Although Respawn Entertainment delivered a polished game at the start, their post-launch content has been lacking. Earlier today, data showed that Apex Legends is dropping in popularity on Twitch with every passing week. However, Respawn is actively trying to fix this issue, as they are releasing a new balancing patch today, patch 1.1.1. It contains some long-awaited buffs and nerfs and an upcoming Battle Pass event.
Thicc Boi buffs
Everyone’s favorite plus-sized Legends, Caustic and Gibraltar, are receiving buffs. While their large hitboxes are not being altered, they’re being given different health-related buffs to offset this. Respawn cites that changing the two Legends’ hitboxes wouldn’t have done anything drastic to their overall health.
With patch 1.1.1, Caustic and Gibraltar are each getting an extra passive perk, Fortified. This reduces the Legends’ damage taken by 10%. This perk was presumably added to balance their larger hitboxes even further.
In addition to a new perk, both got their own individual buffs. Caustic’s Gas Damage per tick is being bumped to 4 from the original 1. He can now also throw his Ultimate an extra 5 meters.
Gibraltar is only getting one buff, which increases his Gun Shield health from 50 to 75.
With these buffs now in the mix, it will be interesting to see if these two Legends make more appearances in matches.
Weapon balancing changes
There have been several weapons that needed a nerf or buff for quite a while. Respawn is finally addressing a few of these glaring issues with patch 1.1.1.
For starters, the non-legendary snipers are no longer being punished for leg shots. Set at a 25 percent reduction before the patch, leg damage will only affect overall damage by 10% moving forward. The Longbow DMR also received additional buffs in the form of more shots in each magazine.
Next, the Havoc is having its base magazine size increased from 25 to 32 rounds. Its damage is also being buffed, with both close- and long-range damage increasing.
Finally, maybe the two weapons that most needed a nerf, the Wingman and Spitfire are being knocked down a peg. With the Wingman, Respawn is decreasing its base magazine size, and each different rarity magazine extender is decreasing as well. This is a huge nerf for everyone’s favorite pistol, as players will need to be extremely accurate going forward to avoid running out of shots.
However, the Wingman is receiving a buff as well. On the Gold version, instead of coming with a 2x-4x Variable Scope, the Wingman will now have a Digital Threat.
As for the Spitfire, its base damage is decreasing from 20 to 18. Also, like its heavy ammo counterpart the Wingman, its magazine extenders are dropping in ammo size. The max ammo amount you can have in the Spitfire from now on is 55 instead of 60. While not a huge change, it will make the Spitfire a little less dominant.
Double XP event
Along with all of the balancing changes, Respawn is also dropping a double XP event for all Battle Pass holders. This event starts on April 16 at 1 p.m. EST and runs until 1 p.m. EST on April 18.
The way this event works is every day your squad places top 5, you will receive one full Battle Pass level skip. However, this can only be done once a day, for a total of three times.
That’s it for the 1.1.1 patch notes! What do you think of all the changes Respawn is making? Let us know in the comments below. Keep up with everything Apex Legends here at Daily Esports.
