New ‘Fortnite: Battle Royale’ Update Delivers AutoRun, Another New Consumable, And Loads Of Fixes

Fortnite: Battle Royale experienced an unfortunate extended downtime Thursday as Epic Games attempted to deliver the first update following the big map update from last week. Still, the developers managed to throw in a new consumable item, add an AutoRun option, and fix a ton of issues in the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC multiplayer shooter in Thursday’s latest update.

The Fortnite: Battle Royale 2.3.0 patch was delivered Thursday after being down the entire day. This was caused when Epic Games attempted to make some back-end changes to accommodate the growing player population and databases became corrupted in the process, per an explanation from the studio. This turned a simple update into a 14-hour scramble to bring the multiplayer shooter back online.

Thursday’s update introduces the all-new Chug Jug consumable item to Fortnite: Battle Royale. This is the ultimate health and shield recovery consumable as it will max out both for a character. There is a catch though as it takes a full 15 seconds to down.

The Chug Jug is a Legendary consumable for Fortnite: Battle Royale. Interestingly, there are already six healing consumables in the game with Bandages, Med Kits, Small Shield Potion, Big Shield Potion, Slurp Juice, and Campfires. None of these provide this kind of boost, however, and a player that finds this rare item and uses it toward the end of a match will gain a big advantage.

The big gameplay change is the introduction of AutoRun. Fortnite: Battle Royale players will no longer have to hold down a button or a controller stick to make their character sprint. PC users will just need to tap either the “=” or “NumLock” keys by default while PS4 and Xbox One owners can simply double tap their left stick.

A new Legendary Consumable and the return of the mutant storms feat. Minibosses. Come check out everything you can expect in the V.2.3.0 Patch notes: https://t.co/D1jy9pZqFy

— Fortnite (@FortniteGame) January 24, 2018

Another notable new gameplay tweak is allowing console owners to disable aim assist. It’s probably not advised for most console players, but it is at least an option now.

Meanwhile, players will no longer receive award stat or challenge progress when quitting a match early. Epic Games also made several fixes to the new areas on the map. Players discovered areas where they could hide inside pillars in Haunted Hills or hide under terrain near the river. These and many other issues have been fixed and are best seen in the official patch notes.

Epic Games also discussed work being done on new console controller layouts in the Fortnite: Battle Royale Reddit forum. The controls while building has been particularly cumbersome on console even after the Combat Pro layout was added.

Developer darkveil explained that the changes are “pretty tricky” to pull off as “every available button is precious” considering the studio has “long-term plans” they need to ensure they can fulfill for Fortnite: Battle Royale players. There are some proposed layouts they plan to test soon, but the goal is to give the ability to crouch while in Build Mode and be able to select a piece to build instantly.