Fortnite Season 5: what you need to know to get started

New modes: LEGO, Rocket Racing and Fortnite Festival

Fortnite’s last update brought with it a bunch of great new user-generated content and a new menu that allows you to access all of it.

The latest update puts new first-party modes front and centre that completely change the experience all over again.

In addition to your fave Battle Royale modes, Fortnite now features a few new modes: LEGO, Rocket Racing and the much-loved Fortnite Festival.

LEGO Fortnite allows you to take on the skin of your favourite Master Builder and explore a new mode focussed on crafting and survival in an open world. Collect resources, build huge structures and fight monsters across the LEGO Fortnite island.

Importantly, it isn’t Battle Royale with LEGO figures. Instead, it’s centred around the adventure of building. This makes it great for parents with younger kids who want to play Fortnite in a safe environment. Fortnite even has a full guide for parents on what to expect from the new LEGO mode.

For those who love Fortnite’s vehicles, you’re about to get a much faster experience with Rocket Racing.

Developed in conjunction with Psyonix – publishers of Rocket League – Fortnite Rocket Racing is a new game mode that allows you to zip around the island in awesome new vehicles. Think Speed Racer meets Rocket League on the Fortnite island and you’re there!

And finally, there’s Fortnite Festival. Fortnite has long been a place where the world’s biggest artists can stage massive virtual performances for players to run around inside and check out. From Travis Scott to The Weeknd, they’ve all performed on the Fortnite island.

Fortnite Festival is a new collaboration with Harmonix – publishers of the amazing Rock Band series – that sees players focus on music and rhythm to actually play along with these incredible artists. Artists confirmed for Fortnite Festival so far include The Weeknd, Lady Gaga and Linkin Park.

New map: places to check out

Of course, those who are looking to dive out of the Battle Bus for their fave Battle Royale can still enjoy what makes Fortnite great. Only this time, there’s a brand new island full of new landmarks.

There’s the Ritzy Riviera marina to the West, the Hazy Hillside village in the mountains and the beautiful Grand Glacier Hotel in the snow biome.

There’s also a new train which you can ride around the map. Don’t get caught out at the stations, though: the train is known to attract a lot of loud attention from other players.

Boss battles: why they matter

Fortnite has had “boss” NPCs for some time, but now they’re all linked by the shadowy “Society” organisation.

There are five new bosses spread around the island for you to battle. There’s Oscar, Nisha, Montague, Valeria and (strangely) buff Peter Griffin from the Family Guy series.

Each boss holds a Society Medallion, and the more you hold in a game, the faster your shield regenerate. But holding one makes you a target: marking you on the minimap for other players to find. The more medallions you have, the easier you are to find.

Make sure you take a full compliment of shield and buffs into the battles, as each boss is well-shielded and comes complete with their own goons who will fire on you as soon as they see you.

All new weapons and mods galore

Weapons have been given a huge overhaul in this update. There are two new ARs, two new SMGs, and a sniper rifle to top it all off.

And each of these weapons can be upgraded mid-game with mods. Boss vaults now contain new mod benches which allow you to boost the stats and equipment attached to your weapon in exchange for the gold bars you pick up around the map.

Some weapons come automatically modded, and you’ll get more mods with the increasing “rarity” of the weapon.

There’s also a ballistic shield which comes equipped with its own pistol. The shield soaks up damage from enemy players, but take too much and you’ll be stunned, and vulnerable to counter-attack.

New ways to get around

Racing around isn’t restricted to its own mode, either. There’s a new luxury SUV called the Pathfinder, as well as the Scorpion supercar.

If you’d rather walk, however, it’s going to look better than ever thanks to new animations.

And there’s a new way to “hurdle” through windows, too. That means getting the jump on your opponents just got way more interesting!

Check out all the new info on Fortnite: Chapter 5, Season 1 on the Fortnite blog.