Since patch 5.40, you may have come across some weapons in Fortnite: Battle Royale in a different color than usual. We explain the reason for this and what the change means for you.
The new patch 5.40 for Fortnite is here, and players are mostly occupied with the High-Stakes event. However, there is more in the current patch that is worth analyzing.
The most important change to weapon balance in patch 5.40
Salvage rifles are finally useful: The new patch 5.40 has mainly buffed salvage rifles. You now not only benefit from improved aim assist on the second shot, but aim accuracy also increases while you are aiming with the weapon.
This buff was long overdue, as salvage rifles did not receive the same improvements in aim assist as other weapons in the past. This disadvantage has now been balanced out.
That’s it for actual changes to the weapons. The other adjustments have, at first glance, no impact whatsoever.
Patch changes rarity grades of many weapons
Various rarities have been changed in Fortnite: Battle Royale: The range of affected weapons and items is large:
- The blue rocket launcher has been removed from the game. To compensate for this, rocket launchers in purple and orange are supposed to drop more often.
- The legendary repeater sniper rifle has been removed along with the rare (blue) pistol and the common (grey) suppressed submachine gun.
- Remote explosives are now purple instead of blue, and the vault is now blue instead of epic (purple).
- The semi-automatic sniper rifle can now be found in the rarities green and blue instead of purple and orange (the frequency is also expected to increase).
- The dual pistols and the suppressed pistol are moving one tier down in rarity, from purple and orange to blue and purple.
Why is Epic changing the colors when the weapon statistics remain unchanged? Probably mainly as assistance for newer players. After all, the rarity of a weapon is the benchmark for quality for newcomers.
Epic wants to ensure that rare weapons are indeed better than others.
For veterans, these changes will have no major impact. Your favorite weapon is exactly as good (or bad) after the patch as it was before.
What do you think of the color adjustments? Useful or unnecessary?
