Is the Fortnite Chapter 4 meta ready for competitive?
The latest Fortnite season has been out nearly a week and we have a good idea of the Fortnite Chapter 4 tournaments that are coming. Is the Fortnite Chapter 4 meta ready for competitive yet though?
The game has some interesting new features, between new weapons, map, and new mechanics like Augments. While a lot of these are fun, they don’t all feel the most balanced for competitive games. These are the main elements and how they’re going to impact the Fortnite Chapter 4 meta in competitive events.
Is the Fortnite Chapter 4 map better for esports?
The new map is going to make or break the current batch of competitive events. The current one has some strong suites for competitive play, there’s a lot of unique areas that are going to make for interesting late games. One slight issue might make the early game weird though.
The new map has 9 POIs. This is compared to 17 in Chapter 3, 14 in Chapter 2, and 20 in Chapter 1. It’s the fewest yet. You feel this in the game, players are landing at fewer and fewer spots. This means the early-game looting period is dense, players are coming out of POIs with loads more kills than in the last season, which means more dying off spawn.
Competitive Fortnite has had problems with this kind of thing in the past. Players often end up diving up landing spots to avoid fighting off spawn. The lack of POIs this season could make this a bigger factor in upcoming events.
The Weapons in Fortnite Chapter 4 Meta
ARs & Shotguns
Red Dot AR’s have been a bit of a focus in early patch reactions. This is a gun that has a great fire rate and can shred through both opponents and builds. It’s probably one of the most OP weapons of the season. It doesn’t seem too unbalanced to upset things. Though we may have similar events as to Chapter 3 Season 1, where the similar MK affected things.
SCAR and higher-level Assault Rifle has only just been added back in, after being absent for quite a few seasons. Players have drilled down and found that basically, nothing has changed for this gun. It’s exactly as remembered, which should make for some interesting tournaments. This seems like one of the better parts of the Fortnite Chapter 4 meta.
The Shotgun meta might be one of the weaker parts of Fortnite Chapter 4. We currently have two options, there’s the Auto and a Thunderbolt. Guns like the Auto are always around in one form or another. The Thunder is a strong pick though, hitting decently hard and coming close to the classic Pump.
Shockwave & Duel Ex Caliber
Shockwave could be a problem when the tournaments kick-off. You can use this for crazy rotation like shockwaves, but with unlimited uses and a minor recharge. This is definitely going to make for some highly mobile games at events. Some players might prefer it wasn’t a part of comp and it doesn’t feel fully balanced.
Additionally, one fun new weapon in the Fortnite Chapter 4 Meta is the Ex Caliber rifle. This Weapon fires shards which later explode, it’s a marksman rifle which is always going to be interesting for high-level players with good accuracy. This is a weapon which you can switch between to avoid the delay between shots. Some players have shredded through players by using a dual ex caliber build, switching effortlessly between the two weapons.
Augments
This is the big one for the Fortnite Chapter 4 meta. These aren’t balanced and don’t seem like a good fit for competitive. Players get randomly assigned perks to choose between. These vary from excellent like getting all storm circles revealed early and unlimited exclusive items, to terrible, like more pistol damage.
The Augments do not seem like they’re going to fit in well for Fortnite Chapter 4 esports games, but Epic has put them into competitive. We’ll have to see how it plays out in tournaments, but this seems like a feature which just isn’t right for Fortnite esports. It brings even more RNG. This could be a problem, even for the best Fortnite players.
Potential Server Merges & Arena Mode Balance in Chapter 4
One change for this Chapter which is still just a rumour is merging servers. Reports say that Epic is considering merging the North America West and North America East tournaments. This is a big move for players, many will actually have to physically move to stay closer to the servers and get that all-important zero ping.
As usual, the competitive game modes balance is a bit different than the normal game. Although, the choices for what’s included and what isn’t doesn’t seem to have too much of a pattern right now. Dirt bikes aren’t in Arena mode. They’re basically just an extra bit of rotation and don’t feel too unbalanced. However, Augments have stayed in.
We have a while before tournaments for Epic to figure out what belongs in Arena Mode and what is balanced. At the moment, the tone among pro players seems to be optimistic. No one’s calling out any crazy problems at the moment. Although, things like Augments remaining in competitive are probably going to be controversial if not changed.
