Apex season 21 removes Digital Threat, will have Wingman in ground loot and a returning care package weapon

There are plenty of changes in store for weapons in Apex Legends season 21, but perhaps none loom larger than the Wingman coming out of the care package. It’ll be replaced by the Devotion, which Respawn Entertainment says should be reminiscent of its scary season four state.

In a press conference ahead of the season, Respawn peeled back the curtain on the balancing changes coming in season 21, highlighted by the Wingman and Devotion trading places. But there’s even more happening to other weapons and attachments as well, including the demise of the Digital Threat. While at one point the Digital Threat nearly defined metas alone, synergizing with characters like Bangalore that could obscure vision through smoke, the move to take the attachment away from all SMGs and the Wingman nerfed the Digi Threat to the point where it didn’t make sense to keep it in the loot pool.

“It’s become increasingly niche in terms of compatible weapons and specific legend counterplay,” game designer John Larson said about the Digi Threat’s removal. Once one of the strongest attachments on an SMG, the Digi Threat proved a big counter to characters that could obscure vision, like Bangalore and Caustic. “The design is imperfect, and we’d rather evaluate gameplay around [visual] blockers holistically to improve on this experience for everyone.”

That’s tough news for those who still loved running shotguns or RE-45s through smokes, but at the same time, the changes will bring more value to characters like Bloodhound who retain their ability to see through smokes.

Meanwhile, the Wingman and Devotion swap is sure to be a hot topic, but there are plenty of reasons to believe the Wingman will stay strong without being the utter monster it once was. For starters, it will no longer take extended mags, meaning it will only ever be a six-shooter. It’s also gotten a hipfire nerf and the Skullpiercer is being removed, nerfing the huge burst damage the weapon was capable of in close-quarters combat. If you’ve ever taken a close fight with a controller player, you’ve probably felt that pain.

Obviously, the Devotion will also receive plenty of buffs as it becomes a care package weapon. Those specific changes weren’t detailed yet, but Larson gave an ominous callback to its care package version way back in seasons four and five for reference.

“This news likely has you breaking out in a cold sweat or celebrating,” Larson said about the news of the Wingman and Devotion changing places. “But I think we’ve made some healthy changes that target frustration without hurting either weapon’s identity.”

Other changes to weapons include the Longbow, which will now have a Purple barrel stabilizer built into its base version to compensate for losing the Skullpiercer. Its ADS speed and ballistics have also been improved to give it a clearer niche between the Sentinel and some of the Marksman options in the battle royale.

While it doesn’t seem like there will be huge changes to the short-range meta in season 21, there’s more than enough tweaks to long-range guns for players to sink their teeth into when Upheaval launches in Apex on May 7.