Fortnite: Where To Get The Prime Shotgun And How It Works

If you like to get up close and personal in your Fortnite firefights, today’s weapon drop is perfect for you, as the Prime Shotgun has joined the loot pool. Though there are now a total of four shotguns to choose from in Chapter 3, Season 3, the Prime Shotgun seems primed–sorry–to make itself worth picking up over the Two-Shot, Striker, or Auto due to an interesting playstyle that may intrigue players who enjoy strategizing during combat. In this guide, we’ll tell you all about the Prime Shotgun and where to find it.

Where to find the Prime Shotgun and how it works

The Prime Shotgun can be found basically anywhere–as ground loot, in chests, or by opening supply crates. It comes in Common (79 DPS), Uncommon (83 DPS), Rare (138 DPS), Epic (146 DPS), and Legendary (151 DPS) rarities. You can even score a rare Mythic (159 DPS) version by breaking open Mythic reality sapling fruits.

Regardless of which rarity you’re carrying, the Prime Shotgun will always sport a fire rate of 1.05 and a reload time of 4.5 seconds. And while the gun only comes with four shots per magazine, it has a unique mechanic which increases the damage of your very first shot any time you have a full magazine.

Due to the extra damage dealt by your first shot, there is a bit of strategy involved with using the Prime Shotgun, as you’ll have to decide whether you have time to reload that shot to get the damage bonus again or if you should simply keep firing away in hopes of downing your opponents with your last three shells. Ample use of cover can give you a bit of space if you want to go for the former and dish out the most damage per shot, but considering the solid overall damage of subsequent shots, it’s not generally necessary.