Fortnite Season 9 officially kicked off today, introducing
a brand new Battle Pass and some very exciting
changes to the map. Its arrival was part of update v9.00, which featured all sorts of gameplay changes.
With a fresh season, Epic Games said goodbye to quite a few weapons and items. The most shocking amongst them was the Pump Shotgun being sent to the Vault. Epic explained its decision regarding the Pump Shotgun in a
blog post shortly after the update arrived:
We want the beginning of each Season to feel fresh and allow for a new gameplay experience along with all the new Seasonal content. Whether its new cross-map mobility, new weapons, or just new places to drop - you should feel like there is plenty to explore and experience. Specifically when it comes to Pump Shotguns, they stand out significantly: they currently account for over 26% of eliminations in default playlists, with the next weapon type not even coming close. Rather than nerfing the Pump Shotgun to a point where it no longer lives up to its fantasy, our preference is to return it to the vault, giving us an opportunity to revisit the general balance of the item, while introducing a new shotgun.
That new shotgun is the semi-automatic Combat Shotgun, which holds 10 shells, fires 9 pellets per shot (73/77/81 base damage), and relaods two shells at a time. It features a tight spread and fast fire rate along with a headshot multiplayer of 1.70x. Some other weapon tweaks include:
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Adjusted Tactical Shotgun damage
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Base damage increased from 66/70/74 to 71/75/79
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Reduced Drum Gun availability from 16.732% to 7.155%
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Reduced Boom Bow availability from 1.292% to .755%
Also sent to the vault was the Buried Treasure, Poison Dart Trap, Scoped Revolver, Suppressed Assault Rifle, Thermal Assault Rifle, and Balloons.
The addition of Slipstreams and Airvents are some other exciting new features that could impact gameplay.
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Slipstreams
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These tunnels of wind passively carry players down the stream.
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Players can move faster and change direction when actively trying to move down the Stream.
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Use directional input to gain extra velocity. Experiment with bobbing up and down for higher speeds.
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Players are launched when exiting the tube based on their movement speed and exit angle.
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Projectiles and Vehicles can also enter the Slipstream.
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Air Vents
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The powerful gusts of air from these environmental items can launch players short distances and grant immunity to fall damage.
That's most of the new gameplay changes that arrived with update v9.00, but you can find the full patch notes - including bug fixes and improvements across all modes and devices - over on Epic's blog.
Fortnite Season 9 is now live across all devices.