Fortnite 17.10 Patch Notes Include New Wildlife, Nerfs To Recon Scanners, And More

Fortnite version 17.10 is here, and the patch notes include a major gameplay shift. Players who have jumped into Fortnite Season 7 already know that an alien invasion is currently underway, with the Imagined Order (IO) leading a supposed resistance. While the alien Mothership still looms large, casting a shadow over the entire island, Epic is introducing a new way for players to get on board the Mothership starting this week.

Fortnite 17.10 patch notes

Fortnite patch 17.10, as its name suggests, is the first major gameplay patch since the launch of the new season. According to the Fortnite Trello board, the update fixes a problem with the NPC Collection book, allowing players to properly close out their entries for Doctor Slone and Bunker Jonesy.

Meanwhile, on Twitter, the Fortnite Status account’s version of the 17.10 update includes just that one bullet point–“A new surprise descends. A way inside the Mothership?”– but elsewhere the news blog confirms several more changes. Starting with today’s update, the Mothership will become its own location in rounds of Battle Royale, taking players off-land and high above even Mount Kay, the summit of Apollo. To get aboard the Mothership, players will need to find Abductors, which look like smaller versions of UFOs that hover over a spot for a short while at random across the island. If you’re standing under an Abductor when its tractor beam goes into action you’ll be taken to the Mothership.

Once on the ship, you’ll have a short period of time to collect as many orbs as you can, including time-extending orbs to give yourself extra time aboard the ship. The more orbs you collect before you’re sent away, the better loot you’ll be sent away with. Think of it as a bonus stage in an old-school platformer. The game’s official accounts were first to tease the incoming gameplay change yesterday, posting as the in-universe characters, the Hot Saucers.

Incidentally, the tweet led to the Fortnite community opining on the game’s already hyperactive leakers, like Shiina, Hypex, and iFireMonkey, who each joked about becoming obsolete in a post-Hot Saucers world. “Yall taking my spot????” joked Hypex in a reply to the initial “leak” from Epic. “Pls don’t steal my job and next time just send this text to me in DMs, I’ll post without giving credits,” added Shiina.

Other new gameplay changes coming along with Fortnite version 17.10 include new alien parasites, a new form of wildlife that can attach itself to other animals like boar, wolves, and chickens–or even players. While these parasites will latch onto you if they get close, taking your health down to 60, they’ll also protect you from headshot damage and allow you to run faster and jump higher, so it’s up to you whether you want to keep these aliens away or let them feast in exchange for some buffs of your own.

Meanwhile, Recon Scanner recharge time has been slowed, as have the UFOs’ plasma barrage recharge time, with the in-universe IO-Alien war said to be the reason why. Each party has “hacked” each other’s weapons, explaining the gameplay nerfs.

Lastly, this season’s Enlightened Skins, or Super Level Styles, are now available for you to unlock after you’ve unlocked the rest of the Battle Pass’ offerings. After Level 100, players can earn these new Styles in the Bonus Rewards section of the Battle Pass menu, featuring shiny silver, gold, and rainbow Styles for several of the characters, including Rick Sanchez.

Other major bug fixes include:

• Fixed an issue that allowed players to take damage through cars while in motion.
• Fixed an issue that caused us to temporarily disable the ability to change loot pools in Battle Lab. This ability has been re-enabled.
• Fixed an issue preventing Doctor Slone’s and Bunker Jonesy’s entries from completing in the Character Collection Book.

Fortnite patch 17.10 is fully online now after downtime earlier this morning. Make sure you also finish off the Week 2 challenges and Week 2 Alien Aritfacts here.