Fortnite Chapter 4 Season 4 brings one the largest additions to the loot pool we’ve seen yet, with the addition of a new vault system along with meta-shifting weapons and items. This article will discuss the most overpowered items, along with how to best utilize them in game.
The newest season of Fortnite spices up the meta with the addition of several innovative items along with the return of fan favorite Mythics from previous seasons. In this article, we’ll introduce the items in the season, and highlight the most effective options for Battle Royale and Zero Build.
We’ll start by introducing the new Mythics, then the Exotics, Shotguns, Assault Rifles, SMGs, Snipers/DMRs and finally utility based items.
A major aspect of the new update includes the return of several fan-favorite mythic items, which are accessible through the new vaults with Mythic Podiums, found at the three new secret base POIs in the outskirts of the map.
These items include:
Additionally, there are new mythic items that are obtainable through defeating boss NPCs:
Since you can only take one of these weapons per vault, it’s important to select the most powerful items. For shotguns, the return of Kit's Charge Shotgun makes it debatably the best shotgun in the season. Due to its charge mechanic, one single body shot has the capability to deal over 150 damage, and one headshot can easily deal over 200. Additionally, the addition of the First Shotgun augment increases the damage of the first shot from the shotgun (without exceeding the original max headshot damage). This means that you can deal up to 205 damage without charging the shotgun to its maximum length.
In terms of long-range weaponry, The Foundation's MK-Seven Assault Rifle serves as the most powerful rifle this season. It has a red dot scope, making bullets perfectly accurate. This in combination with its over 200 damage per second makes the gun an absolute laser beam. In Zero Build, a player in the open stands no chance in a duel with this weapon, and its fast fire rate makes it viable to break builds in Battle Royale.
In terms of the other items, TNTina's Ka-Boom Bow and Kit's Shockwave Launcher serve as interesting additions to the loot pool. The Boom Bow is very useful to deal long range chip damage to start off fights, dealing 75 splash damage to any enemies within the tile. Again, this is both effective in Zero Build against players running in the open, in addition to Battle Royale, where you can find shots through small openings like windows or triangular edits. The Shockwave Launcher is also a great item, enabling you to have an arsenal of shockwave grenades simply by having rocket ammunition. Although the Rocket Ram is already a great item for mobility, the value in the Shockwave Launcher is its fast activation rate and offensive shockwave potential, though you are limited by the amount of ammo you can find.
The remaining items are simply less powerful. The SMG alternatives are underwhelming due to the powerful Combat SMG that is present in the standard loot pool, and the Chug Jug is significantly less versatile than the legendary Slurp Juice, which only takes two seconds to consume versus 15.
In terms of Exotic Weapons, the Heisted Accelerant and Heisted Breach Shotguns remain solid choices for their niches, which is close range brawling and long range/build breaking respectively. Both these weapons are compatible with the First Shotgun augment, making this season very shotgun dependent.
In the standard loot pool, shotguns have a decent amount of variety. This new update sees the addition of the Infiltrator Pump Shotgun, which is a unique shotgun compared to ones we’ve seen in the previous seasons. It has a fire rate that is slightly slower than a typical auto-shotgun but has a spread comparable to that of a pump shotgun. The common and legendary version of this shotgun deals 76 and 92 body damage respectively with a 1.75x headshot multiplier, capping the headshot damage off at 115 and 135. There is also an Enhanced (Mythic) version of this shotgun, which can be obtained through the loot island, with a slightly increased reload speed and a maximum damage output of 140 to the head.
Additionally, we see the return of the Sharp Tooth and Maven Auto Shotgun, which players should be familiar with from the previous season.
The Sharp Tooth is the traditional pump shotgun option of the season, dealing the highest damage per shot along with an impressive range, making this a suitable option for players who like to take strategic fights.
For players who enjoy taking hyper-close-range fights, the Maven is the best choice, having the fastest fire rate with a large magazine, effective for barrel-stuffing. It can be of use in both modes, but a mid to long range option is required alongside it.
The Infiltrator plays a role in between, providing a spread that deals reasonable damage from range, but has the capability to get several shots off against an opponent in your face. All rarities of the shotgun can deal over 200 damage within two shots, and the rare version can deal over 250 damage in two shots, making this gun effective for high accuracy players.
In terms of the best strategy, it will depend on your playstyle. If you are someone who takes precise shots, the Sharp Tooth will be the best choice for you. Not only is the base damage impressive at many ranges, the First Shotgun augment increases the damage of your first shotgun shot. Since this shotgun is typically a swap weapon, you can get a ton of shots off with the damage boost.
