Fortnite downtime today (January 10): When will servers be back up?

While Fortnite update v23.20 is still at least a week away, the developers will take the servers offline today to apply a patch to the game. The brief downtime will start at 4 am Eastern Time and is not expected to last very long. Unlike traditional downtime, this one targets fixing a few specific issue(s).

After the Shockwave Hammer was vaulted a few hours ago, Epic Games announced that they would accelerate the process to find out what caused the glitch/bug and fix it. Since it's one of the core weapons/items of Chapter 4 Season 1, having it removed from the loot pool could look bad and attract backlash.

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How long will the Fortnite downtime last today (January 10)?

Since this patch addresses several issues, including bouncing with the Shockwave Hammer, things will not take very long to complete. Based on the information provided by Epic Games, the entire process should not take more than an hour at most. However, do note that this is merely an estimate.

Given the complexity of things, the patch may take longer to implement and test to ensure everything is working as intended. That said, players should be prepared for the entire process to take longer than mentioned.

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Fixes and content changes for Fortnite patch v23.10

As far as we know, the only major fix and/or change coming with this patch for Epic Games' Fortnite v23.10 is the un-vaulting of the Shockwave Hammer across all Playlists in-game. The patch's other 'issues/problems' that will be addressed are largely unknown.

While the official Trello Board provides some insight into the potential bugs/glitches that could be addressed, it is uncertain if they will be fixed in this patch.

Here's the list of issues labeled "Fixed in Future Game Update":

• Bonus Rewards 'Pre-requisite Not Met'
• Controller inputs don’t work on PC when spectating players
• Shockwave Hammers don't deal damage to own player-built structures

Aside from this, quite a few known bugs/glitches are still being investigated. They will likely be patched during the Fortnite update v23.20, which will occur either on January 17 or latest, by 24.

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Will this patch ensure Shockwave Hammer functions as intended?

Yes, the patch will ensure the Shockwave Hammer works as intended until someone figures out how to break it again. Given how the item/weapon interacts with the environment and other in-game assets, there's no guarantee that it won't break in the future.

While the game-breaking 'bouncing bug' will be fixed after the patch is implemented, another issue 'may' be discovered soon after. While it's not a trial-and-error process per se, there's nothing that Epic Games can do about it. Hopefully, popular content creators like GKI and others will go easy on the Shockwave Hammer once it's back in-game.

That said, it'll be interesting to see if the 'Shockwave Hammer Infinite Health' bug/glitch still works after the patch is implemented. Since it's not game-breaking, having it left in-game shouldn't be much of a problem in Fortnite Chapter 4 Season 1.