| This article discusses content that has been put in the Vault. |
|---|
| This item has been made unavailable in order to adjust the game balance. It may return in the future. |
| Zapotron | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Details | |
| Category | Battle Royale Weapons |
| History | |
| Introduced | Patch 1.6.3 |
| Vaulted | Patch 1.6.4 |
The Zapotron was a Legendary Sniper Rifle, based off of an existing weapon in Save The World, that was briefly available in Battle Royale, available exclusively in Supply Drops.[1] However, it was Vaulted very shortly after its release due to the disabling of Supply Drops, and remains unavailable to this day.[2] It was vaulted because it didn't fit well with the current state of Battle Royale and it could have also harmed the game's balance.
It was likely an incredibly powerful weapon, although the only clip of a player using the weapon showed it doing 150 damage after charging it for several seconds. According to the official patch notes, it could have been used as a burst-fire weapon or could be charged for a single powerful blast, which was likely the method of fire used in the clip. The Zapotron used the exclusive Cell Ammo, which was also available exclusively in Supply Drops. Each full charge shot used one Cell Ammo.
Stats
Exact stats of the weapon may be incorrect due to a lack of information.
Not Charged
| Zapotron | |
|---|---|
| |
| Details | |
| Bullet Type |
 |
| DPS | 50 |
| Damage | 50 |
| Fire Rate | 1.0 |
| Magazine Size | 4 |
| Reload Time | 2.1 |
| Structure Damage | 1000 |
Charged
| Zapotron | |
|---|---|
| |
| Details | |
| Bullet Type |
|
| DPS | 49.5 |
| Damage | 150 |
| Fire Rate | 0.33 |
| Magazine Size | 4 |
| Reload Time | 2.1 |
| Structure Damage | 1000 |
When charged it probably used all of its ammo to make one single powerful shot, like the Dragon's Breath Shotgun.
Sound
Sounds may be incorrect due to them being taken from the Save the World version of the Game.
- Zapotron Pullout
- Zapotron Uncharged Shot
- Zapotron Charged Shot
- Zapotron Half Charged Shot
- Zapotron Reload
- Zapotron Pickup
- Zapotron Drop
Availability
| Rarity | Supply Drop |
|---|---|
| Legendary | ✅ |
Texture
| Patch | Legendary |
|---|---|
| Since 1.6.3 | |
Speculations
- The Zapotron in Save the World is the name for the Legendary variant of the Laser Rifle.
- In Battle Royale, it was likely only available in Legendary rarity.
- In Save the World, Laser Rifles (including the Zapotron) could be charged up to deal massive damage, about 3x the damage of an uncharged blast.
- This suggests that the burst fire capability of the Zapotron in Battle Royale likely did 50 damage per shot, because the charged damaged does 150 damage, and 50 damage was also the listed damage of the Zapotron in the game files.
- The Headshot multiplier may have been 2.5x, likely other snipers and most weapons in Battle Royale at the time, meaning 125 and 375 headshot damage respectively from both methods of fire.
- Energy Cell ammo was likely only available in Supply Drops and came in stacks of 4.
- This was the only sniper ever introduced to have HitScan.
Changes
Patch Notes
New Weapon: Zapotron
The Zapotron can be used to fire electric blasts in short bursts, or charged up to release an enormous amount of damage! Fire sparingly, as Cell Ammo is extremely limited. This weapon is only available in Supply Drops.
Based on this tweet,(https://twitter.com/FortniteGame/status/915959817885421568?s=20), the Zapotron was rotated out of Battle Royale sometime before October 5th, 2017. The exact date is unknown, but it could have been Early Access 1.6.4, which released just a couple days later on September 29th, 2017.
The weapon was then scrapped from the game files and is unavailable in Battle Royale or Creative to this day.Vault Log
| Patch | Vault | Unvault |
|---|---|---|
| 1.6.4 | ✅ Legendary |
Trivia
- Curiously, the EA1.6.3 patch notes and the accompanying image call the weapon the "Zapotron". However, a tweet from @FortniteGame refers to it as the "Zapatron". This was likely just a mistake by the person writing the tweet.
- The leaked stats for the weapon are very similar to that of the Heavy Sniper Rifle, which may suggest that the Zapotron was reworked into the Heavy Sniper, which would serve the same function and fit the game better due to it being a standard weapon as opposed to an energy-based one.
- The scarcity of information about this weapon (and to an extent, other aspects of early Battle Royale) makes it very mysterious and gives it a cult-like status among veterans and new players alike.
- It’s probably the only Battle Royale weapon that uses energy ammo