Fortnite Removes Jetpack and Vaults War Machine Hover Jets

Epic Games has significantly altered the gameplay dynamics of Fortnite by removing the Hover Jets associated with War Machine.

The Hover Jets previously enabled players to take to the skies, making it one of the most powerful tools in Chapter 5: Season 4. This jet pack gave users the advantage to fly above their opponents, allowing for strategic healing or bombarding enemies from a safe altitude.

Combining the jet pack with Iron Man’s combat gear or Captain America’s Shield proved particularly troublesome.

In response to this imbalance, Epic Games introduced a nerf. The combination of these three items made it exceedingly difficult to eliminate airborne foes since players would use the shield for protection while attacking from a distance with the combat kit.

As a countermeasure, the development team announced the unvaulting of Shuri’s Black Panther Claws, along with the decision to **vault War Machine’s Hover Jets**.

Spiderman using the jetpack in Fortnite — Epic Games

Additionally, Fortnite has updated the Kickstart Quest from ‘Collect War Machine’s Arsenal’ to ‘Eliminate opponents with assault rifles’ and streamlined the Story Quest to ‘Deal damage while hovering’ for automatic completion.

Prominent Fortnite creator Tabor Hill discussed the necessity of addressing the jet pack issue.

“To secure a victory this season, it felt essential to have a jet pack,”Tabor remarked. “If you found yourself in the top five without one while everyone else did, your odds of winning were slim.”

With the jet pack gone, players will need to discover another piece of equipment to bridge the gap to their adversaries or escape combat. The newly introduced Chainsaw proves to be a strong contender, delivering significant damage in close-range encounters and being operable on the ground.

We also anticipate that Shuri’s Black Panther Claws could serve as another formidable option. Epic has previously enhanced this melee weapon by boosting sprint speed and enabling players to leap onto foes from greater distances.

That said, we don’t foresee these alternatives reaching the same level of effectiveness. The absence of jet packs diminishes the skill gap within the battle royale, as effectively utilizing War Machine’s Hover Jets allowed highly skilled players to outmaneuver their competition.

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