Players Are Upset Over Vaulted Kinetic Blade — Why Did 'Fornite' Remove It?

Launching alongside the Chapter 4 Season 2 update, the Kinetic Blade in Fortnite has become a fan-favorite that can chop down opponents in seconds and zip players around the map quickly.

As usual with other melee weapons, players could pick up the Kinetic Blade during a match on the ground or from Chests. And if players had any Gold Bars handy, they could buy the Kinetic Blade from Mizuki at The Citadel.

Unfortunately, Fortnite has suddenly removed the Kinetic Blade from all playlists for the rest of Season 2.

Developer Epic Games is no stranger to vaulting items and game modes, but why did it remove the Kinetic Blade months into the ongoing season?

On May 22, the official Fortnite Status Twitter account announced the Kinetic Blade would get temporarily disabled in tournament playlists due to an exploit issue starting to gain traction over the internet.

The exploit allowed a player to kill anyone at range by disconnecting their wifi and dashing at another player to attack with the Kinetic Blade several times, then reconnecting to see them dead afterward.

It's a rather nasty exploit, which immediately made Epic Games disable it in a tourney setting.

In the following hours, the developers also issued warnings and 24-hour bans to players abusing the Kinetic Blade exploit, according to Fortnite News.

Then on May 24, the Fortnite Status Twitter page notified players that the developers "are vaulting the Kinetic Blade for all Battle Royale playlists for the remainder of Chapter 4 Season 2."

The post continues: "We've replaced any weekly Kinetic Blade-related Quests with alternatives and will be autocompleting the related Syndicate Quest."

In response, many players were upset with the decision to remove the Kinetic Blade — some even pointing the finger at Epic Games for simply shelving the weapon instead of fixing the exploit.

"In other words: We couldn't deploy a fix to the exploit involving the katana, so we're vaulting it for the rest of the season," said one Reddit user. "You don't get to say your proper goodbyes to it."

"Pack it up, boys. This season is officially over," stated another Reddit poster.

While the Kinetic Blade may be gone for good, there are other Fortnite swords you can pick up during matches.

You can swing around the mythical Infinity Blade that deals massive damage and boosts your health or block attacks and slash enemies with a Lightsaber in standard Battle Royale and Zero Build.

Other melee weapons like your trust Pickaxe or the Kingsman umbrella are non-sword options you can use, too.

It'll be tough for those options to replace the void left by the Kinetic Blade's absence, but hopefully, players will see the katana again in Season 3 or beyond.