Update 2: This morning, Epic Games announced on Reddit that the overpowered Infinity Blade has been vaulted effective immediately, and that the team will be "re-evaluating our approach to Mythic items." As the first Mythic-grade item, the Infinity Blade melee weapon hidden on Polar Peak greatly skewed the game towards whoever was wielding this extremely lethal sword, and players were livid at how it upended the familiar Fortnite formula. Unlike the largely unbalanced elements of Limited-Time Modes, it seemed like the Infinity Blade and future Mythic items like it were here to stay - but Epic has now backed down in the face of widespread rejection of the concept by players.
"We messed up and rolled out the Infinity Blade overpowered / without good counters, especially in the end game," said Epic. "Thanks for calling us out on this!" It's encouraging to see Epic reacting so quickly to player feedback, though we'll have to wait and see if the Infinity Blade - and Mythic items as a general concept - ever make a comeback, or are simply deemed unfit for Fortnite.
Update 1: In a post on the Fortnite Reddit, Epic Games has opened up a dialogue about the Infinity Blade melee weapon that's currently wreaking havoc in Fortnite season 7. Many players are livid at the power level of the very first Mythic-tier item, and are aggravated to hear that the Infinity Blade isn't part of a LTM (Limited-Time Mode) like many assumed it would be. For now, it appears that it's here to stay, at least for the season - but Epic has pledged to indirectly nerf the Infinity Blade. In patch 7.10, the Infinity Blade wielder won't be able to harvest resources or build structures, which Epic hopes will "tune the Infinity Blade to where it feels risky to have, but still satisfying to wield."
The responses to the Infinity Blade on Reddit are mostly complaints (go figure) about the weapon's disruptive presence, which has seemingly ruined the game entirely for some players. Many are upset that Epic says Mythic items will be "something you'll continue to see," and not necessarily as LTMs like the popular (and possibly returning) Infinity Gauntlet mode which morphs one lucky player into the almighty villain Thanos.
"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," says Epic. We'll see if the player base takes to the addition of Mythic items over time, but for now, tensions seem high.
Original story:
Fortnite's Infinity Blade weapon just went live earlier today, and we managed to get our murderous hands on it for the above gameplay video. You can watch us take the franchise crossover sword all the way from its frosty home on Polar Peak to Victory Royale just east of Look Lake. Unlike the limited-time Thanos crossover, the Infinity Blade is available in standard modes, so you'll be seeing a lot more of it (at least until Epic decides to toss it in the vault).
Here's how the Infinity Blade works in Fortnite: only one spawns in every match, and always in its pedestal on Polar Peak. Removing the Infinity Blade from its pedestal requires interacting with the sword for several seconds, leaving you vulnerable. Once you pick it up, you'll automatically drop every item in your inventory except for building materials (trying to pick anything else up will make you drop the sword). Here's what you get for all that trouble:
- A Primary Fire slash that does 75 damage to players and destroys objects.
- An Alternate Fire that sends you leaping forward, dealing 25 damage and knocking players into the air while also destroying objects.
- Increased movement speed (30 percent faster than normal).
- If you're the first player to pick up the Infinity Blade, your health and shields will instantly be boosted to your new maximum of 200/200.
- Automatic regeneration of Effective Health (meaning Health, then Shields) at the rate of 1 point per second.
- Instant regeneration.off 50 Effective Health every time you eliminate an opponent.
There's also much to be said for the raw satisfaction of leaping through buildings like they're made out of festive tissue paper. Skip to 8:30 in the video above if you want to see us go hog wild on the poor, unsuspecting high rises of Tilted Towers. Epic just removed the Infinity Blade games from the iOS App Store, citing an inability to keep providing the level of support it feels the games deserve, so it's cool to at least see their legacy live on in Fortnite season 7.
See more shenanigans from the latest season with these Fortnite plane highlights, including rocket dogfights and painful squishes.
