Apex Legends accidentally nerfed its gassiest heroes

News
By published

Respawn is "investigating what happened" after changing smoke effects.

Apex Legends' broken smokescreen
(Image credit: Respawn Entertainment, via Dextero)

Apex Legends' new collection event seems to have unintentionally screwed over the game's smokiest legends, prompting Respawn to investigate exactly what happened to the game's effects.

Last week's Chaos Theory collection event arrived with a new patch which, among other things, changed the way smoke effects like Bangalore's smoke grenades or Caustic's gas vents are rendered. Unfortunately, it's now quite easy to spot players through the fog, making those abilities effectively useless. 

Replying to concerned Redditors, lead game designer Daniel Klein expressed that this wasn't an intentional nerf to Bangalore and Co. 

"We're investigating what happened here," said Klein. "There was a change to the underlying VFX that we made with optimisation in mind. The goal was to have it look identical to what was there before, but apparently that's not what happened."

A fix is currently in the works, though Klein doesn't have an exact timeframe for when to expect it. On the upside, a patch due to arrive today will fix a laundry list of issues, including an exploit that lets you use the game's new heat shields indefinitely.

Smoke issues notwithstanding, Emma reckons Apex has been absolutely killing it with the content drops lately—calling Season 8 a turning point for Respawn's battle royale. There's probably never been a better time to drop in. Just, erm, don't rely on Bangalore's smoke grenades to get you out of a pinch for the time being.

Natalie Clayton
Natalie Clayton
Features Producer

20 years ago, Nat played Jet Set Radio Future for the first time, and she's not stopped thinking about games since. Joining PC Gamer in 2020, she comes from three years of freelance reporting at Rock Paper Shotgun, Waypoint, VG247 and more. Embedded in the European indie scene and a part-time game developer herself, Nat is always looking for a new curiosity to scream about—whether it's the next best indie darling, or simply someone modding a Scotmid into Black Mesa. She also unofficially appears in Apex Legends under the pseudonym Horizon.