With Fortnite's alien-themed, season wrapped up, Chapter 2 Season 8 "Cubed" has now arrived. While that may sound odd to newcomers, long-time players of the battle royale will be no stranger to cubes as they've been a pillar of Fortnite lore since the first cube, aka Kevin, made his debut in Chapter 1 Season 5, just over three years ago.
Season 8 brings with it not only cubes, monsters, and new cosmetics but also various changes to Fortnite's ever-evolving weapon pool. Before you jump off the battle bus here are all the weapon changes you should expect in Season 8 so you can gather the best loot for your play-style en route to a coveted victory royale.
Sideways Weapons
In line with this season's cube theme, Epic Games has added, "Sideways" weaponry that can only be found within The Sideways areas across the map. The Sideways seems to be Fortnite's version of Stranger Things' upside-down and in these areas, players will be unable to build, will experience the effects of low-gravity, and will get swarmed by monsters. Within the Sideways, players can find Sideways Rifles and Sideways Miniguns that, "deal bonus damage by revving them to their superpowered state". Sideways weapons can also be upgraded by using cube monster parts that can be picked up after you've killed a cube monster.
Below you will find the stats to every rarity of Sideways rifle and minigun though at this time it is unclear if these weapons actually increase in damage when revved up or if the bonus damage described by Epic is dealt solely by the increased fire rate.
Sideways Rifle
|
Common |
Uncommon |
Rare |
Epic |
Legendary |
Mythic |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Damage |
27 |
29 |
30 |
32 |
33 |
38 |
|
Fire Rate |
3.5 |
3.5 |
3.5 |
3.5 |
3.5 |
3.5 |
|
Reload Time |
3.08 |
2.94 |
2.8 |
2.66 |
2.52 |
2.1 |
Sideways Minigun
|
Common |
Uncommon |
Rare |
Epic |
Legendary |
Mythic |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Damage |
18 |
19 |
20 |
21 |
22 |
24 |
|
Fire Rate |
7 |
7 |
7 |
7 |
7 |
7 |
|
Reload Time |
5.5 |
5.25 |
5 |
4.75 |
4.5 |
4 |
Unvaulted Weapons
Burst Assault Rifles (previously only available through crafting)
|
Common |
Uncommon |
Rare |
Epic |
Legendary |
Mythic |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Damage |
31 |
32 |
34 |
36 |
37 |
39 |
|
Fire Rate |
3.95 |
3.95 |
3.95 |
3.95 |
3.95 |
3.4 |
|
Magazine Size |
20 |
20 |
20 |
20 |
20 |
21 |
|
Reload Time |
2.9 |
2.7 |
2.6 |
2.5 |
2.3 |
2.21 |
Lever Action Shotguns (previously only available through crafting)
|
Common |
Uncommon |
Rare |
Epic |
Legendary |
Mythic |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Damage |
93.6 |
98.1 |
103.5 |
108.9 |
114.3 |
N/A |
|
Fire Rate |
0.95 |
0.95 |
0.95 |
0.95 |
0.95 |
N/A |
|
Magazine Size |
6 |
6 |
6 |
6 |
6 |
N/A |
|
Reload Time |
6.6 |
6.3 |
6 |
5.7 |
5.4 |
N/A |
Automatic Sniper Rifles
|
Common |
Uncommon |
Rare |
Epic |
Legendary |
Mythic |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Damage |
N/A |
N/A |
40 |
42 |
44 |
N/A |
|
Fire Rate |
N/A |
N/A |
4 |
4 |
4 |
N/A |
|
Magazine Size |
N/A |
N/A |
16 |
16 |
16 |
N/A |
|
Reload Time |
N/A |
N/A |
3.8 |
3.6 |
3.4 |
N/A |
Harpoon Guns
|
Rare |
|
|---|---|
|
Damage |
75 |
|
Fire Rate |
1 |
|
Magazine Size |
10 |
|
Reload Time |
1.4 |
Charge Shotgun (only available through crafting)
|
Common |
Uncommon |
Rare |
Epic |
Legendary |
Mythic |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Damage 0% Charge |
84 |
88 |
93 |
98 |
102 |
N/A |
|
Damage 100% Charge |
126 |
132 |
139 |
147 |
153 |
N/A |
|
Fire Rate |
0.85 |
0.85 |
0.85 |
0.85 |
0.85 |
N/A |
|
Magazine Size |
4 |
4 |
4 |
5 |
5 |
N/A |
|
Reload Time |
4.73 |
4.5 |
4.3 |
4.1 |
3.9 |
N/A |
Suppressed Assault Rifle (only available through crafting)
|
Common |
Uncommon |
Rare |
Epic |
Legendary |
Mythic |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Damage |
N/A |
N/A |
30 |
32 |
33 |
N/A |
|
Fire Rate |
N/A |
N/A |
5.5 |
5.5 |
5.5 |
N/A |
|
Magazine Size |
N/A |
N/A |
30 |
30 |
30 |
N/A |
|
Reload Time |
N/A |
N/A |
2.3 |
2.2 |
2.1 |
N/A |
Vaulted Weapons
Though closely associated with Season 7's alien theme, the Rail Gun lives to fight another season, which will likely stir up some controversy amongst the community. The Rail Gun can notoriously shoot enemies through structures and builds, which seemed to frustrate a lot of players in the previous season.
Still, it's clear Epic is standing by the weapon as they featured it prominently in their Battle Pass artwork where the skin J.B Chimpanski carries the weapon over his shoulder. Chimpanski is just one of the several Battle Pass skins added this season alongside the likes of Toona Fish and Marvel's Carnage. The guns below were not as lucky and will, at least for now, be locked in the Fortnite vault.
- Ray Guns
- Tactical Shotguns
- Heavy Assault Rifles (AKs)
- Hand Cannon (Desert Eagle)
- Bolt-Action Sniper Rifles
- Prop-ifier
Fortnite tends to change its weapons and their stats throughout the course of the season and Season 8 will likely be no different. However, it is noteworthy that Season 8 also seems to include a map-wide voting system where players can spend gold to essentially cast a vote to "decide which new weapons to bring to the island" and "which favorites to unvault".