This week Epic Games has finally come to their senses and have nerfed the B.R.U.T.E.
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
Why are they Nerfing the B.R.U.T.E ?
The B.R.U.T.E is a mech that was introduced a few patches ago and was insanely overpowered. This was shown when Harrison Chang AKA “Psalm” who came second place in the Fortnite Solos World Cup used the B.R.U.T.E devastate the field. He got to a high vantage point then proceeded to take out players from across the map.
What are the nerfs to B.R.U.T.E?
- Decreased the maximum amount of rockets fired by the B.R.U.T.E. in a single charge from 10 to 6.
- Decreased the rate at which the rockets are fired from the B.R.U.T.E. by 56%.
- Our goal with these changes is to increase the back and forth between the users of the B.R.U.T.E. and the players they face. These changes allow the players on the receiving end of the missile volley to have more time to react and protect themselves.
- Decreased the radius of the B.R.U.T.E.’s rocket explosion by 42%.
- Our goal with this change is to improve consistency and understanding around focused barrages of missiles. B.R.U.T.E.s will continue to be a strong option against structures, but less lethal against players.
- Increased the dash cool-down from 3 seconds to 5 seconds.
- The previous dash cool-down not only increased the B.R.U.T.E.’s mobility, but also made the B.R.U.T.E.s a harder target to hit from distance than we’d like. The adjustment here reduces the ability to close gaps quickly while in the B.R.U.T.E. while also increasing the ability to land shots on target for players facing the B.R.U.T.E.
- Decreased the velocity gained from boosting while in air by 33%.
- We want to reduce a B.R.U.T.E.’s ability to engage and disengage at long distances to encourage a more strategic approach to an encounter. In general we hope to shift B.R.U.T.E.s away from being highly mobile and put more emphasis on their already defensive nature.
- The B.R.U.T.E. no longer grants materials to the driver and passenger when stomping or dashing through the environment.
- Note: This change should roll out shortly following the other changes.
- Our goal is to add more tension between being in and out of a B.R.U.T.E. as well as reduce instances where players can farm faster than intended without exposing themselves to danger.
- Adjusted the variability of spawn rates for storm phases 1, 2, and 3 in core modes. Arena spawn rates will remain unchanged.
- Storm phase 1
- New spawn rates
- 29% chance to spawn 0.
- 14.3% chance to spawn 1.
- 14.3% chance to spawn 2.
- 14.3% chance to spawn 3.
- 14.3% chance to spawn 4.
- 14.3% chance to spawn 5.
- Old spawn rates
- 33% chance to spawn 2.
- 33% chance to spawn 3.
- 33% chance to spawn 4.
- New spawn rates
- Storm phase 2
- New spawn rates
- 25% chance to spawn 0.
- 25% chance to spawn 1.
- 25% chance to spawn 2.
- 25% chance to spawn 3.
- Old spawn rates
- 33% chance to spawn 2.
- 33% chance to spawn 3.
- 33% chance to spawn 4.
- New spawn rates
- Storm phase 3
- New spawn rates
- 25% chance to spawn 0.
- 25% chance to spawn 1.
- 25% chance to spawn 2.
- 25% chance to spawn 3.
- Old spawn rates
- 33% chance to spawn 1.
- 33% chance to spawn 2.
- 33% chance to spawn 3.
- New spawn rates
- Previously, the early stages of a match were guaranteed a minimum amount of B.R.U.T.E.s. We’d like to provide a little more variance to that experience so that matches don’t always play out the same way. The overall average number of B.R.U.T.E.s per game is reduced slightly.
- Storm phase 1
- Decreased the material cost of using the gunner’s overshield from 200 to 75.
- Our goal is to further emphasize use of materials for positive defensive benefit.
Junk rift temporarily removed Increased the Health of the B.R.U.T.E from 1000 to 1250.
- With the above changes, users of the B.R.U.T.E. need to play a bit more strategic than before, so we want to give a little bit longer of a window to do so.
Other changes
Epic games had temporarily disabled the Junk Rift for the FNCS tournament and Arena playlists until the 10.20 update. the reason they are doing this is because of an Audio bug that occurred when the portal was high above the player.