Fortnite Friday: Getaway LTM, week 9 battle pass challenges, weapon changes

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 introduce new weapons and a completely new LTM which includes its own set of challenges. Exciting things happening in the world of Fortnite.

If you’re a fan of the battle royale genre, then you’re likely getting excited about Call of Duty’s “Blackout” battle royale game. They dropped a gameplay trailer this week, which you can check out.

As always, we’ll start with this week’s battle pass challenges.

Free challenges

Deal damage with explosive weapons to opponents (0/500) – Explosive challenges seem to be a theme of this season. Maybe because that giant purple cube is going to explode and destroy Tilted Towers! Oh no! (It probably won’t, though).

Get trick points in a shopping cart or ATK (0/150,000) – Don’t let the number fool you, this won’t take that long. Hop into an ATK and hit as many jumps, hills or cliffs as you can find. This will be easily the most fun challenge you’ll complete this week.

Follow the treasure map found in Shifty Shafts (0/1) – Here is the location of the map and battle star this week. If you don’t feel like watching the video, it’s located on the lower southern elevated part of the mountain they call the “wizard tower.” That’s the best I could do explaining it so hopefully you understand.

Battle pass challenges

Stage 1/5: Search a chest in Haunted Hills (0/1) – The multi-staged chest challenge is back and these are extremely easy so follow along and you’ll be through the five locations in no time.

Visit different stone heads (0/7)  – Here is a map of all of the stone head locations. There are only seven, so you’ll have to visit them all.

Assault rifle eliminations (0/5) – We’ve seen the number of eliminations required increase from three to five before, but this is no issue as the weapons being used are assault rifles, which are likely the most common weapon you are using to rack-up eliminations now. Fire away.

Eliminate opponents in Tomato Temple (0/3) – Tomato Temple went from being my least favorite place on the map (as “Town”) to one of my favorites. The combination of close-range fighting, elevation changes and the ridiculous new obsession with tomato man makes this a very fun drop location.

Update v5.4 patch notes and new LTM

Getaway LTM – The high stakes getaway LTM is the newest (and maybe most fun) way to play Fortnite right now. The game is all about squading up and trying to be one of four teams to end the game with a precious llama jewel. Here’s how Epic Games describes the new LTM:

"Here’s the plan. Four safes have been loaded into supply drops scattered around the island, each carrying a large jewel. You and your crew must locate a safe, pick up the prize inside and getaway with the goods while battling enemies. The first four teams to make their way to a van with a jewel and getaway win! Are you up for the job?"

You can get more information about the game from the patch notes here, or a detailed breakdown explaining how it’s played here. Give it a try, it’s very fun.

The Grappler – This new item allows players to grapple onto rocks, hills, trees, buildings, etc. within a short distance. The grappler is a game changer and can get you into or out of the action very quickly.

Think of Link’s hookshot in the Legend of Zelda games, or Spider-Man’s web-slinging abilities. Speaking of everyone’s favorite neighborhood superhero, the latest Spider-Man game is seeing some very positive feedback.

Revolvers get vaulted – Your favorite handgun got the vault this week and I’m sure you’re really broken up about it. Just kidding, the revolvers were okay but I don’t think too many people are upset about this.

Weapon changes – Several changes were made to the rarity and variety of various weapons. Here’s a list of them all:

• Common (Grey) suppressed machine gun removed
• Rare (blue) rocket launcher removed
• Epic (purple) and legendary (gold) rocket launcher spawn probability increased.
• Legendary bolt-action sniper removed
• Rare pistol removed
• Semi-auto sniper decreased from epic and legendary to uncommon (green) and rare.
  • Increased the frequency that the semi-auto sniper drops to align more with their rarity class.
• Dual pistols decreased in rarity from epic and legendary to rare and epic.
• Suppressed pistol decreased in rarity from Epic and Legendary to Rare and Epic.
• C4 increased in rarity from rare to epic.

Storm surge – Here’s an interesting tidbit of information from the patch notes that you should remember when/if you are building into one of the final storms: “In the moving storm phases, when the storm reaches its destination, it will cause a surge of energy that destroys player-built structures located on the storm wall.”

Elimination of the Week

This week’s EOTW goes to fan-favorite streamer Dr Lupo, who shows us some Spider-Man-like skills with the new grappler. Unbelievable.

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!