Patch Notes for Fortnite v9.01 - Tactical Assault Rifle, Drum Gun nerf and more

Epic Games have released the patch notes for Fortnite v9.01 which is scheduled to release today following downtime scheduled for 4am ET/8am UTC. It'll feature the all new Tactical Assault Rifle and more. Here's everything you need to know:

What’s New?

Tactical Assault Rifle
Tactics take the day! This robust and precise assault rifle is the ideal option for tight quarters.

00BR_Weapon-TacticalAssaultRifle_Social-(1).jpg

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

SOURCE: Epic Games