With the launch of Apex Legends season 11, Wattson got some much-needed buffs that have skyrocketed her playability. Fans of this defensive legend asked and asked for this throughout 2021, and Respawn delivered. Sure, there could still be some improvements to the legend, but she is much more competitive on an Apex Legends tier list now than ever before. The question thus becomes who’s next and the answer is quite obvious: Crypto.
Crypto was first introduced back in season 3 of Apex Legends, with the surveillance expert building up his own fans and mains. The problem is, however, that Crypto has fallen to the wayside. The last report of Apex Legends’ pick rates put Crypto at the very bottom, with a weak 1.2%.
Now, Respawn Entertainment has mentioned reworking Crypto in the past, quite a few times in fact, and it would make sense to follow Wattson’s buffs with some for Crypto in season 12. There's no confirmation yet, but it would make sense if major buffs for weak characters were built into the seasonal launch update.
Crypto’s Kit
The problem is Wattson needed some smart buffs to make her more viable, without drastically changing her. Crypto is in need of a lot of changes. As he stands, Crypto’s abilities include the Recon Class Perk ability to check survey beacons, the passive ability Neurolink so he and his allies can see everything his drone sees, the tactical ability to deploy said drone to look for enemies, score revives, ping items, check banners, and more, and his ultimate delivers an EMP (only when in the drone) that deals 50 damage, slow players, and disables traps.
Cut and Replace Crypto’s Passive Ability
When it comes to reworking and buffing Crypto, the passive ability really needs to be worked into the tactical. It makes no sense that his passive ability just comes through the usage of the drone, basically meaning Crypto has no effective passive ability in Apex Legends. Instead, as lore-wise Crypto is about being “under the radar,” “Under The Radar” becomes a perfect passive perk for him.
With more and more recon legends able to scan and pin enemies, Crypto’s best passive would allow him (and perhaps his teammates) to avoid these scans. Indeed, not alerting a Seer to their location, being seen by a flying Valkyrie, or being scanned by a Bloodhound could give Crypto—if not his whole squad—a much-needed element of surprise.
Crypto’s Tactical Ability
One could argue that Crypto’s drone’s cooldown time when destroyed should be cut back, at least down to 30 seconds from 40 seconds. This makes his cooldown more comparable to Wattson’s fences or Caustic’s gas tanks. Ultimately, the drone has a lot of versatility even if it requires Crypto to essentially leave his body, but the drone should have an alt to this weakness—very few legends have a built-in weakness with their abilities, at least to such an extreme. A passive drone usage would work, allowing it to fly around Crypto and only detect enemies in a smaller radius—when not deployed—is a must-have.
Crypto’s Ultimate Ability
The Drone EMP is a good ability, but the problem is that it doesn’t really work long enough. If a squad with Crypto encounters an enemy team bunkered down somewhere, the EMP is a good way to lead a charge, but if the squad doesn’t time it just right, then the slow down and damage become inconsequential. Really, it just means that the other squad now knows there’s another squad if nothing else. The risk sometimes outweighs the reward too, as the drone can be destroyed with no impact.
There are really two options here: speed up the drone’s EMP and/or make it to where it’s not so obvious. Or increase the reward with its current risk by laying out an EMP field where players are constantly slowed and taking shield damage within the area, as if it were a Caustic Ult. This forces enemies to move and could force them right into the other squad, playing tactfully which fits Crypto’s character.
It does remain to be seen how Respawn Entertainment tackles Crypto, but whenever it happens (fingers crossed for Apex Legends season 12), Crypto mains may very well shout with cheer.
Apex Legends is available on PC, PS4, Stadia, and Xbox One.