'Fortnite' Update 11.40 Adds Weapon Sidegrading & Heavy AR - Patch Notes

Fortnite update 11.40 has finally been released, and it introduces a new weapon Sidegrading feature to Battle Royale alongside the reintroduction of the Heavy Assault Rifle. Learn how the feature works in the abbreviated patch notes courtesy of a blog post from Epic Games.

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.

As mentioned in the patch notes above weapon Sidegrading in Fortnite is essentially a way to make the weapon upgrade bench a little more useful. While benches previously offered upgrades in weapon tiers in return for a small amount of mats, the stations can now be used to swap out weapon classes as well. For example, those who have a regular Assault Rifle in their loadout can pay a little extra to exchange it for a Heavy AR instead. In short, the mechanic offers an additional path toward players getting the gear they want in heated Battle Royale matchups. This change hopefully makes the meta a little more interesting.

As for bug fixes and other small tweaks, Fortnite update 11.40 also offers a wide range of patches to address hitching on mobile platforms, challenge bugs and issues with two-factor authentication. In short, Fortnite update 11.40 doesn't totally overhaul the game as PvP or PvE fans know it, but the Sidegrading option does add a cool wrinkle to the formula.

Fortnite is available on PS4, Xbox One, Switch, PC and mobile.

What are your thoughts on Fortnite update 11.40? Will you be Sidegrading your weapons? Tell us in the comments section!

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