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Fortnite's New Blitz Royale Mode Comes With A Free Skin

Fortnite is launching a fourth battle royale mode with its June 18 update--Blitz Royale, a smaller scale version of BR with 32 players and rounds intended to last five minutes or less. While Epic Games is pushing Blitz Royale as being geared toward mobile players, the mode is playable on every platform Fortnite works on. Blitz Royale is available in solos and four-players squads, and is zero build only.

So how does it work? Well, it's a no-builds version of battle royale on a much smaller map than the main Fortnite island. But this isn't a tiny version of regular Fortnite Battle Royale. All players will start each match with a boon and/or weapon--everybody in a given round will get the same item--and as they survive and eliminate enemy players, they'll increase their Blitz Level, which immediately grants more weapons and gear at each level.

The new mode is bringing some free cosmetics with it, including a new skin, the Blitz Knight. To unlock the Blitz Knight, you'll need to either gain 15 levels once Blitz Royale goes live, or place in the top ten in 20 different Blitz rounds. There's also, of course, a unique victory umbrella glider, the Blitz Brella, that you can earn by winning three Blitz matches.

Blitz Royale is not a permanent mode, at least not yet. Initially, the mode is set to last just for the next four weeks, and will go away on July 15. Though it's clear that Epic would like for Blitz Royale to stick around, they'll presumably want to see both how well it does and how it affects the player populations of the existing modes before committing long term.

While it'll only stick around for four weeks, each of those weeks will have a wildly different theme and loot pool. After launch week, Blitz Royale will be themed after Avatar: The Last Airbender for Week 2, which will bring back those bending scrolls that were introduced in Chapter 5 Season 2. Week 3 will be full of weapons from the main Battle Royale mode that were dropped from bosses, like Thorne's Vampiric Blade, and the TMNT-themed Week 4 will be all about punching folks, with a loot pool full of melee weapons.

It's a big week for Fortnite. In addition to Blitz Royale, the June 18 update includes a new Fortnite Festival Season with Bruno Mars headlining, and a permanent new co-op Lego mode.