Epic addresses Fortnite’s aim assist exploit

Epic has acknowledged the recent exploit that was found in Fortnite. When performed properly, the bug allowed players to take out others with near super-human accuracy. The assistance given to players by this exploit has resulted in a considerable jump in the number of deaths by a sniper. Opportunistic players have been using the bug to take out anyone on the map without having to work particularly hard at lining up their shot or choosing their moment. It’s disappointing that is the latest in an ongoing series of problems with using in-game Pop-Up-Cups to decide the roster of players for an invitational.

The bug can be performed by switching between aiming freely and aiming down the sights over and over in quick succession. For some reason, this makes the auto-assist aiming kick into a higher gear. By repeatedly switching, players can force the aim assist to lock onto any player. This trick even works through stink bombs. Players are normally invisible in these foggy areas. However, this exploit allows players to instantly lock-on to anyone in the area and eliminate them without any guesswork or aiming. By hitting a button a few times, it can be achieved relatively easily. This has made a big dent in the meta-game for the Pop-Up-Cup.

It’s an exploit that is partially determined by the specs of the PC that you’re running Fortnite on. Players have found that when they increase their frames per second to as high as 240, the crosshairs of a weapon will pull towards players like a magnet. With the right set-up, this was a game-breaking glitch. This follows a recent issue where players found their fire rate was actually being influenced by their frames by second. This would cause players to fire slower if they were running the game at a slower speed. This won’t effect cooperative players with high-end equipment, but it’s a worrying amount of bugs in a game that is currently entering its biggest year for tournaments yet.

This is the latest in a series of fiascos involving the Pop-Up-Cups. The brief tournaments have become victim to all kinds of cheating. High-profile streamers have been caught collaborating, and this aim assist bug has been wreaking havoc on games. If these cups were just for fun, these exploits would not be too much of an issue. However, they are being used as the selection process for the upcoming Secret Skirmish. This has lead to quite a backlash from competitive players, the aim assist exploit is just another example of why this approach is flawed. This could even mean that players in the invitational may have secured the spot while using this exploit.

To their credit, Epic has confirmed they will be addressing the aim assist exploit. It will be fixed in the upcoming v7.40 update. This is due on Tuesday and it will bring new items like bottle Rockets into the game. Hopefully Epic can ensure that future invitational participants are decided based on skill, rather than notoriety or their FPS rate.