Broken CoD Vanguard Perk makes players invincible to fire damage

Vangaurd player with flamethrowerActivision

After weeks of complaints about fire in CoD Vanguard engulfing maps and ruining matches, players were over the moon to see two Perks buffed to help combat it. Well, in a shocking move from one extreme to the other, players can now shrug off fire damage completely unscathed.

Ever since the release of Incendiary Grenades at the beginning of Season 1, fire damage has been causing havoc in Vanguard’s multiplayer. Especially on smaller maps like Das Haus, players have been trapped in endless loops of spawning and burning.

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Calls got stronger and stronger for something to combat the constantly sizzling maps and help give players a fighting chance. Sledgehammer provided just that in the form of the Fortified and Dauntless buffs in the mid-season update.

But after weeks upon weeks of players dying to fire damage, the opposite is now the problem. One of the Perks appears to be broken and is making players invincible to all fire-based effects.

After the recent update, the Fortified Perk is supposed to reduce damage taken by fire by 30%. However, at the moment, it appears to be granting full immunity to any and all fire damage.

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This includes direct hits from a Flamenaut’s flamethrower, as shown in the above clip from Reddit user RiceRepresentative60, which is making the Killstreak totally useless.

CoD YouTuber TheExclusiveAce also highlighted the bug in his post-update video. Here, he showed that anyone using Fortified can survive being stuck by Thermite and will take an initial bit of damage.

It also seems that having Fortified equipped allows you to walk through fire on the map without taking damage, as well as removing the extra damage that comes with Incendiary Rounds. Both of these are supposed to be effects of the Dauntless Perk.

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So at the moment, Fortified is actually combining two of the Perks that were buffed to help combat the fire issue. Once players start to realize how overpowered the Perk is right now, don’t be surprised to lobbies full of people using it.

While players who have been getting frustrated with the overuse of fire in Vanguard’s multiplayer may welcome this glitch, there’s no doubt that it does make for unbalanced matches. Those using Thermite, Flamenauts, or Incendiary rounds are at a severe disadvantage until the issue is resolved.

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Sledgehammer have yet to comment on the Fortified glitch, and there is no sign of the problem on the team’s official Trello board. Hopefully, we’ll see a fix sooner rather than later.