Whether you’ve been closely following our Fortnite Season 8 coverage or sinking several hours into exploring the refreshed Battle Island, you’ll know that Epic has made some wide-reaching changes since the new season kicked off, chief among them being a brand new Battle Pass. Unsurprisingly, kooky new challenges involving pirate camps and faces carved into mountainsides represent just some of the tasks it’ll have you complete, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. As of yesterday’s latest update, Epic Games has introduced treasure maps. These cryptic pieces of cloth can be used to uncover caches of legendary-tier loot, but how does one go about getting their grubby mitts on one, to begin with?
As it turns out, they’re much rarer than initially predicted, and there’s a good chance you’ll have to see several matches through to their conclusion before stumbling across one. As legendary-grade items in themselves, maps have a modest spawn rate, but knowing where to look is half the battle. The coveted items can be found either by searching standard loot chests in the overworld or simply as a random spawn lying in the dirt, so sooner or later you’ll find one via normal play.
But once you have a map in hand, now what? Well, using the item from your inventory will prompt a golden-colored beam of light to break through the clouds and settle on the spot you need to visit. Once you’ve arrived, whip out the pickaxe and get to digging. The ground will give way and yield the precious loot you’ve been yearning for. Ultra-rare spawns excluded, the most efficient method of obtaining heaps of legendary-tier loot before the introduction of treasure maps was to secure an air-dropped supply cache, but given the fierce competition over those, that Epic has introduced an alternative method is a welcome addition indeed.
Whether the developer plans for treasure maps to become a permanent part of Fortnite‘s gameplay isn’t clear, but given Season 8’s overarching pirate theme, don’t be surprised to see them vanish when Season 9 inevitably rolls around.