Epic Games introduced a new Shadow Bomb item to Fortnite Battle Royale with the v8.51 patch, but it has had some unintended consequences so far that look destined to disrupt online matches.
The new Shadow Bomb item allows players to become invisible and even double jump, allowing them to sneak around on their opponents. This new feature was only intended to keep players safe from opponents, meaning weapons are supposed to be disabled when the item is used.
However, major problems have already surfaced as players have managed to find an exploit which not only allows them to stay invisible for the entire match, but also use their guns at the same time.
This could be game-breaking
This Fortnite player discovered the glitch after being eliminated by a friend while invisible and then respawning invisible with full use of his guns.
The intended use of the Shadow Bomb is to go invisible for escaping or sneaking – you aren’t able to shoot or build while invisible. Yet, this glitch found a way around it.
if your duo is knocked while invisible and you revive him, he will be invisible the whole game and he can use weapons while double jumping 😀 gg's ez qualify @FortniteGame pic.twitter.com/WW3VoEEItS
— humanilliance (@humanilliance) May 2, 2019
Shadow Bombs are already really useful items on their own, but their power goes up a notch when you are able to remain invisible and still do all the things you’d normally be able to do.
A good thing for Fortnite Battle Royale players, though, is that the exploit doesn’t seem to be particularly easy to replicate. This Twitter user said they tried to do it themselves, but it wouldn’t work.
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You remain invisible in the air
If players aren’t able to pull off the previous exploit, they can probably do this one pretty easily as it’s not exactly a glitch – but is definitely still something Epic Games should take a look at.
During TimTheTatman’s stream, he tested a theory with the geysers on the map and the Shadow Bomb. He wanted to see if you remained invisible while gliding, something he confirmed.
In his clip, you can see him remain in the air indefinitely while remaining invisible. If this isn’t fixed or changed before this weekend’s World Cup qualifiers, there’s a chance that it could have an impact on proceedings.
When there are issues that affect competitive play, Epic Games tends to take a more proactive approach to resolve the issue, as we saw with the Reboot Vans being disabled before the qualifiers.
There hasn’t been an official statement from Epic Games as of yet, but if this glitch starts to be used regularly as an exploit – which is entirely possible – we can probably expect a fix sooner rather than later.