Fortnite 5.10 update: Early patch notes reveal and Playground Mode return confirmed

The development team behind one of the world’s most popular games have been slowly releasing new details on its next major patch.

Fortnite 5.10 will be the new update going live this week, with early patch notes already confirming some of the stuff it will contain.

One of the big news story today is that Epic Games will be changing how Slurp Juice works.

The item is one of the most useful in the game, providing a player one point of health and one point of shield for every second after consumption

This ends with 50 points granted in both areas and is something that the development team are looking to tweak how the formula works.

Fortnite 5.10 will see Slurp give 75 points (2hp/s), but will prioritize HP first. So that means shields will only receive a boost if health is full.

This change was confirmed by Fortnite’s design lead, Eric Williamson, who told fans on Reddit: “Dude, don’t skimp on the deets!” Williamson wrote. “In 5.10 Slurp will give 75 points (2hp/s), but prioritize HP first. If HP is full it’ll go to Shield.”

Another member of the development team then added more about the release schedule, posting: “Our versioning strategy changed very recently so 5.10 is correct, then the next biweekly patch afterward would be 5.20, and so on.

“A minor patch between 5.10 and 5.20 could be either 5.10.1 or 5.11, depending on things like whether a new client patch was necessary and other boring internal tooling details.”

Other items being added to the game in Fortnite 5.10 is the SMG compact, a new weapon that looks set to mimic the P90.

This was confirmed via an in-game news bulletin, which confirms that the new weapon is designed for close quarters combat.

Having recently removed the Tactical SMG, this new Epic and Legendary item will certainly help keep things fresh on the island.

Epic Games has also confirmed that they are bringing back one of the game’s most popular LTMs for this week.

Fortnite Playground Mode will be going live on July 25 and will include all the gameplay that fans found in its first iteration.

However, there will also be a few new additions to the mode, which will eventually be made a permanent feature of the game.

“Set up squad battles with new team select options, skirt around in an ATK and gear up with lots more loot,” the official Epic Games description teases.

The new Fortnite update is expected to drop on July 24, as part of the new birthday celebrations for the game.

Epic Games have yet to confirm any downtime, so fans will have to wait on further details for this update.

If the devs follow the normal pattern, a new update will be released on July 24, around 9am BST.

This will also include patch notes being shared during the downtime, which could last several hours.

There is also a chance that Epic Games will move back the release of some of the new content, so fans will need to keep an eye out for more information.

Fortnite Battle Royale is a free-to-play game developed by Epic Games and currently available to download on PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC, Mac and Mobile iOS.