With the Fortnite Champions Series for Chapter 3 Season 3 just starting, Epic Games has tuned some weapons perceived as too strong by the community.
In total, two of the game's most used and dominant weapons have been nerfed effective immediately with a surprise update on July 11. Furthermore, one that was seemingly underused got an interesting buff that could make it a more enticing option.
First up, the two guns that got nerfed were the Striker Pump shotgun and the Striker Burst AR. Both got their damage reduced, the former decreased the amount of body damage it does while the latter will deal less damage at max range.
As for the gun that got buffed, it's none other than the Two-Shot shotgun. It seems Epic Games saw our Chapter 3 Season 3 shotgun tier list, where we placed the Two-Shot as the worst in its category and possibly one of the poorest guns in the game overall.
Another interesting change is the amount of Port-A-Forts a player can carry; previously, you could stack up to five, with that number reduced to only two.
Fortnite July 11 Weapon Balance Changes
Overall, this is what you can expect when you boot up Fortnite the next time you're trying to grind your battle pass or complete the Indiana Jones quests:
- Striker Pump shotgun damage reduced by 12 (From 103/108/114/120/126 to 91/96/102/108/110)
- Striker Burst AR range damage nerf: Used to deal the same damage on all ranges, now it deals three less damage on mid range, and five less damage on long range
- Two-Shot shotgun fire rate buff: Fires second shot 50% faster
- Port-A-Forts stack size reduced from 5 to 2
So there you have it! The implications on casual play could be (and will probably be) minimal, however, it seems these particular adjustments are geared towards the competitive scene.
It'll take some time for the meta to develop once again, but in our humble opinion, we feel the nerf to the Striker Pump shotgun was innecesary and that the AR will continue to dominate the mid-range play against the DMR due to its versatility.
As for the Two-Shot shottie, it seems like a deserved change on paper, however, the auto-shotgun is still a more reliable close-range companion, and we don't think that's changing anytime soon.
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