While there may be only a handful of days left in Fortnite Season 8, the battle royale appears determined to end its current season with a bang. A new hotfix for Fortnite v18.40 is rolling out today, which adds another weapon item vote as well as the new "Strike from the Shadows" Week.

Epic Games' ever-popular free-to-play title is in the final weeks of its current "Cubed" season. Continuing a plot thread from the prior alien invasion-themed season, Fortnite has been letting players vote to bring weapons out of the vault as part of the ongoing War Effort. Fans have since brought items like the Combat Assault Rifle and the Grappler back onto the island, and they'll get one more shot to bring another weapon into circulation again.

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Detailed on the official Fortnite website, the latest weapon item vote lets players decide between two fan-favorites: the Proximity Grenade Launcher and the Flint-Lock Pistol. Introduced during Chapter 1, Season 9, the Proximity Grenade Launcher fires a projectile very similar to a standard grenade, in that it bounces off surfaces. However, the projectiles can detonate mid-air whenever it gets within close proximity of an opponent. The Flint-Lock Pistol has a very unique function, in that it launches the wielder and targeted opponent in the opposite direction that they're aiming, but is negated when crouched.

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Both weapons boast unique properties that none of the current Fortnite arsenal has, so it should be interesting to see what the player base votes for. In addition to the new weapon item vote, a new themed week has begun, called Strike from the Shadows Week. Falling in line with Fortnite's Naruto crossover event, the next week puts an emphasis on the Paper Bomb Kunai with Shadow Stones and Shadow Floppers. All three items' spawn rate is spiked, with Epic Games encouraging players to sneak up on opponents in shadow form, then go for the elimination with Paper Bomb Kunai.

One curious detail of the Fortnite hotfix is at the very beginning of the post, describing how its almost time to "employ a new fighting strategy." While there's been no indication as to what this means, some players are already theorizing the specific verbiage's intent. With little time left in the current season, and the common belief that the next one will be the beginning of Fortnite Chapter 3, fans think it might be the recently leaked throwable axe weapon. Popular leaker HYPEX revealed the model of the new weapon type, although its stats and features remain a mystery.

The combination of the Naruto crossover, Strike from the Shadows Week, and a new weapon item vote, Fortnite seems determined to spice things up for the rest of the season. Although, things may get exponentially more spicy next season, as its rumored a sliding mechanic is being added.

Fortnite is free-to-play on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.

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Source: Epic Games