Fortnite Battle Royale takes to the skies with jetpacks
Like in that Elton John song
Jetpacks have arrived in Fortnite Battle Royale as Epic continue to patch their free-to-play last-man-dancing shooter, letting lucky packfinders soar into the skies then unceremoniously splat down into the ground because oh god this is my first time with a jetpack does it have limited fuel oh no. Epic say jetpacks are "The first of a new item type, Backpacks" so I imagine we'll get to strap more things to ourselves in future. How about a papoose so we can literally carry a less-skilled squadmate?
The version 4.2 update boshed in jetpacks yesterday. Nab one and it'll let you whoosh into the sky by jumping when in mid-air. Or they seem just as useful for going down, letting you interrupt a deadly descent with bursts of thrust. You can shoot while jetpacking but not in the proper aimed stance, so you'll be a bit shonky. One of the downsides of flying through the sky dangling from futuretech, eh? Jetpacks do have limited charge, recharging when not in use, and if you run out when high up... well, it's been nice knowing you.
Jetpacks are Legendary rarity, found in treasure chests, and take up an inventory slot.
Also, the jetpack looks like a little robot who's wearing a baseball cap and going out their gourd listening to banging tunes coming through the jetheadphones.
Jetpacks will be all over in the 'Close Encounters' event mode, which starts on Friday. It focuses on jetpacks and shotguns, removing all other guns, to send people whooshing all over and blasting and dang, that sounds fun.
In the meantime, the update has brought back the 'Solid Gold' event mode, where all weapon drops are Legendary. Shotguns and assault rifles have reduced drop rates too, hopefully leading to daft bombastic battles with the big guns. Or Handcannons, if you're unlucky. Consumables and building materials drop more too.
See the Fortnite version 4.2 patch notes for more on everything.
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