Fortnite Trio FNCS: Start Date, New Rules, Prize Pool, Ruleset, News, and Everything You Need To Know

Fortnite has made a massive announcement regarding the future of competitive events for 2021. 

FNCS will be coming back next year, but there will be a twist.

Here's all the news! 

FNCS Delayed - 3rd February 

Fortnite has announced that due to a new bug discovered in the 15.30 update, they have delayed the start of the Trios FNCS by one week! 

We have discovered a bug in the v15.30 update that is preventing some players from being able to queue into tournaments. To ensure all eligible players have the opportunity to compete, we are shifting each FNCS Qualifier back one week.

Update - January 19th, 2021

Epic has posted a length blog post, detailing all the news for the upcoming Trios FNCS, which is kicking off very soon.

Here are all the details you need to know! 

FNCS FORMAT

• Players will compete in a single cross-platform player pool. This allows players on multiple platforms to play together as teammates.
• Weekly Qualifiers will have an additional Round to pare down to the final lobby more gradually. See details below. 
• Once qualified to the Semi-Finals, teams will be locked and not be able to play in additional Qualifiers. This means if a team directly qualifies to the Semi-Finals in Week 1, that team won’t be able to influence Week 2 or Week 3’s Qualifiers.
• Semi-Finals and Finals will be played out on separate weekends to better manage both player fatigue and tournament operations.
• All prizes have been shifted to the Finals. 
• The top three teams from each region’s Finals will auto-qualify for the next season’s FNCS Finals. Note: This change requires that all three members of the team remain together during the next season.
• FNCS Champions and other consistent top performers will earn the opportunity to be invited to the mid and end-of-year prize competitions. 
• Slightly different scoring formats for single lobby vs. multiple lobby gameplay, to account for increased level of competition and the increased challenge of obtaining eliminations in the later stages.

Ruleset

The loot pool in competitive play will be undergoing some drastic changes before FNCS kicks off next month! 

• Addition of Lever Action Shotgun
• Vaulted Rift Fish
• Vaulted Shockwave Grenades
• Removal of Elevators and IO Guards
• Sand tunneling will remain in competitive playlists and tournaments as long as it remains in the core playlists, as it is a major feature of this Season’s map.
• We’ve made adjustments to the amount of Bars players start with in competitive playlists. We’ll continue to monitor how the Bars system fits in competitive, and will make adjustments as necessary.

Dates

• Qualifier 1: February 4-7
• Qualifier 2: February 11-14
• Qualifier 3: February 18-21
• Bye Week: February 25-28
• Semi-Finals: March 5-7
• Reboot Round: March 12 & 13
• Finals: March 12-14

Each week, top performing teams will progress through different Rounds of competition culminating into a 33-team field in the final stage. The top 10 teams from each region in the final stage will move on to the Semi-Finals. Series points will be awarded to teams that advanced to Round 2.

SEMI-FINALS (MARCH 5-7) - Once teams advance to the Semi-Finals, they will be placed into four groups in their respective region. Each group consists of 33 unique teams. The top 8 teams from each group will advance to Finals. Teams that placed 9th-16th in each group will compete in the Reboot Round.

REBOOT ROUND (MARCH 12 & 13) - Teams ranked 9th - 16th in each Semi-Finals group will move to a special consolation round, the Reboot Round. The Reboot Round is a winners-take-all single match where the team that earns the Victory Royale will be awarded a qualifying ticket to the Finals. 

FINALS (MARCH 12-14) - With the competition down to the top 33 teams in each region, our Chapter 2 Season 5 FNCS winners (and new wielders of the Axe of Champions) will be determined across 12 total matches in two days (6 matches each day). Additionally, the top 3 teams from each region will automatically qualify for the Chapter 2 Season 6 FNCS Finals.  

Prize Pool

Epic has stepped up their game today, as the prize pool for the upcoming event is one of the best we have seen in recent memory! 

We plan to have four FNCS seasons in 2021, each with a $3,000,000 prize pool, for a total of $12,000,000 in FNCS prizes for the year. The distribution across all regions for the $3,000,000 prize pool is currently based on the most recent competitive participation and regional game population. We have provided a chart below and will continue to monitor and evaluate data before each season to make any necessary adjustments.

World Cup 2021

Unfortunately, it appears there will be no LAN events for 2021.

Our intent is to eventually hold global in-person tournaments again, but our priority for any such event is the health and safety of our players and staff. With so much still unknown about what is practical and safe, we do not plan to hold in-person events in  2021, including a Fortnite World Cup. We will continue to provide online competitions throughout 2021 with the hopes that physical events, in some form, can return at some point in the future.