Are The Marauder NPCs Too Overpowered In Fortnite?

One of the major additions to Fortnite Chapter 2 - Season 3 was the Marauders. These NPCs fall out of the sky from rifts and spawn onto the map via a capsule. There are always five Marauders that spawn initially and almost immediately they get moving around the map. Epic Games has given them the ability to build, revive each other, and even heal. Along with this, there are three different kinds of Marauders, each with a different weapon set and character model. At first glance, the A.I. didn’t seem too bad, as they do drop loot when killed. However, upon further inspection, players discovered that the Marauders are more of a nuisance than originally thought. 

The community calls for the Marauders to be removed

Since the beginning of Season 3, Marauders have dominated public Fortnite matches. They can spawn in at any time at the beginning or in the middle of a game. As stated above, five Marauders spawn in from the same capsule and can easily ambush you and your squad. While they’re not a huge challenge, their abilities make fighting them more difficult than it should be. 

The Marauders are constantly looking for action and once they find it, getting them off your trail isn’t easy. Pair this with their ability to build and revive each other and dealing with them becomes more of a task than it should be. However, you don’t even need to be directly near them to be attacked. There are countless instances of Marauders attacking players who happen to cross their line of sight while fighting another team or simply gliding through the air. This video put together by YouTube channel Daily Clips Central showcases just how upset popular streamers are with the new NPCs. 

In the compilation, we can see countless instances of Marauders picking fights with players who are a far distance away. There’s even a clip showing Twitch streamer Dakotaz gliding through the air and being sniped by Marauder who wasn’t even on screen. Obviously, this puts a lot of RNG into Fortnite, which is already luck-based enough. 

Epic Games seems keen on introducing new NPC characters into Fortnite. First, it was the Henchmen and different bosses for various locations. While these characters are also causing some havoc in the community, at least they are secluded to one area. With Marauders, they can spawn on the map at any time and last until the end of a match if no one kills them. 

• Read More - Ranking the Top Five Fortnite Limited-Time Modes

So, unfortunately, it doesn’t appear that Epic will be vaulting the NPC route in the near future. With that said, players would still like to see some kind of nerf to the Marauders. This would at least stop the bleeding and allow Fortnite encounters to be about who the best player is. Right now, it’s more about who doesn’t get seen by a group of Marauders, which is frustrating the player base. 

In terms of a nerf, Epic could go one of a few ways, the first of which being reducing the amount of Marauders spawn in a single capsule. Fighting five NPCs at once can give a team all they can handle, so perhaps only two to three would make things more manageable. In addition to that, Epic could also reduce the number of times a Marauder capsule falls to the map each game. Fewer Marauders on the map means more actual skill is involved in any given Fortnite match. 

Click to enlarge

The developers could also take away some of the Marauder’s abilities. Being able to build, revive, and heal themselves seems a tad overkill, but is easily fixable. All Epic would need to do is take away the building capabilities of Marauders and players could relax more when a capsule drops down.

At this point, a nerf is needed, plain and simple. Whether Epic chooses to reduce the number of Marauders or cut down their abilities, the community just wants to see action.

 

Images via Epic Games and LeeJow