Apex Legends Nerfing Hemlock and Other Guns, Buffing Caustic and Rampart

The newest event for Apex Legends is just around the corner. Fight Night, the Season 7 Collection Event for Apex Legends, will begin on January 5, and Respawn Entertainment has shared a bunch of information on what fans can expect when it begins. Along with limited-time collectibles and a new LTM to play, the event comes with a new update that will see some weapon adjustments, as well as some changes to a couple of the Legends.

Much of this event is Pathfinder-themed, as is the newest Stories from the Outlands short animated film for Apex Legends that Respawn just dropped. However, as far as the patch that comes with the Fight Night Collection Event, Pathfinder is not among the Legends that are getting altered.

Rampart joined Apex Legends in Season 6, and she will now have a shorter cooldown for her Amped Cover, going from 30 seconds to 20 seconds. Meanwhile, Caustic, (who did have a role in the most recent Stories from the Outlands short) will also get a slight buff, as the cooldown for his Nox Gas Trap will be decreased from 25 seconds to 20 seconds. Respawn often makes these changes based on player usage and effectiveness in battle.

A few weapons will be getting pretty substantial nerfs or buffs with the Fight Night Collection Event update as well. Starting with the Hemlock, often considered a great complimentary gun for any loadout in Apex Legends, the damage is being decreased from 22 to 20. With the gun being a three-burst fire weapon, this means that the maximum damage (if all shots hit with one burst) is now 60 instead of 66.

The Mastiff is also getting nerfed. Of course, the shotgun used to be a care package weapon, but the Peacekeeper and Mastiff swapped a few seasons ago. If the Mastiff is getting a nerf this close to Season 8, that could be a small hint that both guns will remain in place for an additional season at least. As far as the nerf, the Mastiff "spread out 3rd/4th pellets to decrease max range of 4 pellet hits (was +/- 7.5 degrees, now +/- 10)." Meanwhile, the Prowler will get a nice extra buff, in that it will increase its reserve bullets from 175 to 210.

There is a lot to look forward to in the next season of Apex Legends, in 2021, and even beyond for the game and community. But even in the here and now, Respawn is making sure to keep the game fresh with new content, collectibles, limited-time modes, and meta changes. It will be interesting to see how the player base reacts to the nerfs, buffs, and more. Here are the full patch notes and details:

META UPDATES

Legends

There’s nothing too meta-shaking this time around; we’re giving Season 7 some extra time to shake out. Horizon released strong, but not overpowered. The below buffs are aimed at small power increases. Rampart still needs overall power, and the Caustic buff is an extra bit of compensation for the loss of vision blur from gas in Season 7. Note that looking at our data, the Season 7 change was a solid buff for Caustic, but he’s not quite where we want him to be.

Rampart:

Amped Cover: Decreased cooldown from 30 seconds to 20 seconds

Caustic:

Nox Gas Trap: Decreased cooldown from 25 seconds to 20 seconds

Weapons

Hemlok:

Decreased damage from 22 to 20.

Mastiff:

Spread out 3rd/4th pellets to decrease max range of 4 pellet hits (was +/- 7.5 degrees, now +/- 10)

Prowler:

Reserve bullets increased from 175 to 210

QUALITY OF LIFE

Ultimate Accelerants can now be used without opening your inventory. If your ultimate is not currently available, just press the button (or buttons, on a controller) to activate it, and you’ll pull out any stored Accelerant in your inventory and use it automatically.
When in a lobby, if a party member leaves your lobby for any reason, all party members will be marked as “not ready.” This should stop accidental launches into a match when your buddy dipped out for a second.
The fabled “Mark All As Seen” button has been added. Click this to remove the pesky (I mean helpful) red dots.
Pinging the nearest respawn beacon (from spectate) will now always ping the nearest beacon unless you don't have enough time to use it before the ring closes over it, instead of defaulting to the nearest beacon in the next safe ring.
We now show you how many treasure packs are needed to acquire the next comic page. This should just make it easier to people who are chasing the new bit of lore to know how far away they are.
Caustic should now smash the door with his Heirloom hammer instead of his leg, if available.
We added a small bit of information to the Find Friends box to describe a situation where your friend might not be findable because of their EA account settings.

BUG FIXES

Bloodhound

Fixed an issue with Bloodhound’s UI disappearing after interacting with Horizon’s Tactical.

Wraith

Fixed an issue with Wraith’s Portals getting destroyed by the Trident.

Bangalore

Fixed an issue with Bangalore’s missile passing through hatch doors when they are closed in Worlds Edge.

Mirage

Fixed an issue with Mirage’s decoys not making footstep sounds.

Crypto

Fixed an issue with Hack consuming two Vault keys if two keys were in Crypto’s inventory.
Fixed an issue with Hack getting stuck within the Trident when deployed as a passenger and the trident is on a ramp.

Revenant

Fixed an issue causing other players to teleport with Revenant if they punch Revenant when he has very little health.
Fixed an issue that didn’t allow Revenant to deploy the Death Totem while on the Trident.

Loba