Fortnite Season 5 is under 24 hours away, which means that big crack in the sky will likely shatter and kitsune masks and viking axes will come pouring out. In a post on the Fortnite Battle Royale subreddit (opens in new tab), Epic outlined exactly when you'll need to first download those axes and masks to your PC in the form of a massive patch.
Downtime begins at 4 am ET (1 am PT, 8 am GMT), shortly after which the patch will be distributed. Epic will twist some knobs and press some buttons and Season 5 will begin in the minutes or hours that follow. There's no specific time set for when the servers will be live again, so don't count on staying up all night just to—oh who am I kidding? I'll be up all night too, but let's temper our patience together, yeah?
What's new with the latest Fortnite season (opens in new tab)
The best Fortnite creative codes (opens in new tab)
The optimal Fortnite settings (opens in new tab)
Our favorite Fortnite skins (opens in new tab)
The best Fortnite toys
Epic also provided some notes to prep impatient players, or anyone that hasn't saved their replays yet.
"Any previous replays you have saved will be unplayable in the new build. So make sure to create any last minute content you have saved in your replays. We also have many new things coming your way, due to this the patch size will be larger than normal. So make sure you have that auto-update ready! There is also the potential you may also experience slower download speeds."
During that slow download, at least we'll have some reading material. Patch notes will go live the moment downtime begins.