If you have played any Fortnite at all you’re probably familiar with being one-shot by a shotgun. Once a player gets the drop on you, a quick blast in the head with a shotgun often leaves you without any counterplay and dead in seconds. Shotguns are pretty much an instant win in any kind of close combat fight and thus Epic Games is giving them the nerf treatment in patch 4.3, righteously so.
Both types of shotguns, the pump shotguns and the tactical shotgun will receive a nerf to their headshot multipliers. Instead of a 2.5 multiplier it has been reduced to a 2.0 multiplier. The pump shotgun will also receive a nerf to its damage output, going from 90/95 down to 80/85. This nerf to the damage numbers mean that if you’re full health with shield you will no longer be getting one-shot when shot in the head. Previously a full shotgun blast to the head would do above 225 damage whereas with the changes it would only do 170 damage, still a lot of damage but no longer a guaranteed kill.
Epic Games has stated that they want to promote a variety of playstyles through which you can win the game. Shotguns give you the opportunity to win through close quarter combat, however, the developers have said that shotguns have been seeing use way more than they should. They have also stated that they are looking into some other issues with shotguns, they want to make the accuracy more consistent and better indicate when you’re shots are hitting. Expect more changes to the weapon in the future.
Traps are also getting changed. Damage numbers on traps are going way up. A previous nerf left them with only 75 damage but it seems that Epic Games is ready to give traps some love again. Damage numbers on trap have increased to 150 damage so watch your step. They have said that they are trying to figure out how important traps are and that they want to introduce more interesting ways to win matches through the form of traps.
Some players that have been around for a while now can also be happy to see the return of bouncer traps. A bouncer trap is basically a less powerful Launch pad but brings a lot more versatility. It just bounces you off in the air in the direction you were walking towards, meaning you can cover big distances with one of these bad boys.
