According to a recently released in-game message, Fortnite: Battle Royale will soon be complemented by a new long-range weapon: The heavy sniper rifle will likely be available in the new update on Tuesday. But will anyone really need it? We take a look ahead.
Epic continues to bring new content and patches to Fortnite: Battle Royale to keep the game fresh and lively. The available equipment is regularly shuffled. New weapons and items come into play, while others must make way.
A new long-range weapon is expected to be found in Fortnite: Battle Royale this week, possibly as soon as Tuesday: the heavy sniper rifle.
This is the rarity of the new sniper: The new heavy weapon can be found in epic (purple) and legendary (orange) quality. According to the in-game message, the sniper rifle is supposed to be particularly effective against buildings. The already known weapon parameters confirm this.
This is how powerful the heavy sniper rifle will be!
The weapon stats look strong: Data miners have already identified the basic parameters of the weapon:
- Damage: 157
- Magazine: 1
- Reload Speed: 4.1 seconds
The critical hit damage is not yet known but is expected to be at a multiplier of 2 (314 damage).
The weapon will shine especially against buildings: Every building piece, whether wood, stone, or metal, will be destroyed with a single shot from this weapon. But will this fact lead to the new sniper being used exclusively?
Other weapons also inflict devastating damage against buildings (Minigun, C4, Rocket Launcher). Whether the heavy sniper will be an enhancement here is questionable. In contrast to other weapons, however, the new sniper rifle offers a great advantage: The devastating damage occurs even with non-critical hits.
The new sniper in action
A data miner has gained access to the weapon and demonstrates the devastating effect of the new gun in the clip:
Will the new sniper be able to shoot “through” walls? This is unlikely. Such an effect would only make victory in Fortnite: Battle Royale dependent on luck – no more, no less. Built covers are supposed to serve exactly this purpose. If the new sniper rifle can bypass them, the building mode will become obsolete in many cases.
The new heavy sniper will likely dominate: Extremely effective against buildings, the heavy sniper rifle will be a sought-after choice for duo and squad mode. With high body damage, many opponents are likely to be quickly eliminated. The high base damage of the weapon is balanced by the immense reload time.
Will the new sniper replace the semi-automatic?
Will another sniper rifle “disappear” from the vault? Epic has previously removed weapons from the game for thorough review and redesign.
But which sniper rifle should make way for the new heavy variant?
- Hunting Rifle – The hunting rifle has no scope and is therefore unlikely to be used as a preferred long-range weapon by most players. However, this does not mean that the hunting rifle is a bad weapon – quite the contrary. Many videos on YouTube testify to the brutal strength of the weapon. It is therefore unlikely that Epic will remove the hunting rifle.
- Semi-Automatic Sniper Rifle – The semi-auto sniper is the ideal weapon for quickly firing up to 10 shots. It fires significantly faster than other sniper rifles, but is not lethal even with a critical hit if the opponent has shields. The semi-auto sniper is currently considered the worst long-range rifle.
- Bolt-Action Sniper – The bolt-action sniper is currently the most used long-range weapon. Regardless of its rarity, a critical hit is always lethal – no matter how high the opponent’s shield is.
The heavy sniper is a logical upgrade to the bolt-action sniper rifle. Higher damage to buildings and players, but this comes with a higher reload time.
Which long-range weapon should be removed? If a long-range weapon should be removed from the game, it can only be the bolt-action sniper rifle. However, due to the weapon’s high popularity, this is unlikely. The semi-automatic sniper and the hunting rifle play differently than the heavy sniper and are likely to remain in the game.
What do you think? Will Epic remove a long-range weapon from the game, and if so, which one?
