The 6 biggest changes in Fortnite Chapter 2 Season 2

The Fortnite Chapter 2 Season 2 biggest changes include new areas on the map, new characters and challenges, and Deadpool’s here! That’s only the start though, on top of the Fortnite patch notes, with a whole new spy theme adding in Vaults, stealth and even ‘deception’ as areas and items belonging to rival factions can be accessed when using disguises. It’s going to take a while to unpack what all this means, especially as some things - like the helicopters in the trailer - don’t seem to be in the game yet. So let’s take a look at what has appeared and what’s on the way.

1. There are new Fortnite Ghost and Shadow factions

It’s not clear exactly who these covert organisations are but they've taken over the island with a range of new secret locations, challenges and NPC bosses and henchmen that are just as capable as taking you down as any player. While their plans for the island aren’t clear yet - its “fate is in your hands” states Epic - it looks like you’ll be able to unlock outfit variants and possibly influence the future of the game. You can also grab some high level gear by taking out operatives on their bases to open special cheats and vaults.

2. There are unique special Agent weapons

Each of the new Agent characters appear both as character skins and mini bosses at certain locations. Defeating one of them will get you an ID card to a vault filled with high level loot, as well as a unique gold tier character weapon:

Brutus’ Minigun
Meowscle’s Peow Peow Rifle
Midas’ Drum Gun
Skye’s Assault Rifle
TNTin’s Ka-Boo Bow

3. There are new faction locations

Of course with each new season comes a host of new points of interest and map changes and season 2 of chapter 2 is no different. There are five new areas specific to the Ghost and Shadow factions on the Fortnite map - the Shark, the Agency, the Rig, the Yacht and Grotto, all of which come with henchmen, Agent bosses, locked chests, ID doors, Fortnite Vaults and security cameras that detect intruders (you).

The Shark

In the top left of the map at B1 you’ll find the Shark, described as “sandy island with a secret base”. Drop here and you’ll find a shark shaped cave and a not so secret base complete with henchmen, loot and security cameras. It's Agent Skye's base, where you can claim her Assault Rifle if you defeat her.

The Agency

A new location in the middle of the island at E4 is called the Agency, and home to Agent Midas, who’s Drum Gun you can take if you kill him. It’s covered in Ghost Insignia so almost certainly forms their base of operations. Like the the Shark it’s a huge base and air vents to creep around it.

The Rig

Located off the coast near Slurpy Swamp in grid B7, The Rig will be an interesting location as it’s off the coast, making it a risk to get on or off. It’s Agent TNTina’s base though, so it might be worth visiting just to claim her Ka-Boo Bow

The Yacht

A large ship, called the yacht, in the top right of the map in grid H1. It’s got Agent Meowscles written all over it with a giant ball of yarn and a litter tray, watched over by a security camera. There’s also a gym with a cat-themed exercise regime on a board. Again, like the Rig it's off the coast, so a risky area to get too and from BUT defeating Meowscles gets you his Peow Peow rifle, a gold AK varient.

The Grotto

You’ll find the Grotto at H5. It’s an underground base most easily accessed by dropping in the big hole on the eastern side of the mountain. You can also get in via an inlet on the coast and a small cave to the south west of Dirty Docks. Inside you’ll find Agent Brutus who you can defeat for his minigun.

4. There's a new lobby with more options

A new Fortnite season always means a new lobby but there’s more than a background change this time as there’s a full base, full of agents and different options to access. Moving from left to right these are as follows:

Agents

The first menu lets you access the five different agents that have arrived in Fortnite Season 2 Chapter 2. So far that’s only Brutus, with the rest unlocking at 14 day intervals. By accessing each agent you’re able to see the challenges you’ll need to complete to access their final Ghost or Shadow faction mission.

Daily Assignment

Your Daily Assignments now appear on a notice board. Little else has changed - it’s still things like eliminations and searching chests, and you can swap out any you don’t like

Challenge Table

In the middle of the screen you’ll find the main challenges displayed on a map. You can filter these between Agent and Maya challenges (Maya being the character you can massively customise this season), ‘suggested’, ‘daily’, ‘style’ and ‘all’, as well as check through your progress.

Battle Pass

Above the Challenge Table you’ll find the good ol’ Battle Pass. Nothing’s changed much here other than the big shiny doors that slide open to reveal it. All your tiered rewards and progress to 100 are shown here.

Deadpool Challenges

Just to the right, in the middle, you’ll find an air vent that leads, inexplicably, to Deadpool’s lair. Inside you’ll find a letter to read about a Deadpool themed Battle Bus, as well as computer to track the Fortnite Deadpool challenges which so far are ‘Read the letter’ and ‘Don't thank the bus driver’.

Upgrade Vault

Top right you’ll find the Upgrade Vault where you can view the challenges and unlocks for Maya. She’s a new highly customisable character you can ‘make your own’ by changing [deep breath] her hair, tattoos, sleeves, boots, collars, vest, helmet, pants, face paint and scarf.

‘Coming Soon’ (Limited time operations)

Quite how the Ghost and Shadow rivalry will play out over Fortnite Chapter 2 Season 2 remains to be seen. But this computer terminal on the far right will be tracking it, and the fate of the island via Limited Time Operations. This is where you’ll choose your allegiance to either team Ghost or team Shadow. We Don't quite know how this will happen yet but the battle pass trailer mentions that during the season we’ll have limited time operations that will change the shape of the island forever. If we had to guess we’d say this will take the form of small things like voting items back into rotation and bigger in-game events.

5. New Fortnite weapons and items

The Fortnite Season 2 Chapter 2 trailer has revealed a range of new weapons and gear, as well as vaulted a few. The Damage Trap, Bolt-Action Sniper Rifle and some rarities of the Rocket Launcher and SMG are gone. While the unvaulted stuff stuff includes:

Boom Bow
Heavy Sniper Rifle
Remote Explosives
Grappler
Drum Gun
Sword

You can also get special rare variants of certain weapons from defeated henchmen:

Suppressed Assault Rifle
Suppressed Submachine Gun
Suppressed Sniper Rifle
Suppressed Pistol
Minigun

Other notable additions include a box which acts like slightly less conspicuous version the old bushes when used against anything other than henchmen. There’s also a Sneaky Snowman v2, and Invisibility Powerup, Smoke Grenade and most notably, Decoys. These grenade-like throwables create a jumpy, mobile copy of your character to distract enemies.

6. There's a new and hugely customizable character skin, Maya

Maya isn’t just a customisable skin in terms of unlocking levels and colours, she’s a character you can change ten different elements of. The idea being that all the possible combinations will let players create their own (more or less) unique skin. The options you can unlock include upgrades to her hair, tattoos, sleeves, boots, collars, vest, helmet, pants, face paint and scarf. So far the challenges required look fairly basic, including things like dealing 250 damage with Assault Rifles in a single match.