What does the Rail Gun do in Fortnite

The latest hotfix for Fortnite Chapter 3 Season 2 has arrived, bringing two new weapons for the latest wild week. Players who were around in Chapter 2 Season 7 will remember the Rail Gun and Recon Scanner. The IO, who were masquerading as the good guys, created them to deal with the alien attack.

The second wild week, titled Rail Gun Recon Week, has gone live at about 9.00 AM EST today. The Rail Gun and Recon Scanner are back in the game, but they'll only be for a week.

Both those weapons were a little more challenging to find in their time. Here's where to look for them in Chapter 3 Season 2.

What does the Rail Gun do in Fortnite
Recon Scanner (Image via Epic Games)

Opening IO chests is the best way of getting Rail Gun and Recon Scanner in Fortnite

The two weapons were formerly created by the Imagined Order but can be found in the standard loot pool. The Rail Gun and the Recon Scanner can be obtained through floor loot, regular chests, and IO chests.

They cannot be purchased from a vending machine, nor can they be found in a Supply Drop. The best place to look for them is arguably in IO chests. They're IO weapons, which means IO chests can drop them, giving those a slightly better chance of dropping one of them.

Additionally, they only come in Rare, Epic, and Legendary rarities. Both of these guns are good and will be challenging to find. However, for a couple of reasons, players will want to find them.

Updates that will happen in 2 hours:- The "Rail Gun" will be unvaulted- The "Recon Scanner" will be unvaulted- A new "Klombo Quest" EventFlag will be activated https://t.co/2CEBIZGEfi

According to the Fortnite Wiki:

"The Rail Gun has a headshot multiplier of 2x and deals 2.5x damage against Saucers. The Rail Gun deals 500-550 damage to structures and can also pierce through a single structure without losing damage."

Ordinarily, an Epic Rail Gun deals 89 damage to the body and can hit through walls. It's possibly the most overpowered sniper rifle the game has ever seen.

The Recon Scanner doesn't deal much damage but is a very useful weapon, according to the Fortnite Wiki:

"The Recon Scanner is a two round grenade launcher that shoots a Scanning projectile. This projectile marks all Containers and Opponents (Including Animals). The field stays active for 15 seconds, before disappearing. The projectile blinks red for a few seconds before the field dissipates. The projectiles also do very low player and structure damage."

For those reasons, gamers are going to want to find these guns. However, as with all Wild Weeks, there are challenges relating to the new weapons. Last week tasked players with doing things with Sideways Fortnite weapons. Here's what they need to do this week:

  • Deal damage to opponents with the Rail Gun (500/2500/10000)
  • Mark enemy players using the Recon Scanner (5/25/100)
  • Get a headshot with the Rail Gun
  • Deal damage from 50 meters or more with the Rail Gun
  • Deal damage to an opponent within 30 seconds of scanning them
  • Hit an opponent with a scanner grenade
  • Collect a Recon Scanner and Rail Gun in one match

These challenges, as well as the weapon spawns, are live and will grant players a bit of Fortnite Chapter 3 Season XP.

Edited by Yasho Amonkar

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What does the Rail Gun do in Fortnite

Epic Games

The Rail Gun and Recon Scanner will be here to annoy fans of Fortnite.

The two most impressive weapons that Fortnite has created in the last 18 months will be joining the game once again next week. The first is the ever-impressive Rail Gun, and the other is the enemy spotting and tracking device; the Recon Scanner.

The Rail Gun isn’t the most powerful of weapons, dolling out anywhere from 80 to 175 points of damage depending on where you hit the player. While shotguns and sniper rifles do more damage, these weapons aren’t negated by walls or builds, as they’ll destroy whatever is in front of them to hit a target.

Couple that with the Recon Scanner, a device that launches a grenade-like device that emits a pulse, that highlights, and tracks opposing players, and you’re going to have a hard time hiding from players for the next week.

The Rail Gun and Recon Scanner will come with their own challenges

New quests will be added to the game for players who want to wrack up some new challenges with these two weapons. The new Rail Gun and Recon Scanners  quests are as follows;

  • Deal 500 damage to opponents with the Rail Gun
  • Deal 2,500 damage to opponents with the Rail Gun
  • Deal 10,000 damage to opponents with the Rail Gun
  • Mark 5 enemy players using the Recon Scanner
  • Mark 25 enemy players using the Recon Scanner
  • Mark 100 enemy players using the Recon Scanner
  • Get 1 headshot with the Rail Gun
  • Deal 500 damage from 50 or more metres with the Rail Gun
  • Deal 500 damage to opponents within 30 seconds of scanning them
  • Hit 1 opponent with a Recon Scanner Grenade
  • Collect 1 Recon Scanner and 1 Rail Gun in the same match

The quests go live on May 24, and with their return to the game, the Sideways weapons will be re-vaulted in order to keep competitive balance. Now that the Sideways weapons aren’t infinite ammo anymore, they really don’t have the same pop.

What is the point of a Rail Gun?

The EM Railgun uses high-power EM energy instead of explosive chemical propellants to fire a projectile farther and faster than any current gun. When fully weaponised, a Railgun will deliver hypervelocity projectiles on targets, at ranges far exceeding any of the current naval guns.

Does the Rail Gun still shoot through walls?

The Rail Gun is a heavy rifle that can produce a rail blast that can rip through structure walls while still hitting the target. It can't go through anything, but you can get a good shot at someone if they're hiding behind wood walls.

Does Rail Gun count as sniper?

The Rail Gun is a Sniper Rifle which made its debut in Chapter 2 Season 7. This time around weapon will be available in Rare, Epic, Legendary rarities.