Apex Legends’ upcoming patch will buff Bloodhound, nerf Gibraltar, and fix muzzle flash

Apex Legends’ System Override event is coming tomorrow and it’s bringing in a series of balancing tweaks to the game. The patch notes released today revealed a few changes to some legends, weapons, and more in the game.

Bloodhound is getting a buff, Gibraltar’s gun shield will be hit with a nerf, and Respawn is fixing the muzzle flash in some weapons, a change that’s been long requested by the community.

Character balance

The Technological Tracker is getting a boost to their tactical skill. Respawn increased Eye of the Allfather’s scan distance threefold and extended its duration by a second. A designer notes say that “the intent is for Bloodhound to use their tactical as they are approaching towns pre-combat versus reacting while in a fight.” The buff comes with a tradeoff, however. Using it now takes up 0.8 seconds, twice as much as before.

The next update will also present a small nerf to Gibraltar. Respawn reduced the health on his gun shield to 50, down from 75. He previously received a series of buffs and the change marks another step in fine-tuning the character.

Crypto is in line with Bloodhound and will get a small buff. He’ll automatically reload his primary weapons in drone view—a minor, yet welcome, buff.

Weapon balance

Respawn will also tweak weapon balance with the next update. The Peacekeeper will be hit with a series of nerfs, but the recently-added Sentinel is getting more firepower.

The Sentinel’s damage was increased to 70 from 65 and its rechamber rate was cut slightly. Players now have to wait 1.75 seconds between shots, down from 1.85. The Peacekeeper will bear the brunt of the changes with its magazine size decreased by one shell and reload times increased slightly. Reloading the shotgun will take 2.65 seconds instead of 2.5, or 3.6 seconds when reloading with an empty mag (up from 3.5).

Inventory changes

Expect some changes to your inventory as well. Respawn will increase the base inventory slots for players across the board by two and backpacks will boost capacity even further. The new system will see tweaks to stacking, however, and will reduce the amount of ammo, grenades, and healing items per inventory slot.

Each grenade will take up an inventory slot instead of stacking up to two together. Light, Heavy, and Energy ammo stacks will also contain only 60 bullets instead of 80. Players will carry fewer healing items per slot. The stack size for minor consumables, such as Syringes and Shield Cells, will be reduced to four and a full stack of Shield Batteries or Med Kits will only contain two.

Muzzle flash and Bangalore glitch

The upcoming patch will also fix some relevant issues in the game, including muzzle flash and a bug that allowed Bangalore to become invisible. The patch notes say that the next update will reduce “the intensity of muzzle flash while aiming down the sight for all weapons except shotties and snipers,” which should make it easier to see targets when ADSing with rapid-fire weapons, such as the R-99. The intense muzzle flash has been a longtime complaint from parts of the community.

Bangalore mains will finally be able to use some of their skins again. In a previous update, Respawn disabled the Apex Overdrive and Killer B skins for the legend because a bug made her invisible. The dev team appears to have fixed the issue and will re-enable the cosmetics with the update.