Fortnite bags new weapons, including an old favorite

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Fortnite suppressed sniper
Look out for the suppressed sniper in Battle Royale.
Photo: Epic Games

This week’s Fortnite update adds a number of new weapons to the game, including an old fan-favorite. Dual pistols can now be found in almost all Battle Royale game modes, alongside a brand new silenced sniper rifle.

The update will also bring “balance adjustments” for the boom box, the X-4 Stormwing plane, and dynamite.

We’ve seen very few changes to Fortnite in recent weeks, with Epic Games taking a well-deserved holiday break. But now that 2019 is here and everyone is back to work, we can expect bigger changes to come to Battle Royale.

They start this week with new weapons and tweaks.

Battle Royale gets its dual pistols back

Drop into a game of Battle Royale today and you’ll notice dual pistols have already returned to the game. They replace the six shooter, which has now been vaulted. A suppressed sniper rifle has also been added, and it deals 100/105 base damage in epic and legendary variants.

You’ll find the new sniper in chests, vending machines, supply drops, and on the floor. It’s a single-shot, scoped rifle — like the bolt-action sniper — and it promises a quieter shot, so enemies won’t hear you from a distance every time you fire.

Three variants — uncommon, common, and rare — of the burst assault rifle have also been vaulted, leaving only the legendary variant in the game. The dynamite drop rate has been reduced by 40 percent, while the boom box drop rate has fallen 33 percent.

The boom box has also had its health reduced to 400 from 600, and it now lasts 18 seconds instead of 25. Its blast radius appears unchanged.

Balance tweaks for X-4 Stormwing

One of Fortnite’s most controversial vehicles, the X-4 Stormwing plane, has seen big adjustments in this release. The knock back a player receives when being hit by the plane has been reduced by 75 percent, and the spread of its machine gun has increased 75 percent.

Damage done to the plane when colliding with structures has increased by 50 percent, and its spawn rate has now decreased from 100 to 80 percent, which means you won’t always find planes in areas where they usually appear.

You can enjoy the latest changes to Fortnite now across all platforms. For the full list of changes in this release, including those made to Save the World, check out the patch notes on the Fortnite blog.

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