Fortnite’s v9.10 Content Update is now available to all players, and it’s brought the new weapon Burst SMG with it. But at what cost?
The vaulting of the Suppressed SMG.
These two weapons serve different purposes. The Burst SMG seems great to melt your opponents down, since it fires a burst of four shots every time you trigger it to deal 23 to 25 damage per bullet depending on the weapon’s rarity. If you hit a full burst with the Rare variant, you can take down an opponent at full health and no shields. Two bursts will take down anyone.
But at first, the Burst SMG seems to be bad at what the Suppressed SMG was good for, which was destroying opponents’ structures. Its burst can deal decent damage to structures, but its fire rate is too slow for players to still hit an opponent behind the structure after the burst is over. That short delay between bursts gives the opponent a time window to counter-attack or improve their defenses. With the Suppressed SMG, players under fire were forced to keep building until the attacker’s magazine was empty.
Still, the raw power and high availability of the Burst SMG can be enough to make it a good weapon for the early game. Since it’s available from floor loot, chests, and vending machines and its lowest rarity is Common, players can expect to see it often in their matches.
The Burst SMG should be used as any weapon of its category: in close and mid-range combat. In that sense, it’s a decent replacement of the Suppressed SMG. If you try using it from afar, you’re likely missing most of the shots of your burst, and the damage will be too low. Keep using Assault and Sniper Rifles in these situations.
Players can jump into any Fortnite match to test the Burst SMG today and decide if Epic was right when it replaced the Suppressed version. The Suppressed SMG might be available in select limited-time modes in the future.
