Fortnite v9.40 update adds new Tactical Shotgun rarities, Kevin the Cube floating islands and Birthday Brigade Jonesy

News by Lauren Aitken Former Guides Writer

Published on July 17, 2019

The Cattus vs Doggus in-game event starts later this week in Fortnite, so let's take a look at the last big update of Season 9.

The giant robot is almost finished and the countdown clock at Neo Tilted shows there are only three more days to go until the big fight on July 20 at 7 pm BST/ 11 am PT/ 2 pm ET.

The latest update adds the Epic and Legendary variants of the Tactical Shotgun to Fortnite, and the Suppressed Bolt-Action Sniper Rifle has been Vaulted for the time being.

The Solo Xbox Cup tournament goes live on July 20 - 21 and will have a $1 million cash prize pool. There's also the Squads Cash Cup with a similar prize pool that will run on July 21. You can see more details about both in the patch notes below.

Creative gets Kevin the Cube's floating islands this week and the Ball Spawner, which lets you add physics-based balls to your world to create new game types and player interactions.

Celebrate Fortnite's second birthday in Save the World with a new birthday-themed quest and hero, Birthday Brigade Jonesy. His perk is Survivalist, where eliminations heal you for 39 base Health over 3 seconds.

There are also new birthday llamas you can smash you get loot.

Remember, the 14 Days of Summer challenges are still live, so jump in to get more summer-themed rewards.

Fortnite Battle Royale

Weapons and items

New Epic and Legendary Tactical Shotgun.
83 / 87 maximum damage.
1.5 shots per second.
Holds 8 shells.
Headshot multiplier of 2.25.
Available from Floor Loot, Chests, Supply Drops, Loot Carriers, and Vending Machines.
Semi-Auto Sniper Rifle now has reduced zoom while scoped.
This is a Quality of Life change to help improve the usability and feel of this weapon.
Combat Shotgun changes
Reduced Headshot multiplier from 1.7 to 1.5.
Reduced the long range effectiveness of the Combat Shotgun
Reduced the falloff curve ranges from:
2.44 tiles (unchanged)
4.88 tiles to 4.39 tiles.
9.77 tiles to 6.84 tiles.
19.53 tiles to 11.72 tiles.
After observing recent changes to damage falloff, we decided to further reduce its long range effectiveness and alter the curve to fall a bit more in line with other shotguns but still retain its unique flavor.
Vaulted
Suppressed Bolt-Action Sniper Rifle
Epic and Legendary variants.
Unvaulted
Bolt-Action Sniper Rifle
Rare, Epic, and Legendary variants.
Drum Shotgun now has the correct environmental damage falloff.
Fixed a bug in which a Launch Pad couldn’t be destroyed by a pickaxe.

Gameplay

Picking up an item that fills a stack and creates an overflow will no longer result in the currently equipped item being dropped.
Instead of causing the currently equipped weapon to be dropped, the overflow will be dropped.
Players will now automatically pick up a consumable if it is already in their inventory and not maxed out.
If the auto pickup fills a stack, the overflow will be dropped.
A new Glider and Harvesting Tool have been added for Save the World Founder's Pack owners.
Bug Fixes
Fixed an issue involving Supply Drone Boxes not being visible after players shoot down the Supply Drone.
Supply Drones no longer remain stationary after getting stuck for too long.
Changed Invert “Aircraft Keyboard Controls” to “Invert Airborne Keyboard Controls” in the Options menu to reflect the fact that airborne land vehicles’ controls become inverted in the air.
Fixed some edge cases involving damage number display rounding down for some shotgun hits.
Blueprint doors now consistently render when players are building.
Players can now pick up items more easily when standing on top of them.
Foot controllers now properly allow players to rotate the next and previous weapon.
Bushes no longer block players from being healed by a Chug Splash.
If a player using a Shadow Bomb enters a vehicle, the Shadow Bomb effect will no longer remain active after the effect should have ended.
The Chug Splash now properly auto-sorts to the rightmost inventory slot when picked up, like other consumables.
Fixed an issue in which players would experience abnormally slow gliding after using a Rift-to-Go.
Consumables associated with a bar (Shield Potion, Med Kit, etc.) are now consistently usable by players riding a Zipline.
Fixed a rare issue involving Shadow Bombs not allowing for wall jumps at certain angles.
Players can no longer wall jump off of the corn fields while using a Shadow Bomb.
Players can no longer wall jump off of Slipstreams while using a Shadow Bomb.
Fixed an issue in which the rings for Fortbytes 4, 67, 70, and 89 would not appear even though the player was wearing the correct cosmetic.
To prevent players from exploiting the Deep Dab emote, it now has a delay before players are able to shoot after starting it.
Fixed an issue in which damage done to shields was causing the VFX to appear larger than normal, blocking players’ vision.
Foot Controller support improvements
Switched over to use dead zone and max throttle end points.
Better vehicle controls for Quad Crasher.

