Epic Games has added a lot of new weapons to "Fortnite Battle Royale" so far in Season 9. At the very start of the season, the video game developer made some drastic changes as the Pump Shotgun was removed from the game and replaced with the Combat Shotgun. A few weeks later, several other new weapons were added to the game, including the Tactical Assault Rifle, the Proximity Grenade Launcher, the Burst SMG, and a few more.
The "Fortnite" creator is not going to stop releasing weekly updates anytime soon, and we can expect more items to be added in the ninth season.
The Drum Shotgun has already been leaked and it turns out that Epic Games is also going to add the Air Strike item. While the release date of the new shotgun is unknown, the Air Strike item will be released during Season 9 as one of the upcoming challenges will be about it.
New explosive item is coming to the game
At the moment, it is unknown how exactly the Air Strike item is going to work in "Fortnite Battle Royale." However, it could be something similar to the way the Quad Launcher and the Guided Missile worked. According to Lucas7yoshi, a popular data miner, the item will use the Grenade Launcher reticle and will probably have the indicator of where it is going to hit.
The data miner also revealed that the Air Strike will do the same damage as regular grenades, which is 100 player damage and 375 structural damage.
Considering that this is the item damage, we can expect it to be a single strike that will come from above. Right now, it sounds like defending against this item would be too easy and too simple, but there will most likely be a catch.
The airstrike will do the same damage as regular grenades.
— Lucas7yoshi // Fortnite Leaks/News (@Lucas7yoshi) June 28, 2019
Will use the grenade launcher reticle image and probably have something showing where it'll hit pic.twitter.com/6ZlJFXrJQU
Epic Games recently vaulted the Boom Bow and the Dynamite, saying that there are too many explosive items in the game.
The Proximity Grenade Launcher has been added recently as well, and it might be vaulted when the Air Strike comes to the game. Considering that the upcoming item is going to do the same damage as the Grenade, it won't be surprising if Epic Games decides to vault regular grenades once again.
Release date of the item
Lucas7yoshi has also leaked Week 10 challenges for Season 9 of "Fortnite Battle Royale." One of the challenges requires players to use an Air Strike in three different matches, which means that the item will come out before the final week of the season.
Considering we are already in the eighth week of the season, this gives the "Fortnite" creator less than two weeks to add the item to the game.
It is important to note that the current season will most likely be extended for a few weeks. Epic Games has made it clear that the Fortnite World Cup will be held in Season 9, so we can expect Season 10 to start in early August.