Major nerfs made to Fortnite’s BRUTE Mechs – August 22 patch notes

Epic Games have released a flurry of adjustments for the BRUTE Mech suits in Fortnite Battle Royale, finally answering the community’s demands to nerf the controversial vehicle.

There is no doubt that, once it’s all said and done, the BRUTE Mech suits will go down as one of the most controversial items ever added in Fortnite.

Pretty much since the start of Season X, content creators, pro players, and those who play casually have all joined in solidarity against the vehicle, demanding that Epic remove them from the game.

While that still looks like it’s never going to happen, the developers finally caved in a bit and implemented several major changes to the robots on August 22.

• Read More: Ninja’s wife proves BRUTEs aren’t always OP

Details about these changes can be seen below, all of which are now live in the game and do not require a download or patch client. 

Eight total nerfs

Epic have implemented eight nerfs to the BRUTEs, including a decreased maximum of rockets that can be fired, the rate of fire of these rockets, and the rockets’ explosion radius, as well adjustments made to the spawn rates of the vehicles at various Storm phases, all the way up to phase three.

• Read More: Marshmello weighs in on the BRUTE controversy

In addition to outlining these nerfs, Epic also provided explanations for each one, giving players insight as to what motivated each specific change. 

Health increase to BRUTEs

There were nine total changes made to the Mechs on August 22, and while eight of them were nerfs, one was not, as the developers increased the BRUTEs’ health from 1,000 to 1,250 points.

“Within the above changes,” the wrote, “users of the BRUTE need to play a bit more strategic than before, so we want to give a little bit longer of a window to do so.”

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The full list of changes and their individual explanations can be seen below, as provided by Epic in their blog post. 

Heya Folks, 

We have made several adjustments to the B.R.U.T.E., these changes are now live in all game modes and you do not need to download or patch your client.

We will also be temporarily disabling the Junk Rift for this weekend’s FNCS tournament and Arena playlists until the 10.20 update.

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 cooldown from 3 seconds to 5 seconds.
  • The previous dash cooldown 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
• 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.
• 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.

Junk Rift​​​​​​​

• The Junk Rift has been temporarily removed from Arena playlists.
• This is due to an audio issue caused when the portal is significantly higher than a player.