Fortnite Removes A Bunch Of Weapons In Season 6

Epic kicked off Season 6 of Fortnite this week with the release of the game's 6.0 update on PS4, Xbox One, PC, Nintendo Switch, and mobile. As expected, the patch made some big changes to the battle royale game, introducing a handful of new weapons and locations to the map on top of an extensive list of cosmetics and rewards that can be unlocked with the Season 6 Battle Pass. However, players may notice that a few popular weapons are no longer available. [Update: The new Shadow Stones were also removed temporarily from Fortnite due to a bug, but that issue has since been resolved.]

As part of the 6.0 update, a handful of weapons have been moved to the "vault." This isn't unusual, as Epic periodically removes items from the game in order to further tweak them or make room for new ones, but this time, the developer has vaulted a larger-than-usual cache of weapons. Specifically, Epic has removed the Impulse Grenade, Suppressed Submachine Gun, Light Machine Gun, Bouncer, and the Remote Explosive.

This means that you'll no longer be able to come across any of the aforementioned weapons while playing Battle Royale. They may be reintroduced to the game at a later date; Epic has said that vaulted items could be re-added to the arsenal in a future update, but for the time being, you won't find any while scrounging around for loot. However, Epic notes that the weapons will still be available in Playground mode.

In their place, Epic has introduced one new consumable item to the game called Shadow Stones. These can transform you into Shadow Form for a brief period of time; in this form, you'll be unable to use any weapons, but you'll appear invisible to other players when you're stationary. Epic has also made tweaks to a handful of other weapons; namely, the Double Barrel Shotgun's damage output has been reduced, while the Grappler will now take into account momentum when you fire it at a moving object.

Epic has outlined all of the other changes the 6.0 update makes in the patch notes on its website. There are a lot of new cosmetics and other new items to get your hands on with the Season 6 Battle Pass, such as Pets. You can see everything in our Season 6 rewards gallery. You can also find guides on how to complete the latest challenges in our Season 6 challenge roundup.