Competitive

New Tournament: Xbox Cup (July 20th & 21st) [$1,000,000 in Cash Prizes!]
Solo Game Mode
This tournament is open to all players on Xbox One and does not require reaching any division in Arena.
The prize pool will be distributed across all server regions, with official rules and details released later this week. Check the tournament inside the game client for exact times.
Format:
July 20th - Round One: All Eligible Players
July 21st - Round Two: Top 1500 Players from Round One
New Tournament: Squads Cash Cup (July 21st) [$1,000,000 in Cash Prizes!]
Squads Game Mode
Participation in this event requires players to have reached Champion League in Arena play prior to the start of the event.
The prize pool will be distributed across all server regions, with official rules and details released later this week. Check the tournament inside the game client for exact times.
Format:
Single Day Tournament - July 21st
Round One: All Eligible Players
Round Two: Top 100 Squads from Round One
Players can now choose a flag to display on their career profile.
This flag can be selected and changed from a player’s profile.
After changing or selecting their flag, players cannot change flags again for 30 days.
A player’s flag is visible to others when visiting a player’s profile and on tournament leaderboards.
For teams of two or more players, the flag chosen by the majority of the team will be displayed. If there is no majority, the globe flag will be displayed.
We are launching with an initial set of 37 total flags. Any additional flags added in the future will be announced in future updates.

Performance

Improved server performance of Zipline.
Improved client performance of Chug Jug.
Optimized the way pickaxes are spawned to reduce the chance of loading issues during the initial skydive landing.

Audio

Improved enemy footstep volume consistency, and changed volume falloff to logarithmic to make the sound diminish more naturally.
Decreased volume of a few sounds:
Chug Splash explosion.
Proximity Launcher explosion.
Ambient hum of the Slipstream platforms.
Added a wall impact audio layer for close quarters combat as an additional warning that an enemy is shooting a structure you’re on the opposite side of.
Wood/stone/metal bullet impacts are no longer silent on Mobile/Switch.
Revolver equip sound is no longer silent on Mobile/Switch.

Escape Menu & Social Panel updates:
The input action that would bring up either the Escape Menu or Social Panel will now bring up both of them in the lobby and while in a match.
A third tab has been added to the Social Panel. It contains all voice chat-related functionalities.
The Escape Menu and Top Bar received a visual update.

Mobile

Added new Edit From Touch setting to enable/disable editing from touches (defaulted to enabled).
Bluetooth microphones have been enabled to support voice chat.
The emote wheel buttons are now bigger.
Air Strike shots no longer create large polygonal outlines.
Fixed an issue involving Pump and Combat Shotguns not correctly firing while Auto-Fire is selected.
Resolved voice chat issues when joining another player’s party.
The chest located in the Neo Tilted hotel is now openable.
Live spectating on mobile will display the spectator's UI.
Players no longer remain logged into their account when they close the game.
Wallet in the Lifetime Refund Screen will now correctly display.
Leaving the “Show Help” open in the Warm Up stage won’t cause the Button to remain present during the match.
The "Tournament Region" text in the Compete tab is bigger.
Map Marker HUD Layout won’t be displayed when in the Battle Bus.
Emote HUD Layout will be displayed only in vehicles where it is possible to emote.
Players will be able to rotate cosmetics when using a touchpad.
The proper SFX will be played when equipping the Revolver.
Graphical improvement on the Wonder outfit while playing the Llama Bell emote.
Storm Eye Glider and Storm Bolt Harvesting Tool will display proper VFX.
Graphical improvement of the Flutter outfit.
Graphical improvement on the String Lights contrail.
Lantern contrail will display properly in-game.

