Jordan Ellis03/08/2026
5 min read
Epic Games has packed the first week of August with back-to-back Fortnite content, layering a Spider-Man crossover, a banana-themed spawn boost and a brand-new set of Gem Sprites on top of the existing Chapter 7 Season 3 loop. The rollout, detailed in Epic’s official v41.30 patch notes and corroborated by outlets including Vice and Beebom, confirms exact windows for this week’s limited-time sessions and locks in Thursday, August 6 as the date the full nine-piece Gem Sprite set finally goes live.
Peely Hours Boost Spawns Every Day Through August 5
The centrepiece of the week is Peely Hours, a daily spawn-rate event running from July 30 through August 5. According to Epic’s own community update, players can drop into Battle Royale or Zero Build from 4-5 PM ET or later at 11 PM-12 AM ET as Peeky Peely Sprite and its variants appear more often on the Island, giving squads two separate windows each day to top up their collection.
Unlike the longer Power Hour formats seen earlier in the season, Vice notes that the daily Peely Power Hour event will only be available for about a week, with the very last session beginning on August 5 at 8 PM PT / 11 PM ET, and because the session crosses midnight on the East Coast, officially ending there at 12 AM ET on August 6. Players chasing Gummy, Galaxy, Gold or Holofoil versions of the Peely Sprite are advised to squeeze in a session before that cutoff.
Web Shooter Hours Paired Cube Sprites With a Guaranteed Spider-Man Mythic
Running alongside Peely Hours, Epic slotted in a one-off Spider-Man crossover dubbed Web Shooter Hours on Saturday, August 1. Per the official patch notes, the event ran this Saturday, August 1, jump into Web Shooter Hours from 2-4 PM ET and 9-11 PM ET for web-slinging gameplay, boosted Cube Sprite spawns and the Sprite Hunt Rift Anomaly, with a specific note that Spider-Man’s Web Shooters are available in non-competitive play.
Vice’s coverage of the day-of event added that during each session, the Web Shooters Mythic will be a guaranteed drop, allowing players to swing around the island without worrying about finding the Mythic first, while Epic Games is also increasing the spawn rates for every Cube Sprite currently available across the same two-hour blocks.
Nine Gem Sprites Complete the Set on August 6’s New Sprite Day
The week builds toward Thursday’s New Sprite Day, when Epic is rolling out a full Gem variant line. Vice reports that the Fortnite Gem Sprites release date is Thursday, August 6, 2026, with the new variants starting to appear across the map at 6 AM PT / 9 AM ET, when the weekly Sprite reset takes place. In total, the remaining eight Gem variants will officially make their debut on August 6, bringing the complete collection to nine Sprites.
Not every Gem Sprite is following the same neat timeline. Vice notes that the Gem Llama Sprite was technically released early during the July 30 update and can already be obtained from Relic Chests, while a second variant slipped out by accident: the Gem Grim Sprite was accidentally released early on July 30 before Epic Games quickly vaulted it, though players who managed to catch it before it was removed will not have to find it again, as it will automatically be restored to their collections when Gem Sprites officially release on August 6. Beebom separately flags that the harder-to-find variants sit at the top of Sprite Chest drop tables, meaning Gem Punk, Gem Grim and Gem Zero Point could take dedicated hunting to track down once they go live.
New Sprites, Umbrella Glider and Mastery Rewards From the v41.30 Patch
The Gem rollout sits on top of content Epic already added with the July 30 v41.30 update, which introduced two brand-new Sprites and expanded the season’s progression track. The patch notes describe them directly: two new Sprites are on the loose — Lootin’ Llama Sprite, where opening ammo boxes has a chance to upgrade your weapon, and Peeky Peely Sprite, which marks nearby rare Sprite variants or enemies carrying them, though it also reveals your own location.
Alongside the new companions, Epic tied fresh cosmetic and gameplay rewards to the season’s mastery track. According to the official notes, players can progress through Part 4 of Sprite Mastery and unlock the new Quack Sprite variant, Umbrella Glider and the new Lucky Locator Gizmo. The Quack Sprite itself carries a support-style perk, with Epic explaining that whenever your Quack Sprite gains progress, every other Sprite you’re carrying in your match inventory also gains an extra 50% of that progress.
Mastery Monday Kicks Off the Countdown to Gem Sprites
Before Thursday’s Gem rollout, Fortnite’s recurring Mastery Monday event returns on August 3 with a straightforward XP boost. Vice’s schedule breakdown lists Monday, August 3: Mastery Monday (Double Sprite XP) as the opening fixture of the week, giving players a head start on unlocking or upgrading Sprites before the Gem variants arrive two days later. Beebom’s own tracking of the season confirms the broader pattern, noting that Fortnite Mastery Mondays is a weekly recurring event that helps players master their Sprites more quickly, a fixture Epic has run consistently since Sprites became Chapter 7 Season 3’s core collection mechanic.
For Kiwi and Australian squads, the ET-based windows mean most of this week’s sessions land in the local morning to early afternoon, so it’s worth checking a live time-zone converter before queuing up rather than relying on the US clock quoted in Epic’s notes. With Gem Sprites closing out the collection on August 6, this is shaping up as one of the busiest single weeks of Chapter 7 Season 3’s Sprite-hunting cycle so far.
Read also:Fortnite Drops Pac-Man Audio Easter Egg, Fuelling Gaming Legends Season 4 Leaks
Sources
battle royaleemptyEpic GamesFortniteFortnite Chapter 7 Season 3Fortnite SpritesSpider-Man
