When are helicopters being added to Fortnite Season 2?

The new Fornite Chapter 2: Season 2 trailer from January left everybody wondering about whether or not a new vehicle could soon appear in the battle royale game. 

Season 2’s trailer premiered in January 2020 and one thing sharp-eyed players soon noticed a chopper landing in one shot on the roof of the mansion, which appeared to be yet another hint that flying vehicles could be experimented with once again.

Helicopters aren’t entirely new to Fortnite – one was spotted around the map from Seasons 4 through 8 in 2019, but that never led to a version that was actually usable by players.

Now that we know patch v12.20 is on the way, there’s a chance helicopters could be added then. Let’s take a look at everything we know so far. 

Helicopters clues in Fortnite

Helipads

After seeing one landing on top of the mansion in the trailer, we have seen many other clues that may suggest they’re coming soon. Players have also noticed that every single one of the new areas on the map has a helipad somewhere in it.

They’re marked with all of the distinct characteristics of any ordinary helipad – a wide surface with a large H in the middle of a circle.

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While you wouldn’t necessarily need a helipad for a helicopter to land, if Epic were planning on adding the vehicle in, it would make sense to have them as a place for it to spawn.

Leaked emotes

But some of the most convincing things we’ve seen to suggest the flying vehicles are coming to Fortnite come from prominent dataminer HYPEX, who leaked some helicopter-themed emotes and information about the new vehicle from back-end game files.

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HYPEX warned these stats could just be placeholders, but they’re one of the best indications so far the vehicle is definitely coming. The chopper will have 1500 HP, be able to boost and it can damage players if it hits them.

The emote in question is named “Get To The Choppa” a nod to Arnold Schwarzenegger’s legendary 1987 sci-fi action film “Predator”, and it definitely looks like a good sign for choppers coming to the game soon.

More leaks

Last, but certainly not least, it has also been suggested that the new vehicles won’t be able to carry more than one person at a time, which would mean teammates wouldn’t be able to travel in a group.

This information, posted to Twitter by user spedicy, is still unconfirmed. They also claimed that they would have 1500 HP, which would make destroying them quite the challenge.

https://twitter.com/spedicey1/status/1238756979281219586

Helicopters wouldn’t be the first flying vehicle to be in Fortnite either; players used to be able to take to the skies in the X-4 Stormwing planes before they were vaulted at the end of Season 7.

However, due to their overpowered nature, the Stormwings were widely disliked by the player-base and remain to this day as one of the more controversial additions to the battle royale.

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Fans will hope that if choppers are indeed coming, Epic Games will have made sure that they can’t cause too much havoc, or we’ll have another aerial catastrophe on our hands.

As of now, there is no expected release date for helicopters in Fortnite, but with Season 2 nearly a quarter of the way done and patch v12.20 just around the corner, you just never know what may happen.