Surprise Fortnite patch 15.40.1 unvaults Hand Cannon and adds new LTM

Daniel Megarry
Fortnite Hand Cannon

A surprise v15.40.1 update for Fortnite has replaced a popular weapon with a vaulted classic, and also introduced a brand new LTM called Comeback.

There have been plenty of updates throughout Season 5 of Epic Games’ hit battle royale Fortnite, bringing in new hunters like Predator, original POIs like Kit’s Cantina, and Exotic Weapons like the healing Chug Cannon.

Usually, these quasi-weekly Fortnite updates get announced in advance by Epic themselves, but not even leakers saw the latest Season 5 hotfix coming, which came as a last-minute reveal from Fortnite’s official Twitter account.

Fortnite Chapter 2 Season 5
Season 5 of Fortnite just got a surprise v15.40.1 update.

Fortnite unvaults Hand Cannon pistol

The Fortnite v15.40.1 hotfix launched on February 23, 2021, at 10 AM ET, and brought an old favorite out of the vault and back to the loot pool on The Island.

Players can now find the Hand Cannon in Fortnite’s Battle Royale mode for the first time in over a year.

In its Rare variant, the weapon deals 75 Damage with a x2.0 headshot multiplier and 60 DPS. It has a fire rate of 0.8, a magazine size of 7, and a reload time of 2.1 seconds.

Hopefully you had a chance to enjoy the Flint-Knock pistol; the explosive weapon was only unvaulted last week in the v15.40 patch update, but it’s just been sent straight back into the vault by Epic to make way for the Hand Cannon.

Fortnite adds new Comeback LTM

Elsewhere, Fortnite players who’ve been craving a new experience from the game will be glad to hear that a brand new LTM called Comeback will be launching later this week in Squads format.

The previously leaked LTM grants each player five lives at the start of the match, and each time they die, the weapons that spawn for them will get progressively rarer, starting with Common and working up to Legendary.

With Season 5 of Fortnite coming to an end on March 15, 2021, it’s expected that there will be just one more update on the way. This will be v15.50, and leakers are predicting it will drop on March 2, 2021.

About The Author

Daniel graduated from university with a degree in Journalism and English Language, before spending five years at GAY TIMES covering LGBTQ+ news and entertainment. He then made the switch to video game journalism where he produces news, features, and guides for Pokemon, Fortnite, Nintendo, and PlayStation games. Daniel also has a passion for any games with queer representation.