Fortnite Patch Notes (8.20 Content Update): What's New This Week?

Epic Games' latest content update for Fortnite delivers plenty of new stuff to check out in the battle royale game, including a bow weapon that packs a punch. This follows the recent 8.20 patch, which refined the game in various ways and added a lava-themed LTM. Read on for the full breakdown of what's new in content update 8.20, as well as the full patch notes. Just be prepared for some major changes soon, as Fortnite is adding Apex Legends-style respawns soon.

The big draw for many players in this update will be the new Boom Bow weapon. As you might expect, it's a bow with shotgun shells on its arrow tips, so those will explode upon impact. For that reason it uses shotgun ammo, and holding fire to increase your draw strength will increase both the arrow's speed and the damage from impact. Explosive damage will be consistently set at 100 regardless. Save The World mode gets its own new weapon as well, the Cannonade Launcher.

The update also marks the return of the Sniper Shootout LTM. This mode limits weapons to sniper rifles only, and reduces Floor Loot spawners by 50% and deactivates reviving "Down But Not Out" teammates in Duos and Squads. That means going down is an instant death, so the stakes are higher than usual when you come under fire.

Peppers, which were one of several scavenged items added in a recent patch, have received a buff. Now, they last twice as long--20 seconds instead of 10--and the movement speed has also doubled, from 20% to 40%.

The new update also introduces some bug fixes for Arena. It fixes issues with divisions in Duos, including players being unable to queue and some players not being properly promoted, and some players being charged the incorrect Bus Fare. Creative Mode has lots of its own additions too.

What you won't find here are any changes to undo a recent rollback of certain adjustments, which have led to an outcry from some Fortnite fans. But for fans of challenges, those for Week 6 are now available.

Check out our Season 8 Challenge Guide to unlock all of the nifty new skins and other battle pass rewards. Read up on the full patch notes below.

Fortnite v8.20 Content Update Patch Notes

Limited Time Mode: Sniper Shootout

Summary

• In this limited time mode, players will do battle using sniper rifles.
• May the best aim win!

Mode Details

• Only weapon drops are Sniper Rifles.
• Floor Loot spawners reduced by 50%
• Reviving "Down But Not Out" teammates in Duos & Squads is deactivated - be careful peeking!

Weapons + Items

• Boom Bow
  • Fires Arrows with a Shotgun Shell tip, which explode on impact.
  • Uses Shotgun Ammo
  • The longer you hold the fire keybind down, the stronger the shot! This increases both projectile speed and direct impact damage.
    • Explosive damage is consistent regardless of the power of the shot.
    • The Boom Bow will achieve maximum power after 1.6 seconds of charging.
  • A direct hit will deal both the direct hit damage and the explosion damage to the enemy player it impacts.
    • Direct hit
      • Base damage 15
      • Headshot Multiplier: 2x
    • Explosion
      • 100 damage
• Peppers
  • Increased duration from 10 seconds to 20 seconds
  • Increased movement speed bonus from 20% to 40%

Events

Bug Fixes

• Arena
  • Fixed an issue that caused players to be unable to queue for Duos when the party leader was in a lower division.
  • Fixed an issue which caused players to not be promoted to the next division while playing in Duos with a player in a higher division.
    • Note: Hype was still being earned correctly, this was a visual issue only.
  • Fixed an issue where players in Duos were charged Bus Fare based on the party leaders division, rather than their own.

Creative

What’s New?

Geometric Galleries

Use this new set of Galleries to add even more unique shapes to your creations!

Weapons + Items

• Boom Bow
• Fires Arrows with a Shotgun Shell tip, which explode on impact.
• Uses Shotgun Ammo
• The longer you hold the fire keybind down, the stronger the shot! This increases both projectile speed and direct impact damage.
  • Explosive damage is consistent regardless of the power of the shot.
  • The Boom Bow will achieve maximum power after 1.6 seconds of charging.
• A direct hit will deal both the direct hit damage and the explosion damage to the enemy player it impacts.
  • Direct hit
    • Base damage 15
    • Headshot Multiplier: 2x
  • Explosion
    • 100 damage

Prefabs

• Non-Right Square Pyramid Gallery Large
• Non-Right Triangular Pyramid Gallery Large
• Right Triangular Prism Gallery Large
• Seven Point Cube Gallery Large
• Square Pyramid Gallery Large
• Triangular Prism Gallery Large
• Upright Triangular Prism Gallery Large

Save The World

What’s New?

Cannonade Launcher

Loud Noises! Heroes and Husks will have a blast with this new Rapid Rocket Launcher

Weapons + Items

• Cannonade Launcher
  • A chaotic, rapid-fire, automatic launcher that shoots small explosive rounds.
  • Available in the Weekly Store from April 3 at 8 PM Eastern Time until April 10 at 8 PM Eastern Time.

V8.20.1 Resolved Issues

On March 29 we released a client update to fix some issues that appeared in the v8.20 update. Find all the details on which issues were resolved below!

Battle Royale

• Fixed an issue where spectator numbers would not update, even after the spectator had left the game.
• Fixed an issue that caused players to be unable to queue in the correct division level in the Arena game mode when the party leader was in a lower division.
• Fixed an issue which caused the Poison Dart Trap to be hidden behind certain wall assets.
• Fixed an issue where trap placement on walls would be blocked if a stair structure was attached to the wall.
• Fixed an issue that prevented players from getting removed from the Baller when hit by a Boogie Bomb.
• Fixed an issue preventing friend invites from displaying in the social panel.

Creative

• Fixed an issue where Creature Spawners wouldn’t activate within the correct range after it has been resized.
• Fixed an issue where the Phone Tool would emit two beams rather than one after copying multiple times.
• Fixed an issue that prevented non-damaging traps (Ice Block, Bouncers, etc) from functioning if the Game was not started.
• Fixed an issue where any Baller vehicle that was placed on an Island prior to v8.20 could not use the boost.
• Fixed an issue that prevented vehicles from being damaged by Music Sequencer when damage was turned on.

Save the World

• Re-enabled the X Marks the Spot sub-objective.
• Fixed an issue where the X Marks the Spot objective was removing items from player inventories.
• Fixed an issue that was causing B.A.S.E to incorrectly hover over player built structures.