A planned Valkyrie nerf might not make it into Apex Legends season 16

Apex Legends season 16 is set to bring major changes to the game, including tons of balance changes that will almost certainly shift the meta.

Some things might not change from this season to the next, however, such as Valkyrie’s longtime domination of the Apex Games.

Valkyrie has remained a prominent pick in Apex since her release in 2021, despite successive nerfs applied by Respawn Entertainment.

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Many players thought this would end with season 16 thanks to developers saying they would apply another nerf to Valkyrie.

According to playtesters yesterday, such as Thordan, the developers discussed introducing another nerf to her. They played to remove her passive scan when redeploying, whether she’s using her ultimate or various environment tools.

This was supposed to bring her in line with the Skirmisher class, which brought her and other legends from the category a new ping passive for high-value loot. Playtesters have now said this nerf was removed during later tests, however.

Playtesters are divided on the matter. Some say they noticed her passive being removed, while others argued it was back in a later playtest session.

Valkyrie received constant nerfs over the last year, but it wasn’t enough to put her on the sidelines. It wouldn’t be surprising to learn that another is going to hit her soon, especially considering the class changes.

Skirmishers shouldn’t be able to keep their strongest recon capacities, because this will become the specialty of Recon legends instead (Bloodhound, Seer, Vantage, and Crypto). They will get a boost to survey beacons thanks to their class.

Removing Valkyrie’s passive entirely could be a brutal hit to her performance. It’s still unclear if it’s going to be introduced alongside season 16, and the developers might have removed the nerf to fix a bug or find a compromise instead.

It could reduce her range of detection, or limit her passive to her ultimate redeployment, for example. In any case, Valkyrie’s changes are still shrouded in mystery, as they’ll certainly bear a significant impact on the Apex meta.