Since not long after its recent launch, Apex Legends fans have been complaining that the game's biggest player characters are much easier to hit than its smallest characters. Developer Respawn Entertainment has been listening, and on Reddit announced it would soon be making changes in the near future to rebalance several characters.
Respawn's post on Reddit covered a new update that's already in the game, which makes weapon changes, and explained that the studio's approach to making those design alterations is to be cautious and make sure they're thoroughly tested when they go live. A few changes are part of the most recent update, but the ones that address character hit boxes are being held back until later this month, when they've been more thoroughly vetted.
A "hit box" is the invisible area on a video game character that registers impacts; when a bullet hits a character inside the hit box, the character takes damage, but if a shot lands outside the box, the hit doesn't count. Big characters in Apex have similarly large hit boxes--Gibraltar has the largest one, followed by Caustic and Pathfinder. That means it's easier to hit them than smaller characters, but that's partially by design. Respawn means for those characters' larger surface area to be balanced by their abilities, so that all the characters in the game have roughly the same power, viability, and win rate.
Still, players have debated whether the hit boxes on the biggest characters are too big, and players testing hits have discovered that some hit boxes are a bit wonky. For instance, the robot Pathfinder's hit box is slightly larger than his actual character model, extending down between his legs a little lower than his actual frame.
Respawn wrote that it's making changes to those bigger characters. Caustic, Pathfinder, and Gibraltar are all getting their hit boxes sized down and better optimized to match their character models. Respawn also said it'll make further changes if necessary, but those could include powering up those characters' abilities, since messing with hit boxes are big adjustments that take players a long time to get used to.
Other characters are getting some minor tweaks as well. Both Wraith and Bangalore are getting their escape abilities reduced a bit. Bangalore's passive ability which increases her run speed while under fire, is being reduced from a 40% speed increase to 30%, and the cooldown on Wraith's Into The Void ability that makes her invulnerable is getting increased from 20 seconds to 25 seconds.
You can check out the full list of character balance changes below. One remaining question is when these changes will actually hit the game. Respawn hasn't announced just when Season One will start for Apex, and therefore it's not yet clear when the rebalancing update that goes with it will go live. Meanwhile, check out our character guides, which can help you make the most of all the Legends in Apex.
Major Balance Changes
- Hit box size reductions and optimizations for Caustic, Pathfinder and Gibraltar
- Respawn is better sizing hitboxes to character gear & model.
- Since these adjustments have a MAJOR impact on the game, Respawn wants to make sure there aren't any major bugs, so they didn’t want to rush them out.
- If these adjustments prove to be insufficient, Respawn will consider additional adjustments during Season 1.
Minor balance changes
- 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%
New Apex Legends Patch Changes Weapon Balance And More
Here's what's new.
A new update for Respawn's Apex Legends has arrived on PS4, Xbox One, and PC, and it makes a number of weapon balance changes, some of which sound somewhat significant.
Respawn also outlined its philosophy on updates in general, saying in a post on Reddit that its aim to is to release updates less frequently and instead focus on making them meaningful. "We make less frequent, better tested, higher impact balance changes in order to minimize the impacts on your time spent mastering the game," Respawn said.
An exception is that Respawn would make a rapid-fire adjustment if it discovered that something was "way out of balance." Respawn didn't make any significant weapon balance changes around launch because it wanted to give new players an opportunity to learn the game and its numerous characters.
"We want to let you know we're constantly reviewing the state of the game and considering and testing a variety of changes," Respawn said.
Regarding the specific changes, Respawn adjusted the Wingman by reducing its rate of fire and reducing the Skullpiercer headshot damage multiplayer. On the other side, the weapon's base hip fire spread was increased, while the rate at which hip fire spread falls off was decreased. The Peacekeeper shotgun sees its Shotgun Bolt rechamber rate reduced in the new update. Outside of that, the general availability of energy weapons and ammo has been increased in all zones, while you're now less likely to find the Wingman and Peacekeeper weapons across the map wherever you are.
Respawn also addressed why it isn't buffing the P2020 and Mozambique weapons. As part of the game's "power curve," some weapons are simply meant to be less powerful. That being said, Respawn said it's continuing to monitor player feedback and data, and also testing new changes internally, to make these pistols "more exciting."
In addition to the weapon balance chances, the new Apex Legends update fixes some scenarios that could cause mid-match disconnects. You can see the patch notes below, as posted on Reddit.
Apex Legends was released in early February, and the free-to-play battle royale game has been hugely popular with 50 million registered accounts. Its first Fortnite-style Battle Pass launches in March, and we're still waiting to find out exactly what's in it and when it'll release.
WEAPON ADJUSTMENTS LIVE ON ALL PLATFORMS
- Wingman
- Rate of fire reduced from 3.1 -> 2.6
- 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).
- 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%
- Wingman and Peacekeeper availability has been reduced in all zone tiers.
- Increased availability of energy weapons & ammo in all zone tiers.
Other
Fixed some script errors that we identified were occasionally causing disconnects during matches.
- Caustic occasionally causing disconnects while throwing is Ultimate.
- Pathfinder occasionally causing disconnects when activating a Survey Beacon.
- Players occasionally causing disconnects when removing an attachment.
- Gibraltar occasionally causing disconnects when pulling up his Gun Shield.
- Players occasionally causing disconnects when entering Spectate Mode.
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