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Fortnite has removed the Shockwave Hammer from all game modes

Fortnite has removed the Shockwave Hammer from all game modes

It appears that people's predictions have come true. Epic Games has removed the Shockwave Hammer from all playlists in Fortnite. Although this is only a temporary change and the weapon will be back sooner than later, currently, no one can use the hammer and that’s either a really good thing or a bad one depending on which side you're on.

So, what caused the Shockwave Hammer to suddenly be removed from the battle royale considering it was Chapter 4: Season 1’s hottest, and most talked about, weapon? Well, it does seem like the Shockwave Hammer’s controls were messed up and people could take advantage of this to create exploits to win games unfairly.

The Shockwave Hammer has been a controversial tool since its launch. Numerous players found it a fun-to-use tool but a lot of the community felt it was too overpowered. Being able to travel long distances quickly as well as smash down opponents made it a little too useful. Epic did try to mitigate this by increasing the reload time and making certain changes.

But the final nail in the coffin was a game-breaking bug. Players managed to find a way to exploit the hammer, such as using it to bounce indefinitely. In addition, even the Slam attack could be performed in mid-air just by using the hammer in water first. And, as is the case with any exploit, a bunch of players have been abusing them freely since the bug's discovery.

As a consequence of all this, the Shockwave Hammer was removed from Fortnite. We don’t know when it will be back, but hopefully, it should be around the time when version 23.20 launches. This could be as early as January 10th as updates are usually launched on that day.

Fortnite has had a rocky start to this season. From the removal of Deku Smash to Winterfest ending early, things haven’t gone particularly well for the battle royale. You can download it from the official website.

Also, check out this list of the best battle royales to play on mobile!
Tanish Botadkar
Tanish Botadkar
Tanish is a freelance writer who's an absolute Marvel nerd. If he's not writing, he's probably rewatching anything related to Marvel so that he can spam his friends with theories. And if not that, he can be found gaming on his trusty PS4. While gaming is a passion for him, he also loves science and hopes to become a neuroscientist one day.