Season 8 is finally here! Fortnite Patch V8.00 shakes up the current metagame, and it introduces some exciting, new content as well. Hopefully, you were able to earn that free Season 8 Battle Pass because it will allow you to unlock 100 neat new rewards in Season 8 — plus it gives you instant access to two new outfits. But if you didn’t, don’t worry, you can still purchase the Battle Pass for the usual 950 V-Bucks.

The Fortnite map will look a bit different in Season 8. A massive volcano has erupted on Battle Royale Island, and various new explorable locations have appeared with it. Fortnite fans should also get a kick out of the new Pirate Cannons that appear around the map. Feel free to jump in one and launch yourself into the sky!

Let’s take a closer look at the Battle Royale updates from Fortnite Patch V8.00.

Battle Royale Changes

Pirate Cannon

• The cannon can fire cannonballs or players a long distance. Cannonballs or players can break through several objects before stopping.
• Deals 100 damage to enemies that get directly hit. It will deal 50 splash damage to enemies nearby and knock them back.
• The Pirate Cannons are placed in certain locations around the map.

This fun new environmental weapon is a part of Season 8’s pirate theme. The Pirate Cannon definitely does a lot of damage if you directly hit your target, but I think it will mostly be utilized for traveling purposes; a player can cover a lot of distance coming out of this thing.

You can go into first-person mode while using the cannon, and the cannonballs are automatically loaded into the cannon (so don’t worry about finding ammo).

Also, the cannon can be wheeled around, so you can push it near an enemy structure, then fire some cannonballs (or yourself!) at it.

New Locations

Volcano

• Lava – deals 1 damage per touch and it will bounce players off the surface.
• Volcanic Vents – these geysers will boost players and vehicles directly into the sky.

The enormous, treacherous Volcano is located on the north-eastern side of the map. Just be careful exploring this area because the extremely hot Lava damages you.

Lazy Lagoon

Lazy Lagoon is found on the northern end of the map. This is a port area that features a giant pirate ship with 3 levels…arghhhh!

Sunny Steps

Sunny Steps is located on the north-eastern side of the map (right above the volcano).

Sunny Steps has replaced Tomato Temple, and it features several vibrantly-colored pyramids that look like they were built by Aztecs (grab a history book, kids).

Risky Reels

Risky Reels has returned in Season 8. This location was removed in Season 7 to make room for The Block, but this drive-in movie theater area was always a popular drop destination, so it’s not surprising it’s back.

Also, don’t worry Fortnite content creators, The Block hasn’t been removed. It has been moved to the north-western side of the map, and community-made structures will still be displayed there.

Nerfs

Vaulted

• Sneaky Snowman has been vaulted.
• Chiller Grenade has been vaulted.
• X-4 Stormwing has been vaulted.
• Shopping Kart has been vaulted.
• All Terrain Kart has been vaulted.

Spring is just around the corner, so wintery weapons like the Chiller Grenade being removed makes sense.

And the last couple of patches have featured nerfs to the X-4 Stormwing, it was obvious they were planning to remove it from the game.

High Tier Assault Rifles

• Reduced the chance of finding a Rare quality Assault Rifle.
• Reduced the chance of finding an Epic quality Assault Rifle.
• Reduced the chance of finding a Legendary quality Assault Rifle.

Having a super rare assault rifle often meant your opponent had no chance to fight back, and that was clearly a gameplay balance issue in Fortnite. So, now it will be much harder to find those high-tier assault rifles, but common/uncommon assault rifle drops have been buffed to compensate.

AR gunfights should feel less one-sided now.

Ping System

Fortnite is borrowing this gameplay mechanic from Apex Legends, and now the game has its own easy-to-use ping system.

The world marker has been improved, and that indicator will change based on where you put it. If you double click the world marker hotkey, or use it while aiming your weapon, it will turn red and indicate danger.

And putting the world marker on an item (or weapon) will now display its icon and rarity.

Limited Time Modes

50v50

• Each team has their own bus. Your bus is blue, and the enemy one is red.
• The map will have a dotted line, which will indicate the “battle line” between both teams. If you cross the line, expect to run into a lot of enemies.
• Farming materials, chests, and ammo crates have been increased.

50v50 is back! This is Fortnite’s version of a big team battle, and it sure is a lot of fun.

And make sure to stay near your teammates; otherwise, you risk getting attacked by a pack of 20 (or more) enemies.

Close Encounters

• Everybody starts with their own jetpack.
• Shotguns are the only available guns.
• The Storm will move quicker in the mid to late game.

Nothing like having an aerial shotgun battle!

Other Changes

Those are all the significant battle royale mode updates in Fortnite Patch V8.00, but there were also some big changes to the Creative and Save The World game modes.

Creative has received a bunch of new prefabs, and the Creative Island game menu has been improved.

Save The World has a new hero loadout system, plus eight new heroes have been added as well.

Please be sure to check out the official patch notes to get more details about all the changes.