Epic Games recently added a new weapon to Fortnite as part of the v5.20 Update; the Double Barrel Shotgun. After less than two weeks, it has emerged that the game will be receiving yet another new weapon; the long-awaited and much-rumored Fortnite Heavy Sniper. The weapon now appears in the game’s New Updates alert; indicating that it’s likely to make its way to the game very soon; quite possibly in tomorrow’s update.
The Upcoming Fortnite Heavy Sniper
The Heavy Sniper has appeared on the New Updates alert listed as “Coming Soon”; There, it is described as a; “New Epic and Legendary sniper rifle capable of dealing high damage to structures”. The appearance was Tweeted online by Fortnite Battle Royale News.
Coming soon: Heavy Sniper! #Fortnite
"New Epic and Legendary sniper rifle capable of dealing high damage to structures." pic.twitter.com/ad81n0BZlW— Fortnite Battle Royale News (@FortniteBR) August 12, 2018
The news comes after footage of the Heavy Sniper in action was leaked online earlier today. The footage shows how just how powerful the new high-calibre Heavy Sniper is. It is capable of destroying a tree with just two bullets, and destroying every kind of wall in a single shot!
Here's our first in-game look at the upcoming Heavy Sniper Rifle weapon via @FNBRLeaks: pic.twitter.com/R7lzLRhDi4
— Fortnite Battle Royale News (@FortniteBR) August 12, 2018
Gamers have seen stats for the Heavy Sniper leak in the past. However, the stats which appear at the end of the footage differ from those previously released; the reload time is up from 4.05 seconds to 4.1 seconds. The weapon has a rarity of Legendary, deals 157 damage, has a fire rate of 0.33, a magazine size of 1, and a reload time of 4.1. Note that there is an as-yet-unrevealed Epic version of the weapon with improved stats. The weapon boasts incredible power, but the slow reload and single-bullet magazine are likely to make it ill-suited to close-range combat. Indeed, it seems ideally suited to destroying structures, rather than engaging other players in a firefight.
The Heavy Sniper does notably more damage than the Legendary Bolt-Action Sniper Rifle, the next most powerful sniper; around 25% more, in fact. However, there is a similar difference in reload speed. The original leak concerning the Heavy Sniper suggested that its shots could penetrate walls. However, it’s unclear in the footage whether that is still the case.