Every player in Fortnite: Battle Royale must know them – opponents with two pump shotguns, happily switching between both shotguns in a firefight, achieving a fire rate that is actually reserved for tactical shotguns. How overpowering the combination really is, is shown in a video that is currently making the rounds on Reddit.
No weapon combination is currently being discussed more animatedly than the pump shotgun – an absolutely lethal weapon that can take out opponents even at greater distances if critical hits are landed. Up close, a pump shotgun kills any opponent with a critical hit – regardless of how many hit points they have. Shields are also destroyed with one shot.
Sounds pretty strong, right? It is. Unfortunately, the pump shotgun comes with a poor fire rate, where tactical shotguns have a big advantage (and fire automatically). Players compensate for the worse fire rate by equipping a second pump shotgun and switching after each shot.
The video that is currently making the rounds on Reddit shows how overpowering the combination of two pump shotguns actually is.
A kangaroo and two pump shotguns
But it is not only the combination of two pump shotguns that drives many players up the wall, the weapons in combination with hopping opponents cause even more frustration. Since some weapons are subject to the Bloom mechanics, which can cause shots to miss their target, even if the opponent was aimed at, it becomes even harder to win a fight.
Currently, players have no choice but to jump on the bandwagon and also be equipped with two pump shotguns. Tactical shotguns fall behind the combination of two pump shotguns – while they offer a significantly better fire rate than a single pump shotgun, they deal significantly less damage, even critically.
Except for the epic shotgun (purple), currently no shotgun can compete with the pump shotgun, which is only represented in the two most common rarity levels (gray and green) and can therefore be found quite frequently.
But don’t despair – Fortnite developers Epic are closely monitoring the situation and have already made a statement.
Epic responds to player feedback – working on a solution
Epic has made multiple statements on Reddit under relevant posts. They are aware that the combination of two pump shotguns circumvents game mechanics and are currently working on a solution. However, when to expect the solution is currently unknown.
But how could Epic break the dominance of the double pump shotguns? We have a few theories:
- The weapon swap speed is adjusted to match the fire rate of the pump shotguns, eliminating the incentive to equip more than one pump shotgun,
- it may no longer be possible to equip two weapons at the same time. This would also make any future “double variants” impossible,
- Pump shotguns will be nerfed.
Epic has already adjusted the critical hit damage of shotguns in its current shooting test 1 – from 250% to 150% with a subsequent increase to 200%. Which multiplier will actually make it into the productive game is currently still unknown.
One thing is for sure – a reduction in critical hit damage alone will not break the dominance of pump shotguns, quite the opposite.
What do you think of the double pump shotgun tactic? Do you play with it? Is it too strong?
