Apex Legends’ newest trailer may have teased the return of one of its most infamous items

The audio design for weapons in a game like Apex Legends is immensely important. Players approaching a fight who can hear guns like RE-45s or EVA-8s will think about the same fight completely differently if they hear something like a Kraber. Each gun has a unique sound, and that’s further compounded by many of the game’s hop ups, which also give guns a distinct sound apart from the normal base weapon.

Normally, the sound of an Alternator close by isn’t cause for too much concern. That changes, however, because of one very important hop up: Disruptor Rounds.

While no Disruptor Round Alternator is shown in the Eclipse gameplay trailer, the beginning of the trailer is soundtracked by gunfire of various weapons in the game. And embedded in that gunfire, at about the six-second mark, is the unmistakable sound of an Alternator with Disruptor Rounds. 

While the Disruptor Alternator was a care package weapon in seasons 10 and 11, players don’t know the true extent of hearing multiple Disruptor Round-equipped Alternators unless they played all the way back in season two of Apex, more than three years ago. Then, Disruptor Rounds were a normal hop up that could be found and equipped to any Alternator you found on the ground, and the combination of the weapon and hop up was so powerful that it defined much of the game’s early pro weapon meta. After season two, the hop up has never been seen again in the game’s floor loot.

While the hop up was nerfed a bit for the Alternator’s run as a care package weapon compared to the lethal shield damage it dished out in season two, the gun was still a must-grab if you saw it in the care package. Since shields are the first to take damage, having a Disruptor Round gun is a game-changer for the early poke damage it can dish out, especially for a gun like the Alternator, whose recoil is fairly easy to control.

Whether this sound cue in the trailer indicates a return to the care package for the Alternator, the full reintroduction of the Disruptor Rounds hop up, or is simply a troll remains to be seen. But in lieu of a new weapon, which it doesn’t seem like Apex will be receiving in season 15, throwing Disruptor Rounds back into the loot pool would be an alternative way to change the weapon meta substantially.