Fortnite Hotfix Detailed: Vaulted Shotguns, Tweaked Peppers And BRUTE

If you're firing up Fortnite this weekend after a long work week, you may be surprised by a couple of major changes and a couple less obvious — but no less important — tweaks. Epic released Fortnite hotfix 10.20.2 on Wednesday following the 10.20 Content Update, removing three controversial weapons, unvaulting an old weapon, and adjusting the BRUTE suit and peppers.

The most important change applied with the hotfix is the removal of two controversial shotguns. Both the combat shotgun and the drum shotgun have been vaulted, eliciting complaints from many players and praise from everyone else. These shotguns were popular due to the low amount of skill needed to wield them but were the source of many complaints due to being overpowered.

The combat shotgun was an evolution of the pump shotgun, offering a faster firing rate with greater accuracy; the drum shotgun features a rotating barrel and enables players to rapidly shoot with a wide spread. Joining both weapons in the vault is the proximity launcher, which fires bouncy grenades.

On the other hand, Epic has unvaulted the suppressed assault rifle, which is only available in Epic and Legendary tiers. Likewise, the automatic sniper rifle was been tweaked to increase the damage from 31/33/35 to 40/42/44, making it a 'more desirable' alternative to other long-range firearms.

Weapons aside, the in-game 'peppers' item has had a 'spiciness' duration increase to 60 seconds from 20 seconds. Retail Row has been adjusted to be riskier, offering only five instead of seven Spawn Obelisks, as well as decreasing spawn drop rates for jump pads and rocket launchers.

Finally, the BRUTE mech suit's spawn rate has been lowered in the third to sixth Storm circles in non-Arena game modes.