Even after taking multiple nerfs to the chin, the Reaper continues to dominate Fortnite lobbies, and players keep calling for further changes to the one-shot sniper rifle.
The Reaper is the only long-range gun available in Fortnite this season, and it was originally introduced in Chapter five, season one. The weapon received multiple nerfs in patch v28.1: its bullet speed decreased by 8 percent, the bullet drop was increased by 40 percent, and the gun was no longer guaranteed in vaults.
Later, the developers further vaulted the Uncommon and Rare variants of the Reaper Sniper Rifle at the start of the current season, with further nerfs and appearance rate adjustments in April. Still, the community uproar hasn’t abated since.
“The sniper situation is absurd. I was SlideJumping on a moving train, at full health, and still got oneshot,” lamented one player on Reddit on Thursday who fell victim to the sniper’s wrath.
Another player also expressed frustration and said the weapon allows for a “one-shot kill on full health and shield.” He further added, “I don’t see why snipers need to be this powerful. Especially when it’s not much harder to get a hit than with a pump or hand cannon.”
Still, there are disagreements. Another player harkened back to the double pump meta of the past, where players would also have next to no counterplay to shotguns in the game. They said, “snipers get rewarded for having good aim and timing, thats what snipers are for. […] In fact, i think this has been an argument about shotguns for a long time too, it has simply shifted to snipers at the moment.”
Some of the suggested community solutions include reducing the headshot damage to 195, preventing one-shots or simply removing quick scoping from the game entirely.
Epic tried to reintroduce the rare sniper variety with its next update, v29.20, but they ended up vaulting the weapon with a hotfix after a few days. It will be interesting to see if the Reaper Snipers still find a healthy place this season or are vaulted completely by the developers.
