Fortnite Season 6 Details with Trailer, Map Changes, Vaulted Weapons, Pets, More

Season 6 of Fortnite Battle Royale kicked off Thursday morning with numerous changes to the smash-hit video game, including map additions, the vaulting of several popular weapons and the addition of pets to follow your character around in search of a Victory Royale.

Epic Games announced the modifications in the V6.0 patch notes, which also featured a trailer for the highly anticipated sixth season of the free-to-play game:

A Floating Island, Corrupted Areas, Corn Fields and Haunted Castle are the new areas of the map mentioned in the patch notes. Previously used areas, such as the Hero Base and Villain Base, are also starting to decay to set the stage for their likely elimination in the coming months:

The inclusion of pets, which are acquired through the battle pass, figures to become one of the most discussed parts of Season 6.

Although they add a unique element on the visual side, Epic Games described them as "passive companions," meaning they provide no in-game advantage. They appear in a character's back bling.

The competitive elements of Fortnite also changed after the Season 5 spray meta was lamented by many of the professional players and streamers.

Epic Games vaulted the suppressed submachine gun and light machine gun Thursday. Removing those weapons combined with the decision late last season to take out the drum gun leaves a more limited variety of guns with a high-fire rate.

In addition, remote explosives (C4) were also taken out of the game. They were a crucial part of late-game strategy in elite-level competition.

The bottom line: building should once again become essential to success. Last season, it had become possible to negate the building advantage with rapid firing and C4. While that's still somewhat possible with the currently available weapons, it should be far less prominent and successful.

Impulse grenades and bouncers were also vaulted. The double-barrel shotgun was nerfed with its base damage reduced to 114/120 from 143/150 for the epic and legendary weapon.

Meanwhile, the inclusion of a new consumable called Shadow Stones makes a character invisible to opponents when not moving for a period of 45 seconds. When navigating the map, the impacts include "increased movement speed, jump height and fall-damage immunity."

Gamers are not allowed to use weapons while using the stones, however, so it's not possible to shoot an opponent while invisible, which would have been massively overpowered.

All the Season 6 changes paired with PlayStation's announcement Wednesday that it would allow cross-play functionality between PS4 and all other platforms, including PC and Xbox One, should lead to a monster weekend for Fortnite Battle Royale.