Fortnite's High Stakes Challenges Out Now; Here's What They Involve

One of the big new additions to Fortnite in an event called High Stakes. It is scheduled to be one of the last major surprises in the game's fifth season and developer Epic Games has detailed what players will have to do to complete the High Stakes challenges and earn its rewards. [Update: The High Stakes challenges are out now. They were introduced as part of Fortnite update 5.4 and you can read the full patch notes for that here.]

Like the new limited-time mode, Getaway, High Stakes is themed around heists and tasks players with stealing, killing, and escaping. The first part of the challenge offers up 5,000 XP to anyone that plays 10 matches of Getaway. If you're able to deal a total of 500 damage to opponents carrying the coveted jewel, you'll also get a special spray. Those that manage to pick up a jewel in five different matches of Getaway will get a special skydiving trail that features money flying off your character. Finally, if you complete all three of those challenges you'll get a crowbar skin for your pickaxe.

The upcoming update will also introduce one new skin and four masks, which will be available to purchase from the in-game store. For those that missed the initial reveal, Getaway involves four safes being dropped onto the map. Working in groups, players must find these safes, grab the jewel from inside it, and take it to the extraction zone without being killed.

A new Grappler gun will also be added in, and it functions pretty much as you'd imagine; fire it at a wall and it latches on, allowing you to launch yourself in that direction. Of course, the gameplay implications of this new weapon are significant, so it should be an exciting new addition. As of yet, Epic has not confirmed an exact release date and time for the new patch, but it is expected this week.

The last patch for Fortnite was the 5.30 content update, which marked the debut of the Shockwave Grenade, a new type of weapon that throws players a great distance when activated. Epic also rolled out the latest set of weekly challenges, which involve searching between oversized seats and using rifts. You can get help for all of this season's challenges in our complete Season 5 challenge guide.