Should the hand cannon be in competitive Fortnite?

Gone is the flint-knock, here comes the hand cannon. But the question remains -- should it be included in the competitive loot pool?

We should really start by giving praise where praise is due. One task Epic Games performed exceptionally over the past year is their commitment to separate competitive loot pools

To all my OG’s out there, we all remember when Epic absolutely blasted the competitive meta week over week towards the end of Fortnite Chapter One (cough cough Mechs). But to the gratitude of many, their position took a 180 degree turn since

I’m not known for my frequent praises of Epic Games, so this is quite a special event. Bookmark this tab so you remember it’s not always criticism from my end

Anyways, Fortnite is in one of those phases right now where they temporarily vault and unvault nostalgic items into the core/casual loot pool. Whether it’s a marketing gimmick or part of a much bigger storyline, beats me

The Hand Cannon has been unvaulted and the Flintknock has been vaulted!

— iFireMonkey (@iFireMonkey) February 23, 2021

With the new rotation as a result of last night’s update, some competitive players are suggesting to throw the newly unvaulted deagle into the competitive loot pool. Some community members view the current loot pool as flat and low in mobility. This change would add another layer of dynamism that is lacking at the moment

A (surprisingly) constructive conversation picked up on the competitive subreddit, r/FortniteCompetitive

hand cannon unvaulted. hopefully it makes it to comp, i’d love to use it again. from r/FortniteCompetitive

There are some noteworthy points to keep in mind when approaching this discussion. The hand cannon isn’t the same gun some of you OG’s might remember. It’s current iteration cannot one shot walls -- which is why it was so coveted at first

But that doesn’t make the gun useless. The hand cannon does 156 headshot damage and, despite slow first shot accuracy, can hit a somewhat consistent hipfire headshot from very close ranges

Effectively, a hand cannon acts as the latter force of a double pump setup if you’re holding a pump shotgun as your primary. I’m already feeling nostalgic Daquan vibes

Would you like to see the hand cannon make a re-entrance into the competitive loot pool? Let us know on Twitter!