Suprise Fortnite Update: Drum Shotgun and Combat Vaulted, BRUTE Spawn Rate Decreased and Much More

Epic has released a surprise hotfix to Fortnite that includes a mech spawn rate nerf and some high-profile vaultings. Take a look at all of the changes here.

Here I was, minding my own business and scrolling Twitter when I see a tweet about the Combat Shotgun leaving Fortnite. I was stunned.

To my surprise, Epic released a hotfix to Fortnite.

And we're not talking about adjusting loot values or anything like that. Epic vaulted the most popular and least popular shotguns in Fortnite, nerfed the BRUTE spawn rate, buffed the Auto Sniper and Peppers, vaulted the Proximity Launcher, and changed Retail Row.

Let's get into it.

Vault

The Combat Shotgun, Drum Shotgun, and Proximity Launcher got the boot with this hotfix.

This is a massive change and a positive one for most of the Fortnite community. The Proximity Launcher and Combat were extremely overpowered, while the Drum Shotgun was one of the most-hated guns in the game.

A lot of casual Fortnite players might be unhappy with the vaulting of the Combat, but it was necessary. I wrote a blog covering how overpowered the Combat was yesterday, so check that out if you're salty about the change.

Epic also brought the Suppressed AR back to the game with this update. It will be nice to have this old friend back, although it was never as good as the regular Scar.

BRUTE Spawn Rates

Epic substantially nerfed the BRUTE spawn rates in core modes, which was much needed. I took the above screenshot in a Duo game. There were seven mechs with 22 players left in the fourth storm circle.

Here are the spawn rate adjustments:

• Storm phase 3
  • New spawn rates
    • 33.3% chance to spawn 0
    • 33.3% chance to spawn 1
    • 33.3% chance to spawn 2
  • Old spawn rates
    • 25% chance to spawn 0
    • 25% chance to spawn 1
    • 25% chance to spawn 2
    • 25% chance to spawn 3
• Storm phase 4
  • New spawn rates
    • 50% chance to spawn 0
    • 50% chance to spawn 1
  • Old spawn rates
    • 33.3% chance to spawn 0
    • 33.3% chance to spawn 1
    • 33.3% chance to spawn 2
• Storm phase 5
  • New spawn rates
    • 83.4% chance to spawn 0
    • 16.6% chance to spawn 1
  • Old spawn rates
    • 50% chance to spawn 0
    • 50% chance to spawn 1
• Storm phase 6
  • New spawn rates
    • Will no longer spawn.
  • Old spawn rates
    • 90% chance to spawn 0
    • 10% chance to spawn 1

Unfortunately, the BRUTE is still in Arena Mode. Mechs don't seem to be that common in Arena, though, so that's something.

Other Changes

We released a hotfix containing some balance changes.

For all the details, check out our blog post: https://t.co/qYkXxOuWnj

— Fortnite (@FortniteGame) September 5, 2019

The Automatic Sniper got a buff. The damage was increased from 31/33/35 to 40/42/44.

In my opinion, it's still going to be one of the more useless guns in Fortnite.

Epic adjusted Retail Row as well and limited the number of Obelisks that spawn:

• This POI is intended to be a high-risk, high-reward drop location, but we feel the reward has outweighed the risk. By reducing the availability of Obelisks, gathering rare loot will require a little more time investment.

• Reduced the maximum number of Spawn Obelisks from 7 to 5.

• Increased the time before Spawn Obelisks respawn to a max of 30 seconds (previously a max of 5 seconds).
  • The respawn timer for Spawn Obelisks is on a loop and time may vary between 1-30 seconds.
• Decreased the chance to drop Rocket Launchers from destroyed Spawn Obelisks from 18.46% to 10%
• Decreased the chance to drop Jump Pads from destroyed Spawn Obelisks from 50% to 40%

The last change is that Peppers now last 60 seconds instead of 20.

Wow, what a stunning update. It's overwhelmingly positive, though, and probably the best thing Epic could do - short of vaulting the mech.

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