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Fornite's Flipping Sexy emote is getting an unusual workout online that's either going to see it become a bane of the game, or get it patched to hell.
This is what it's meant to do:
New emote in store: Flippin' Sexy #Fortnite pic.twitter.com/sMGpMeXv36March 5, 2018
That looks harmless enough. Except people have discovered that not only can you use it to hide, or take cover behind things that wouldn't otherwise protect you; you can also cancel the animation instantly by shooting, turning it into a sort of acrobatic dodge that catches people off guard.
This is what it looks like when you use it to hide:
As you can see, people who have the emote - which was on sale March 5 last time - have been having a field day abusing its potential. For those that have it, and know how to use it, there's a clear advantage in certain situations. A small dip in the ground suddenly becomes viable cover with a well timed flip.
Even as a basic dodge it can make all the difference between life and death:
#fortnite #flippinsexy #dodge https://t.co/1nWoHSrG2j pic.twitter.com/G6hNYMwjEqMarch 5, 2018
Because you can cancel the flip to shoot instantly, you can use it to move in an unpredictable way, confusing your opponents and effectively no-scope them while they're trying to work out what the hell is going on:
There's a whole video of that here from MunkyTroopa, who seems capable of building his entire fighting style around the move.
What's going to be really interesting here is what happens when the emote comes back around on the store? At the moment, its use has been limited by its availability. Now people know what you can do with it, the next time it appears could see the game flooded with backflipping chaos.
There are two choices: either Epic steer into the skid like PUBG did with the frying pan (which was only meant to whack grenades) or Destiny 2's hilariously OP Prometheus Lens, and give everyone access to the same fun. Or it needs balancing - restricting the animation to prevent no-scopes, or adding a cooldown when you're vulnerable before you can move again.
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