest event, where players earned daily winter-themed rewards including wraps, gliders, and two new skins in Krisabelle and Polar Peely.

For more Fortnite, check out the 19.01 patch notes heralding the addition of the Shield Keg, as well as all of the Chapter 3 Week 5 challenges available right now.