Apex Legends player hits highest mastery level in record time—with game’s cheesiest weapon

Thought that getting to level 100 weapon mastery on your favorite gun was going to take forever in Apex Legends? On May 18, one Apex player announced they’ve already managed to do it less than two weeks after the feature was introduced with season 17—and they managed it with one of the game’s most annoying weapons.

A player and streamer by the name of Chef_Snad is officially Apex Legends‘ foremost Charge Rifle enthusiast, and they’ve claimed the title of the first player to reach level 100 for any weapon in Apex. While it’s probably impossible to fully verify if they are actually the first person to hit that level in the weapon mastery system unless Respawn can confirm that info, they certainly seem to be the first person to post about it with evidence that they did, in fact, complete the weapon mastery on a gun.

If you’ve played Apex, then you know how aggravating this probably was for everyone else in Chef_Snad’s lobbies. The Charge Rifle is the only hitscan weapon in Apex, and it also doesn’t have a limit to how far it can shoot. If you can see an enemy, no matter how far away they are, you can hit them and down them without too much trouble. That also makes the apparent level 100 challenge of downing and finishing two enemies from 200 meters a bit of a joke. Only 200 meters? Those are rookie numbers for the Charge Rifle, Respawn.

While the amount of grind it took to get the level this far along in Weapon Mastery is admirable, it’s also not even close to some stats that pro players have put up on the weapon, as its ease of use makes it a terror in competitive play where players can rack up damage for free.

Chef_Snad’s achievement also revealed something that doesn’t seem to have been shared previously when talking about the weapon mastery system: While level 100 does seem to be a “completed” weapon and offers players a Legendary skin (not a unique one though, sorry) and a new banner frame, players can still level weapons up even further past level 100. No one really knows why at this point, but it’s possible that Respawn could add further rewards for hitting even higher levels of weapon mastery in the future as more and more players begin to hit what was previously thought of as “max level.”

Regardless, that’s a long time to be using the Charge Rifle. We recommend some sunglasses if you plan on trying out a similar grind with that weapon and its distinctive, bright-as-a-tiny-sun beam. Or just pick up a Scout instead.