Fortnite Chapter 5 Season 2 Hades Teaser
Image: Epic Games

Fortnite Chapter 5 Season 2: Release time, downtime schedule, and early patch notes

[Kratos voice] ARES!

Fortnite Chapter 5 Season 2 is nearly here, and after a mostly uneventful debut season for Chapter 5, the next season is set to bring a ton of new items, map changes, and collabs to the island. Epic Games has already begun teasing the new season, and Fortnite v29.00 is shaping up to be one of the game’s most exciting updates in quite some time.

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Based on Epic’s official teasers and everything we know from datamines and leaks, Fortnite Chapter 2 Season 5 will be themed around Greek mythology. The Battle Pass will most likely include original designs for Greek gods like Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades, among others. It’s a nice breath of fresh air after a season that focused heavily on crossovers with franchises like Family Guy and Metal Gear Solid.

Of course, crossovers and collaborations are a core part of Fortnite’s DNA at this point, and there are plenty of skins and cosmetics coming to the game from your favorite franchises during Chapter 2 Season 5. There’s a lot to look forward to, and as Pandora’s Box continues to wreak more and more havoc on the island, Chapter 5 Season 2 draws ever closer.

Fortnite Chapter 5 Season 2 Start Time

Fortnite Chapter 5 Season 2 will be released on Friday, March 8, 2024. The current season is slated to end at 11 PM PT on March 7 or 2 AM ET on March 8, at which point the Fortnite servers will go down for maintenance so the new content can be implemented. There won’t be a live event or anything like that, so the servers will go down unceremoniously. Make sure to complete your Chapter 5 Season 1 Battle Pass before then so you don’t miss out on Peter Griffin or Solid Snake.

How Long is Fortnite v29.00 Downtime?

Fortnite Chapter 5 Season 2 downtime will begin at 12 AM PT/3 AM ET on Friday, March 8. As per usual, matchmaking will be disabled a few minutes prior to downtime. Make sure to get those last few matches in while you still can! Once the servers go down, Fortnite will be unplayable while Epic Games prepares to deploy the new season.

Fortnite downtime typically only lasts a few hours, but this is a larger update so things could take a little bit longer. In the past, downtime has lasted for around six hours. This time, Epic Games has confirmed via Twitter (or X) that the downtime would last an additional eight hours before extended it by another two hours for a 10-hour delay in total. Fortnite Chapter 5 Season 2 is now slated to launch at 8:00pm ET, March 8, 2024.

If you stayed up waiting to play the new season early in the morning, go back to bed. Hopefully, you didn’t call off work because the season won’t be ready until later in the afternoon.

Fortnite Chapter 5 Season 2 Patch Notes

Since Epic Games is still drip-feeding teasers about the upcoming season, there isn’t a whole lot of official information about Chapter 5 Season 2 just yet. However, Fortnite leakers and dataminers have come in clutch yet again with some exciting details about the v29.00 update. Fortnite fans can look forward to these things with Chapter 5 Season 2:

  • Zeus ability with three stages
  • Gold Apple item that gives a speed boost
  • New Cerberus Shotgun weapon
  • Olympus POI and other map changes
  • New Wings item that grants flight with a 30-second cooldown
  • Hostile Monster NPCs that act as henchmen for Greek god minibosses
  • Four bosses (Medusa, Ares, Cerberus, Zeus)
  • Zeus Lightning Bolt Mythic
  • Hades Fire Chain Mythic
  • Poseidon Trident Mythic
  • Ares Burst Rifle Mythic
  • Cerberus Tactical Shotgun Mythic
  • Persona 3 Reload collaboration

These are all basically confirmed for Chapter 5 Season 2 since they come from reputable sources. In addition to the Persona 3 Reload collaboration, a Fortnite user research session was held about future Item Shop skins when the v29.00 was being tested on Epic’s servers. Those users voted and these collabs topped the list:

  • God of War
  • One Piece
  • Xena
  • Kevin Sorbo’s Hercules
  • Final Fantasy 7
  • Aquaman: The Lost Kingdom
  • Halo Wars

These collaborations aren’t confirmed, but a few of them will likely make their way into the Fortnite Item Shop at some point during Chapter 5 Season 2. These sessions and surveys tend to be good sources for upcoming Fortnite crossovers.

Most leakers believe that Kratos will finally return to the Item Shop because of the season’s Greek mythology theme, and some even say that Atreus will make his Fortnite debut alongside his father. Final Fantasy 7 is also another highly-requested collaboration that would be perfect given the recent release of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth on PlayStation 5.

Plus, a collaboration event was leaked for Avatar: The Last Airbender, and the cast of the show should be added to Fortnite sometime during Chapter 5 Season 2. According to leakers, there will be an Event Pass just like with previous major collabs, and you’ll be able to get the Aang skin and Aapa glider from that Event Pass. There will also be Item Shop skins that can be purchased for V-Bucks, and these are likely to include Katara, Sokka, Toph, or Zuko.

Fortnite Myths and Mortals Battle Pass

The Chapter 5 Season 2 Battle Pass will feature a group of Greek gods and other mythological cosmetics. You can take a look at the cinematic teaser for the upcoming season, which features most of the new Battle Pass skins, below.

Epic Game has released the official key art for Chapter 5 Season 2 ahead of launch, and it features the designs of every Battle Pass skin that we’ll be getting in the new season. Featuring eight Greek gods without a collab skin in sight, this is the first fully original Fortnite Battle Pass in quite some time. Here’s a list of every C5S2 Battle Pass skin.

  • Zeus
  • Cerberus
  • Hades
  • Aphrodite
  • Poseidon
  • Medusa
  • Artemis
  • Ares
Fortnite Chapter 5 Season 2 Myths And Mortals Key Art
Image: Epic Games

Fortnite Chapter 5 Season 2 is set to begin on Friday, March 8, 2024. Chapter 5 Season 1 added a bunch of new content to the game including limited-time crossover skins, so make sure you’ve maxed out the current Battle Pass before it’s too late. The recently released Mosaic Snapshot quests should give you a nice chunk of XP to finish off those last few levels if you need a boost.


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From his early days of blog-style music, movie, and game reviews to working as the Esports Writer at Coastline Community College, Noah Nelson now works fulltime as a Staff Writer for Attack of the Fanboy and PC Invasion. He has been helping gamers everywhere with Destiny 2 god rolls, Warzone 2 DMZ missions, and collectibles in any indie game for over a year and a half. His Bachelor's Degree in English Rhetoric and Composition with a minor in Journalism from CSULB has shaped him to be a strong writer and editor. His fondest gaming memory is playing Sly Cooper 2 after begging his mom (for hours) to play it before his birthday and he still cries myself to sleep remembering the time he accidentally saved over his 99% completion save file in Kingdom Hearts 2.