Fortnite Devs Reveal Most Recent Building and Weapon Changes, Including Drum Gun Nerf

The team over at Epic Games has made a few significant changes to the way building works and [...]

The team over at Epic Games has made a few significant changes to the way building works and weapons operate in the world of Fortnite Battle Royale. While the building itself has seen a nice little buff, both the drum gun and compact SMG didn't leave the latest update unscathed with a few key nerfs. Though the SMG didn't take a huge hit, the Drum Gun will feel some of that loss.

According to the team's latest developer update blog post, "We've seen various discussions about SMGs, building material changes, and general weapon vs structure interaction. We agree that weapons should have a unique purpose and that building should feel great as well as show off your tactical skills in the heat of battle. Your feedback in combination with internal testing has shown that previous changes in these areas were not achieving the goals we had set out for. The new changes are aimed at allowing for strengths and weaknesses between the SMGs, shotguns and structures during close range combat."

A few changes are still in the works, but below is what went live this morning when they deployed this week's challenges:

Building Changes:

Building changes were implemented to make the overall mechanic feel more "intuitive" to players:

  • Wood wall initial HP increased from 80 to 90
  • Stone wall initial HP increased from 80 to 100
  • Metal wall initial HP increased from 80 to 110

SMG Changes:

The team wanted to drop the effectiveness of this weapon so it wasn't always the go-to weapon. Though they still wanted it to feel good to the players, they didn't want it to be the ultimate pick simply because it was OP:

Compact SMG:

  • Reduced damage from 22/21 to 21/20
  • Reduced magazine size from 50 to 40

Drum Gun:

  • Reduced falloff range damage from 80% to 70% at 3500 units
  • Reduced falloff range damage from 65% to 55% at 5000+ units
  • Added environmental damage fall off matching player damage fall off
  • Decreased jumping accuracy by 5%
  • Decreased targeting accuracy by 10%
  • Reduced spawn rate from chests and floor loot by 40%

That's it for the latest update! Short, simple, and totally transparent to the game's player base. The latest update is now live on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PC, Nintendo Switch, and iOS devices! Interested in what else is new? Check out the full patch notes right here! Don't forget to also tune it into our Fortnite Community Hub right here to stay in the know!

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