Fortnite studio Epic Games has removed the Infinity Blade weapon from the game three days after it was initially added.
The sword was first introduced in Fortnite: Battle Royale earlier this week with the 7.01 update. The Infinity Blade, which comes from Epic Games’ recently defunct series of the same name, gave players increased health and shields, health regeneration, increased movement, and had the ability to destroy whole buildings with a leaping jump slash at the expense of not being able to pick up any other weapons or items.
Players quickly found that the weapon was quite overpowered with very little to counter against it, despite that only one of the weapon spawned per match. The community echoed across social media channels that the Infinity Blade be removed from the game or be confined to its own playlist away from the normal Solo, Duos, and Squad modes.
$1 Million competitive Fortnite presented by Epic Games. Esports ready. #WinterRoyale pic.twitter.com/sDNsshuFNR
— Rod Breslau (@Slasher) December 11, 2018
Epic Games had announced yesterday that it would be tweaking the Infinity Blade by removing the ability to build and harvest materials while holding the weapon in the 7.10 update. The statement also inferred that more of these “Mythic” rarity weapons could appear in the future.
“The presence of Mythic items in gameplay is to provide an interaction a step above the Legendary item functionality and something you’ll continue to see,” Epic Games wrote. “To us, that means changing the way the game is played for those who interact with that item. The addition of items in this tier provide new and flavorful ways to interact with the map and generally shake up normal play across default modes.”
The studio changed its course on the sword with the announcement today that it had completely vaulted the weapon from the game, citing its overpowered nature and the community response to it. Epic Games also said it would be re-evaluating its approach to Mythic items.
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