Epic Games had released the first major new patch for Fortnite battle royale as part of Season 7 since its launch a couple of weeks ago. The Fortnite 17.10 patch notes go a long way towards fixing the lack of content, especially in the map department, for the current seventh season. 

Fortnite Season 7 is here in Chapter 2. It is liked by many for the long-awaited alien Invasion theme. However, it is not necessarily appreciated for the lack of map and other content changes. There is almost no new content for you to check out on the island compared to other seasons. 

There are two new named locations and many smaller landmarks, but that is really it, and the points of interest are not exactly that different from the previous incarnations. Fortunately, the Fortnite 17.10 patch notes do help some with the issues with that particular problem. 

While it does not add any brand new named locations to the island, it does add some interesting new map and gameplay mechanics that will make all battle royale matches moving forward even better. This includes the mothership, new UFO ships, new guns to choose from, and more. 

Unfortunately, this is another case where Epic Games has not released the official Fortnite 17.10 patch notes for the new update. Thankfully, though, that is where we come in as we have assembled our unofficial patch notes to take the place of the ones that are missing. 

However, this means we might have missed content that would have been in an official patch release since this is based on my own time with the update thus far. But we were sure to include details about the map changes, new weapons, items, skins, and more in our Fortnite 17.10 patch notes.

First and foremost, there are the map changes in the Fortnite 17.10 patch notes. Oddly enough, at the start of the Invasion season, there was not much available in terms of the alien theme. Instead, it was mainly focused on the IO team, which had bases around the island and their weaponry. 

Sure, there were the alien-themed areas, but they were few and far between, and there were the UFO vehicles, but that was about it. Fortunately, this first major post-launch update is here to save the day with even more alien content than ever.

If you liked the UFO ships that were already in the game with the ability to pilot them and wreak destruction, you’d be happy to know that there are new alien ships as well. However, the player cannot be piloted and serve a very different purpose, instead. 

New UFO ships will appear on the map randomly from each battle royale match to another. There is no guarantee where the larger ships will appear on the island until you get into the match, so be sure to check out the map screen while you are on the starting island. 

That way, you can plot out your path and destination to figure out where you want to go for the match. In my experience, it has been around two to four ships that will appear on the island in a single given match. They will usually appear over two to four of the named locations as well. 

I have found that Lazy Lake, Believer Beach, and Steamy Stacks are ones that typically seem to get a ship over them, but that is not guaranteed to happen at those same locations every time. The larger UFO ships act as a stationary point for gearing up and preparing for the fights ahead. 

You will find solid weapons there, like the Kymera ray gun (more on this in a bit) and more that you will use. This is not only a solid place for getting loot for the rest of the match, but it serves another purpose that is brand new in Season 7. 

That purpose is to enter the alien mothership. The huge looming mothership over the island is not just for show in Season 7, as players will now enter it in battle royale matches if they follow specific criteria. It is very specific but pretty easy to pull off, so there is no reason not to do it in every match you are in. 

It involves visiting the larger UFO ships that will abduct you and then take you to the alien mothership above for some crazy antics that will happen there. After that, you will go on a loot run where you will compete against the other players who have been abducted for excellent loot.

It is a pretty fun minigame and a mechanic that we expect most of the players to engage in every battle royale match they do. And we honestly recommend that players do it because the rewards are amazing and will gear you up for the rest of the match. 

The minigame can be a bit complex. The method of entering the mothership is rather specific, especially when it comes to its timing. Be sure to check out our full guide to how to enter the mothership and what to do when you get there soon, as this will be a huge part of what makes Season 7 so much fun. 

The Fortnite 17.10 patch notes would not be complete without some new items and weapons for players to pick up. As mentioned, we have the Kymera ray gun that is now more available than ever with this update, making it a dominant force moving forward. 

You will easily find the ray gun by heading to the mothership at the start of the match or even just heading to one of the larger UFOs that are lingering over some of the points of interest. There, you will likely find several of these new ray gun weapons atop the roof of the ship.

Your goal should be to land on top of the ship and then look for the ray guns there. Thankfully, you will not be stuck on this ship high up as there are vents that will easily lift you and allow you to glide wherever you want to go next on the map. 

The ray gun is powerful because it has unlimited ammo and works on a charging basis. You do not need to worry about looking for ammo; hold down the trigger and fire away. But if it does overheat, it will take a moment to cool off before you can fire off some lasers once again. 

The ray gun is a powerful tool and easily the best new weapon in the season. The damage output is one of the weakest that we have ever seen in Fortnite before, but the constant laser stream means that you can wreck someone with full health and shields in mere seconds. 

According to leakers, there is even a mythic version of the ray gun reportedly in the game taken from the boss Zyg and Choppy NPC. This one is set to be an insanely good version of the ray gun that will be more devastating in terms of damage compared to the original. 

There are now alien nanite items that will allow the player to pick them up and use them to create an alien biome in the surrounding area for a limited time. The benefits of this are pretty unknown for now, but it may allow you to get artifacts more easily. However, we are not sure right now. 

The other strange weapon that leakers have been able to find in this new patch is the Inflate-a-Bull item. This rather weird item will turn you into a cow person, complete with some strange abilities that you will only be able to use while wearing this outfit.

The abilities in the description include being able to roll down hills, bounce off of cliffs, and somehow be invulnerable to fire. This is one of the most bizarre items that Epic Games has ever come up with, but it is here in the new update.

There are new skin styles that have arrived in the update, plus some other leaked ones that are not quite available just yet. The super styles are now here in the season, for starters, offering the most advanced versions of the battle pass skins for the most dedicated players out there. 

Like in past seasons, there are super styles available for the main battle pass skins for those players who can reach above level 100 in this current season. We have seen images of some of the super styles. They, fortunately, go beyond the normal gold aesthetics that we have had before.

In this case, characters like Doctor Slone, for example, have an amazing disco outfit style that is rainbow-colored and looks rather slick and nice. Rick Sanchez, the final skin in the battle pass, gets the special gold lab suit option that looks fantastic. There are more beyond just these as well. 

It will take quite a while to unlock these new super skin styles since they are typically found beyond the normal battle pass, but they are there in the game now for those players who have already grinded pretty far into the pass and/or bought a lot of tiers for this season. 

But there are other skins beyond this one. Leakers have already found new skins in the backend of the battle royale game, like the Summer Midas skin and many more. These summer-themed skins are likely to appear in the item shop or in another way soon, so stay tuned. 

We imagine that the Summer Midas skin and other option leaked ones will be part of the also leaked summer event. There will reportedly be a limited-time event during Season 7 known as the Cosmic Summer event that will feature the first new event in a good while.

Little is known about this event other than the fact that we will get some new summer versions of some of the fan-favorite Fortnite characters. There is the Midas one, but there are reports of skins for Brutus, Jules, and more that have also been found. 

The Cosmic Summer event will likely begin soon for Season 7 as we are now in the middle of the hot summer season. This event will likely also include some fun beach and outdoor activities for players to do on the main battle royale island. 

These activities will likely tie into some special limited-time event challenges available in the Cosmic Summer event. We would not be surprised if there are new cosmetic items, like back blings, weapon skins, and more that players can unlock through this event. 

As of right now, though, the event is not quite available just yet, but we will be sure to let you know when it is and break down everything that you need to know about what to expect from it soon.