Fortnite update 15.10: early patch notes, downtime details

Epic Games has confirmed the first update of Fortnite Season 5, patch v15.10, is all set to arrive this week, kicking off this year’s “Winterfest” festivities. Here’s all the details we have so far, including early patch notes, and more.

Fortnite’s fifth season arrived with a resounding bang ⁠— possibly made by beating Galactus at the end of the Marvel season ⁠— and changed the battle royale all over again.

Players have had a few weeks to play around in the new “Zero Point” world, and now it’s time for a changeup again; here’s everything we know about update v15.10 so far, starting with all the details on Fortnite’s impending patch downtime.

When is Fortnite update v15.10 coming?

Epic Games has officially locked in the v15.10 update for Tuesday, December 15. Downtime is expected to begin at 4am ET (9am UTC, 9am BST, 6pm AEST).

This update will be “larger than normal” for players who have high-resolution textures installed (approximately 23GB bigger). This is due to a new Performance Mode being added to the battle royale on PC in the planned December 15 patch.

Expect a lengthy downtime for the v15.10 patch. Fortnite matchmaking will be disabled 20-25 minutes before the new Chapter 2 Season 5 update.

Fortnite update v15.10 early notes

Winterfest arrives as “Operation: Snowdown”

Christmas is here, and that means that Fortnite’s festive event, “Winterfest,” is on its way back too! The December celebrations bring new skins, items, cosmetics, and more.

This time around, the wintery event has been dubbed “Operation: Snowdown,” according to the Fortnite developers in the unofficial v15.10 patch notes. There will be new quests, items, fan-favorite LTMs, and plenty more over Christmas.

Of course, the biggest reason to participate in the Fortnite holiday event is for the challenges that instantly reward players with all sorts of goods. This year is no different, with Epic offering players a chance to earn a range of Christmas cosmetics, including two exclusive skins.

• Read more: Fortnite bringing back planes in Winterfest Holiday update

Dataminer ‘HypeX’ previously found a link with a Snowman NPC, which was later revealed to be called “Snowmando,” and found that it “grants you a quest” in-game. HypeX said that the NPC can have conversations, explode, and spawn loot. This information has been confirmed by Epic and “Snowmando” will be providing players with quests, items, and brand new LTMs.

It was also leaked that the 14 Days of Fortnite event will introduce a new “Christmas Flopper” consumable that players will be able to find for some extra stats.

The Christmas Flopper is expected to heal players 15hp at a time and players should be able to stack five of them in one inventory slot.

Finally, Fortnite dataminers have revealed Epic are preparing to unvault planes, and that they will bring the vehicles back for the upcoming holiday update.

Fortnite leaker Twea shared that new files were added to the game sometime during the Season 5 patch, highlighting the addition of the “Santa Biplane” vehicle in particular.

“Winter Airplanes have been added In v15.00,” they explained, “Planes will be making a return this holiday.”

New settings options in v15.10

Based on player-requested feedback, Fortnite has added new options to toggle Pre-Edits “on” or “off.” When Pre-Edits are off, new builds will also appear in un-edited states.

Epic has also added a hefty helping of next-gen improvements too; v15.10 added a “120FPS mode” that offers up a “buttery smooth framerate.” This option is available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and Xbox Series S (capped at 1080p).

v15.10 adds two new Fortnite guns

The new Fortnite patch is adding two new weapons for players to get their hands on for Christmas; Mancake’s Cowboy Repeater Rifle and the fiery Dragon’s Breath Sniper.

• Read more: Fortnite leak reveals huge aim assist changes coming soon

The first, the Cowboy Repeater Rifle, can be found around the island, and “combines a rapid shooting style with dead-eye accuracy.”

The second gun is the Dragon’s Breath Sniper, a weapon that can only be purchased from the new “fire-loving” NPC, Blaze. It’s worth noting that this exotic weapon will cost you quite a few gold bars to purchase, so make sure you’ve got plenty saved up.

New LTM: “Spy Within”

Finally, Fortnite is adding a new limited-time mode, “Spy Within,” during v15.10. The new playlist will pit a team of Spies against a team of secret Agents. The Agents will need to complete objectives while the spies are there to cause mayhem without being spotted. The two teams must “not act sus,” or players will find themselves voted off the island!

Fortnite v15.10 bug fixes

As per usual, the Fortnite team has also added a number of bugs and issues to their official Trello board. This week’s patch has a stack of fixes included for battle royale, Save the World, and even a few for the new Fortnite Crew mode.

Here is the full list of bug fixes coming in v15.10:

General

• High sensitivity/acceleration on Xbox consoles when using keyboard and mouse.
• Multiple actions’ names are missing from the Custom Controller settings.

Fortnite Crew

• “There was a problem” error when joining Fortnite Crew on PlayStation.
• Fortnite Crew button missing on PlayStation after joining.
• Incorrect message when cancelling Fortnite Crew on a different platform.
• Fortnite Crew “time remaining” timer may appear off by a day.

Battle Royale

• Quests wrongly marked as “New.”
• Big Chuggus’ Character Collection tab lists an extra third location.
• Fishing Collection Book leaderboard and friend progress not visible.
• Widow’s Light Back Bling not visible on PC with Effects set to Low.
• Certain NPCs are granting Storm Surge credit when damaged in Arena.
• Total Bars may rarely appear as “0” in a match.
• Rebooted players may see an already completed Bounty.
• Matchmaking doesn’t start if unreadied player leaves early.

Save the World

• Husks can damage mission objectives through structures.

So, there you have it! That’s our early patch notes with all the changes & fixes planned for Fortnite’s first Season 5 update. Once the official v15.01 details are released and added to the game, we’ll be the first to let you know.