PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds got its first major update today. The patch mainly addresses performance issues, but it also makes a significant change to the gear meta: frying pans now block bullets. With a satisfying metallic clang, no less.
PUBG players have already put the pan through rudimentary ballistic tests. "It blocks shotgun blasts. It also blocks while in the hand, making it a tiny shield. It blocks from both sides," reports a top comment on Reddit. "Blocks AWM rounds too," comments another, referring to PUBG's most powerful sniper rifle. "I am one with the pan, the pan is with me, I am one with the pan, the pan is with me, I am one with the pan, the pan is with me," chants evpangelist fuckward_mobility.
On its iron surface, this change seems trivial. But the pan, like all unequipped melee weapons, is positioned just above a player's left butt cheek, protecting a not-insignificant amount of body, especially when you're fleeing in fear.
Considering there's little reason to grab a melee weapon in Battlegrounds right now (in the early-round rush for guns, your fists work about as well as a crowbar or sickle), adding a bit of defense to an item that previously had such low utility gives players a reason to grab it, and it produces funny clips like those embedded here.
Give it another day or two, and I guarantee we'll be seeing players wielding the pan defensively like Captain America's shield.
