Brand new Sniper Rifle may soon be coming to Fortnite, according to leaks

New information has been discovered and leaked that points to a brand new weapon that may be added soon to Fortnite Battle Royale.

The new weapon appears to be a suppressed version of the Sniper Rifle, which would be the first of its kind in Fortnite. It was discovered by data miner @lucas7yoshi_ in the new game files that were added during the v7.10 update.

The two files he came across had the name ‘WID_Sniper_Suppressed_Scope_Athena_SR_Ore_t03,’ with the ‘Athena’ being the code-name that Epic are known to use when referencing the Battle Royale mode of Fortnite. 

In terms of its design, the new Suppressed Sniper Rifle seems to be modeled after the ‘Frostbite’ sniper that currently exists in the Save the World mode, although that weapon does not have a suppressor attached.

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Below you can see what the Sniper Rifle looks like in the rendered images found by the data miner in the v7.10 game files. 

Lucas7yoshi_ has also found the audio files for the weapon, giving players and fans a sample of what the Suppressed Sniper Rifle would sound like in Battle Royale.

As expected, the sound that the weapon makes when fired is a lot quieter than a regular Sniper Rifle, especially the Heavy variety, which makes a huge difference since players can’t track the location of the shooter as easily. 

However, with that suppression is likely to also come a drop in effectiveness for the weapon in terms of the the amount of damage it can deal per shot at different distances. 

As for when this new Suppressed Sniper Rifle will make its debut in Battle Royale remains to be seen, and all of this information should be treated as speculation until Epic Games formally confirm and announce the weapon.

If added, it would become the fourth weapon in the category, joining the Heavy, Bolt-Action, and Hunting Rifle.