Latest Fortnite Battle Royale patch adds new impulse grenade, 4K on Xbox One X

Epic Games continues the red-hot pace of patches to Fortnite, and the latest patch brings another new weapon to its Battle Royale mode.

The impulse grenade is less an explosive 'splode,' more like a pulse bomb that sticks to a surface and then sends your opponents flying into the air.

It's one way to clear out a base, anyway. It's blue in rarity and can only be found in chests and supply drops.

Xbox One X owners may be pleased to know that the patch also adds 4K resolution to Fortnite, as well as "dynamic resolution" to keep the frame rate steady when things get heated.

Dynamic resolution gives more consistent framerate during heavy combat and increases visual fidelity when load on the GPU is lighter.

The map also gets some mild love in the v2.5.0 patch as well, with thematic shrines being dotted about as new places to loot. They look a little bit like an extension of the small towers you already find, so don't expect much from them, but the graphic above teases you should find a chest or two.

Some tweaks have been made to the existing weapons, too, with the scoped AR, in particular, getting a decent look in. It's now perfectly accurate while scoped in, with the side effect of headshot damage dropping from 250% to 200%.

There's also changes to the tactical SMG, with a larger clip and firing rate, the revolver now uses medium ammo and all variants of the regular (and awful) SMG being removed from the game entirely.

The chances of the Chug Jug, minigun and crossbow dropping have also been decreased, and there's a ton of fixes and improvements. One that quietly slipped in that many players will be happy to see is the inclusion of above and below sounds for footsteps on wood, metal and stone materials. Essentially meaning that you're able to drop in Tilted Towers and figure out where everyone else is in relation to you.

Great stuff.

The patch is rolling out now and there will be some server downtime while it completes. After that, it's back on the Battle Bus! Find out more and the full patch notes over on the Epic Games blog.

Richard Devine
Managing Editor - Tech, Reviews

Richard Devine is a Managing Editor at Windows Central with over a decade of experience. A former Project Manager and long-term tech addict, he joined Mobile Nations in 2011 and has been found on Android Central and iMore as well as Windows Central. Currently, you'll find him steering the site's coverage of all manner of PC hardware and reviews. Find him on Mastodon at mstdn.social/@richdevine