Fortnite buffs building and nerfs SMGs in new balance update

In the last several months, Fortnite has been absolutely dominated by SMGs. From their damage to their ability to break buildings, the weapon was almost always necessary to have one in your inventory. Thankfully, it seems that Epic is now trying to curb that power slightly with today’s balance update.

The new update comes hot on the heels of the game’s latest patch, v5.20, which was released just two days ago. Apparently, things weren’t quite looking the way Epic had hoped, so we’re getting a hotfix to the patch today.

The most notable change with this update is the increase in initial building health on all structures.

Wood wall initial HP increased from 80 to 90

Stone wall initial HP increased from 80 to 100

Metal wall initial HP increased from 80 to 110

This is the first time in recent memory that Epic has chosen to buff building rather than nerf it, which should come as an exciting and welcome surprise to many Fortnite players who have lamented the recent changes.

Also getting a change with this update are two types of SMGs: the Compact SMG and the Drum Gun.

Compact SMG

Reduced damage from 22/21 to 21/20

Reduced magazine size from 50 to 40

Drum Gun

Reduced falloff range damage from 80% to 70% at 3500 units

Reduced falloff range damage from 65% to 55% at 5000+ units

Added environmental damage fall off matching player damage fall off

Decreased jumping accuracy by 5%

Decreased targeting accuracy by 10%

Reduced spawn rate from chests and floor loot by 40%

While these are only small, mid-patch changes, they represent a slightly new direction with Fortnite balance that suggests that Epic, along with fans would like to see a few significant meta changes in the near future.