The v9.01 patch for "Fortnite Battle Royale" was released on May 15 at 4 AM Eastern Time. Epic Games has released this small patch for all clients, and while its size was small, it has brought a couple of drastic changes to the popular video game. The game developer has decided to once again release several balance changes to weapons, forcing players to adjust their playstyle and use different items in the game.
Season 9 has brought the spray meta back as the Drum Gun was added just a few days before the season started. This gun, along with semi-automatic shotguns and submachine guns, is capable of dealing massive damage in a short period of time.
Even though the Drum Gun was brought back from the vault, Epic Games has decided to change a few things about it and make it slightly weaker. The gun is still powerful, but its latest nerf was definitely necessary.
The Drum Gun has been nerfed
The Drum Gun has two rarities, Uncommon (Green) and Rare (Blue). Before the v9.01 update, the weapon dealt 26 and 27 damage respectively, which made it extremely powerful considering that the weapon has 50 bullets in its magazine. In addition to this, its rapid fire rate has made it difficult for enemies to protect themselves against this gun.
The latest "Fortnite Battle Royale" update has brought a damage adjustment to the weapon, lowering its damage to 22 for the Uncommon and 23 for the Rare variant.
The Drum Gun is still very powerful and there is no doubt it will be a part of the Season 9 meta, mostly because of its magazine size. "Since its unvaulting, the Drum Gun effectiveness has been slightly higher than we wanted. This change should reduce its combat effectiveness while still retaining its flavor," was the comment made by Epic Games regarding this change.
Epic Games has also removed the Compact Submachine Gun with the latest patch. "Due to the recent addition of the Drum Gun and the brand new Tactical Assault Rifle, we wanted to reduce the availability of high rate-of-fire weapons," is what the game developer posted in the patch notes. The removal of the 40-bullet submachine gun is another reason why the Drum Gun will be used more often.
More changes
The "Fortnite Battle Royale" developer has added the Tactical Assault Rifle with the May 15 update, making it available in Rare, Epic, and Legendary variants. This weapon deals 22/23/24 damage respectively and has a 1.75x headshot multiplier. It is not effective at the long range like the regular Assault Rifle, but its tight spread makes it very good in close quarters.
The Baller has had its health reduced to 150, down from 200 hit points. According to the game creator, the goal of this vehicle is to provide mobility, yet a lot of players had been using it as a way to defend themselves against enemies. The latest change has made the vehicle weaker, but its mobility has remained unchanged.
