The next Fortnite item will be a gravity-defying grappling hook. The new item, dubbed The Grappler, which was shown off at the Fortnite High Stakes event at PAX West this weekend, will bring more verticality to Epic’s battle royale than we’ve ever seen before.
The new item looks worthy of Rico Rodriguez himself, and appears to use the same sort of tech as the game’s sticky bombs, the Clinger – as we all know, toilet plungers are among the stickiest substances known to humankind, and the Grappler is no exception. The Grappler initially seems to come with up to ten uses, each of which allows players to fling themselves short distances, although it’s currently not clear whether you’ll be able to pick up more charges.
Fortnite already had several means of allowing players to move quickly around the map, from the short-term inclusion of the jetpack to hop rocks and bounce pads. The Grappler, however, is the most accurate new addition, allowing you to aim exactly where you want to go, and end up there quickly and quietly.
There seems to be something of a slingshot-like motion attached to the Grappler. As in a game like Just Cause, you can use it to pull you a short distance, before detaching and using momentum to take you the rest of the way. There are already plenty of shots of exactly that in action, and I don’t suspect it’ll be long before I get my head taken off by someone flinging themselves at me, shotgun in hand.
Here's our first look at the new Grappler item in-game! #Fortnite
Source: https://t.co/eLAEyuX47g pic.twitter.com/zBR9gbyUND— Fortnite Battle Royale News (@FortniteBR) September 3, 2018
You can take a look at the new weapon in action in the video clip in the tweet above. There’s no word yet on when the item will be added to the game, but if we’re to assume that it’s arriving with the new High Stakes mode, expect to see it in the next Fortnite update.