Fortnite v42.40 Update: New Sprites, Vaulted Loot and Power Hours Explained
Fortnite's v42.40 update went live on October 15, 2026 as the final major patch of Chapter 7 Season 4, adding two new Sprites, a weekend Power Hours event, and a fresh batch of hackable loot. Here's everything confirmed in Epic's official patch notes, from the Honey and One Wish Willow Sprites to the Save the World Challenge the Rift mission.
Fortnite's v42.40 update rolled out on October 15, 2026, and it's the final major content patch of Chapter 7 Season 4, known in-game as "Override." Epic Games confirmed the update brings two new Sprites, a full weekend of Power Hours, a fresh set of hackable loot, and a batch of quality-of-life changes to the Locker and Discover tab. It also lands in the middle of Fortnitemares 2026, the game's Halloween event, which runs through November 1.
Here's a full breakdown of what changed in v42.40, based on Epic's official update notes, with nothing added that Epic hasn't confirmed.
1. New Loot Hacks and what got vaulted
Every Fortnite update swaps weapons in and out of the Loot Hacks rotation, and v42.40 is no exception. The following items were added as new Loot Hacks:
- Thorne's Vampiric Blade — a melee weapon tied to the season's Thorne storyline
- Finger Guns — returning from Chapter 7 Season 2
- Gatekeeper Shotgun
- Hunting Rifle
- Slap Splash
- All Sprite Variants
To make room, Epic vaulted Midas' Masterpiece (a Rift Anomaly item), the Witch Broom Pocket Item, and four Match Overrides: Super Shot, Big Boom, Action Hero and Healing Overdrive. The Sweeper Shotgun also received a slight fire-rate increase, though Epic didn't publish exact numbers.
2. Two new Sprites: Honey and One Wish Willow
Sprites are Fortnite's companion-style collectibles that follow players around the map and trigger effects in combat. v42.40 adds the last two Sprites of Chapter 7 Season 4:
Honey Sprite
The Honey Sprite was the winning entry from Epic's community "Design A Sprite" contest. In-game, it has a chance to spawn bees at the location a ranged weapon lands a hit, giving players a small area-denial tool.
One Wish Willow Sprite
The second new Sprite extracts an eliminated enemy's equipped Sprites on kill, and it pushes nearby enemies away when the Sprite itself takes damage. If it's removed from a player, that player is marked on the map. Its name and effect tie into Epic's cross-promotion with the horror film Obsession, which the Fortnite account also marked with a short promotional video earlier in the week — though Epic has not announced any Obsession character skins alongside it.
With the season wrapping up, Epic also finished out the Sprite Mastery reward track: the final page unlocks Quack Sprites, which aren't obtainable any other way, plus a new style for the Pixel Polli Outfit. Readers who haven't kept up with the system can get caught up with our explainer on how Sprite leveling and Mastery rewards actually work.
3. Fortnitemares Power Hours run this Saturday and Sunday
Epic scheduled a two-round Power Hours event tied to Fortnitemares 2026 for the weekend after v42.40 launched:
- Round 1: Saturday, October 17
- Round 2: the following early morning (Sunday)
During Power Hours, every player drops in with an enhanced version of the Freddy's Nightmare glove, which boosts movement speed and adds a slashing attack. The Trick or Treat Sprite variant also spawns more frequently during the event, and Chests have an increased chance to drop 1-Up Tokens and Portable Extractors. For the full rundown of what else is running during the Halloween event, see our guide to everything officially confirmed for Fortnitemares 2026.
4. Locker, Discover and other quality-of-life changes
A handful of changes affect how players browse and manage their account outside of a match:
- Locker sorting: New options to sort by Most Used, Last Used and Least Used. Epic also fixed Randomize so it now consistently shuffles the equipped item instead of occasionally skipping it.
- Discover redesign: A refreshed Discover tab is rolling out gradually rather than all at once. It adds more expressive tiles and modules, videos that autoplay while browsing, a cleaner logo treatment, and new tile shapes for Creator-made islands. Epic says it's a work in progress and is asking for player feedback as it rolls out.
- Like-for-Like Weapon Upgrades: With Auto Pick Up Weapons turned on, walking over a higher-rarity version of a weapon you're already carrying now automatically swaps you up to it.
On the bug-fix side, Epic's official notes list fixes for Weak Points not appearing on destructible objects on Nintendo Switch 2, a conflict where the "Lock Input Method as Mouse" setting blocked combined controller-and-mouse input, and the Shield Potion's glow effect lingering past the point it should disappear. On PC, Epic also shipped a fix for the IS-UP-IZ04 installation error; players who still hit it are advised to restart the Epic Games Launcher.
5. Save the World: Challenge the Rift and the Grave Feather Hero
Fortnite's original PvE mode, Save the World, also got new content in v42.40.
Challenge the Rift mission encounter
Players can now deposit four BluGlo into a Rift during a mission to summon a contained battlefield and a Mini-Boss. Defeating the Mini-Boss rewards Gold, a PERK-UP! and an Evolution Materials Cache. Anyone nearby can join the fight, but once it starts, nobody can leave until the Mini-Boss is defeated — a barrier blocks outside attacks, and existing structures and traps inside the circle are cleared. If every player inside is eliminated, the Mini-Boss vanishes and the encounter can't be restarted.
Grave Feather, the new Homebase Hero
Grave Feather is a new Legendary Soldier Hero, unlocked by completing the Portal Combat Questline before it closes on November 18. Grave Feather's perks boost the Crit Rating of Lefty and Righty:
- Ghoulslinger (Standard Perk): +15 Crit Rating for Lefty and Righty
- Ghoulslinger+ (Commander Perk): +45 Crit Rating, and critical hits have a 40% chance to summon a Phantasm that deals Energy damage to a nearby enemy
Homebase's Heroic Hours board — the quest-tracking screen players check for timed rewards — also got a visual pass alongside this content drop.
6. Known issues and what's coming in v43.00
Epic's developer forum post for v42.40 lists one tracked gameplay issue: on some islands, the Player Reference device can show a player's default outfit instead of their equipped one after they respawn (equipped Kicks still display correctly). A fix is targeted for v43.00, which Epic has pencilled in for November 1 — the same day Fortnitemares 2026 and Chapter 7 Season 4 are scheduled to end. Separately, Creators using UEFN have been told about a crash some are seeing at launch with the 42.40 editor build, and a couple of publishing-side workarounds involving deleted temp folders while Epic works on a permanent fix.
For context on how Chapter 7 Season 4 got to this point, our breakdown of Override's battle pass, map changes and core mechanics covers everything that shipped at the start of the season, and our recap of the v42.20 Kingdom Hearts crossover update has the patch right before this one.
Quick recap
- v42.40 is the final major patch of Chapter 7 Season 4 "Override," live since October 15.
- New Loot Hacks: Thorne's Vampiric Blade, Finger Guns, Gatekeeper Shotgun, Hunting Rifle, Slap Splash and all Sprite Variants; four Match Overrides and two items were vaulted.
- Two new Sprites — Honey and One Wish Willow — close out the season's Sprite Mastery track.
- Power Hours run October 17–18 with an enhanced Freddy's Nightmare glove and better Sprite/Chest drop odds.
- Locker sorting, a gradual Discover redesign, and Like-for-Like Weapon Upgrades all shipped as quality-of-life changes.
- Save the World added the Challenge the Rift mission and the Grave Feather Hero, unlockable through November 18.
- v43.00 is expected November 1, alongside the end of the season and Fortnitemares 2026.