However, if you enjoy the faster firing shotguns, you should aim to get either the Legendary variant of the Maven or Infiltrator, and if possible, the Exotic and Mythic version of the weapons respectively, which boost all stats of the weapon.
Overall, this season doesn’t have a straightforward shotgun meta. Since so many shotguns are capable of dealing over 100 body shots and nearly 200 headshot, the majority of weapons are all viable, depending on which one you can obtain first. If you are a player who enjoys playing aggressively, fighting the island and vault will yield you the Enhanced Infiltrator and Kit’s Charge Shotgun. If you prefer looting passively, going for Holo-Chests will eventually grant you the Heisted Accelerant and Breacher shotguns.
There is a new addition to the Twin Mag line of weapons, and this time it’s the Twin Mag Assault Rifle. Like other Twin Mag weapons, the rifle alternates between a slow reload and a fast reload. One additional change to the Twin Mag concept is that you are now able to slow reload the weapon even if the magazine is full, essentially always having the fast reload during fights.
This assault rifle is the clear choice over the other options in the standard loot pool, as it has a red dot sight with a medium fire rate. This weapon fires faster than the Red Dot Assault Rifle, with slightly lower damage. It can be combined with the Scoped Salvo augment, which further lowers the fire rate, but adds additional damage per shot. Finally, it is compatible with the First Assault augment, which greatly increases the damage of the first bullet.
Not only is the long-range damage output stellar with this weapon, it is also somewhat viable at medium-range, enabling you to carry only two weapons in the loadout.
Though the Twin Mag is the clear best choice, it is arguably slightly less powerful than the Foundation's MK-Seven Assault Rifle, though the difference is not significant. Thus, the need to play for a special assault rifle is not extremely necessary with the addition of the Twin Mag.
In terms of SMGs, we welcome the Scoped Burst SMG, which is one of the only SMG-esque weapons with a scope. The gun shoots four-shot bursts, each bullet dealing 13 to 15 body damage. Although the weapon on its own isn’t particularly bad, it falls into a niche where it’s less viable at close range than other SMGs, but its long-range capability isn’t good compared to the Assault Rifle. Thus, it isn’t a recommended pick for your loadout.
Instead, the returning Combat SMG is the superior weapon for high DPS. It still boasts over 200 DPS along with a large clip size. Even the new Mythic weapons are only comparable, or even debatably worse than the Legendary Combat SMG, so there’s really only one option in this category of weapon.
If you enjoy the effect of the Slap Juice, the Heisted Run 'N' Gun SMG is also still available to grab, though its damage output is nothing special.
Additionally, we see the return of the Suppressed Pistol to the standard loot pool, in all rarities. The gun remains the exact same, having an insanely fast reload and versatile range capability. The Exotic Shadow Tracker version of this weapon is also available to be obtained via holo-chests, making it a decent option for two-weapon loadouts. Unfortunately, the long-range prowess of the assault rifles simply make this option less viable.
Overall, the Combat SMG is the best choice to have as a fast-firing spray weapon, though the Shadow Tracker and Run ‘N’ Gun can be useful if you utilize the special perks of the weapons.
There are only two new weapons in this category, the unvaulted Suppressed Sniper Rifle, and the interesting Thermal DMR. The Sniper is pretty self-explanatory: if you can hit the shot, it serves as an excellent utility item to get eliminations. If you don’t want to, you might get more value with other items, such as heals or mobility.
Unfortunately for the DMR, it simply doesn’t have any value in the loadout due to the presence of the scoped assault rifles. The thermal mechanic is also a bit gimmicky and has no real benefit over the red dot scope.
In terms of movement, the two main options include Shockwave Grenades and the Rocket Ram. Currently, you can use the Rocket Ram an infinite number of times, with a 20 second cooldown between every use. The reusability makes the item excellent to use, as you can freely rotate throughout the map. Shockwaves are more versatile in its use case, but are limited to 6 a stack, whereas you can find one Rocket Ram to last you the entire map. Thus, it’s recommended to use the Rocket Ram as your primary movement choice.
For protective items in Zero Build, the main options are the Port-A-Bunker and Big Bush Bomb. The Bunker is the superior item due to the walls blocking damage, but the Bush Bombs are absolutely viable in setting up strong positions around the map. Thus, it’s dependent on which items you can find.
