Out later this week.
It’s expand or die, as the saying goes. And so, Fortnite is adding a new mode. This is Fortnite Ballistic.
Fortnite Ballistic is a 5v5 first person mode that sees players divided into two teams: Red and Blu attacker and defender. The goal is for the attacking team to place and set off a Rift Point Device, with the defending team preferably keeping that from happening. Also, players have one life to live, so once you’re out, you’re out for the round, just like the other game modes.
Since the Rift Point Device takes 45 seconds to go off, expect things to get heated once it’s planted. A round will also end when the entirety of a team is killed off. Players swap sides (attacking to defending and vice versa) every six rounds, and the game ends when one team wins a total of seven rounds.
Everyone starts with a Ranger Pistol and 800 credits. Killing other players and planting/defusing the Rift Point Device earns you more credits. You can spend your credits on weapons and other goodies at the beginning of a round, and staying alive through a round lets you keep your stuff. Consumables don’t carry over once spent, but you can drop items for other team members to use, or even loot them off of dead opponents.
There’s one extra wrinkle; players will have a choice of five flex gadgets to buy that are only for them and them alone. Players can hold two of them at once, so choosing wisely is important. More importantly, you cannot pick these up off of other players; they’re locked to the player. From their news post:
- Select the Proximity Mine to place a damaging mine down on the floor, wall, or ceiling to surprise an unsuspecting enemy. They can be picked back up and placed again and will explode if shot. Great for booby-trapping sites when defending!
- The Bubble Shield allows for throwing down a temporary protective bubble that’s impervious to bullets and projectiles such as grenades. It’s great for providing a shield for your team as you storm onto a site.
- The Recon Grenade gadget marks any enemies detected nearby where it’s thrown, even through walls. Throw a Recon gadget onto a site before entering to get a read on who might be waiting to get the drop on you.
- Old faithful! A thrown Frag Grenade will bounce and explode, dealing damage to nearby enemies. Careful — you’ll take damage from your own grenades (though your allies will not). Great for flushing players out from behind cover.
- The Impulse Grenade gadget is a disruptive tool that launches enemies and allies away. It has many creative uses, such as launching teammates onto a site from afar.
Some things will be a bit limited at launch. Notably, there will only be one map (Skyline 10), and a starting set of weapons and items. But over time, more maps, weapons and items will be added to the game.
There are also Ranked and Unranked modes. In Unranked, players will be backfilled if a player drops, and everyone can stay on the same server after a match ends. In Ranked, there is no backfill, and dropping out of a match results in a penalty; specifically, anyone that drops will be unable to join a match for a period of time.
Matchmaking in Ranked is more specific than Unranked. Matches are formed based on the average rank of the players in the team. Player ranks are determined, in order, by the following: current rank, rounds won, rounds lost, eliminations, and assists. AFKing or leaving will penalize your rank, as well. Though your rank will be protected on your first loss of the day.
You won’t have to wait long to play this new mode, either. Fortnite Ballistic launches in early access December 11th.
Source: IGN
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