'Fortnite' Pump Shotgun: Stats, Rarity, and Damage Aim for Realism

Epic Games rolled out the Fortnite version 6.31 update on Tuesday, and with it came an exciting addition for shotgun enthusiasts in Battle Royale: the Epic and Legendary versions of the Pump Shotgun. Between these new additions and some alterations to pump shotguns in general, the way Fortnite players approach close-range combat is going to shift drastically.

The version 6.31 update rolled out Tuesday, bringing with it these new Pump Shotguns, now “available from floor loot, chests, Supply Drops, and Vending Machines,” so that’s pretty much everywhere. But because the patch also included some low-key buffs for shotguns in general, these new weapons are especially deadly.

“Shotguns will now always apply at least 3 pellets worth of damage if only 1-2 pellets hit the target,” it says in the patch notes. “Pump shotguns will do higher damage in shorter range buckets but damage falls off quicker. This means you’ll do more damage to closer targets but less damage to farther targets.” This feels like a fair tradeoff considering how effective shotguns can sometimes feel in Fortnite even at longer ranges.

According to Eric Williamson, the Design Lead on Fortnite, the aim is to implement a “rebalance to improve effectiveness,” but it also makes the weapons a touch more realistic.

These changes also affect all pump shotgun variants, even the lesser rarities. The patch notes also detail that Pump Shotgun maximum damage was increased from 80 on the green uncommon shotgun and 85 on the blue rare up to to 95 and 100, respectively.

The new, higher tier versions of the pump shotgun weapon archetype supposedly max out at 105 and 110 damage, respectively, but with the headshot multiplier at close range, the weapon can potentially deal more than 200 damage in a single shot.

The design for these new shotguns resemble the real-life SPAS-12 shotgun often seen in games like Call of Duty, so it really seems like Epic Games is sliding closer to realism these days in its weapons and combat, especially considering all of these recent changes.

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