Despite major nerfs, one character continues to dominate competitive Apex’s ecosystem

Season 16 of Apex Legends brought sweeping changes to more than half of the playable roster on Feb. 14, with one of the game’s most controversial characters receiving nerfs to all aspects of his kit. While Respawn succeeded in its initial goal of dramatically lowering Seer’s pick rate, more players have recognized the competitive strengths of the scan legend, recently raising his pick rate for the first time in the new season.

Seer, the recon legend introduced in season 10, is the most picked legend in the ALGS, used by nearly all teams in each region, despite the initial season 16 nerfs setting back expectations for the Ambush Artist. His global presence in all of the competitive leagues has produced a new generation of players, seeking to understand why he’s considered the best scan legend in the game.

Seer sat comfortably at a 4.5-percent global pick rate for most of season 15, according to Apex Status, being recognized as the best recon character in the meta by the casual and competitive communities alike. But the latest round of nerfs brought his pick rate to its all-time lowest since his release, dropping below two percent once season 16 dropped.

While the average player has lost interest in the legend, the competitive side of Apex still finds great value in his utility, a sentiment shared across all major leagues. At the February 2023 Split One Playoffs, Seer was the most-picked scan legend at 68 percent across both maps in the grand finals, with the second highest, Crypto, only sitting at 28 percent.

Respawn sought to fine-tune Seer with the season 16 patch, increasing cooldowns, removing full-body scans from his tactical, and making the controversial Heartbeat Sensor harder to effectively use. At the start of the season, many pros initially agreed on how the character’s viability dropped and wouldn’t be as prominent in the incoming meta, which presented new opportunities for other legends to potentially shine. But with Catalyst and Bangalore’s rise, Seer once again rose up as the most viable character to counter these new compositions.

Split Two of the ALGS started on March 11, featuring four of the five major regions. Paired with Valkyrie and Catalyst as the most popular composition, Seer holds an important position for spotting enemies through the massive amount of visual clutter present in Apex lobbies at all levels of play. Pros have once again voiced their opinions about the meta’s reliance on Seer, and the casual community has followed their lead, with his pick rate increasing above two percent for the first time after the ALGS aired.

With only one week of the ALGS played, the professional meta of Apex still has lots of room to grow, but Seer continues to remain a constant in most team compositions. His power in the meta has already shown its effects on the overall community as more and more players flock to him on the casual and ranked playlists alike. The Ambush Artist attracts more and more fans by the day and will certainly see another spike with each date of the ALGS.