The new season has finally arrived, the map has been plagued by war and a huge battle. This means that the map has changed, there are new items and old ones we all recognize. The new season also means a twist on the competitive meta, let’s breakdown the main changes you’ll be looking for going into the competitive season.
The Map
The map is riddled with holes and explosions from the battle on this map. We see that multiple flying object known as “IO Blimps” are spread across by POI’s such as Tilted Towers, Covert Cavern, Condo Canyon, and more. If you see a blimp at a POI then the drop is occupied by the resistance, and can feature Armoured Battle Bus, Sentry guards and Turrets.
You can also access these blimps from the ground via Ziplines and loot everything to offer in side. Getting back down is easy as well, through gliding or launching yourself with a siege cannon.
New Weapons
Combat SMG
The Combat SMG is an entirely new weapon coming to Fortnite, very similar to the Combat Assault Rifle, the high recoil weapon has a high fire rate which will be deadly.
Striker Burst Rifle
The new rifle has a customized sight similar to that of the MK-7 of last season. The weapon is basically the same burst as we’ve seen before but with 2 shots instead of 3. It also features a scope for more accurate aiming.
Alongside the new weapons, we have some old ones coming back to the map:
- Thermal Scoped Assault Rifle has returned with a faster fire rate, increased recoil and reduced damage
- Drum Shotgun is back as well with a slower fire rate and slightly more damage
- The Revolver returns with a higher fire rate
- Remote explosives are in with a bang and have higher increased damage to vehicles (you’ll see why below)
- Thermal Scoped Revolver (Exotic Weapon)
- Storm Scout Sniper Rifle (Exotic Weapon)
Alongside these items being unvaulted, we have many items from the previous season returning as well:
- Ranger Assault Rifle
- Striker Pump Shotgun
- Auto Shotgun
- Sidearm Pistol
- Stinger SMG
- Hunter Bolt-Action Sniper
- Shadow Tracker (Exotic weapon)
- Marksman Six Shooter (Exotic weapon)
- The Dub (Exotic weapon)
- Boom Sniper Rifle (Exotic weapon)
New Items
With the resistance putting up a fight on the map, a bunch of new items and vehicles are spread across the map.
IO Titan Tank
A tank in Fortnite might be something for your nightmares, but the Titan Tank is a driveable cannon essentially, with machine gun turrets as well for your passengers. The tanks have a massive amount of Health, but can be destroyed with weak points in their treads. Shoot at the engine to do more damage and take them down.
Siege Cannon
These are the cannons attached to IO Blimps we mentioned previously. If you’re stuck in the zone or need to rotate quickly, these natural movement points can be great to launch yourself forward throughout the map. Mid-air you’ll be able to deploy your glider as well to control your landing.
Cow Catches & Repair Torch
With the new vehicles and tanks, you’ll need re-enforcements as well. Alongside the Chonkers Off-Road Tires, you’ll be able to modify your vehicles with the Cow Catcher in order to boost your vehicles ramming power. If your vehicle takes damage, don’t worry, you’ll be able to heal your vehicles and repair the damage taken. These are useful for those long rotates or mid-battle for your tank.
Important Competitive Changes:
Now for the part we are all focused about, competitive. In pub playlists you will not be able to build for 9 days with the Resistance putting up a fight to get building enabled again. However, in competitive you will still be able to build and do everything as normal.
Storm Surge has been changed slightly, with damage intervals being increased from five seconds to ten seconds. This means you can have a lot more time to heal up when you’re taking damage and gives you the freedom to tank storm surge.
The Stinger SMG has seemingly received a fire rate nerf, however, the new Combat SMG is far beyond and stronger than any SMG we’ve seen yet. Definitely looking at picking up multiple of those for your inventory going into tournaments.
In terms of major item changes, the Coolerboxes have been altered to give you fishes such as Floppers alongside Guzzle Juices and Chugsplashes. This essentially means a nerf to Chonkers Speedway and a lower chance of receiving splashes from those boxes. Players looking for increased speed will no longer benefit from Chilli’s from the Nom Boxes as well as Chilli Chug Splashes, both of these items are seemingly removed from the game as well.
Movement Mechanics:
The season has also introduced movement mechanics, with the ability to sprint and jump further around the map. This gives you a limited boost of mobility and allows for some interesting tech when rotating around the map.
One of the ways you can abuse this is by negating all types of fall damage when falling down, simply by building a wall and then climbing up the wall you built.
Another way to utilize this tech is the ability to sidejump with the climbing mechanic, you can seemingly transition from building and jumping into a quick jump to catch opponents off guard.
Summary:
In essence, the new season will be a lot like the old one in terms of box-to-box fighting, we have high fire rate SMGs’ burning through builds and jumping into your box. However, there is some ability for counter-play with the addition of the Auto Shotgun, which can take down an opponent within seconds if they’re in your face.
We’ll be exploring the meta and the new map in order to get you the best information as quickly as possible to get that advantage in-game.
We recommend exploring the new drop spots and practicing the mechanics in order to get ahead of the curve going into the new competitive meta.
To help you get ahead of the competition, we recommend checking out NOVOS to get a personalized training plan with content that is constantly updated with Season 2 content!
