Fortnite Poison Trap item leaked by Epic ahead of 8.20 update

Epic took away Fortnite's Bounce Pad and many players still haven't forgiven it, but the company is back with a new item to fill the void: Poison Trap. This item is a square element akin to the Trap, but instead of shooting deadly spikes at players, the item appears to launch small darts (or something similar) with poisoned tips at players who walk in front of it.

The Poison Trap first appeared within the Fortnite update 8.10 code, but the item didn't appear in that version of the game and wasn't made official by Epic. It's unclear why the company didn't add it to the game with that release — it may have needed more work before it could launch — but we now know that it'll arrive as early as this week.

Epic Games apparently prematurely published a "Coming Soon" item in the Fortnite in-game News Feed, revealing a Poison Trap item with a brief description and picture. This item has the same Aztec-like design as the new Sunny Steps location, as well as multiple holes that either eject a poisonous gas or shoot poisoned arrows/darts.

The News Feed has been updated to remove that "Coming Soon" alert, indicating Epic published it earlier than it was supposed to. The presence means we can now confirm the company does plan to release the item and that it will be appearing at some point in the near future.

In a tweet on the official Fortnite Twitter account, Epic said it will release game update 8.20 on Wednesday, March 27, at 5AM ET. It's reasonable to assume the Poison Trap will arrive in that update, but the company hasn't confirmed when it will release the item.