Fortnite’s new SMG has been nerfed after fan complaints

Fortnite’s newest weapon, the compact SMG, has only been in the game since Tuesday, but the fan and streamer reaction has been loud and clear: no one likes it. The new gun is simply too strong, too fast and too accurate, leaving many players carrying around 4 SMGs and no other guns. Thankfully, Epic has heard the outcry from fans and is already stepping in to attempt to pull back the power of both the compact SMG as well as SMGs in general.

In a Reddit post released by Epic employee Clintonious late Wednesday afternoon, fans got their first look at the changes the developer is bringing to Fortnite. These balance chances were made as a hotfix, meaning that they have already been added to the game and didn’t require a significant patch.

- SMG and Compact SMG accuracy bonus reduced from 35% to 15%.

- SMG damage reduced from 19/20/21 to 17/18/19.

- Compact SMG damage reduced from 23/24 to 21/22.

- SMG fire rate reduced from 13 to 12.

- Compact SMG fire rate reduced from 11 to 10.

- SMG, Compact SMG, and Silenced SMG damage falloff.

- Range reduced from 2400/3500/5000 to 2000/3000/4000.

- Percentage reduced from 100/80/65% to 100/70/40%.

- Rare SMG and Compact SMGs drop rates slightly reduced.

While these changes don’t include anything about the health of player built structures — another change Epic made in patch v5.10 that has garnered fan criticism — they do address the primary concern that fans had about SMGs simply being too strong to play against.

According to Epic’s post, the developer will continue to monitor the state of the game and SMGs in particularity and make more changes as necessary.