Rebalanced Weapons
Respawn has buffed and nerfed a lot of the weapons in Apex Legends, but some of them have seen a more drastic overhaul than others. These rebalances changed the “meta” of the game, and almost overnight players found new favorite weapons.
Wingman
The Wingman was everyone’s favorite quick-fire sniper & close-range weapon. Players with consistent accuracy could score head shots on opposing team members while jumping or sliding with minimal effort. The rate of fire, magazine capacity, and damage all made the Wingman an early favorite of Apex players.
As the seasons progressed, the Wingman saw its magazine capacity reduced, and its head shot damage has seen several adjustments both up and down. The hip fire penalty and recoil were increased to make the weapon less accurate.
As of Season 3, the Skullpiercer hop-up has been removed from the game, and the Wingman’s head shot damage was given a boost and subsequent reduction to make up for the removal of the attachment.
In all, the changes have served to make the Wingman less of a foregone conclusion. Whereas Apex‘s early days saw almost everyone pick up a Wingman without exception, its use is more on par with the game’s other weapons.
Peacekeeper
Like the Wingman, the Peacekeeper was one of the “must have” weapons in Apex Season 1. It still remains a powerful, fan-favorite weapon, as it can eliminate enemies with as few as two well-placed shots at close range.
The biggest change to the Peacekeeper was the adjustment to its accuracy at long range. Without the Precision Choke attachment, the Peacekeeper works like any other shotgun, firing a spread of projectiles that scatters significantly over anything beyond close range. With the addition of the Precision Choke, though, the weapon’s projectile spread is drastically reduced.
As a result, many people used the Peacekeeper as a mid-range sniper weapon, dealing massive damage over considerable distance.
Even with changes to the spread pattern and reductions in the overall firing rate, the Peacekeeper remains a popular weapon, and for good reason.
Charge Rifle
As mentioned above, the Charge Rifle received a few tweaks in response to player feedback that it was simply overpowered.
One such change was the removal of the expanded magazine upgrade slot. While the base magazine size was increased to offset this, the fact that it now can only be fired four times before requiring a reload made a big difference in the weapon’s lethality.
The other change was to reduce the Charge Rifle’s damage at longer distances. Originally the weapon’s damage drop-off at range was minimal, and the Charge Rifle could destroy a player from across the map. These days, the Charge Rifle can poke enemies at extreme range, but it has a sweet spot for dealing the most damage while keeping the wielding player out of harm’s reach.
We talk accessories on the third page.
