Fortnite 8.40 rolls out with new weapons, planes, and more

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Fortnite Air Royale
Take to the skies in Air Royale.
Photo: Epic Games

Planes have returned to Fortnite — but you won’t have to combat them in regular Battle Royale matches.

This week’s update brings a brand new Air Royale game mode, as well as new weapons and lots of big improvements. There’s also a new tournament with a $1 million prize pool.

Take to the skies in Air Royale

If you were one of the few Fortnite players who loved the X-4 Stormwing, you’ll be pleased to know it’s back … for now. You can hop into the new Air Royale game mode and fight to be the last in the sky. And there are free challenges to compete for new wraps.

Air Royale is a duo mode for now. Each plane has three lives, which means you’ll get an opportunity to respawn and rejoin the fight until you lose your plane’s last life. You can also hijack another team’s plan to add its life to yours.

Just make sure you don’t touch the ground; parking your plane will cause it to explode after just a few seconds. You’ll loot up while in the air by grabbing one of the chests that fall from the sky. They’ll contain weapon upgrades as well as a boost for your plane’s guns.

Floating repair kits can also be found. These will heal damaged planes and grant health and shield to you and your teammate.

Food Fight is back

The Food Fight game mode is also returning this week. Like before, it sees two large teams of players fighting to protect their restaurant’s mascot.

The egg launcher is also back to celebrate Easter. It works just like the standard grenade launcher, but with a pretty skin.

This update also introduces two new rarities — epic and legendary — for the infantry rifle. They use medium ammo just like their common siblings, and they deal 42/44 base damage. You’ll find them in chests, supply drops, vending machines, and on the floor.

World Cup Online Open Week 2

A new tournament will take place inside Fortnite over the April 20 weekend. World Cup Online Open Week 2 gives players the opportunity to qualify for the finals in New York City, where they could win a share of the $1 million prize pool.

You’ll need a partner to participate in duo games, and both of you will need to have reached the Champion League in Arena mode. The top performers from each region will quality, and players may only participate in the qualifier for a single server region.

Other changes and improvements

Epic has changed the way XP boost works when you’re playing with friends in the 8.40 update. Rather than granting a small boost to each friend in your party, you’ll now receive a much larger boost for partying up with one or more players.

The overall total XP bonus remains the same at 120%, but it’s much easier to obtain the maximum boost. Play any match with any number of friends and you’ll get the same bonus as someone who’s been playing with a full squad, Epic says.

It seems the only performance improvement in this week’s update is for PCs with less than quad-core CPUs. However, there are improved Baller controls for mobile.

Jump into Fortnite 8.40 today

The complete list of changes in this update is available on the official Fortnite blog.

The 8.40 update is available now across all platforms and you’ll be able to jump in after the downtime is over. However, Epic has warned that the iOS update is still waiting on certification from Apple, so you’ll need to wait a little longer if you play on mobile.

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