Weapons Galore!
After the rather tame arsenal of weapons on offer in Chapter 2 Season 1, Epic Games opened the floodgates in Fortnite Chapter 2 Season 2. A plethora of previously vaulted weapons returned to the table, blowing the previous meta to pieces.
The full list of unvaulted and new, standard weapons is as follows:
- Drum Gun
- Heavy Sniper Rifle
- Suppressed Assault Rifle
- Suppressed Pistol
- Suppressed SMG
- Suppressed Sniper
- Tactical AR
- Grappler
- Remote Explosives
The return of things like remote explosive and the Grappler provide a significantly easier way of countering excessive builders, while suppressed weaponry allows players to take a more stealthy approach to combat.
Throw in two other major additions in the form of the structure-decimating Drum Gun and the big, bad Heavy Sniper Rifle capable of wiping out players in a single shot and players now have a whole new way of approaching the Battle Royale gameplay.
Oh, it’s also worth noting that the drop rate of certain weapons have dramatically changed since Chapter 2 Season 1. For example, snipers are a far more rare drop than their green and blue counterparts in Season 1.
We won’t lie, we expected maybe one or two weapons to be added into Fortnite with Season 2, but not a mass unvaulting. There are also the new Mythic weapons (we’ll get to those shortly), and items like Creepin’ Cardboard and Decoy Grenade to help you hide in plain sight and distract your opponents respectively.
It wouldn’t be too much of a surprise to see patches in the coming weeks tweak the stats of these weapons to make for a more balanced meta. For now, though, just enjoy the chaos.
Henchmen & Vaults
The most notable new addition in Fortnite Chapter 2 Season 2, and the one that really shakes things up the most is the introduction of Henchmen.
While it remains to be seen whether Henchmen will stick around for the duration of the season (we’re not sure how we feel about them yet), their presence on the island is certainly felt.
At the five new named locations — The Yacht, The Shark, The Oil Rig, The Grotto and The Agency — and some existing ones like Pleasant Park, players will find AI-controlled Henchmen walking around. They’re powerful, have shields, and drop weapons. Imagine the Fortnitemares zombies, but stronger.
Shoot one enough to down them, and you’ll be able to pick them up and Shakedown to get the locations of all other enemies, chests, and so on in the surrounding area. It’s a neat little way to tie into the ‘spy’ theme of the season.
You can also drag one over to a new sort of chest that only unlocks for certain types of Henchmen. Carry one over to it or use a Phone Box disguise to get the goodies inside.
These aren’t the exciting part, though. At each of these named locations is an Agency Boss. They’ve got even more health and pack a serious punch. If you can defeat one, they’ll drop a keycard for that location.
Follow the dotted line and you’ll be guided to the vault. There’s one vault in each of the new named locations, and opening them up nets you a ton of loot. Numerous chests await you, as well as a supply drop.
In placing these lucrative vaults at the heart of well-defended, new named locations, Epic Games has created a perfect storm. Henchmen put up a fairly solid fight, especially the Agency Bosses we named before.
On top of that, just about every Fortnite player right now wants to check out the new named locations. They’re a bloodbath, but the rewards are most definitely worth it if you can make it to the vault alive.
Introducing a PvPvE element that not only dominates these new named locations, but also seems to be permeating throughout the rest of the island feels like a big risk for Epic. It throws the traditional Fortnite Battle Royale experience out of the window, and I personally don’t know if it’s got the legs to make it through an entire 10-week season.
New Named Locations & Mythic Weapons
Fortnite Chapter 2 Season 2 isn’t the first time we’ve seen Mythic Weapons. They’ve shown up in previous limited-time events, such as the lightsabers during the Star Wars crossover. Their first appearance was the Infinity Blade, which was removed and vaulted within days due to being horribly overpowered.
Epic’s gone back to the drawing board for Chapter 2 Season 2. Five new Mythic Weapons have been added into the game, these are:
- Brutus’ Minigun
- Meowscle’s Peow Peow Rifle (Heavy Assault Rifle)
- Midas’ Drum Gun
- Skye’s Assault Rifle (Scar)
- TNTina’s Ka-Boom Bow (Boom Bow)
Each and every one of these Mythic Weapons, as you’d expect, has boosted stats over its standard counterpart. Brutus’ Minigun delivers more damage than a normal Minigun and with pinpoint precision. Skye’s Scar has a higher damage output and faster fire rate, and TNTina’s Ka-Boom Bow has recharges ammo over time, so you won’t have to hunt down explosives.
These offer a massive advantage to yourself (or your team) if you can get your hands on one. With only one of each Mythic Weapon being obtainable in a game — by defeating the Agency Boss at a named location — it makes these new named locations well worth braving and checking out.
Throwing the Mythic Weapons on top of all the unvaulted weapons is, again, pretty huge. It shakes up the meta further, and we question how long it’ll be until these Mythic rarity firearms get nerfed. The Drum Gun and Minigun, in particular, feel stupidly overpowered right now, but only time will tell.
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