Developer Respawn Entertainment has released a new update for its hit battle royale hero shooterApex Legends, bringing with it new balance changes impacting members of the playable cast. The changes could shift theApex Legendscompetitive meta, as players adjust their tactics to account for the alterations to each character’s behavior and stats.
Now into its sixth year in operation,Apex Legendshas seen a lot of changes since it first launched on the wave of popularity for battle royale multiplayer shooters. Compared to genre leaders likeFortniteand (at the time),PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds,Apex Legendscapitalized on developer Respawn Entertainment’s experience creating fast movement-focused shooters likeTitanfalland its sequel. The result was one of thebest first-person co-op shooterson the market.Apex Legendsalso incorporated the unique elements of hero shooters, focusing gameplay around a collection of distinctive playable Legends with their own powers, abilities, and cosmetic upgrades. Respawn has also used the seasonal model to deliver new content and updates at a regular pace, as well as altering the game balance to ensure fair competition and shake up the meta.
Less than two weeks after the launch of a smallerApex Legendspatch updating several weapons, Respawn Entertainment delivered a new update with balance changes for characters Revenant, Ash, Ballistic, Alter, and Vantage. The most significant changes are for Revenant and Ash, who swapped classes. Revenant was shifted from Skirmisher class to Assault class, while Ash was changed to Skirmisher from Assault. Alter, Ballistic, Vantage, and Wattson also received tweaks to their abilities.
Aside from the changes to their respective classes, Revenant and Ash also received changes to their abilities. Ash had the maximum range on her Ultimate nerfed, along with her Charged Knock ability replaced with the deathbox-revealing Marked for Death. Revenant had the maximum and minimum velocity on his pounce changed, reducing its top speed, while having ground detection improved to speed his guns. Revenant was the subject of multiple reworks over the years, seeing changes to his abilities on several occasions.Revenant was even removed fromApex Legendstemporarily to fix an exploit involving his ultimate.
Following therecent rework of Alter inApex Legends, Respawn opted to nerf her portals further, increasing the time the chase portal remains open and giving Alter access to Controller perks via the Controller of Worlds upgrade. Ballistic can no longer use Tempest to speed boost his allies and had tactical charges reduced from 2 to 1.
In reaction to the news, players mostly celebrated the nerfs to Alter, Ash, and Ballistic, with some expressing the hope to see fewer full teams consisting only of those characters. Some players also celebrated the fixing of a bug that allowed players to see through Bangalore’s smokescreens.Bangalore smoke barriers are a major part of herApex Legendskit, so the bug made her “useless” for some players until it was fixed. With luck and time, players will find the balance changes satisfactory.
