Fortnite Update 21.20 COUNTDOWN: Release Time, Server Downtime & More


The 21.20 update for Fortnite Chapter 3 Season 3 is on its way and is set to bring changes to the battle royale we all know and love while continuing this season's theme of "Vibin'".

What changes can we expect in the 21.20 update to help freshen up the game for players? Here is everything we know so far.

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LATEST - Fortnite Now Live

The server downtime for the 21.20 update of Fortnite has now come to a close for PC players, meaning the game is fully playable again via the Epic Games Store.

Indiana Jones Challenges Now Live in Fortnite.

Indiana Jones Quests Added to Fortnite Season 3 21.20 update
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Despite their release being set for Thursday, 7th July in-game, Fortnite has decided to add the Indiana Jones questline early, meaning you can now unlock the outfits for your favourite archaeologist in-game.

Combat SMG Has been Vaulted

In a somewhat pleasant surprise for players who've fallen victim to the frequently imbalanced Combat SMG in Season 3, Fortnite has decided to just vault the item entirely, potentially to do more work on it in the background.

Fortnite is Getting a Skating Mechanic.

According to Fortnite leaker FortTory, Fortnite has now added a floating skate park to the game's files called "Celebration_Skate", seemingly in a very early stage of development. This information confirms that the reported skated mechanic is still being worked on and will be making its way into the game soon.

Port-A-Fort is Getting Unvaulted Soon

According to ShiinaBR on Twitter, Fortnite will soon be seeing the return of the Port-A-Fort item after it was vaulted. The item was quite popular when it was last around, essentially being a grenade that did some building for you. This item is unlikely to make it into the no-build mode.

New SMG Added to Fortnite

The new weapon is known as the Charge SMG and was originally the codename for the Ripsaw Launcher's audio but that was seemingly a mistake. Below you can see a good look at the weapon from Fortnite news source FNAssist.

More Map Changes Coming to Fortnite

As expected prior to the update, the 21.20 Update has continued changing the map's various locations. According to reliable Fortnite leaker HypeX, the temple location between The Joneses and Rocky Reels has now been expanded upon, much like the Fortnite Competitive Twitter page suggested and will now be called "Shuffled Shrines".

This new temple will have a lot of unique gameplay elements according to FNAssist on Twitter, who says there will be emote-unlocked doors, ambient music, traps and puzzles available with a golden idol hidden at the end

The Reality tree, meanwhile, is spreading its influence even more with new roots appearing in Sleepy Sounds and also the Daily Bugle. These will likely be the next locations to change and become new points of interest for the Fortnite map.

PC Update Now Live

21.20 can now be downloaded by PC players on the Epic Games Store. The update is 2.09GB in size, so be sure to download the update ASAP if you're a player who doesn't have the fastest internet connection. That way you can easily hop into the game as soon as it's back up.

Server Downtime Started

The 21.20 update for Fortnite is now underway with the game expected to be down for 2-4 hours in total while the updates are pushed out to the various platforms that Fortnite is on.

Fortnite Update Delayed

According to Fortnite insider and reliable news source ShiinaBR on their Twitter page, the Fortnite 21.20 update is being delayed until Wednesday, 6th July 2022.

The reason given for this was Fortnite changing the dates of the "Cash Cup" dates from July 6th to July 5th due to the expected update in Fortnite. This confirms that the date has changed as it would make no sense to change these dates the way they did otherwise.

Fortnite 21.20 Update Release Time

Fortnite 21.20 Update

This latest update will be launching on Wednesday, 6th July 2022 and the expected launch time for the 21.20 update is the usual 1 am PST / 4 am EST / 9 am BST that we've come to expect from Fortnite updates.

The update is currently on Fortnite's staging servers according to various Fortnite insiders including the reliable ShiinaBR on Twitter

Staging servers act as a sort of pre-launch server for Fortnite and are where upcoming content is added to be tested and tweaked before being added to the main game. This is to try and minimise any bugs or serious problems interfering with the main game too seriously though the occasional bug does still slip through the cracks such as the Dragon Rune Lance which had to be temporarily disabled.

Will There Be Any Server Downtime?

There has yet to be any server downtime officially announced by Epic Games themselves regarding the 21.20 update but some server downtime is still likely to take place during the patch being added to Fortnite.

Fortnite Season 3 Loading Screen
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The server downtime usually begins 30 minutes before the update is fully implemented. This is to make sure that anyone playing Fortnite at the time is caught in a game when the updates start getting added which could potentially cause multiple issues for such a large patch.

Once that 30 minutes have passed, Fortnite will shut down entirely and become unavailable for the next 2-4 hours as the 21.20 update is being added to the game fully. During this time, players won't even be able to log in to Fortnite and will have to keep checking back to find out when they can jump back in and see all the changes.

*UPDATE* What to Expect in 21.20?

Fortnite insider and reliable news source ShiinaBR, a variety of changes should be expected either at the start of the update or as the update progresses and before the next one is implemented.

Expected changes include some that have already started happening during the 21.10 update with changes to the map continuing to occur thanks to the influence of the Reality Tree. Logjam Lumberyard and more recently Butter Barn are now constantly changing with reality-warping effects that change how they look.

The next locations expected to be updated are either Sleepy Sound or Condo Canyon. We also have confirmation that more map changes are expected to arrive with the 21.20 update thanks to the Fortnite Competitive Twitter page. The new location is set to spawn between Rocky Reels and The Joneses. The tweet seems to suggest that the change may be related to the upcoming Indiana Jones crossover. ShiinaBR suggests this could be the Tumbledown Temple.

The first confirmed feature we currently have to occur during the 21.20 update of Fortnite is the Indiana Jones addition to the Battle Pass, set to launch on Thursday, 7th July 2022 alongside the quests for week 5 of season 3.

Another addition to Fortnite during the 21.20 update is the potential Luke Skywalker outfit rumoured to be added, continuing the Star Wars crossovers that have been seen in the Season 3 battle pass with Darth Vader and with the recent Obi-Wan Kenobi outfits.

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