Deku's Smash Attack Has Been Re-Enabled in 'Fortnite' and 'MHA' Fans Are Pumped

In the latter half of December 2022, Fortnite hosted a collab with the popular anime series, My Hero Academia. The series follows Izuku "Deku" Midoriya, a young man who is gifted superpowers and attends the prestigious UA Academy in order to fulfill his dream of becoming a great hero.

The popular battle royale game recently crossed over with the ongoing anime in an event that featured plenty of exclusive quests and coveted goodies.

Among the usual collab items like skins for major characters, themed back bling, and special emoticons, players could also unlock the "Deku's Smash" item to use in combat. This especially powerful ability references one of Deku's special moves from the anime, in which he harnesses the power of his "One for All" predecessors into one immensely powerful attack.

Though you might have noticed that it went missing during the collab event, Deku's Smash is now back in Fortnite.

Deku's Smash is a Mythic item in Fortnite that players can use in a match. When used, the player will float in the air for some time as they charge up their fist with a rainbow-colored light. After a few seconds, the player then fires off a large vortex that deals damage to both players and structures in its path. The attack even features a voice clip for Deku's Japanese voice actor, Daiki Yamashita.

If you were playing Fortnite during the MHA collab, however, you may have noticed that Deku's Smash was disabled for a time. It was removed on Dec. 20 during the crossover event and didn't even make it back by the time the event was over.

Luckily, any MHA fans riding the Battle Bus can now rejoice. As of Jan, 18, Deku's Smash is officially back in Fortnite.

Its return came as part of the V23.20 update, which also added several new Reality Augments as well as items like the Falcon Scout.

In a blog update, the return of Deku's Smash is listed among several "major bug fixes." The Fortnite team states that they "fixed the issue that caused [them] to disable the Deku Smash in Battle Royale/Zero Build" and that it has now be re-enabled.

In a Dec. 20 tweet from Fortnite Status, the dev team claimed that the Deku Smash was removed "due to an issue," but did not elaborate any further on what those issues were.

However, some players claimed that the attack "ruined Fortnite" due to its overpowered strength and increased range. When the item was first released, many complained that Deku's Smash could kill instantly while blowing through most defenses.

Others also voiced concerns that the "strong strobe light effect" of the attack can trigger seizures in those with photosensitive epilepsy.

As of this writing, the dev team at Epic Games have not directly addressed these fan concerns, nor have they released any explicit details on how and why Deku's Smash has been re-enabled.

Fortnite is available on all major gaming consoles.