Alright Fortnite players, get your controllers ready because Epic Games has just kicked off a new meta change in Blitz Royale, and the entire community has exploded. And when I say exploded, I mean the comment section is on fire. Here’s the scoop — Saitama’s Medallion is gone. Remember the item that made one-punching enemies a thing? Yeah, it’s no longer part of the loot pool. But wait, there is more—instead of Saitama’s medallion, the Typhoon Blades have been brought back and are now in use. This is the kind of change that will either make you want to throw your keyboard across the room or do a little victory dance.
Let’s get this out of the way for those who don’t actively avoid Fortnite news. Saitama’s Medallion was one of those broken items that everyone kind of wanted and also hated and simply demonized. It turned players into Saitama from One Punch Man and allowed them to one-punch elimination after elimination. For the short time it was around, it was fun, but it promptly became the single most hated thing to play against, as per every comment. One-shots were rampant, and while people like winning, nobody is a fan of getting deleted without even having a chance to respond.
The community response is by no means quiet, as user Okreo commented and perfectly summarized the feelings of the general public: “Finally no more people with 1hp one hitting me.” Preach. Their comment was then followed by EPIC_sneaky, commenting “thank god bro,” which for the most part sums up the level of discomfort the public had with the Saitama meta. TapperFNM cheered, and added the hands raised emoji to his comment. It is obvious that relief is being felt.
But the problem becomes real when no one can agree on what actually happened. For instance, some are trying to clarify that the Saitama Medallion was never fully vaulted and instead was made available again through the Anvil Park capture point. As a case in point, user Joovainn explicitly stated, “It wasn’t vaulted (Saitama Medallion). It was reverted back to the flag capture only.” ToupouButtercup reinforced this explanation by saying, “Not really, still available in Anvil Park.” So it seems like the medallion is not fully removed from Blitz Royale, and is instead made unavailable from the general loot pool, and instead made a more specific location reward compared to being freely available.
The Typhoon Blades, on the other hand, are being reintroduced. They’re katanas and allow you to dash around while slicing enemies in style. DieseleQ’s comment perfectly captured the vibe: “shing shing shing shing,” which honestly is the most accurate way to describe what it feels like to use these blades. 𝘋𝘈𝘔𝘐𝘈𝘕 𝘞𝘈𝘠𝘕𝘌 4𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐓𝐍𝐈𝐓𝐄 straight up said, “Yk what idec I love typhoon blades” showing that some players are just hyped about the return regardless of what got vaulted.
Right after the Power Weekend ended, the changes arrived in the form of a Blitz Hotfix. FNAssist (in an entire essay for the replies) claims that the burst and tier changes to start buses, fury assault rifles, and veiled precision smg, the removal of void oni masks and shockwave hammers, supply drop changes, and random medallion pool tweaks also came in the same update. This seemingly small update sparked a lot of attention.
Some players go as far as re-arranging their entire schedule because of this update. Pyromonkey ⛏️🔥 wrote: “thanks for the warning, now ill skip this week and go straight to br without using blitz as a warm up” which indicates how deeply these changes impact users’ gaming habits. At the same time TCKH is begging for the Typhoon Blades to be added to regular Battle Royale: “Please add them to BR for a week🙏😭” because seemingly the regular mode is not chaotic enough.
What this further emphasizes is the way Epic Games continuously revitalizes Fortnite by rotating items in and out of modes. Blitz Royale is always the more chaotic, faster-paced variant of Fortnite, and these changes appear to be a way to keep the meta from stagnating. Removing the most frustrating item while bringing back a fan-favorite weapon encapsulates an Epic move and usually gets a good reception in terms of player engagement.
What’s notably peculiar is the observation of how a community responds to changes through the replies. Some might be extremely ecstatic, others might not know what changed exactly, and some might ask about completely unrelated topics such as when Beavis and Butthead will be introduced in the game (shoutout to Anonymous736023 for prioritizing the important things). This peculiar disarray is what makes tracking Fortnite updates fun and entertaining.
The meta shift happens frequently enough, which helps players maintain a less stressful level of suspense while engaging with Fortnite, providing continuous freshness from the start. Player interest is divided between the new absence of the Saitama Medallion, the usage of Typhoon Blades for aerial combat, and appreciation of the Epic developers for constantly finding ways to engage interested players. Epic still uses Blitz Royale as a testing ground for their wild stunting ideas before integrating them into the main game, and this update seems to add more storyline to the sandbox.
So grab those katanas, head to Anvil Park if you are still hunting for Saitama, and gear up for the Blitz, which will be nothing like the one we had in the previous week. Because Fortnite teaches us so well, the one truth we have is the absence of certainty, and I prefer this truth personally.
