Epic Games released the v9.40 update for "Fortnite Battle Royale" on Wednesday, July 17, at 4 AM Eastern Time. The patch has added many new things to the popular video game, and besides those that have been released to live servers, there are a lot of new game files that have been found by data miners. These files show us things that will be released to the game in the future, and as it turns out, there are a lot of things "Fortnite" players can look forward to in the last two weeks of Season 9.
The biggest addition, released to live servers, is the new Legendary shotgun.
However, the video game developer has also decided to make a few more changes to weapons, including the Combat Shotgun. "Fortnite Battle Royale" players will have to once again change the way they play the game as the combat version of this short-range weapon has been nerfed once again.
Another nerf
The Combat Shotgun was added to "Fortnite Battle Royale" at the start of Season 9. It replaced the Pump Shotgun and forced players to adapt to the new weapon loadout. Shortly after, the Pump was brought back to the game, and the game developer has also released the Drum Shotgun and the Legendary version of the Tactical Shotgun, which was added in the v9.40 update.
Many players considered the Combat Shotgun overpowered, which is why it was nerfed a few weeks ago.
Epic Games has nerfed its long-range effectiveness, but it appears that it hasn't affected its usability as players kept using it more than any other close-range weapon. However, the latest patch has brought another nerf to this gun, so it won't be surprising if many players decide to use the new shotgun instead of the nerfed one.
The headshot multiplier for the Combat Shotgun was originally 1.7, but it was reduced to 1.5 with the latest update. The "Fortnite" has also nerfed this weapon's long-range effectiveness once again. The falloff curve to 2.44 tiles has remained unchanged, but the 4.88 curve was reduced to 4.39, 9.77 was reduced to 6.84, and the 19.53-tile falloff has been reduced to only 11.72 tiles.
To simply it, this means that players will get a damage falloff from shorter distances. The previous maximum distance was almost 20 tiles, but the weapon will deal no damage at that distance anymore.
Epic Games' comment
"After observing recent changes to damage falloff, we decided to further reduce its long range effectiveness and alter the curve to fall a bit more in line with other shotguns but still retain its unique flavor," is what Epic Games commented on this nerf. Considering that the gun was slightly overpowered, this nerf should make it more balanced and we might see players use other shotguns as well.