Epic Games nerfs the B.R.U.T.E. and disables the Junk Rift in latest balance update
Will it be enough?
Epic Games has nerfed the B.R.U.T.E. mech and it’s also temporarily disabled the Junk Rift in the Arena and for the upcoming Fortnite Champion Series competition
The B.R.U.T.E.’s maximum number of rockets have been decreased, along with its rate of fire and explosion radius. It’s dash cooldown is now a bit higher and it no longer grants materials to the driver or passenger when stomping or dashing through the environment. There are also a few other tweaks which should make it a little less dominant on the battlefield too.
The Junk Rift’s been benched due to an audio issue caused “when the portal is significantly higher than a player.”
We’ve made adjustments to the B.R.U.T.E. in all game modes and temporarily removed the Junk Rift from Arena and Tournaments playlists. This update is rolling out to all servers now, read the full details on these changes here: https://t.co/Xm3YIQJBaI
Fortnite (@FortniteGame) August 22, 2019
It’s only been a few days since Epic Games decided to keep mechs in Fortnite, despite significant backlash from the community who called for them to be removed from the game. Well, this latest series of nerfs feels like a reluctant compromise in the face of overwhelming negativity. No matter how much it tones down the power of the mechs, we can’t help but feel the playerbase won’t rest until they are gone.
When it comes to the Junk Rift, the reception so far has been pretty positive, but the audio issue means players simply can’t react to a Junk Rift dropping high from the sky. We imagine it’ll be reintroduced once Epic has tinkered with it.