Fortnite's First Tournament With BRUTE Mech Suits Starts Tomorrow

Tomorrow will be the first official day of Epic Games' latest competition series, the Fortnite Champion Series. The game has had a number of controversies related to past tournaments, including the overpowered Infinity Blade that enabled players to absolutely slaughter their opponents. This weekend's event will likely prove more controversial, however, because it'll be the first round of competitive matches featuring the BRUTE mech suit.READ: Epic explains why it's keeping controversial Fortnite BRUTE mech suit

The BRUTE mech suit, for those somehow unfamiliar, is a new in-game vehicle added to Fortnite battle royale on August 1 with Season X. The suit has not proven popular among players who want it to be massively weakened or entirely removed.

Epic has proven surprisingly stubborn about the vehicle and will not remove it, instead publishing a post this week explaining why it added the suit and why it should remain.

Put simply, the company claims the vehicle keeps things fun and exciting while also giving lesser skilled players the opportunity to win matches and get more kills. Players have largely rejected that explanation, pointing out that the overpowered nature of the suit means that players can't defend against it. If you encounter the suit, you're dead.

Epic made a number of small changes to BRUTE with its version 10.10 game update earlier this week, the biggest change involving spawn rates in Arena and Tournament gameplay. With that change, Epic adjusted the odds of the vehicle spawning during each Storm circle; players in this weekend's competitive matches should expect the following:

Beginning of Match

– 21.5% chance that between 1-3 B.R.U.T.Es will spawn

– Previously was 100% chance that between 2-4 B.R.U.T.Es would spawn

Storm 1

– 44% chance that between 1-4 B.R.U.T.Es will spawn

– Previously was 100% chance that between 2-4 B.R.U.T.Es would spawn

Storm 2

– 40% chance that between 1-2 B.R.U.T.Es will spawn

– Previously was 100% chance that between 1-3 B.R.U.T.Es would spawn

Storm 3

– 40% chance that between 1-2 B.R.U.T.Es will spawn

– Previously was 66% chance that 2 B.R.U.T.Es would spawn

Storm 4

– 10% chance that 1 B.R.U.T.E will spawn

– Previously was 50% chance that 1 B.R.U.T.E would spawn

Storm 5

– 3% chance that 1 B.R.U.T.E will spawn

– Previously was 10% chance that 1 B.R.U.T.E would spawn

The decision to include new items in Fortnite Competitive has historically proven controversial due to the nature of tournaments. Players previously complained about having only days to prepare for matches featuring newly added items, some of which have made it possible for players to (some would say unfairly) win matches.

Many have called on Epic to include a static, consistent experience in Fortnite competitive that doesn't include changes made in other game modes; the company has agreed to this in only some cases, doing things like disabling the Storm Flip weapon in tournament gameplay. It's unclear why Epic is being so stubborn about the BRUTE mech suit.