Fortnite Creative

Islands

Published islands no longer rotate 180 degrees on the mini-map causing the lighting to be inconsistent.

Gameplay

Updated My Island settings
Added new option to Environment Damage
Player Built Only - during a game, players can damage player-built structures (wood, stone, metal) which have been built during map creation while in a game.
Added Building Damage option
Determines who has the ability to damage player-built structures built during a game.
All, Self Built, Team Built, Enemy Built, Enemy & Self Built, None (Default: All)
Added new options to Max Resources
10,000, 50,000, 99,999
Player-built structures can be edited prior to placing when Environment Damage settings are active.
Players will no longer experience jump fatigue when the Jump Fatigue setting is set to Off.
Unmanned vehicles will no longer phase through objects.
Coins collected during a game do not appear while in Create mode during the same Creative session.
The coins remain interactable and appear in subsequent game starts.

Weapons and items

New Epic and Legendary Tactical Shotgun.
83 / 87 maximum damage.
1.5 shots per second.
Holds 8 shells.
Headshot multiplier of 2.25.

Creative tools and phone

Geyser from the Air Vent Gallery can now be interacted with correctly when using the Phone.

Prefabs and galleries

Added the Kevin Crater to the Air Vent Gallery.
Added Ice Cream to the Consumables Gallery.
Added the Soccer Goal to the Sports Gallery.
Added the Pizza Pete Picture Frame and Wood Shavings to the No Collision Gallery.
Added an additional tree to the Haunted Hills Nature Gallery.
Added Blue Counters to the Diners Prop Gallery.
Added more Ground Floors to Grass & Dirt Galleries A & B.
Added more Sidewalks to Street Gallery B.
Castle Banners can once again be destroyed while Environment Damage is OFF.
Fixed the trash bag from clipping through the Paradise Palms steps.
Bushes in the Indestructible Gallery are no longer destroyed by player building.
Health bar no longer appears when copying the Bush in the Desert Nature Gallery.
The Pueblo Trio Prefab now has the correct grid placement.
The Kevin Cube Gallery now has two different Cube versions.
Replaced some ceiling tiles in the Mega Mall Prefab.
Fixed Cliff Gallery assets which were auto-destroying themselves when exiting the Phone.
Prefab Grenades now explode on impact instead of bouncing.

Devices

Increased the number of available Trigger channels to 24 and the number of available Receivers to 30.
Added Ball Spawner device.
Spawns a ball with physics properties.
Size: Sets the size of the ball being spawned.
Small, Medium, Large, Super (Default: Medium)
Type: Sets the physical properties of the ball.
Default, Light, Heavy, Slick, Sport.
Player Force Multiplier: Determines how much force the player will apply when hitting the ball.
None, Low, Medium, High (Default: Medium)
Player Knockback Amount: Determines how much force will be applied to the player when they are hit by the ball.
None, Low, Medium, High (Default: None)
Respawn Delay: Determines how long the device will wait before spawning a new ball after the previous one has been destroyed.
None, 0.5 seconds, 1 second, 2 seconds, 3 seconds, 5 seconds (Default 3 seconds)
Gravity: Determines whether the ball is affected by gravity.
Off, On (Default: On)
Eliminate Player When Touched: Controls whether a player is eliminated when the ball touches them.
Off, On (Default: Off)
Added Prop-O-Matic Manager device.
Controls Prop-O-Matic behavior and Prop Hunt game and UI settings.
Show Props Remaining: Yes, No
Prop Ping Frequency: Determines the length of time between forced audio pings from players hidden as props.
Off, 10 seconds, 15 seconds, 30 seconds (Default: 15 seconds)
Add new options to Player Spawn Device.
Enabled During Phase: Determines when the device is active.
Disabled, Enabled, Warm-Up Only, Gameplay Only (Default: Enabled)
Added Receivers to Disable and Enable the device.
Added new options to the Explosive Device - the following options apply only to Badge style Health Bars.
Team Visibility: Determines which teams can see the device’s Health Bar.
Any, 1-16, All Hostile, All Neutral, All Friendly (Default: Any)
Friendly Icon Text: Determines the text that is displayed on the Health Bar if the device is considered friendly.
Neutral Icon Text: Determines the text that is displayed on the Health Bar if the device is considered neutral.
Enemy Icon Text: Determines the text that is displayed on the Health Bar if the device is considered a hostile.
HUD Text Size: Determines the size of the Icon Text/Health Value displayed.
1x, 1.5x, 2x (Default: 1x)
Added new option to Capture Area Device.
Player Capture Item Filter: Determines whether a player requires the registered item in their inventory to be able to score points by standing in the Capture Area.
On, Off (Default: Off)
Only relevant when Player Capture is On.

