Fortnite Battle Royale: The age of the pump shotgun is over

No longer will you get one shotted with the pump shotgun in the back! No longer will you get one shotted by a guy corner peaking! No longer will a player with the generic skin get a lucky one shot sending you into a fit of rage! The age of the overpowered pump shotgun is over Fortnite Battle Royale fans! Rejoice!

Yesterday, I voiced my displeasure with Epic Games’ decision to cut down on the number of materials received out of llamas and picked up from chests and floor loot. Today, I am here to praise the developers for making a worthwhile change that will positively impact the game for good.

In the “Balance Update” that saw some significant changes to the base game, the pump shotgun, the weapon of choice for every aggressive player in the game, was noticeably nerfed. Here is a direct quote from the update notes released by Epic:

"“For a while we felt that Shotguns promoted healthy close quarter gameplay, however with the recent equip time changes, Shotguns are being used more often than we like. It’s something we’ve been keeping an eye on, but broadly speaking we feel Shotguns are a little too strong in their current state. As a result, we’re making these adjustments:Pump ShotgunHeadshot multiplier reduced from 2.5 to 2.0Damage reduced from 90/95 to 80/85Tactical ShotgunHeadshot multiplier reduced from 2.5 to 2.0Shotgun consistency across the board is also something we’re looking into and aim to improve. We want to make it more apparent when you hit or miss a shot. In addition to that, making sure the accuracy is more consistent and improving other odd behaviors with the weapon is a top priority. We’ve identified a number of issues that we’re currently working on solving in the near future.”"

I could not be happier with this change. The number of times I was killed with one shot from a pump shotgun despite having full shield and health blew my mind. In my opinion, only the purple or gold bolt-action sniper should be able to take off full shield and health – and only on a headshot.

With the pump shotgun body damage significantly nerfed, we will begin to see a steady transition from everyone running two pumps to everyone running either a pump and a tactical shotgun, or even a tactical and heavy shotgun.

When I first started playing the BR back in late 2017, I was a big fan of the tac shotty. The ability to shoot quickly and the fact that the magazine size was eight shots made me feel like I could shoot quicker and make more mistakes without losing a gunfight.

With the pump shotgun, especially in season four with the switch delay implemented, I felt like I had to connect on every shot I took or I would die immediately. My fear was confirmed when I lost a fight to a guy who had a blue tactical SMG.

His ability to shoot faster and miss some shots was better than my ability to hit him once or twice with the pump shotgun.

Unlike many of my friends who I play with, I like the heavy shotgun. Now that the pump has lost its luster, the heavy will become popular because of its ability to hit from range and shoot rather quickly.

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I was getting very fed up with good players being able to easily crack me for 220 plus with the pump shotgun and that is now impossible. At the most, a blue pump will hit for 180 damage to the head.

So go out there, grab those shields, and prepare for an actual gunfight since it is impossible to get killed immediately in a close proximity fight.

Stay tuned to Forever Fortnite for more Fortnite Battle Royale news and opinions!