A look into the state of shotguns in Fortnite Season 4

The current state of shotguns in Fortnite is arguably far better than what it used to be during the first few seasons of Chapter 2.

However, a weapon whose mere name was once enough to strike fear in an enemy’s heart has now been nerfed into the ground. It has reached the point where players may prefer using an Assault rifle or SMG in close range. But if you are rocking a pump shotgun that’s blue or any rarity above it, you may not have to worry about dealing damage. Those are still a viable option to deal damage in close-range fights. The state of shotguns in Fortnite truly leaves a lot to be desired for enthusiasts of close-range combat.

For enthusiasts, the deal-breaker for pump shotguns was the cooldown time between each pump shot. This was when the automatic shotgun, which went by ‘Tactical Shotgun,’ came into play. The tac was capable of firing 8 clips, and unlike the pump, these 8 rounds could be fired without any delay at all.

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Low risk, low reward but a safe option nonetheless

Tac shotties were not popular in Fortnite for their damage the way pump or combat shotguns used to be. However, the weapon was a viable alternative for players who were not 100% sure of their aim or had trouble with shooting moving targets.

we need tac shotgun(c2s1 version) back. console community need two things: tac and L2 since we can't switch from gun to gun. otherwise we can't compete pc. help us, i want to be the best @FortniteGame @FortniteStatus pic.twitter.com/UfINFojDld

— i will showu (banshee💎) (@i_showu) November 12, 2020

Unlike a pump shotgun that requires a cooldown after every shot fired, tacs allowed you to sort of spray your opponent with shotgun shells. This made it an optimal pick, especially for low-tier players or those who were just starting.

To give players an idea of the difference in damage, a legendary tactical shotgun only did 83 damage per shot, whereas a pump shotgun could do 110. In a competitive scenario, this could dictate who wins the game. Although the tac could only do 83, most of the time players would still be able to do damage quickly at the same spot. With the pump, however, this was rarely the case because players would have to switch to their secondary weapon to make up for the dreaded cooldown time that comes right after your shot.

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Shotguns in Fortnite need some work

Now, with the tactical shotguns vaulted in August of this year, the only two options Fortnite players have is to choose between either a pump or combat shotgun. Both of these have received their fair share of criticism for various reasons.

While the pump shotguns are nerfed to a point where they are only worthy of using if they belong to the epic or legendary rarity. Combat shotguns are just not for everyone, especially if aiming is a problem area.

For shotgun battles to bestow the feeling of content that the original pumps did, Epic would have to restore them to their original glory. But this may not be an option in the current weapon meta. So, an alternative would to be introduce a shotgun in Fortnite that could facilitate a high risk, high reward gameplay like it initially did. The shotgun debate in Fortnite has been one that’s going on ever since the very inception of the 100-man battle royale. From the looks of it, there is still a long way to go before a conclusion is reached.