Fortnite 16.40 update patch notes: New exotic weapon, Isla Nublada landmark, Orelia NPC

Epic Games are unleashing a brand new update for Fortnite Season 6. Here’s everything you need to know about v16.40 including patch notes, new weapons, and leaks.

There’s only a month to go until Fortnite Season 6 comes to a close, but Epic aren’t slowing down with the content. In this penultimate mid-season update, a brand new exotic weapon joins the fray, and another gets vaulted.

It’s also been teased that Katniss Everdeen might be coming to Fortnite, although that’s yet to be confirmed, so take it with a pinch of salt for now. Elsewhere, plenty of bugs are due to be fixed including quests not tracking properly.

You can find all the details including early patch notes for the v16.40 update below.

When is the Fortnite v16.40 update? Downtime details

As previously announced by Epic Games in a tweet, downtime for the 16.40 update begins on Tuesday, 11 May, at 4AM ET (9AM BST) with matchmaking being disabled shortly before then.

As usual, Epic Games prepared their Fortnite players for the game to go down for around an hour to get the v16.40 patch live on the servers.

Fortnite 16.40 Early Patch Notes

Exotic Marksman Six Shooter

Epic have teased that a brand new exotic-class weapon will be coming to Fortnite with the v16.40 update.

It’s called the Marksman Shooter, and the big selling point here is that it deals bonus critical damage with headshots. It’s sold by an NPC called Deadfire, and you can check out our guide to finding it right here.

The Dub gets vaulted

As one exotic enters the battle, another one leaves. Fans of The Dub shotgun will be disappointed to know that it’s being vaulted in the v16.40 update. You can see all of the exotic weapons in Season 6 right here.

A new POI appears!

Eagle-eyed Fortnite leaker HYPEX noticed that a new POI has appeared on the map, just south of Flush Factory. This was previously just an island with a rock on it, but now it has a set of ruins on top of it.

Upon closer inspection, we now know that this is actually an island called Isla Nublada, and it’s home to a brand new NPC called Orelia – who’ll play a key part in unlocking the Lara Croft (Gold Anniversary) skin.

Gold Lara Croft is finally here

After weeks and weeks of waiting, Tomb Raider fans will be glad to know that the previously-leaked Lara Croft (Gold Anniversary) outfit style has finally been added to the game!

You can find a complete guide on how to unlock the Gold Lara Croft skin right here.

Wild Week 2 is coming

Beginning on May 13, Fortnite will be celebrating their second Wild Week of Season 6.

The previous Wild Week focused on fire-themed weapons, but this one could be something altogether different as Epic used a fish emoji to tease what’s coming. We’re guessing fishing will be the order of the day.

More leaked skins & cosmetics

As always, a new update means new skins and cosmetics. Plenty of them have been discovered by leakers, including a brand new DC crossover in the form of Catwoman Zero skin.

These skins will be added over the next two weeks, and you can see them all here.

Summer-themed additions in Creative Mode

As well as the usual new Battle Royale additions, Creative Mode is also getting some love this week with a series of new summer-themed items for you to, well, get creative with!

Is Katniss Everdeen coming to Fortnite?

This one hasn’t been confirmed yet, but several prominent Fortnite leakers including ShiinaBR have hinted that Hunger Games protagonist Katniss Everdeen could be arriving on the Island in the next week or two.

It was recently leaked that Epic planned to bring Katniss to Fortnite in Season 5, so it was definitely in the works at some point. Hopefully, it’s finally happening.

Fortnite 16.40 Bug Fixes

Alongside the new features of the Fortnite v16.40 update, Epic Games have also fixed a number of bugs and issues that have been raised by players on their community issues Trello Board.

Here is the full list of bugs fixed in v16.30:

• Visual issues on Toon Meowscles and similarly-styled Outfits on certain platforms.
• Cannot create system-level parties between PS5 and PS4 when playing Fortnite.
• Trail color of the Harmonic Axes Pickaxe doesn’t always match the selected Style.
• Landing at a different location than intended.
• Long-pressing the Inventory Button selects first Craftable item.
• “Hunt Wildlife” Quest not tracking progress properly.
• (Creative) HUD displaying incorrect memory cost before placing device or Gallery.
• (Creative) Build not properly editing when building/editing fast in Creative.
• (Creative) Prop-O-Matic features not functioning correctly.
• (Creative) “Recent Islands” list does not update.
• (Creative) Small white boxes appears on Consumable thumbnails.

That’s it for the v16.40 update. It’s expected that v16.50 will go live on Tuesday, 25 May, 2021, and that will be the final mid-season update before Season 7 begins, so get that XP and level up your Battle Pass while you still can.