'Fortnite' Traps Bug: Epic Explains Why Traps Aren't Working

Fortnite: Battle Royale players might notice that their traps are not as effective as they used to be. In fact, they may be ineffective at times. Epic Games is now aware of the issue and will fix the problem, the company says.

A thread this week on the Fortnite: Battle Royale subreddit offered an example of the problem with traps in the game. Essentially, a player traps their opponent in a structure and then places a Spike Trap on the wall. But crucially, the spikes activate fail to kill the trapped player, who then destroys the Spike Trap to get out.

A representative from Epic posted a comment on the thread with a quick explanation and an update on when the problem will be fixed.

“There’s an issue with the damage volume of the trap,” the representative writes. “This is fixed in [version 5.30].”

Another Redditor provided some clarification on what the representative meant by “damage volume.” They explained that the “volume” is the “damage hitbox,” or the space from the trap that can damage a player.

What appears to be happening with this Fortnite bug is the trap activates like normal, but the area where it does damage is not in the same spot of where the activation occurs. Rather, the damage hitbox is behind the trap, not in front of it, thus players are not being killed by the trap even though they’re right in front of it. The representative confirmed the Reddit user’s explanation was correct.

The fix for the traps will come on Tuesday when the Fortnite: Battle Royale v5.30 update goes into effect.

Another change that may be coming next week is a sped up Pump Shotgun. A member of the Fortnite: Battle Royale development team tweeted how the team is considering lowering the weapon’s equip time to make it a more useful weapon.