It’s probably not a good idea to pitch a tent and camp in Fortnite.
An unexpectedly old game mechanic called “Storm Surge”, rarely appearing in normal matches, has been causing some confusion in the professional scene of Fortnite, especially in the Open Qualifiers for the Fortnite World Cup.
Storm Surge is essentially the camper’s nightmare. A “Storm Surge Active” notification will appear to players with the lowest damage outputs. The surge will happen and the aforementioned players will periodically take damage until the surge ends or until they no longer have the lowest damage outputs. To put it simply, attack players or be attacked by the storm.
In spite of the recent reports about it, the mechanic has been patched into the game since patch v6.31 of season 6, though its appearance is usually rare. That said, the mechanic is more game-changing in Squads. If your squad gets storm surged, it will affect everyone in the squad, dealing 25 damage every 10 seconds and you cannot be resurrected if you are downed by the Surge.
Although it may sound like a dangerous addition to the game, it doesn’t happen often, as Fortnite developers Epic made sure that Storm Surge will only activate if there’s too many players still alive. For example, if there are 60 players left after the first circle, Storm Surge will activate.
Credit: Fortnite
Given that professional players are focused on surviving till the end for the points needed to qualify, the odds of having more players alive and triggering the appearance of the Storm Surge mechanic is a lot higher as well.
Of course, while the mechanic may feel cruel for players still learning the game, it helps remind players that battle royale is all about surviving and an environmental evil pushes players to fight each other to avoid being zapped by lightning.
