Epic ships long-awaited patch fix for Fortnite building exploit

Epic Games has fixed a Fortnite building exploit that has reportedly existed since Season 10, which gave players in a specific position the ability to “take over” enemies’ builds and use it to their advantage.

After a huge public outcry in the last 24 hours, one of Fortnite’s longest-standing building exploits has finally been fixed.

Players will no longer be able to steal their enemies’ builds by facing north when battling them, instead having to resort old-fashioned fisticuffs to get on top of their enemy.

The exploit started doing the rounds when players like ‘DuckyTheGamer’ and Jonathan ‘Yung Calculator’ Weber showcased it. It only worked on cones or floors, but the fact that the exploit existed regardless is enough of a game-breaker.

All players would need to do is stand on the south end of a structure and hit it while facing north. There wasn’t much skill or strategy that needed to go into it ⁠— just swinging your pickaxe around.

While initial suspicions were that the exploit was introduced as part of Patch v12.60, some players reported this being a problem as far back as Season 10.

Epic kicked into action almost immediately, shutting it down within hours.

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“We’ve resolved an issue allowing players to take over builds when facing certain directions,” the developers said on Twitter. “Thanks to everyone who flagged this discrepancy to us.”

Given how big of a problem it could have been, the quick turnaround surprised a lot of players.

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The rapid uptake of the exploit meant that it could have had drastic effects on the FNCS Invitational Grand Finals, or other tournaments throughout the week.

If you wanted to test it out for yourself, unfortunately you’re too late.

Builds now work as they are intended, and players looking to take shelter won’t need to worry about having their structures stolen away from them.