Added option to Enable/Disable the Ground Fog particle effect.
Changed the default option for Grant on Respawn in the Team Settings Device to OFF so that by default it will not remove all items from a player’s inventory when they respawn.
Applying settings to a Player Spawn device no longer prevents players from spawning on the plate properly.
The Mounted Turret device won’t destroy the attached floor after a game, which would sometimes cause mass island destruction when the Turret was on a floor piece providing critical structural support.
Objects will no longer disappear when returning to the Hub then going back into an island.
Fixed issues with the Beacon Device:
Beacon now hides correctly during pre-game phase if set to Gameplay Only.
Beacon now hides correctly after game end.
Objective Devices set to Team 16 will now destroy other Objective Devices within their blast radius.
Fixed a number of issues associated with the Prop-O-Matic.
Prop orientation for the disguised player should now match the orientation seen by other players.
Players can no longer turn into floating islands using the Prop-O-Matic.
Switching weapons while an object is highlighted with the Prop-O-Matic no longer causes the object to remain highlighted after the switch.
The ‘Exit’ UI prompt will now be displayed while in prop mode.
Fixed an issue where incorrect button prompts would be shown when disguised in Fly Mode on mobile devices.
Correct health values will be displayed when transforming into certain props.
Disguised players will remain visible if their prop was destroyed by an Explosive Device.
Bush consumable no longer remains visible when a player transforms into a prop.
The ‘Lock in Place’ button prompt no longer appears as ‘Unbound’ on consoles and mobile.
Players can no longer transform into the Target Dummy Track or Vehicle Spawner devices with the Prop-O-Matic.
The Prop-O-Matic now has the correct number of rarity stars.
Fixed an issue on mobile devices where the Phone Tool UI would appear when a disguised player was hit by a Boogie Bomb.
Players can transform into large props from any viewpoint.
Uneven terrain no longer prevents players from changing into certain props.
Fixed an issue where players would jitter while standing near the Creative Hub Rift while disguised as a prop.

UI and social

Added descriptions to Ignore Team for Damage and Ignore Team for Proximity options on the Explosive Device to clarify how they affect team affiliation for HUD purposes.
Spawns Left will display correctly on scoreboard.
Fixed "Number of Hiders" Prop Hunt UI showing up outside of games.
Fixed typo in 'Allow Items to be Dropped' setting in Game Settings tab.
Fixed text error in Requires Line of Sight descriptions in Beacon Device and Explosive Device.

Mobile

The Edit Tool will correctly highlight Arctic Base parts.
The Storm Controller Device is no longer missing a blueprint preview when players hover over it with the Phone.
Instructions on how to "Change Destination" on Rift Waypoint will be displayed.

Fortnite Save the World

Missions and systems

Quests, missions alerts, and daily login rewards will now grant X-Ray Tickets instead of V-Bucks to players who are non founders. Paid Founders will not be affected by this change.
Celebrate Fortnite’s second birthday with these sweet Birthday Quests:
Earn the new Birthday Brigade Jonesy Hero by completing a quest to eliminate Cake Sploders in successful missions. Be careful to avoid their exploding pastries!
Earn Summer Tickets by collecting delicious-looking birthday cakes in successful missions. This quest is repeatable, so eat up!
Hero Loadouts have been added as rewards for completing Storm Shield Defense 10 in Stonewood, Plankerton, Canny Valley, and Twine Peaks.
We teased a feature that’s coming over the course of Season 10… Take a look!
Time Cheats will now spawn more reliably in Wargames.
Traps no longer visually persist after their durability runs out in Wargames.
Bad traps will be cleared every time the Storm Shield is entered.
Sound now correctly plays when standing near the edge of a Storm Shield.
Acid Pools now display correctly when the Acid Pool Mutator is active.
The Hexed statues in the Hexed Wargames Simulation no longer pop out of visibility.

