Fortnite Vaults a Fan-Favorite Weapon in Season 4

The start of Fortnite Season 4 quietly removed one of the game's most well-known weapons as Epic Games decided to vault the Crossbow.

Included in the patch notes that detailed everything new that's been added for the beginning of Season 4, Epic Games noted that the Crossbow has been vaulted as of now. With all the new superhero outfits and everything else that's going on, a big deal wasn't made of the weapon's vaulting in the patch notes or through the game's Twitter account, but the weapon's indeed gone, at least for the time being.

The Crossbow didn't exactly have a long lifespan in Fortnite compared to the other weapons that have stuck around much longer throughout various balance adjustments. The weapon was added in February when Epic Games announced that the Crossbow would be available in both the Battle Royale and the Save the World game modes. Unlike the rest of the weapons in Fortnite that encourage guns-blazing playstyles that either blow players away or level entire structures, the Crossbow forced players to use stealth and some sneaky tactics to make proper use of the weapon.

While the Crossbow had a spot in many players' arsenals once they found it either laying around the map or inside a chest, there were many who also found it frustrating to use. It wasn't quite as easy to hit someone with the Crossbow as it was when using a Tactical Shotgun or an Assault Rifle, but it was a satisfying feeling to use it properly. If nothing else, it was an easy way to troll teammates by shooting the Crossbow bolts near them and making them think they were someone else's target.

Though the weapon has been vaulted for now, that doesn't mean that it can't come back sometime in the future. Back in February, Epic Games announced that it would be vaulting a weapon for the first time by removing the normal SMG from the game's weapon options. At that time, Epic Games said that the vaulting of weapons would allow for the devs to manage the weapon pool and said that vaulted weapons may or may not return.

The most recent weapon to be removed was the Guided Missiles, a weapon that spent an even shorter time in Fortnite than the Crossbow. This weapon was vaulted mid-April with Epic Games taking into consideration players' feedback about the weapon having too much power.

There's no telling now if the Crossbow will make a return, we'll hopefully see it come back in a later patch, perhaps with some changes from the original version to keep it around longer.