If you've been paying attention to the final few squads in Apex Legends, chances are you've seen a bit of a pattern: Wraith, Bangalore and Lifeline, all equipped with a Peacekeeper or Wingman, often even a combination both. Needless to say, Apex Legends currently has some balance issues to work through, especially when it comes to some of the chunkier characters as their enlarged hitbox makes them an easy target.
With that in mind, I am very happy to announce that Respawn has now released the very first balance update. Both the Wingman and Peacekeeper have been nerfed, while the hitboxes for Caustic, Pathfinder and Gibraltar will soon become a lot more accurate. You can find all of the details over at Reddit, but for now, allow me to share some of the most important changes:
CURRENT CHANGES
Wingman
• Rate of fire reduced from 3.1 -> 2.6 shots per second.
• Skullpiercer Headshot damage multiplier reduced from 2.5 -> 2.25
• Increased base hip fire spread and decreased the rate at which hip fire spread decays (shrinks back down).
• Wingman availability has been reduced in all zone tiers.
Peacekeeper
• Shotgun Bolt rechamber rate has been reduced for the Peacekeeper only.
- Level 1 mitigation 10% -> 7.5%
- Level 2 mitigation 20% -> 13%
- Level 3 mitigation 25% -> 16%
• Peacekeeper availability has been reduced in all zone tiers.
Energy Weapons
• Increased availability of energy weapons & ammo in all zone tiers.
UPCOMING CHANGES
Hit Boxes
• Hit box size reductions and optimizations for Caustic, Pathfinder and Gibraltar
• If these adjustments prove to be insufficient, we’ll consider additional adjustments during Season 1
Caustic
• Traps - Reduced cooldown to 25 seconds from 30 seconds
• Traps - Increased radius and proximity radius by about 10%
• Traps - Removed a 1 second delay on the smoke dealing damage to players
Pathfinder
• Insider Knowledge - Increased the number of beacons in the world to 12 from 10
Lifeline
• Care Package - Removed slight chance that level 4 armor and helmets will drop
Wraith
• Into The Void - Cooldown increased from 20 -> 25 seconds
Bangalore
• Double Time - Reduced move speed bonus to 30% from 40%
While I doubt this alone will make the bigger characters equal in power to the smaller ones, it's still a solid step in the right direction. This goes doubly so for the weapon balance as Respawn has now shown that they are not only willing to adjust problematic weapons, but that they will do so in a way that doesn't really impact what makes those weapons fun to play around with.
As for the objectively terrible weapons like the Mozambique and P2020, I do hope Respawn will eventually reconsider their stance and give them some sort of boost. Having niche weapons is perfectly fine, but not so much if the weapon is only ever used for approximately five seconds before being discarded for good.
Once Apex Legends gets another major update, or if the Battle Pass finally arrives, I'll make sure to let you know. Until then, have fun with the new balance changes!