Lucas7yoshi is a well-known leaker of Fortnite information, including each week’s challenges and events, like the New Year’s Eve event that went live in the game earlier this week. Now Lucas7yoshi has datamined the game’s latest update, discovering files for a suppressed sniper rifle that will apparently be added to battle royale at some point in the future.

Lucas7yoshi discovered a 3D model and audio files for the suppressed sniper rifle in the latest update for Fortnite, with the gun apparently being referred to as “Athena” in the files. The suppressed sniper rifle will make it possible for snipers to take fire at enemy players without giving up their location right away, though it will deal less damage than the other sniper rifles that are already in the battle royale game.

It’s worth pointing out that the suppressed sniper rifle already exists in Fortnite’s Save the World campaign mode. In Save the World, the suppressed sniper is known as Frostbite, and it has somewhat of a reputation of not being very useful compared to the many other weapons in the game. Whether or not it’s improved for battle royale remains to be seen, however.

If the suppressed sniper rifle is added to Fortnite battle royale, it will be interesting to see how the community reacts to it. The Fortnite community has sometimes embraced new weapons and gadgets with open arms, and other times they have flat-out rejected them, like we saw with the Infinity Blade sword during the short time it was available in battle royale.

If the suppressed sniper rifle is added to Fortnite, it could very well end up like the Infinity Blade and many other weapons in the game - locked in the Vault until it’s better balanced. Alternatively, Fortnite fans may find the suppressed sniper rifle not powerful enough, in which case Epic may give it a buff instead.

In the meantime, the suppressed sniper rifle may turn out to be pretty helpful for players trying to complete challenges. In the Season 7 Week 5 challenges for Fortnite, there is a challenge to get kills with a suppressed weapon, plus a common daily challenge tasks players with getting a sniper rifle kill. So fans could potentially kill two birds with one stone using the suppressed sniper.

Fortnite is out now in early access for Android, iOS, PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.

Source: FortniteIntel