If you’re looking forward to Independence Day (the United States’ holiday, not the movie), then you’re in luck – if you like Epic Games’ battle royale shooter, anyway. Building on the “good vibes season”, Fortnite’s Flare Gun has had a little bit of a makeover ahead of any July 4 celebrations. Now, Fortnite players will be able to get their hands on the Firework Flare Gun – described as “a Flare Gun with flair” by Epic Games.
If you’re wondering what actually makes this Firework Flare Gun different from the Flare Gun Fortnite players know and love, it’s quite simple really: the Firework Flare Gun shoots fireworks instead of flares. We know that’s quite self-explanatory, but Epic Games likes to keep things simple – right?
The twisted firestarters among you will be pleased to know that this weapon is still going to bring the heat to any firefight you get into. Just because the Firework Flare Gun doesn’t fire flares anymore, that doesn’t mean it isn’t going to be able to start fires and burn through buildings. Epic Games has confirmed that “where the firework shell explodes will be set aflame, causing the start of a spreading blaze”.
At the moment, without anything saying otherwise, it is safe to assume that the spreading blaze set aflame by the Firework Flare Gun will behave in the same way as it would when using a standard Flare Gun. Likewise, for now, expect this weapon to do the same amount of damage to opponents and structures.
Like always, the Firework Flare Gun will be available as ground loot, inside Loot Chests, and through opening Supply Drops. There’s no mention of this weapon being available from NPCs, but we wouldn’t be surprised if that happens in the future – depending on how long this weapon is available for. It’s also worth noting that the Firework Flare Gun, as expected, isn’t available in competitive playlists. We don’t expect this to change anytime soon.
Fortnite update v21.10 also introduced the Ripsaw Launcher to the game’s loot pool – which, in turn, has led to the week starting June 28 to be labelled Ripsaw Launcher Week. This will mean that this weapon is more readily available than it would be usually. If Epic Games’ battle royale isn’t your cup of Slurp, then you can check out some of the best free shooting games out there here.