Update 3 : Double pump returns to fortnite! As of fortnite patch 3.5 all weapons now have an equip time and the pump animation has been removed. Relevant lines from 3.5 patch notes that relate to double pump:
Essentially this means that the pump animation has been removed (which was played when switching back to pump) and the weapon swap time is replacing it. However the weapon swap time is faster than the previous pump animation, buffing double pump. Not to the level it was before but better than after the double pump nerf
Update 2 : The new heavy shotgun (Epic and Legendary) has been added in patch V3.3.1. This is a slowish firing shotgun with longer range and higher damage than the Tactical. However as of late March players can now “double pump” with this new weapon for faster fire rate and improved DPS.
Update 1 : Double Pump has been officially nerfed. As of V.3.0.0 players must now repump the shotgun when switching back to it. Thoughts on double pump nerf
Large streamers finally discovered double pump in Fortnite Battle royale, three months after the games release. This has irreversibly changed the meta of the game. Now everyone wants pump shotguns and everyone wants to +forward into opponents faces. The change on voice in squads with randoms is amazing – players getting two pumps then making comments that would lead one to believe the game is in the bag. Here is one of the first mentions of the phenomenon on reddit – posts about two shotguns were quite frequent after this. Shotguns are not affected by bloom in the same way as Assault Rifles so were perfect for this trick.
Daequan is credited with being the “first” to mainstream this, however players have been commenting on reddit since the games launch about it in one way or another. As a player who used this before it mainstreamed the difference is night and day. If you think it is good now, imagine what it was like when literally noone was using it. In around ~7 days /played I encountered two players doing it.
The premise is simple and I have been using it, for more than just shotguns, since the games release. Some background is required to undersand how the double pump shotgun “trick"” works in FNBR. Fortnite weaponswitch time is quite fast, faster than the refire rate of the non-automatic weapons. This means that you are not at the mercy of the refire speed when using a slow firing weapon, which is typically how these weapons are balanced. Low rate of fire to punish missing and balance out high damage. At the very least with fast switch players can pull out another gun in place of nothing (reload time). The opportunity this offers seems lost on streamers and youtubers who are now pumping (pun intended) out tutorials for “How to double pump shotgun in fortnite” while overlooking that this applies to a large selection of Fortnites weapons. Or that they have been doing the same forever with sniper plus any other weapon.
Because the Fortnite weapon switch speed is fast the refire time can become the weapon switch speed when the refire time is slower than switch. This means that the low rate of fire weapons become much faster. The pump shotguns are likely the most popular because they hit for “the most” and are also relatively easy to land some damage with. You really only need one pump and another weapon to make use of the weapon switch speed in a meaningful way. Pump shotgun to open a fight into assault rifle, auto pistol or smg (of decent quality) is perfectly acceptable in order to avoid being a sitting duck. To be completely fair swapping to a high rate of fire weapon after hitting a solid pump shotgun hit is probably more reliable play anyway, provided you are in sub machinegun range. Think hittng rail or rockets and finishing with lightning gun in quake.
The slow fire rate weapons benefit from fast switching with higher rof weapons benefiting less. At some point it becomes a waste of time to switch between weapons to use the pump shotgun – switching to an smg (highest rof) for one bullet then back is an overall DPS decrease. Some examples that are good.
Weapon combos that benefit from swapping back and forth: Pump shotgun to pump shotgun. Pump shotgun to tactical shotgun. Pump shotgun to revolver. Pump shotgun to Burst Assault rifle (one burst). Pump shotgun to assault rifle for a few rounds. The revolver can replace the starting pump in any of these and for this combo it may be better to use the revolver for opening shot then sticking to the other weapon.
Some weapon combos benefit from starting on the pump and switching after landing significant damage. The low firerate could be negated by peeking corners until landing damage then swapping. Pump shotgun to Sub machinegun/assault sub machinegun/ Silenced sub machinegun. The assault rifle could also fall into this category once good opening damage has been landed. The higher rate of fire is potentially better for finishing. This means if you open a fight, land a high (70+) pump or tactical shotgun hit you only need to deal the remaining 30. Using and smg or assault rifle gives players have much higher rate of fire, meaning a single miss is less impactful. This was a common idea in older arena shooters.
Why this is interesting for shotguns, specifically pump action
It is very easy to use two shotguns. First you need to find two – a pump and tactical shotgun is a viable option until you find a second pump. Put both the weapons in slots that have easy to use binds, for example weapon slots 2 and 3. When you engage open with the higher hitting weapon for maximum front load. After the first shot swap to the second weapon and shoot, as you shoot swap back to the first weapon straight away and shoot again.. swapping back to the second weapon as you do so. Your character will diligently swap between weapons without playing the pump animation.
If the default weapon binds are not good then you could try binding individual weapons to mousewheel. Bind slot 2 to up and slot 3 to down. You can now scroll up/down to pick weapons 2 and 3 while shooting. It is a good idea to get used to individual weapon binds anyway so removing next/previous weapon from the mousewheel is good anyway.
The two main offenders for exploits are the pump shotgun and revolver. This is because weapon swap stops the refire animation from playing.
Does it matter if the shotguns are grey (common) or green (uncommon)? The quality of the shotgun barely matters. The grey pump shotgun deals 90 damage and the green deals 95. With 2.5* headshot modifier this gives 225 and 237 for full headshots. Less than 5% difference. Don’t sweat a grey pump.
Why fast switch is interesting for other weapons – RPG – sniper, etc
Fast weapon switch is interesting for other weapons, although not because it circumvents the refire animation.
Drawbacks to double pump – mechanical skill requirement – losing an inventory slot
Other mixtures that allow for interesting play – high hitting -> high rof low damage (rl/rail -> lg)
Firstly, in order to
Using a macro to double pump is not required. The action is gated by weapon switch speed which is (human speed wise) quite slow so macros do not make this more viable. Having said that it is easy enough to create a macro for double pump shotguns with most modern mouse or keyboard software. Logitech, Razer, Zowie, ASUS, Corsair, etc. There are two ways to go about this. Either create a macro that uses specific weapon slots or use next and previous weapon.
Is this balanced – can the weapons work without it, currently gives interesting mix, without much more limiting on weapons so maybe good
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You should check out the rest of the arenafps.com fortnite guides.
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Is there a way to counter such a tactic? From what I have seen there is no counter towards it. Once a shotgun closes the distance, it seems that doom is almost unavoidable. There must be an easy understood counter to this, other than simply copying what another player is doing.
I have recently mastered the double pump because of this cite. I never lose shotgun fights.
Kristopher You might want to try building rapidly while backing up. try to gain distance
Mitch Massey 1v1 me bro