Apex Legends’ success contrasts deeply with its unceremonious release. The game was silently dropped into the Origin Store but quickly gained millions of players through partnered streamers and word of mouth. Its fan base grew at extraordinary speeds: Apex reached 50 million downloads within one month of its release.
Despite its innovative features, such as hero-specific skills and the renowned ping system, the game was still in need of polishing. Apex was prone to crashing or freezing frequently, and the words “code:leaf” still send shivers down players’ spines. Developer Respawn Entertainment has pushed a multitude of patches and hotfixes designed to improve the game’s performance and the battle royale is considerably more stable than it used to be in its early days.
But the series of updates and performance fixes weren’t enough to eradicate bugs from the game. Apex’s trajectory was filled with bugs and glitches, from clipping skins to invisible rocks. Here are some of the game’s most infamous, infuriating, and sometimes entertaining bugs.
Gibraltar attaching objects to shields
What’s more terrifying than a barrel of nox gas? A barrel of nox gas attached to the shield of a Gibraltar coming straight at you. A bug allowed players to stick objects to Gibraltar’s gun shield. It was possible to pile up Caustic traps on top of the shield, making the tank look like he was heading to a joust.
Another use for the bug was sticking Octane’s jump pad to the shield. It would turn Gibraltar into a bouncing, high-flying, pinball-like weapon of mass destruction. Think of it as Overwatch’s hamster-controlled Wrecking Ball robot but with a slight lack of rodents.
Even Respawn found the glitch entertaining. Community lead Jay Frechette addressed the bug in the patch notes that fixed it. “Admittedly, it’s been fun to see the results of this, but the behavior is not intended by design and could get out of control,” Frechette said.
Rocket Supply Bins
Octane’s ultimate ability places a jump pad on the map that gives players some vertical mobility. But before Octane, there were supply bins. By punching the lid of an open supply bin from below an exhausting number of times, players would get propelled upward if they jumped on it.
It’s unclear what caused the bug, but it could possibly involve the collision on the lids. Players speculated that by punching the lid, its slight knockback effect would stack and launch players in the air to infinity and beyond.
Gibraltar’s Gun Shield
Developers had a hard time balancing Gibraltar, like Caustic and Pathfinder. His huge hitbox made him a sitting duck and the fix to that could bug out and not deal damage properly.
But the shield-wielding legend also struggled with another bug. His gun shield, the portable protection on his arm when aiming down sights, didn’t always function properly.
A glitch made the gun shield appear active on players’ screens after being broken. Players would believe the shield was up, only to have projectiles pass cleanly through. The visual error only occurs in first person. Enemies and allies see the shield as normal and know that it’s safe to shoot.
Dropship bar brawl
A recent bug allowed Apex players to throw punches while inside the dropship before jumping onto the map. The glitch took place between loading screens while the “your squad” and “champion squad” banners popped up on screen.
Players who were incapacitated before the dropship jumped out in a comically odd mixture of the skydiving and downed animations. The Fight Club-esque addition to the battle royale was quickly patched by Respawn.
The invisible rock
Season three introduced a new map, World’s Edge, complete with high grounds and hiding spots. The most unusual one proved to be inside of a bugged out rock located north of the map.
Players were able to walk inside the rock and sit completely invisible to unsuspecting enemies. The glitch became somewhat well-known due to multiple warnings about it on forums, especially Reddit.
Instant revive
If you aren’t playing Lifeline, reviving a downed teammate presents a considerable risk. An accidental bug would let players instantly help a downed squadmate to their feet—but with a few caveats.
The glitch triggered if there was a height difference between both characters. The revived legend was brought to their feet instantly and was still be able to fire but couldn’t heal and would be killed off as soon as they got shot. Taking advantage of the bug didn’t offer enough benefits to become a regular exploit.
Turbocharge your Havoc with a Selectfire
The Turbocharger removes the start-up delay with the Devotion LMG and the Havoc Rifle. It can be a game-changer if you’re lucky enough to come across one. The Selectfire Receiver is also compatible with the Havoc and a bug allows it to be used to achieve the same effect.
The Havoc rifle has two firing modes: automatic fire and a charged shot. If players charged the shot, then switched firing modes, the Havoc would borrow the charge from the alternative fire and use it to start firing immediately.
Next-level Mirage decoys
Holographic Trickster Mirage’s abilities allow him to send out a decoy, a perfect copy of himself that will run in a straight line and stand still after a set distance. Their preset behavior can make his decoys somewhat predictable.
Players reported that a bug made Mirage send out copies of Octane. The decoy followed its normal behavior but showed an Octane double rather than a second Mirage.
Some players said that the skill would help Mirage’s kit. “Wow this would actually be a really good buff for Mirage,” a user said. “Whenever you bamboozle it randomly picks a legend and sends that out instead.” The Holographic Trickster was voted by parts of the community as the legend most in need of a buff.
Octane skin obstructs the crosshairs
Octane got the jester-themed “Laughing Fool” skin for Apex’s Black Friday sale. It was only obtainable with Apex Coins, which must be purchased with real money. Players were understandably frustrated when parts of the skin clipped into the screen and obstructed their sights.
The glitch happened more commonly with the Prowler SMG and would manifest itself as a red and gold strip that took up approximately half of the screen and made it completely impossible to aim down sights.
Free Apex Coins
Apex Coins can be used to buy additional loot boxes or skins for your favorite legends and weapons. They’re the in-game currency and can normally only be obtained with real money. Players reported receiving various amounts of Apex Coins after disconnecting. The numbers range from just a few thousand coins to over 40,000.
Users speculated that the bug can occur when playing on the same network and getting disconnected. Following those assumptions, the servers could mistake a player’s identity due to them being on the same network and retroactively give Apex Coins related to past purchases.
