Fortnite has just received its latest major update, version 1.000.189, also known as update 37.00. This update ushers in Chapter 6 Season 4, titled Shock ‘N great, bringing a swarm of new content and gameplay changes that players will want to check out. The update includes new points of interest, enemies, weapons, and a revamped progression system centered around fighting an infestation of bugs on the Island.
Expect a larger download than usual due to the volume of additions and improvements.
New Content in Chapter 6 Season 4
Island, Infested
The Island is now overrun with bugs, covered in nests and egg sacs. The O.X.R., an anti-bug military force, is your ally in this fight. You’ll find new points of interest (POIs) such as:
- The Hive: High insect activity; expect intense encounters.
- O.X.R. HQ: Base of operations with commanders and an armory where you can buy weapons using Bars.
- Ranger’s Ruin: A former weapons lab lost to infestation, now a risky but rewarding spot for loot.
New Enemies
- Swarmer: Small but annoying bugs that can bog you down if ignored.
- Bomber: Larger bugs that burrow and lob goop bombs from a distance.
- Queen: Massive slug-like bosses that summon more bugs and slam players.
O.X.R. Rank and Rewards
Players start matches at O.X.R. Rank C and can climb to S+ by fighting bugs, other players, and looting. Ranking up rewards you with O.X.R. Drop Pods filled with loot and Super Soldier Boons that boost your abilities. At rank A, bunkers open up containing Exotic weapons, and rank S+ guarantees Mythic weapon drops.
- Bug Blaster: Fires explosive plasma shots; charge it for extra damage.
- Roly Poly (coming later): A new vehicle to roll and bounce around the map with speed bursts.
- Other weapons include the Leadspitter 3000 minigun, Sweeper Shotgun, O.X.R. Rifle, Wrecker Revolver, and Swarmstrike rocket launcher.
Later this season, the iconic Blade Blaster sidearm from Power Rangers will be available, featuring quick-firing or charged shots.
Vehicles and Boons
The Hammerhead Choppa helicopter will arrive later this season, allowing brief hovering and seat-switching for suppressing fire. Boons from the Cocoon provide various buffs, such as:
- Agile Aiming Boon: Reduced recoil and spread while aiming, with better movement.
- Extended Magazine Boon: Larger clip sizes.
- Storm Forecast Boon: Reveals the next Storm circle.
- Super Soldier Boons: Rank-based buffs from Drop Pods, including reduced energy use, faster reload, less recoil, and unlimited energy at the highest rank.
Queen Battles and Mythic Rewards
Defeating Queens at certain POIs grants distinct Mythic weapons and Medallions:
- The Hive Queen: Gives the Enhanced Wrecker Revolver and Surge Medallion for movement speed boosts.
- Demon’s Domain Queen: Grants the O.X.R. Assault Rifle and Springleg Medallion, allowing double jumps and fall damage immunity.
- Ranger’s Ruin Queen: Drops the Sweeper Shotgun and Carapace Medallion, which heals health on eliminations and grants passive shield regeneration.
Shock ‘N Awesome Battle Pass
Premium rewards include:
- UNSC Spartan: Instantly unlocked for Battle Pass holders or Fortnite Crew subscribers. Players reaching level 100 without the pass unlock this for free starting August 26.
- Yoo-mi: An idol both on and off the battlefield.
- Agent Patch: A tough character with a bamboo-chewing twist.
- Battle Gamer Mae: Comes with a quirky bug-squishing reference.
- Lt. Ripp Slade, Onyx Winter, and Green Ranger complete the lineup.
Battle Pass holders can also unlock the Dino Megazord mech outfit by completing quests starting September 16. The season will run until November 1, 2025 Eastern Time.
New Weapons and Items
- Bug Blaster
- Swarmstrike
- Eradicator Shock N’ Slow Shockwave Launcher
- Shockwave Launcher
- Eradicator O.X.R. Rifle
- O.X.R. Rifle
- Leadspitter 3000
- Double and Trouble Shotguns
- Sweeper Shotgun
- Wrecker Revolver
- Enhanced Assault Rifle
- Exotic SlapBerry Fizz
- Epic Slurp Juice
- Epic Launch Pad (trap and item)
Community Bug Fixes
- Octane vehicle behavior corrected.
- Score Manager UI no longer stays on screen incorrectly.
- Inventory images now scale properly when resizing client window.
- Launch Pad is granted correctly by item granters.
Fortnite Ecosystem Updates and Fixes
Several technical improvements have been made, including variable health and shield regeneration periods configurable in Island Settings and devices. The default regeneration period and amount have been increased for smoother gameplay.
- Fixed issues with duplicate island creation and prefab placement outside map boundaries.
- Corrected a typo in the Lawless Final Mark Rifle.
- Improved compatibility for Surf Cube with third-person controls.
- Resolved players pushing each other through walls with the Shove item.
- Gamepad left trigger now exclusively accesses quickbar when held.
- Scoreboard HUD now correctly displays goals and team scores.
Device Updates and Fixes
- Supply Drop Spawner can now spawn Drop Pods that persist and can be destroyed to release contents.
- Added military-style chest to Chest & Ammo Gallery.
- Pop-Up Dialog device now has a Close button and supports up to 12 buttons.
- Verse API added for Voting Group and Voting Options devices.
- Team Settings device can allow or prevent impulsing teammates.
- 145 approved character outfits added for Creative and UEFN devices.
UEFN Updates and Fixes
- Improved input handling for high polling rate mice.
- New sum cell reduction method for Spatial Profiler.
- Line trace unit nodes added to Control Rig.
- New spawn options for UEFN sessions, including spawn at viewport camera and start game from selected spot.
- Support for validating UTexture2DArray types.
- Warnings for invalid asset names on save/validate.
- Performance mode added using DirectX 12; previous mode renamed Legacy Performance.
- Subpixel Morphological Anti-Aliasing added.
- Various bug fixes related to entity collisions, UI, crashes, and rendering.
For the full technical list, you can head on over to the release notes.
There’s a lot going on in this update. Have you checked out the bug-infested Island yet? What do you think of the new O.X.R. rank system and the Mythic weapons? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below. I am Margarita, I love you all, and have a great day!
