Respawn just announced a big round of balance changes for Apex Legends. Some will take effect instantly, while others should arrive alongside the Battle Pass slated for later this month. Let’s dive right in.
The Wingman is getting its wings clipped
Respawn is addressing the undisputed dominance of the Wingman and the Peacekeeper with this patch. They are reducing the spawn rate of the two weapons, and also toning them down in very precise ways.
Rather than a base fire rate nerf, the Peacekeeper will now get a smaller fire rate increase from equipped Shotgun Bolts. These attachments normally increase the fire rate of shotguns by 10, 20, or 25 percent, based on the Bolt’s level. For Peacekeepers those numbers will now be 7.5, 13, and 16 percent instead. Without attachments, a fresh Peacekeeper should be just as lethal as before this patch.
The Wingman nerf is much more fundamental, and experienced gunslingers should instantly notice it. Everyone’s favorite revolver is getting roughly a 16 percent fire rate nerf. Its headshot damage multiplier with the Skullpiercer hop-up will now be x2.25, down from x2.5. Hip firing the gun will also be slightly less accurate, although Respawn is not putting a number on it. Go out and test it for yourselves!
You will notice that these changes target specific weapon attachments. This will have the effect of toning down these weapons’ scaling in addition to their raw power. The changes are also focused on fire rate reduction rather than damage reduction. This makes each shot count more, making skill — rather than equipment — an even bigger factor in firefights.
Will the Mozambique finally get buffed? Nope, sorry
Respawn is sticking with their memes-over-balance approach to the Mozambique and P2020, so don’t expect buffs any time soon. They stated that certain weapons are underpowered by design, to maintain a sense of loot progression. As the game goes on, players should get rid of early game weapons in favor of rarer and more powerful ones.
Respawn did however state that they might look into making “these pistols more exciting.” Frankly, risking your life with a Mozambique is pretty exciting already.
So, we will still be kicking around abundant Mozambiques, especially taking into account the reduced availability of Wingmen and Peacekeepers. There is good news, however. This patch should increase the availability of energy ammo and energy weapons. Prepare to put Precision Chokes on more Triple Takes and less Peacekeepers.
Balancing outside the hitbox
The second half of the patch concerns some big Legend changes coming at the start of “Season 1,” whenever that is. They aim to address the hitbox discrepancy and power imbalance of the current Legend roster. The bigger Legends are set to receive “hit box size reductions and optimization.” Additionally, the three Legends who dominate the game’s current meta — Lifeline, Bangalore, and Wraith — will receive slight nerfs.
Here is the complete list of Season 1 Legend balance changes:
Caustic
- Hitbox size reduction & optimization
- Nox Gas Trap cooldown reduced to 25 seconds, previously 30
- Nox Gas Trap radius and proximity radius increased by 10%
- Nox Gas Trap will begin dealing damage immediately, rather than after 1 second delay
Pathfinder
- Hitbox size reduction & optimization
- Two more Insider Knowledge beacons added to the map, for a total of 12
Gibraltar
- Hitbox size reduction & optimization
Lifeline
- Care Package will no longer occasionally bring Gold Body Shields or Helmets
Wraith
- Into The Void cooldown increased to 25 seconds, previously 20
Bangalore
- Double Time movement speed bonus reduced to 30 percent, previously 40 percent
In addition to all of these changes, Respawn announced that they have fixed a number of script errors. This should reduce the instances of accidental disconnects. This ties together a pretty solid round-up of changes for the game.
Respawn noted that balance patches like this will not come often. “Our goal is to make less frequent, better tested, higher impact changes,” the studio stated in the notes. “You shouldn’t have to read our patch notes every few days just to keep up with how characters and weapons now work.”
