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Fortnite V9.01 Patch Notes: Tactical Assault Rifle Drops, Baller and Drum Gun nerfed, Compact SMG Vaulted

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News by James Billcliffe Guides Editor
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With Season 9 now well underway, the first Fortnite patch notes of the new term are out, bringing with them some interesting changes.

Fortnite Tactical Assault Rifle

First up, the headline addition is the rumoured Tactical Assault Rifle - which we got a sneak peek of at the start of the season thanks to leaks.

Available in Rare, Epic, and Legendary flavours from Floor Spawns, Chests, and Vending Machines, the Tactical Assault Rifle is a fast-firing, close-combat focused weapon with a 30-round magazine.

Apparently it’s less effective at long ranges than the regular assault rifles, suggesting it’s another close-up spam gun.

To offset the amount of CQC bullet spam, the Compact SMG is being vaulted.

The Tactical Assault Rifle has a very small damage spread, dealing 22/23/24 damage at long, medium, and short ranges and has a Headshot Multiplier of x1.75.

Baller Nerf

If there was one item that many fans wanted to see go before the beloved Pump, it was the Baller.

Thanks to its large health pool and full body coverage the Baller was being used as a late-game defensive weapon.

This wasn’t what Epic intended, so they’ve dropped the Baller’s health from 200 to 150.

Drum Gun Nerf

Despite winning the Unvaulting event, there’s been a lot of vocal disquiet about everyone’s favourite bullet hose: the Drum Gun.

To redress the situation, Epic has reduced the Drum Gun’s damage by a hefty four points per shot, meaning its base damage spread has gone from 26/27 to 22/23.

In other news, you can now build inside of Slip Streams - making them easier to get into - but if a player flies into the structure it will break.

Slip Streams are now also disabled after Storm phase 5.

For Creative players, you’re getting new Prefabs and Themes.

Every day now, new Fortbyte challenges drop! Here’s our running list of how to complete them all.

Fortnite v9.01 Patch Notes

WEAPONS + ITEMS
Tactical Assault Rifle

  • Available in Rare, Epic, and Legendary variants.
  • Available from Floor Loot, Chests, Supply Drops, and Vending Machines
  • Fully Automatic
  • 30 Round Magazine
  • Deals 22/23/24 damage
  • Headshot Multiplier of 1.75x
  • This weapon has a tight spread in close quarters but is less effective at long range when compared to other Assault Rifles.

Reduced Baller health from 200 to 150

  • The primary goal of the Baller is to provide fun and exciting mobility. We feel that it still has a little too much defensive agency - this change should reduce the effectiveness there while not impacting its strengths.

Drum Gun adjustments

  • Reduced base damage from 26/27 to 22/23
  • 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.

Vaulted Compact SMG

  • 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.

GAMEPLAY
Slipstream adjustments

Slipstreams no longer block building.

  • Trying to build up to get into a Slipstream should be an easy & intuitive experience. We noticed some cases where players would build up to the Slipstream, but due to build restrictions would take a ‘leap of faith’ and not make the jump. This should make getting into a Slipstream easier.
  • Players flying in a Slipstream will destroy player built objects when they collide.

Slipstreams are now disabled after storm phase 5.

  • We’ve seen a number of cases where Slipstreams caused issues during late game circles - primarily around getting pulled into the storm unexpectedly. Since the value of Slipstream mobility is limited in those scenarios, we felt it’s better to simply disable them.

PERFORMANCE

  • Improvements made to level streaming performance on all platforms.
  • This will reduce cases of buildings not loading in.

    • Physics optimizations to improve performance in conduits

Creative

Ruined Tilted Prefabs

7 New Themes

  • Ruined Shops
  • Ruined Twin Apartments
  • Ruined L Apartments
  • Ruined Red Apartments
  • Ruined Fish Apartments
  • Ruined Basketball Court
  • Ruined Clock Tower

3 New Galleries

  • Ruined Floor Gallery
  • Ruined Wall Gallery
  • Scorched Gallery

Save the World

Mist Pods

  • Peas in a pod? More like Mini-bosses! Focus down the Mist Pods or risk being overrun with tougher enemies.

Prehistoric Izza

  • Jurassic times call for Jurassic measures! Depleted shields mean more armor with this new Dinosaur Constructor.

MISSIONS + SYSTEMS
New Wargames simulation: Mist Pods
Weed that garden, and by garden we mean your Storm Shield. Find and destroy those Mist Pods before they spawn Mini-bosses.
A new Wargames simulation means more chances for Event Tickets, a new player banner, and more variety to the Daily Quests.

HEROES
We’ve added a new Hero to the Event store!
Prehistoric Izza, A new Dinosaur Constructor!
Standard Perk: Saurian Hide
While Shield is depleted, increases Armor by 33.
Commander Perk: Saurian Hide +
While Shield is depleted, increases Armor by 100.
Available in the Event Store on May 15 at 8 PM Eastern Time.

GAMEPLAY
Bug Fixes & Improvements

Crashes no longer occur when depositing BlueGlo at the top of a radar tower.

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