Fortnite Adds New Weapon Sidegrading Feature

The latest patch for Fortnite, v11.40, also happens to be the first of the year (decade?) -- and [...]

By Rollin Bishop

The latest patch for Fortnite, v11.40, also happens to be the first of the year (decade?) -- and Epic Games is starting things off with a bang. Well, several bangs, all in a row in the form of the return of the Heavy Assault Rifle. But it's really how the Heavy Assault Rifle is being reintroduced to the extremely popular video game that's most introducing. Fortnite has introduced a new mechanic called "Weapon Sidegrading."

Basically, Weapon Sidegrading allows players to use Upgrade Machines to "Sidegrade" -- as opposed to simply upgrading them" -- into something else. For now, folks can use them to "Sidegrade" an Assault Rifle into a Heavy Assault Rifle with some materials. One assumes that, should this feature stick around, other weapons will be added to it in the future. Fortnite certainly has plenty of different variations on a theme when it comes to weapons that'd be perfect for it.

Here's the full Battle Royale patch notes for Fortnite v11.40:

Introducing Sidegrading: the Heavy Assault Rifle returns.

  • In non-competitive playlists, you can now use Upgrade Machines to "Sidegrade" your Assault Rifle into a Heavy Assault Rifle.

Reduced material costs for upgrading weapons at Upgrade Machines.

Added the following items to Battle Lab:

  • Flint-Knock Pistol (Common and Uncommon)
  • Shockwave Grenade
  • Impulse Grenade

The iPad Pro (2018 release) now supports 120 FPS.

Clickable thumbstick buttons (L3 and R3) are now usable on supported iOS controllers.

Bug fixes:

Players' Star Wars Achievements have returned to the Legacy timeline.

Resolved an issue involving the "F" key not enabling proper movement after direction was remapped to it.

Resolved an issue involving editing quickly causing players to remain in Edit mode.

Falling into a Hideout no longer causes the Bolt-Action Sniper Rifle's crosshairs to disappear.

Resolved an issue involving the "Visit different bus stops in a single match" Remedy vs. Toxin Challenge not tracking progress for some bus stops.

The Spectrum Contrail again changes colors while in motion.

Continued to make improvements regarding FPS drops and hitching on mobile devices.

Resolved an issue involving mobile players getting stuck in a loop on the Select Fire Mode screen.

Resolved an issue involving console players being unable to progress through the gifting process if they did not have Two-Factor Authentication enabled.

What do you think about Fortnite adding Weapon Sidegrading? How useful do you think this will actually end up being? Let us know in the comments, or hit me up directly on Twitter at @rollinbishop to talk all things gaming!

Fortnite is now available on basically every modern console and mobile device as well as PC. The latest patch, v11.40, includes the new Weapon Sidegrading feature. You can check out all of our previous coverage of Fortnite right here.

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