Fortnite’s v9.00 patch notes for season 9 are now live

Fortnite’s season nine is here. Epic Games has just released the full patch notes of today’s v9.00 update, the first of the season. The notes reveal most of what players can expect to see in-game starting today.

There will be several changes to gameplay since many weapons have been vaulted, such as the Pump Shotgun, the Suppressed Assault Rifle, and the Scoped Revolver. New mechanics like slipstreams and air vents are being introduced, and players will see them in revamped areas of Neo Tilted and Mega Mall.

New locations

Fear not, Tilted Towers fans. Your favorite area has become Neo Tilted, a place full of high-tech buildings, and it’s probably more chaotic than ever with several new air passages. Retail Row, which was also destroyed, is now Mega Mall, a paradise for Pizza Pit fans.

New weapon

We were serious when we said Pump Shotguns are gone. Fortunately, they’ve been replaced by a semi-automatic weapon called Combat Shotgun. It comes in Rare, Epic, and Legendary variants that deal 73/77/81 damage respectively and hold 10 shells. Epic says it has a “tight spread and fast fire rate.”

Several other weapons and items have been vaulted. But The Baller isn’t one of them.

Slipstreams and air vents

Neo Tilted and Mega Mall have those weird hoops on them. These are slipstreams, which are wind tunnels that players can fly through for extra mobility. It probably feels like season eight’s volcano vents, but with horizontal impulse.

Air vents, on the other hand, act pretty much like the Bouncer Trap since they send players flying diagonally and make them immune to fall damage. They’re environmental items only.

Fortbytes

Players with the season nine Battle Pass will have more things to work toward now. Epic introduced Fortbytes, which are items players can find spread around the Fortnite map. “Collect them all to unlock rewards and uncover the secrets of season nine,” the company wrote. Players will have 18 Fortbytes to look for when the servers are online.

All players should be able to jump into their first season nine matches in a couple of hours, as soon as the server downtime is over. Meanwhile, it’s possible to leave your PC, console, or phone ready to download today’s update so you can play as soon as the servers are back online.

You can check out the full v9.00 patch notes on Epic’s website.