Epic Games has rolled out a small balance update for
Fortnite Battle Royale that will undoubtedly have a big impact on the game.
"We’ve identified some strategies that are overly dominant and we’ll be making some adjustments today. Going forward we’ll continue to monitor how we can best support that gameplay variety," Epic said i
n a post on Reddit announcing the changes.
The most welcomed adjustment is undoubtedly the nerf to shotguns. The pump shotgun, which many believe to be the most overpowered gun in the game, has had its headshot multiplier and overall damage reduced so that it should no longer one-shot players. Epic explained,
"For awhile we felt that Shotguns promoted healthy close quarter gameplay, however with the recent equip time changes, Shotguns are being used more often than we like. It's something we've been keeping an eye on, but broadly speaking we feel Shotguns are a little too strong in their current state."
The following are the specific adjustments to shotguns:
-
Pump Shotgun
-
Headshot multiplier reduced from 2.5 to 2.0
-
Damage reduced from 90/95 to 80/85
-
Tactical Shotgun
-
Headshot multiplier reduced from 2.5 to 2.0
Epic added they are looking into shotgun consistency across the board as well. More specifically,
"We want to make it more apparent when you hit or miss a shot. In addition to that, making sure the accuracy is more consistent and improving other odd behaviors with the weapon is a top priority. We've identified a number of issues that we're currently working on solving in the near future."
Another change in today's update is a buff to traps, which is odd considering Epic just nerfed them. Following the recent decrease in trap damage from 125 to 75, Epic has not only restored the damage but made traps stronger than before. Trap damage has now been increased from 75 to 150, meaning it can now one-shot a full-health player with 50 shields (2 minis or 1 full).
Epic attempted to justify the change, explaining:
"We made a large change to traps a few weeks ago to test decreasing damage from 125 to 75. This was done in an effort to better understand the impact traps have throughout a match. The change sparked a great deal of excellent discussion about traps and we are going to lean more into improving their effectiveness. We want this to add more ways for you to be potent in combat."
Lastly, the newly introduced Limited Time Item Jetpack - the first of the game's Jetpack items - will be vaulted at 8:00 a.m. on Monday, June 11. Epic said they may bring the Jetpack back at a future date with some
"improvements and new changes."
That's all for now, but those are some seriously big changes. What do you think of the recent
Fortnite Battle Royale balance update?