Fortnite update brings weapon sidegrading and heavy assault rifle

Following scheduled downtime, Epic Games has revealed what new features have been bundled into Fortnite in the latest update.  

The key new inclusion is sidegrading which allows players in non-competitive playlists to ‘sidegrade’ weapons like the Assault Rifle into a Heavy Assault Rifle at upgrade stations.  

While that’s the only ‘sidegrade’ mentioned by Epic, it’s assumed more weapons will be compatible with the new function down the line.  

The new update also introduces reduced material costs for upgrading weapons, and the addition of the Flint-Knock Pistol, Shockwave Grenade and Impulse Grenade in the Battle Lab.  

You can check out the full patch notes for update 11.40 below. 

Fortnite has introduced sidegrading (Picture: Fortnite) 

Patch notes

• Introducing Sidegrading: the Heavy Assault Rifle returns. 

• In non-competitive playlists, you can now use Upgrade Machines to “Sidegrade” your Assault Rifle into a Heavy Assault Rifle.  

• Reduced material costs for upgrading weapons at Upgrade Machines. 

• Added the following items to Battle Lab: 

• Flint-Knock Pistol (Common and Uncommon) 

• Shockwave Grenade 

• Impulse Grenade 

• The iPad Pro (2018 release) now supports 120 FPS. 

• Clickable thumbstick buttons (L3 and R3) are now usable on supported iOS controllers.

 
Bug fixes: 
  

• Players’ Star Wars Achievements have returned to the Legacy timeline. 

• Resolved an issue involving the “F” key not enabling proper movement after direction was remapped to it. 

• Resolved an issue involving editing quickly causing players to remain in Edit mode. 

• Falling into a Hideout no longer causes the Bolt-Action Sniper Rifle’s crosshairs to disappear. 

• Resolved an issue involving the “Visit different bus stops in a single match” Remedy vs. Toxin Challenge not tracking progress for some bus stops. 

• The Spectrum Contrail again changes colors while in motion. 

• Continued to make improvements regarding FPS drops and hitching on mobile devices.  

• Resolved an issue involving mobile players getting stuck in a loop on the Select Fire Mode screen. 

• Resolved an issue involving console players being unable to progress through the gifting process if they did not have Two-Factor Authentication enabled.