As with every new season of 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Apex Legends, patch notes are coming. There are major changes - Olympus looks a little different and Control mod🥃e will shake things up a bunch - but I like looking into the granular stuff. You know, which weapons do one more damage per bullet and which shotguns have a lower rate of fire, that sort of thing.
Perhaps it’s because I enjoy watching Apex Legends esports nearly as much as playing the game, so I can project and predict where the meta will shift with each new change. Maybe it’s because I’m always on the lookout for a new main (168澳洲幸运5开奖网:sorry, Fuse) so Legend buffs and nerfs could dictate who I play as for the next season. But ultimately the why doesn’t matter; 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Mad Maggie may be fun to play, but even�🐓� the subtlest changes to meta staples could impact your matches more than most Legends.
TheGamer was invited to a presentation of the c🔥hanges coming in Apex Legends Season 12, so while we wait for the complete patch notes, I’m going to analyse the biggest changes and discuss what this means for the game, in terms o💎f both casual and competitive play.
Legend Changes
Two Legends are getting reworked in Season 12, Crypto and Caustic. Both see a fair amount of 🔜play in the esports scene, so it will be interesting to see how things a🌌re impacted by the changes.
Caustic: Barrels can now be destroyed while deploying gas. This change means that Caustic barrels will no longer be more effective cover than Rampart’s walls, and generally reduces the noxious doc’s effectiveness. Will his use in the competitive scene be reduced? We’ll have to see how drastic this nerf is, as he’s been nerfed before and somehow resurrected himself. Apex’s live balance designer John Larson says the team found the barrels to still be “quite strong” during ꦓinternal playtests.
Crypto: We know less about what Crypto’s actual changes are, but he’s already seeing 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:a f🍬air✨ amount of play in some regions of the ALGS. However, he’s very passive and not very fun, especially in casual matches. He’s getting an option to Drone Deploy, and cast his drone, Hack, while remaining present o𝔉n the battlefield. He’ll still be able to go into Drone View, but this gives him another option and will make him less likely to be left behind by teammates when he is busy piloting Hack. There are also HUD improvements while in Drone View. I think we’ll need more information to see how this impacts Apex matches, but it certainly buffs Crypto in the ALGS, where he was already seeing a considerable amount of play.
The team also 🍃says it is still working on a Gibraltar nerf that will see him become less mandatory at the highest levels and more fun at the lowest, but I wouldn’t expect that any time soon.
Weapon Changes
There’s a new type of weapon on the block: the Crafted Weapon. These weapons are simila✅r to Supply Drop weapons in that they don’t spawn as ground loo෴t, but are permanently able to be crafted.
Crafted Weapons: The Longbow and VK47 Flatline will only be available from Crafting Stations this season. While many will be disappointed that the two popular weapons won’t be found on the f🀅loor any more, this actually presents a reliable way to get your hands on them every game. We don’t know how much they cost yet, but if they’re fairly economical with the Crafting Materials costs, this change could see more of the guns being run in matches. The change also concentrates the loot pool, which has been slowly diluted as new weapons are added to the game.
Volt SMG: The Volt is moving to the Care Package in Season 12. The SMG is less popular than the R-99, but an extra two damage and two rounds per magazine will turn ♌it into a devastating weapon for any of us lucky enough to stumble across it. The Alternator returns to ground loot, sans Disruptor Rounds, and will 🔯therefore likely be forgotten.
Kinetic Feeder: A new hop up is hitting the Apex Games, theꦰ Kinetic Feeder attaches to the Peacekeeper and Triple Take (the latter of which is receiving a damage nerf too). The hop up does what it says on the tin, automatically reloading your weapons as you’re sliding. However, during the slide it also speeds up the choke time. This is a big buff to the Peacekeeper, which now has a hop up to rival the Mastiff’s Dual Shell, but will likely be situational on the Triple Take.
Hammerpoint Rounds: Hammerpoints are back for the P2020 and Mozambiqu𒁏e. However, in Season 12 the hop up wi🌌ll also attach to the RE-45. If you remember, Hammerpoint Rounds do additional damage to unshielded enemies, so adding it to the rapid firing RE-45 could be huge. This could be a new meta secondary weapon, especially if you upgrade the automatic pistol in Arenas mode. Actually, running any of these three cheap weapons in the early rounds of Arenas could be more brutal now. Will it rival the R-99 in battle royale? Unlikely, but you never do know.
Shattercap Rounds: These also receive a buff, and automatically switch between shotgun and long range modes𝓀 depending on what you’re firing💧 at. As long as there are no targeting issues, this will be a nice buff, but won’t hugely impact matches.
The biggest change for Ape🐎x Legends esports wi🌼ll be the Legend balances and Crafting Weapons. A lot will depend on the price of the latter, but teams landing in areas with lots of Crafting Materials could be in for an easier time looting than those relegated to lesser POIs. I fully expect to see even more Cryptos as Split 2 of the ALGS kicks off, and the number of Caustics will likely stay the same initially, as players work out whether this is a nerf too far. If it is, which defensive Legend will replace him? I’m all for seeing more Lobas to loot up after a Valkyrie rotation, but maybe that’s just me.
Arenas may take a back seat as non-battle royale players check out Control mode, but upon their return a fully upgraded P2020, Mozambique, or RE-45 could be a very economical loadout to run in early rounds. With some tournaments like BLAST Titans competing in Arenas as well as batt🧸le royale, pro players should take note of this change, too. As the RE-45’s biggest cheerleader, I’m happy to see it thriving.
There’s a lot of balance changes in Season 12, and we’ll have to wait to see the true impact of them all. One thing, howev💦er, never changes: the debate of which shotgun is best just got hotter.