Waterbending dominates Fortnite as sniper nerfs kill its strongest counter

Fortnite has vaulted Rare snipers once again in Chapter 5 Season 2 following a further update, which has only made the Waterbending mythic even more OP.

Ever since Epic Games unleashed Avatar’s bending mythics into the Battle Royale, it has shaken up the Fortnite meta in a huge way. The two standouts out of the four have been Waterbending and Airbending, which have proved to be some of the best mythics of all time.

On April 18, Epic issued a typical small weekly update to issue some minor changes and make the Avatar Fire Chakra Quests available. However, shortly after, it was soon revealed that the Rare blue rarity of the Reaper Sniper Rifle had been vaulted once again.

You can still get the Reaper Sniper Rifle across the map in Epic and Legendary versions, such as from chests, Weapon-o-matic vending machines, and the NPCs Myna, Hope, and Noorah. But, with the more common rarity removed, you’re much less likely to find a sniper rifle in the wild.

Some players have praised snipers effectively being nerfed, with numerous players echoing that they “see this as an absolute win.” The frustrations are understandable as many have been left scarred by snipers picking them off from all distances and dominating the Chapter 5 Season 1 meta.

“Just vault every rarity of sniper at this point,” another added, as some see them as no longer needed thanks to the Avatar Waterbending being far superior overall.

However, many players have also been left triggered by the meta change. “The community killed the most fun sniper in the game,” one player responded. In particular, as one player alluded to, the sniper “might be the best counter to Waterbending right now.”

With snipers purposely getting pushed out of the general loot pool, Waterbenders can run wild as the mythic becomes the hottest commodity in Fortnite. It can be somewhat countered by using Airbending to create space or running other long-range weapons like the Huntress DMR, but the fun of Waterbending is quickly fading as it becomes more and more frustrating to play against for players.