Submachine Gun

“

Fires at a very high rate, dealing great damage while consuming a lot of ammo.

”

— In-Game Description

The Submachine Gun is a Submachine Gun in Fortnite: Battle Royale It was added in Season 5.

Functionality

The Submachine Gun is a fast firing, short range and high hip-fire accuracy weapon, in line with most SMGs in the game. The purpose of the Submachine Gun is to deal high amounts of DPS in a close range environment, similar to a shotgun. The weapon can function at longer ranges, but the damage falloff is high and the accuracy low.

Upgrading and Crafting

The Submachine Gun can be created from upgrading a Makeshift Submachine Gun using 2/4/6 Mechanical Parts depending on rarity. As such, only an Uncommon, Rare or Epic Submachine Gun can be crafted.

Stats

The Submachine Gun ranges from dealing 16 to 20 damage per shot (176 to 220 Damage Per Second). All Submachine Guns use Light Ammo. The Submachine Gun has a headshot multiplier of 1.75x.

Submachine Gun	Submachine Gun	Submachine Gun

Common	Uncommon	Rare
DPS: 176	DPS: 187	DPS: 198
Damage: 16	Damage: 17	Damage: 18
Fire Rate: 11	Fire Rate: 11	Fire Rate: 11
Magazine Size: 30	Magazine Size: 30	Magazine Size: 30
Reload Time: 2.3s	Reload Time: 2.2s	Reload Time: 2.1s

Submachine Gun	Submachine Gun

Epic	Legendary
DPS: 209	DPS: 220
Damage: 19	Damage: 20
Fire Rate: 11	Fire Rate: 11
Magazine Size: 35	Magazine Size: 35
Reload Time: 2.0s	Reload Time: 1.9s

The Submachine Gun is a hitscan weapon. It does not have First Shot Accuracy enabled, and will always fire a random spread of bullets, which increases with continuous fire. This spread is decreased whilst crouching.

Sounds

Sound Type	Rarity	Sound
Pullout	All Rarities
Pullout	All Rarities
Shooting	Common, Uncommon and Rare
Shooting	Epic and Legendary
Reload	Common, Uncommon and Rare
Reload	Epic and Legendary
Pickup	All Rarities
Pickup	All Rarities
Drop	Common, Uncommon and Rare
Drop	Epic and Legendary

Obtained

Rarity	Chest	Rare Chest	Bunker Chest	Floor Loot	Supply Drop	Fishing (Plain)	Fishing (Hole)	Crafting
Common (Vaulted)	✖	✖	✖	✖	✖	✖	✖	✖
Uncommon	✓	✖	✖	✓	✖	✓	✖	✓
Rare	✓	✖	✖	✓	✖	✖	✓	✓
Epic	✓	✓	✓	✖	✓	✖	✓	✓
Legendary	✓	✓	✓	✖	✓	✖	✓	✖

Strategy Guide

The risk was calculated... but I'm bad at math.

This section outlines a strategy. Feel free to add tips, tricks and general advice about the topic.

The Submachine Gun is ideal paired with a Shotgun, due to their close range abilities, if you do not kill the enemy with the shotgun, switch to the Submachine Gun to finish them off.

History

Season 5

Update v5.00: Introduced the Submachine Gun in Common, Uncommon and Rare.

Update v5.10: Adjustments to the Submachine Gun:
- Reduced damage from 19/20/21 to 17/18/19.
- Reduced Fire rate from 13 to 12.
- Reduced Accuracy bonus from 35% to 15%.
- Range reduced from 2400/3500/5000 to 2000/3000/4000.
- Percentage reduced from 100/80/65% to 100/70/40%.
Update v5.20: Added a higher accuracy penalty to jumping and sprinting for Submachine Guns.

Season 7

Update v7.30: Vaulted the Submachine Gun in all rarities.

Chapter 2: Season 1

Update v11.00: Unvaulted the Submachine Gun. Added Epic and Legendary rarities.

Chapter 2: Season 2

Update v12.00: Vaulted the Submachine Gun's Epic and Legendary rarities.

Chapter 2: Season 3

Update v13.00: Unvaulted Epic and Legendary rarities.
- Can now sidegrade to a Rapid Fire SMG at an Upgrade Bench.
- Headshot multiplier reduced from 2.0x to 1.75x across the board.
- Upgrading a Rare Submachine Gun now gives an Epic Compact SMG. (Issue)
- Epic Submachine Gun will no longer upgrade into a Legendary Submachine Gun. (Issue)
Update v13.00 Hotfix: Epic and Legendary stats changed to match the Compact SMG.

Update v13.20: Submachine Gun Adjustments:
- Reduced fire rate of Common to Rare from 12 to 10.
- Decreased damage from 17/18/19/20/21 to 16/17/18/19/20.
- Increased reload time of Common to Rare from 2.3s/2.2s/2.1s to 2.5s/2.4s/2.3s & decreased reload time of Epic to Legendary from 3.1s/3.0s to 2.2s/2.1s
- Reverted to Upgrading a Rare Submachine Gun now gives an Epic Submachine Gun.

Chapter 2: Season 4

Update v14.00: Vaulted the Submachine Gun in all rarities.

Chapter 2: Season 5

Update v15.00: Unvaulted the Submachine Gun in all rarities.

Chapter 2: Season 6

Update v16.00: Vaulted the Common Submachine Gun.
Update v16.20 hotfix: Balance Update
- Increased fire rate from 10 to 11.
- Decreased reload time from 2.5s/2.4s/2.3s/2.2s/2.1 to 2.3s/2.2s/2.1s/2.0s/1.9.

Trivia

The Submachine Gun has had a confusing life as a weapon in Battle Royale. Before its release in Season 5, the Submachine Gun had existed before in Seasons 0-2 as the Machine Pistol, which is technically a separate weapon, but was vaulted after that and never returned. Then in later seasons, the Compact SMG was added, which served as the Epic and Legendary versions of the Submachine Gun, but was still a different weapon. Finally in Chapter 2: Season 4, the Compact SMG was removed, the Epic and Legendary versions of the Submachine Gun were added with the stats of the Compact SMG given to them, in order to make them a single weapon..
The Common, Uncommon and Rare SMG are modeled after the German Heckler and Koch MP5
The Epic and Legendary SMG are modeled after the Belgian FN P90.
It is unclear whether the Vaulted Pre-Season SMG, the Machine Pistol is the same as the original SMG. This is unclear, as the weapons have different names, stats and features, but the original weapon was named the SMG. However, for the purposes of distinguishing weaponry, the Pre-Season SMG is listed as the Machine Pistol.