The Event popup menu in the quest tab now scales properly for all resolutions.
Bug Fixes and Adjustments
Storage in the Armory now shows 5 items per line again instead of 3.
The ‘Equip’ button will now display properly on the Backpack screen if using hotkeys to swap out weapons.
The inventory screen was showing the wrong item details in some situations.
Text was flickering in the storm shield menu in some languages.
Transform keys now display correctly if players have 1000+ keys.
Fixed an issue when inspecting an X-Ray Llama to show the correct options.
Wargame Simulation and Challenge boxes now have scrolling sounds when selecting them while using a controller.
Incorrect text rewards would display if the skip button was pressed after leveling up on the Victory Screen.
The commander xp screen during the mission rewards cycle now properly displays banners on console.
Inspecting currency earned from Llamas will now show the amount of currency gained instead of the total amount of currency owned.
Mission Rewards list arrows were not updating immediately, leading to some cases where it was showing at inappropriate times.
Removed an extra prompt from some notifications such as friend requests received in zone.
The top of the scroll bar in the Llama reward screen is now draggable.

Performance

Improved performance of the in-game mission objective UI.
Improved performance when changing tabs in the Schematic menu.
Removed some hitches that were occuring during tutorial dialogs.
Removed a hitch while going into the Save the World map for the first time.

Heroes

We’ve added a new birthday-themed Hero!
Birthday Brigade Jonesy is all about survival… and cake sprinkles. He seems to really enjoy sprinkles.
Standard Perk: Survivalist
Eliminations heal you for 39 base Health over 3 seconds. Duration refreshes with additional eliminations.
Commander Perk: Survivalist+
Eliminations heal you for 117 base Health over 3 seconds. Duration refreshes with additional eliminations.
Earn Birthday Brigade Jonesy by completing the new Sploding Husks quest.
8-Bit Demo returns to the Event Store!
Standard Perk: Enduring Machine
After ability cast, weapons lose 40% less Durability for the next 2 uses.
Commander Perk: Enduring Machine+
After ability cast, weapons lose 40% less Durability for the next 6 uses.
Available in the Event Store starting July 17 at 8 PM Eastern Time.
Fossil Southie is now eligible for an item reset.
This is due to the issue in v9.30 which caused the Saurian Focus perk to grant the same bonus as the Commander Perk even when slotted in a non-Commander Slot.
The Hero Perks Mad Tidings and Start Up were not properly resetting upon weapon overheat.
The Hero Perk Enduring Machine was not working correctly for melee weapons.
Commander Perks Cascade and Fan of Stars now work correctly.
Fire sound effects persisted after using Dragon Slash while using the Fire of the Dragon Hero Perk.
The Fourth of July heroes can be retired and now take up inventory space.

Weapons and items

Smash 2nd Year Birthday Llamas to celebrate a year worth of loot!
The new 2nd Year Birthday Llama is available in the Loot tab of the Save the World Store for 1000 summer tickets.
The Birthday Llama is stuffed with the greatest hits of Heroes and weapons from the 2nd year of Fortnite events!
Each Llama contains at least one weapon and one Hero with at least one of those two being a Legendary or Mythic variant.
Available for two weeks, starting July 16 and ending on August 1.
Summer Tickets will not be converted to Birthday Llamas after the Season ends. Any remaining tickets will be converted into Sci-fi Llamas.
Upgrading the Gammatron 9000 from epic to legendary rarity now works correctly.
Defenders now shoot the Boom Bow at the correct fire rate.
Reduced the Boom Bow's displayed fire rate in order to correct the DPS number shown in the UI.
This will not affect the actual fire rate of the Boom Bow.
The Campfire trap now correctly heals any nearby damaged Defenders.
Fixed an issue with traps in Storm Shields not applying their health and healing perks.
Fixed elemental alterations not showing correctly for the following weapon sets:
Flintlock
Medieval
Military
RatRod
Scavenger
Steampunk
The banner gadget no longer permanently colors structures blue.

Gameplay

Corrected an issue with sploder propane tanks rotating back and forth while bouncing.
Defenders will now properly return the weapons they use once a mission is completed.
Allow trap cycling when B.A.S.E. is equipped.
Husks remain illuminatefter being frozen.
Players should no longer appear in the DBNO state during the Victory Screen.

General