Fortnite’s patches are normally limited to one per week, but Epic is breaking its pattern to make some big changes to the game. In a hotfix released on Thursday afternoon, Epic removed the Combat Shotgun, one of the best guns in the game, and introduced a few other balance changes.
This hotfix to last Tuesday’s patch removes three guns from Fortnite: the Combat Shotgun, the Drum Shotgun, and the Proximity Launcher. While each of these filled their own space in the game, the Combat Shotgun was one of the most sought-after guns, thanks to its high damage and long-range. With both of these shotguns leaving, the game is back to only having the Pump and Tactical Shotguns now.
The Automatic Sniper, which was only added a few patches ago, also got a significant change in this hotfix. The gun was under-performing, according to Epic, so to help give it a boost, its damage has been increased by nine at each rarity level. Whether or not that’s enough to make it viable remains to be seen.
For a look at everything that changed in this mid-week hotfix, you can check out the full patch notes below.
Fortnite 9/5 Hotfix patch notes
Weapons and Items
Vaulted
- Combat Shotgun
- Drum Shotgun
- Proximity Launcher
Unvaulted
- Suppressed Assault Rifle (Epic/Legendary)
Automatic Sniper
- The Automatic Sniper was underperforming relative to some of the other Sniper Rifles. This adjustment to damage should make it more desirable as an alternative long-range weapon.
Increased damage from 31/33/35 to 40/42/44
B.R.U.T.E
Lowered the spawn rate of the B.R.U.T.E in Storm phases 3-6 in core modes. Arena spawn rates will remain unchanged.
With this change, we’re hoping to reduce the impact of B.R.U.T.Es on late-game scenarios, while retaining their presence in the early game.
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
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
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
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
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
10% chance to spawn 1
Peppers
- Increased the duration of spiciness from Peppers to a 60-second duration from a 20-second duration.
Retail Row
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%
