Fortnite Patch v12.50 nerfs aim assist, makes performance improvements

Fortnite’s v12.50 update was released earlier today. It addressed many concerns about the state of the game, including the Heavy Sniper’s damage and aim assist.

Though Epic Games didn’t release official patch notes of the changes, the developer emailed the details to content creators and personalities. The patch addresses performance issues that were hurting the gameplay experience, including aim assist and the Heavy Sniper’s damage.

We compiled every piece of information on Fortnite’s newest patch, based on the information that popular content creators made publicly available. Here are the latest changes to the game.

Aim assist nerf

This patch adjusted the frequency of aim assist from 240 Hz to 60 Hz. This change essentially makes aim assist slower and fairer. Before the change, more FPS meant better and faster aim assist. A lower cap simply levels the playing field. Controller players on PC will have the same aim assist behavior as those on consoles. 

Controller players with aim assist have been one of the hottest topics in the Fortnite community lately. Pro players like Tfue and Bugha have shared their opinions on how it was negatively affecting the gameplay experience of mouse and keyboard players.

Though these changes may hurt players who enjoyed using a controller with high frame-rates, players who were on the receiving end of their crosshairs will be able to turn the tides more often.

Aim assist was prone to abuse by spamming the aim key on controllers and it allowed players to track enemies without any extra effort. With the building advantage that controller players had, the two became a deadly combo in the higher brackets of Fortnite.

Heavy Sniper nerf

The Heavy Sniper is one of the most rewarding guns in Fortnite. While it feels amazing to land a shot, getting one-shot from a distance may not be as exciting. The Heavy Sniper was also able to tear down the majority of the walls with a single shot and made two-vs-one situations a lot more difficult to handle.

Epic didn’t give any measurements on how much it nerfed the popular rifle, but said “Ghost Agents have tampered with Heavy Snipers to retune their effectiveness.”

New game modes: Operation Payload and Party Royale

Alongside significant gameplay changes, two new game modes also hit the game as a breath of fresh air for Fortnite fans.

Operation Payload may look similar to Overwatch players since it has players defending moving payloads while another team tries their best to stop them.

Party Royale is more of a relaxing mode that will allow players to chill and hang out with their friends. All weapons and materials will be disabled in this game mode. Epic will test it for the first time on May 1 and 2 at 8pm CT.

General bug fixes

The patch also fixed some of the bugs that weren’t addressed with the v12.41 Travis Scott patch.

General

• Fixed frame-rate and resolution drops that came with v12.41.
  • “We’re aware of an issue that may cause frame rate and resolution drops, particularly when panning the camera view in certain directions,” Epic said while indicating that it’s working on more performance improvements to include in the next game update.

Battle royale

• Fixed local challenges not appearing when entering a new area.
  • Players will no longer need to check their map screen to see local challenges.
• Fixed “Block damage with a Kingsman” Challenge not tracking progress.

Save the World

• Fixed Surround Pound’s heavy attack not dealing damage to husks.
• Fixed a bug which caused players to force swap to their pickaxe when using an ability that’s on cooldown.
• Fixed the Storm King’s Onslaught projectiles that weren’t accurate and moved towards the ground.
• Fixed a bug which caused players to become stuck in a previous Dungeons zone while their teammates are in the next one.
• Fixed a bug which caused Psylocke’s Pickaxe to not swing properly.

Mobile

• Temporarily fixed a bug that caused video playback to stop on Android devices.
  • “We’re investigating an issue in which Android devices may crash when a video plays in-game,” Epic said. “We’ve disabled video playback (including Message of the Day) on Android to mitigate this issue until it’s resolved.”
• Fixed a bug that caused multiple build buttons to display wall icons.
  • If this keeps occurring, note that the issue is completely visual and all icons will build the appropriate structure when pressed.
• Fixed a bug that caused the ping marker to display “0m.”

Fortnite’s v12.50 went live today and can now be downloaded on all platforms that the game is available on.