Fortnite players have lost access to two of Chapter 7 Season 2's strangest mobility tools while Epic Games investigates a bug tied to character size.
Llama riding has been temporarily disabled, and shoulder riding has also been shut off while the issue is being investigated. According to a report citing Epic's support account, the bug can alter a player's character model, either shrinking it or making it giant. Epic has not given a return window for either feature.
The removal is small compared with a full playlist outage, but it hits a pair of mechanics that players had quickly turned into part of Fortnite's current sandbox. Llama riding lets players mount Supply Llamas during matches, while shoulder riding lets one squad member carry another. In a battle royale where hitboxes, visibility and movement all matter, a bug that changes character size is the kind of problem Epic cannot leave active for long.
Fortnite's April Fools joke became a real feature
Llama riding and shoulder riding arrived through Fortnite's April Fools update, alongside big heads and finger guns. Most of that update's one-day chaos was temporary, but the two ride mechanics stuck around after players responded well to them.
A Beebom guide published after the update described rideable llamas as tied to the Llamanomaly Rift Anomaly, with players able to tame a llama by riding it until a meter fills. Once fully tamed, the llama can turn gold and reward players with Gold Bars and a Chug Jug. The same guide noted that Epic had kept rideable llamas and shoulder riding in Chapter 7 Season 2 after their April Fools debut.
That context makes the temporary shutdown more noticeable than a typical bug fix. These were not long-running Fortnite staples, but they had survived past their joke-event origins and were becoming part of the season's identity.
No return date yet
Epic's next step is a fix and a re-enable, though the studio has not said whether llama riding and shoulder riding will come back together or separately. Until then, players will have to play without two of the season's goofier traversal options.
Fortnite remains in the middle of Chapter 7 Season 2, which has also brought map changes, ongoing crossovers and a major shift for Save the World, which went free-to-play years after its original launch. The current bug does not stop the season, but it does temporarily remove one of the playful systems that helped give it a different feel from Fortnite's usual guns, vehicles and rifts.