The Bocek isn’t like the rest of the guns in Apex Legends. It’s a hard-hitting precision bow that will stick your enemies full of arrows—and if you miss, you can always pick them back up.
As if using a bow wasn’t tempting enough, the Bocek is also compatible with two hop-ups, Shatter Caps and Deadeye’s Tempo. They turn the weapon into a mini-shotgun and increase its fire rate when firing at the right time—two handy tools that make the compound bow even more deadly.
New ammo type: Arrows
The Bocek Bow is a “medium range precision weapon,” according to lead game designer Daniel Klein. Landing your shots with it isn’t easy, but the bow can be a strong weapon in able hands. It hits “super, super hard,” Klein said. Since players have to nock arrows after every shot, using the Bocek might be comparable to firing charged shots with the 30-30 Repeater or pulling the bolt after every Sentinel shot.
This time, the new weapon comes with a new ammo type, Arrows. They’ll be “somewhat sparse” across the maps, Klein said, but players don’t have to worry too much about ammo economy. Arrows will stick to most surfaces upon landing and picking them back up is as simple as walking over them.
Arrows also stick to foes, but retrieving them is a bit trickier. “First, you’re gonna have to kill that enemy,” according to Klein, “and then you will find the arrows in their death box.”
Silent, but not too silent
The Bocek is naturally more silent than the other firearms in Apex, but it’s not a full-on stealth weapon. Certain things must be clear to keep the competitive integrity in the game—such as “I am taking fire from someone who’s trying to fill me full of arrows,” according to Klein.
The new weapon has its audible sound effects and the projectiles will whiz by as they pass, which should help players detect the direction of the shots. Arrows sticking to map geography can also help infer the position of an enemy squad. “Once you see an arrow stuck on the ground or on a wall, and based on that angle, you can make some deductions about where that arrow came from,” Klein said.
New hop-ups: Shatter Caps and Deadeye’s Tempo
The innovation behind the Bocek is more than just the fact that it’s a bow. It’s also the first weapon to have two hop-up slots—which means that, unlike the Wingman, you can equip both hop-ups at the same time and alternate between the two.
One of the new hop-ups is the Shatter Caps, which turns the Bocek into a mini-shotgun. Arrows will split into a number of projectiles with a set spread pattern. The new attachment makes the bow a versatile weapon, with precision shots from afar and an alternate firing mode that’s deadly at close range. Shatter Caps are compatible with the Bocek and the 30-30 Repeater.
The other new hop-up is called Deadeye’s Tempo, which decreases draw time after shooting at the exact moment when an arrow is fully nocked. “Once you find that rhythm and you keep shooting at that rhythm, the bow starts shooting a lot faster,” Klein said. Deadeye’s Tempo is compatible with the Sentinel sniper rifle and will activate “after a single shot from that sniper rifle,” according to Klein.
Deadeye’s Tempo will presumably create a cadence to firing and reward players who succeed in keeping track of the specific timing. Straying away from that may remove its benefits—at least until players get in the groove again.
Players will get to try the Bocek with Deadeye’s Tempo and Shatter Caps, as well as the new legend Valkyrie, when the Legacy update drops on May 4.
