An Apex Legends Wingman nerf has gone live in a server-side update to Respawn Entertainment’s popular battle royale game. Furthermore, some changes for the upcoming first season have been teased. The Wingman has been an especially powerful weapon in the hands of skilled players, especially when paired with the Peacekeeper. Perhaps not coincidentally, the Peacekeeper has also seen some slight balance changes in an effort to make the shotgun a little less powerful.
Respawn Entertainment Community Manager Jay Frechette took to Reddit’s /r/ApexLegends subreddit to explain the changes with the help of some members from the team. “We’ve found that the Skullpiercer Wingman has been on the stronger end, but it’s designed to be a weapon with a higher skill ceiling,” he began. “Our adjustments are attempting to move it more into the hand cannon space and away from full auto [Desert Eagle]. We’ve also adjusted the rate of fire of the Peacekeeper with Shotgun Bolt attachment, so players will have a larger window of vulnerability if they miss their shot.”
Here are the specifics of the Apex Legends Wingman nerf:
- 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).
The Peacekeeper balance changes mainly focus on the fire rate of the gun, penalizing players who miss shots:
- 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%
Additionally, the Apex Legends Wingman nerf also includes a reduction in the availability of both the Wingman and Peacekeeper in the game world. The availability of energy weapons and energy ammo has been increased to compensate for their removal. This update has also fixed a handful of disconnect issues surrounding some of the Legends.
Apex Legends Wingman nerf – Season 1 balance changes
Mr. Frechette also gave us an update on the future of Apex Legends. Legend balance and hitboxes are being worked on, but Respawn Entertainment only wants to make changes after they’ve been thoroughly tested. Here are some of the changes we can expect to see in Season 1:
Major balance changes
- Hit box size reductions and optimizations for Caustic, Pathfinder and Gibraltar
- We’re better sizing hitboxes to character gear & model
- Since these adjustments have a MAJOR impact on the game, we want to make sure there aren’t any major bugs, so we didn’t want to rush them out
- If these adjustments prove to be insufficient, we’ll 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%
The Apex Legends Wingman nerf and Peacekeeper nerf should add a little more variety to the game and compensate for some weapons that were a little overpowered. The upcoming changes to the Legends for Season 1 certainly look exciting! We should be hearing more about the future of Apex Legends in the coming weeks.
