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Fortnite shotguns nerfed, traps buffed

Sherif Saed avatar
News by Sherif Saed Contributor
Published on

Shotguns should now be less devastating in Fortnite Battle Royale.

The Fortnite content update 4.3 first went live on Tuesday, adding the Bouncer Trap and making a few minor adjustments.

Since then, Epic Games updated the game once again with a list of gameplay changes. It's not clear why these weren't initially part of the update, but they're still pretty big.

The most interesting change comes to shotguns, which have now been nerfed with a damage reduction, as well as a drop to their headshot multiplier. Epic said that shotguns are being used "more often than we like", making shotgun strategies overly dominant.

Shotguns have always been player favourites, but the recent changes to equip times made them too good to pass up. Epic will still monitor the data going forward as it tries to allow for different styles of play.

On the other hand, Epic is also looking to improve shotgun consistency by eliminating a few issues the developer has identified. Part of this is to be able to make it clear to players when their shots missed or landed.

The other big change in this update is that traps have once again been buffed. After previously getting their damage reduced from 125 to 75, Epic has now updated their damage to 150.

Fortnite Solid Gold v2

See a full breakdown of the changes below:

Shotgun balance

-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

Trap balance

  • Trap Damage increased from 75 to 150

Building adjustments

  • Damage fall-off vs. structures removed for Rifles, SMGs, Pistols, and LMGs.
  • C4 structure explosion radius increased from 400 to 600.

Resource availability / launcher effectiveness

-Supply Llama

  • Decreased material stacks from 500 to 200 per resource.
  • Explosive Ammo removed.

-Floor loot materials

  • Material drop chances in floor loot reduced by 33%.
  • Material stack sizes in floor loot reduced by 33%.

-Ammo availability

  • Light Ammo stack sizes increased from 12 to 18.
  • Explosive Ammo availability decreased 50%.

-Minigun

  • Accuracy increased by 10%.
  • Light Ammo spawn increased from 60 to 90.
  • Damage against structures increased from 25 to 30.

-Teams of 20 Storm Damage per tick

  • Storm circle 1 damage per tick decreased from 10 to 1.
  • Storm circle 2 damage per tick decreased from 10 to 2.
  • Storm circle 3 damage per tick decreased from 10 to 4.
  • Storm circle 4 damage per tick decreased from 10 to 8.

For more on Fortnite, check out a complete list of the week 6 challenges. This includes searching between a Playground, Campsite, and a Footprint, the Salty Springs treasure map location and everything else you need to complete the challenges and earn the Battle Stars.

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