Ninja calls for Fortnite to fix ‘unbalanced’ minigun & heavy sniper

Mixer star Tyler ‘Ninja’ Blevins has called for Epic to nerf the unvaulted heavy sniper, as well as Season 2’s devastating new mythic minigun, adding they’re “not very balanced,” and revealing his idea for how to fix them.

Heavy snipers and miniguns have dominated Season 2’s meta. The overloaded power of the golden minigun allows players to melt builds. Follow that up with a few shots from the sniper for the one-two punch, and it’s easy eliminations.

It’s no surprise then that Fortnite players are less than pleased with the state of the overpowered guns. That includes Ninja, who revealed he may have figured out the best way to tone down the weapons, without vaulting them entirely.

According to the streaming star, Epic should consider tweaking the unvaulted sniper rifle and the minigun slightly. Leave the damage as is, he explained. Instead, make taking them more of a choice for players in any given match.

To achieve this, he believes both weapons should take up two slots, instead of the one they currently occupy. This would be a “pretty healthy balance,” he said, especially considering it would be a major investment to carry both.

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“Making the minigun… and the heavy sniper rifle take up two slots would be a pretty healthy balance. Having a player minigun your builds ‘til he hits you, then heavy snipe into your box is not very fun, or balanced,” he said on Twitter.

This isn’t the first time Ninja has taken aim at the new Season 2 minigun either. After the gun dropped into Fortnite in update 12.00, the Mixer star suggested it was too overpowered right off the bat. Looks like he was right.

The main issue, he explained, was its first-shot accuracy. Ninja believes the “laser” minigun retains its accuracy, even when “full spray.” This goes against Fortnite’s usual design, where guns fire their opening shot where your crosshair is, and subsequent shots bloom, usually with far less accuracy.

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“This gun is a problem!” Ninja said right after update 12.00. Now it looks like a pretty good prediction. “It cools off, but it’s a laser!” he continued. He also added it was “pin-point” accurate, even when it was firing at full spray.

On paper, Ninja’s idea certainly isn’t a bad one, at least from Epic’s perspective. Since they made the call to unvault the heavy sniper rifle in 12.00, and beef up the minigun at the same time, the devs have been getting slammed.

This would mean they can keep the guns in rotation ⁠— something Epic seem to be aiming for ⁠— while not letting them control the meta. The question now is: will the devs listen, or continue to let the weapons run rampant in Season 2?