Fortnite Patch Notes 6.21 Introduces Balloons & Explosive Buff

The Fortnite patch notes 6.21 have stirred up some controversy. On one hand, Fortnite balloons are now a thing! You can equip up to 6 balloons and float up to the heavens - also known as the build limit - before slowly coming down as you let balloons go. Of course, you’re not going to be moving particularly quick so you’ll be an easy shot for any players who fancy their hand at skeet shooting.

On the other hand, three weapons have been vaulted. Wave goodbye to the Semi-Auto Sniper, the Guided Missile and a fan favorite, the Dual Pistols. All three are no longer in the public playlists, although they’re still available in Playground like the other vaulted weapons and items. The Semi-Auto Sniper and Guided Missile won’t be missed but the Dual Pistols were a viable close range option when you didn’t find a shotgun or submachine gun.

Perhaps the worst change to Fortnite in a while, explosives now deal 25% of their initial damage through structures and the environment. This basically means that if someone is throwing grenades or firing non stop rockets at your structure, if you’re close enough to the explosion but behind a wall, it will still deal damage to you. Prior to this, the meta was in a solid place - explosives weren’t too powerful, it wasn’t too spray-heavy, everything felt relatively fair. Now though, it will be almost impossible to defend against a barrage of explosives.

It’s a disappointing move from Epic given how healthy the state of the game has been lately. They’ve also announced that the glider re-deploy mechanic - that was only meant to last for a week - is going to persist in the game for the foreseeable future. A lot of players weren’t happy with the initial decision, which Epic even mentions in the patch notes: “We understand that not all players agree with this change, but we would like to continue with this functionality in the game based on the positive results we’ve been seeing.”

For those players who recently moved from Fortnite to play Black Ops 4, this patch is unlikely to entice anyone back. You can find the full patch notes here. Also, make sure you check out the new leaked skins from patch 6.21 though because there’s some good ones there.