Fortnite Friday: Happy birthday Fortnite, battle pass week 3, new SMG weapons

Fortnite Friday is a weekly review of what is going on in the world of Fortnite. We cover the battle pass challenges, new game modes and any update information you need to know.

Fortnite Friday is a weekly column covering everything happening around the popular 100-person multiplayer showdown game, Fortnite: Battle Royale. This week we celebrate Fortnite‘s first birthday!

The battle pass challenges are getting slightly more difficult, and this week, there are three special birthday challenges to complete as well. Epic Games has introduced a new weapon and then nerfed it because it was far too powerful. They also nerfed the SMG that was introduced last week.

The game is changing slightly and camping is hardly an option at the end of games anymore. The final few storms move locations, and to add to the war on camping, Epic has also nerfed building materials.

Before we get into the specifics of the update, here are your weekly battle pass challenges and how to solve them.

Free Challenges

Deal damage to opponents in a single match (0/500)

Thic challenge sounds harder than it is. Eliminating two or three opponents in a match will easily put you above the 500 damage mark, especially if you connect with the head for critical damage.

If you find yourself having trouble with this challenge, play in squad or duo mode. With teammates, you can be revived and spend more time in the game inflicting damage.

Use a launch pad (0/1)

This is your weekly freebie challenge. It might as well be called “find a launch pad” because that is all that needs to happen for you to complete this challenge. Find it, place it and jump. If you are having trouble finding a launch pad, look for random ramps up to nothing and use someone else’s.

Follow the treasure map found in Flush Factory (HARD) (0/1)

Since Flush Factory is arguably the worst starting location in the world of Fortnite, we’ll spare you a trip there and show you exactly where the battle star is located. Here you go:

Battle Pass Challenges

Search chests at Fatal Fields (0/7)

The weekly chest challenge returns to Fatal Fields. There are two locations in the Fields that spawn two chests, the house and the long barn. These locations will be busy, so your best bet is to choose an outlying shack or forested area and knock off a chest or two per match.

Here is a map of the chest spawns at Fatal Fields:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BlskBaTAeGR/

Shoot clay pigeons at different locations (0/5)

This is a fun challenge. Epic Games has added six clay shooting locations across the map for you to practice your aim and this challenge is the way to find out about them. Keep in mind that even though these are fun, they give away your location. Here are the clay pigeon locations:

Eliminate opponents in Haunted Hills (0/5)

You’ll notice that the weekly “eliminate opponents” task has been bumped up to five eliminations from it’s usual three. It seems the folks at Epic Games are trying to make the challenges slightly more difficult.

Attempt this early in the battle pass week to make sure you get the most possible action in the area. Haunted Hills isn’t one of the more popular locations and it’s location doesn’t favor a hot spot for landings. You’ll want to complete this challenge while it is busy.

Explosive weapon eliminations (HARD) (0/3)

If this challenge seems familiar it’s because week 1 had a similar task. The difference with this week’s version of the explosive eliminations is that you can also use C4 (remote explosives) to knock off your three knocks.

If you are having trouble getting this challenge done, a C4 trap, while requiring some patience, usually pays dividends.

Limited Time Game Modes

50v50 – The popular two-team mode remains in the game and is the best bet to clean up challenges if needed. If you are having a hard time with challenges, play some 50v50 and chip away at them.

Players looking to mix it up for a match or two can try playing 50v50 mode as a medic. It is a fun way to change things up discovered by Reddit user Sushii Films. Grab as many meds as you can, hop into an ATK and heal your squad to victory. If nothing else, watch this hilarious video about it:

Playground mode – The popular practice and building mode is back, sooner than expected. Grab your squad and get to playing games or building massive statues in playground mode.

Update v5.1 patch notes and news

P90 (compact SMG) – If you thought the new SMG was unfair, the P90 came into the game at a ridiculous blistering rate, demolishing anything in it’s path. This weapon was introduced at 23/24 base damage with a 50-round clip, which is easily more powerful than any other weapon, given it’s quick fire rate.

While both the SMG and the P90 were nerfed almost immediately (more on this soon), this weapon still melts both opponents and bases and should be a staple of your loadout any chance you can use it.

SMG nerf – As mentioned above, the SMG and P90 both received a much need nerfing to take away some of the ridiculous power they came into the game with. Here are the full details of the reduction in power and fire rate:

• SMG and P90 accuracy bonus reduced from 35% to 15%
• SMG damage reduced from 19/20/21 to 17/18/19
• P90 damage reduced from 23/24 to 21/22
• SMG fire rate reduced from 13 to 12
• P90 fire rate reduced from 11 to 10
• SMG, P90 and silenced SMG damage falloff
• Range reduced from 2400/3500/5000 to 2000/3000/4000
• Percentage reduced from 100/80/65% to 100/70/40%
• Rare SMG and P90 drop rates slightly reduced

Building nerf – Nerfing was the theme of this week’s updates and building was the next to suffer. The game has nerfed building in the past and they are dangerously close to taking it out of the game.

Hopefully this is the end of it, because the ability to build is what separates the skilled players from the bad ones, and nerfing the building materials discourages the need to learn how to use them properly (learn how to build, kids!).

Here are the new build material specifications:

• Wood starting health: Down to 80 from 100
• Brick starting health: Down to 80 from 90
• Wood max health: Down to 150 from 200
• Steel max health: Up to 500 from 400
• Steel build time: Up to 25s from 20s

Happy Birthday Fortnite!

On Wednesday, Fortnite celebrated it’s first birthday in style. The battle bus is decked out with festive paper and streamers, balloons can be found all over the map and there are a new set of challenges for users to complete to earn some birthday prizes.

Play matches and deal damage are simple. These will be easily accomplished just by playing the game. The birthday cake challenge is slightly more difficult, as gamers must find the cake at each location.

Here is a map of all the birthday cake locations:

Elimination of the week

This week’s EOTW comes from Young Gunn, who’s build and trap-work is on another level. This is disgusting.

Next: Uncharted could be the first good game to TV adaptation

If you come across anything we might have missed or have any ideas on what should be included in these posts in the future, hit me on Twitter @TheRealBruin. Until next week!