The Kraber is Apex Legends’ most infamous gun. The heavy-caliber sniper rifle is the only weapon in the game that can knock down a full-health enemy with one headshot, and shots to the body instantly delete 75 percent of most enemies’ health in one go.
Understandably, this makes the Kraber fun to use and exciting for viewers to watch. It also makes the gun miserable to play against, and that goes double for players in the higher ranks of the game. It appears that Respawn is trying to find a middle ground between those experiences since the Kraber looks to be getting some damage nerfs in season 13.
Leaker Ezra-RC first revealed changes would be coming to the Kraber on social media but didn’t offer any more details. But popular insider ThordanSmash confirmed that the Kraber’s headshot value is being reduced to 280, while Apex Legends Global Series competitor Jacob “lightstarjo” Olenick calculated the gun’s new damage values.
Importantly, the values that lightstarjo calculates here for legends with the Fortified passive might not quite be the same in season 13 since there are also rumors that Fortified will see changes too. But it seems clear that Respawn wants to tune down the Kraber’s ability to one-shot opponents.
The new damage values still pose a threat to all of the legends in the cast since characters without the Fortified passive can still be one-shot by the Kraber with white or blue helmets. Only purple or gold helmets can save them from a one-shot, and that’s only if the legend has full red shields and health. So, for a Wraith player with full red shields, full health, and a gold helmet, getting headshot by a Kraber will take the player down to 25 health.
Fortified legends, as always, do a little better here. It will be much harder to one-shot a Gibraltar or Caustic, as even with a white helmet the two only receive 214 damage from a Kraber headshot, a survivable number for both if they have full health and red shields. Granted, if the Fortified passive does change, that safety might be short-lived.
It seems that the only nerf to the Kraber for the season will be to the headshot values of the gun. The massive damage it can inflict with shots to the body remains unchanged, meaning the gun remains the most important weapon in the game.
This change, while small, will most likely be welcomed by the majority of pros, who have vocally opposed the Kraber’s presence in competitive play for quite some time.
This is due to the fact that at the highest level of play, most players don’t find it difficult to land a shot with the Kraber. And since landing one shot, even if it’s to the body, instantly decimates the health of most legends in the game, one team can easily push another just based on the damage dealt by the Kraber alone and win a fight.
Like all leaks and rumors, this nerf is subject to change before season 13 begins. But it does seem likely that there is truth to this particular leak since several devs hinted at Kraber changes coming recently.
Apex season 13, titled Saviors, launches on May 10.
