The Twitch streamer Tyler “Ninja” Blevins is calling for a change to the drum gun in Fortnite. This is the favorite weapon of many “regular” players, who even voted to bring the Tommy Gun back to Fortnite.
This is the problem Ninja has with the drum gun: The biggest Twitch streamer in the world, Ninja, posted a video on Twitter showing how he has a kind of meltdown, saying this happens to him every time he gets killed with the Tommy Gun.
He and many other top players seem to condemn the playstyle that comes with the Tommy Gun. The weapon is seen as a “spray and pray” gun, where one aims in the direction of the opponents and just fires. It takes down structures and builds effortlessly.
As early as summer 2018, there was heavy criticism of this playstyle – as it weakens building in Fortnite, which many top players have perfected over the months.
This is the change Ninja is calling for: He wants the drum gun to either completely disappear from Fortnite or be found much less frequently. Epic should let the drum gun drop as rarely as the Boom Bow.
Since the drum gun is available in green and blue rarity, it is often found in the game.
Ninja would probably also be in favor of a nerf for the weapon. He is not alone in this – other prominent players are also against this weapon and think that Epic was justified in removing it from the game a few months ago.
Most recently, Ninja did not qualify for the World Cup and cited the return of the Tommy Gun to competitive play as one of the reasons.
This is what makes the drum gun special: The drum gun in Fortnite is based on the famous “Tommy Gun.” It was developed in the 1920s in the USA, and many associate the weapon with mafia movies or films from World War II.
The Tommy Gun holds a cult status among weapons in pop culture.
This is the history of the weapon in Fortnite:
- The drum gun came to Fortnite in July 2018 and was immediately a fan favorite.
- In August 2018, it received its first nerf, causing it to be found less frequently and to be less accurate. Additionally, it dealt less damage at longer distances after the nerf.
- In September 2018, the weapon was ultimately removed. The item disappeared into the vault.
- On May 4, 2019, the players voted to bring this weapon back. The drum gun prevailed in an event against 5 other items in the vault and has been active in Fortnite ever since.
- Since last weekend, the drum gun is also playable again in competitive PvP.
This is what it’s all about: The drum gun clearly shows how divided Fortnite is. Competitive players and streamers have completely different interests than the majority of players.
This is an interesting conflict, as the very weapon that the majority of players wanted back is now received so poorly by Ninja, the figurehead of Fortnite:
