Another day, another leak from Apex Legends, and this one is a doozy. While Ballistic, the character that reportedly stemmed from the “Caliber” legend that was part of the huge leak prior to season 13, has already been spotted in the accounts of popular leakers and insiders, his full ability list appears to have now been leaked to the public.
The new leak comes from NightTerras, a source not popularly cited in the Apex leaks and data mines community. As such (and as is the case with all leaks), the new ability list should be taken with a grain of salt. But much of the leak lines up with what trusted insiders have previously found for the new legend, which lends credibility to this leak. And if everything on this list makes it into the game, there’s at least one ability that players already think will be the source of many headaches.
Ballistic is an arms dealer and an assault character, and all of his abilities focus on guns. His passive, according to the leak, allows him to carry a third weapon that cannot have any attachments on it, while his ultimate ability gives his team infinite ammo for a period of time, faster reload time, and possibly even faster movement speed. The ultimate ability also equips the third weapon that Ballistic has in his passive Weapon Sling as a fully-kitted gold weapon.
Related: New Apex Legends character leaks have players going Ballistic
But the leaked tactical ability is the one that has people talking the most: Smart Bullet. Previously, this ability was mentioned by ThordanSmash as a bullet that would force enemies to holster their weapon if they were hit by it. This leak follows a similar path but is a bit different. This version of Smart Bullet will cause enemies’ guns to begin heating up when they shoot them. Shooting the weapon too much will cause the weapon to overheat, which deals damage to enemies as well as “causing a reaction,” which could be holstering the weapon, or some other form of aim flinch or slow.
Crucially, it doesn’t appear in the current wording of the ability that it’s much of a skill shot, either. Holding the tactical button down allows players to “lock on” to targets, essentially guaranteeing hits with the tactical.
It’s easy to see why some players on Reddit and elsewhere have some issues with this ability. At its base level, Apex is about shooting a gun. Even when all of your abilities are taken away from you, there are still the guns. And this seems to figuratively (and maybe even literally) take the guns out of players’ hands.
Even if the tactical ability does not end up forcing players to holster their guns, it still significantly discourages players from shooting lest they take damage and are left vulnerable in a fight. Now imagine this version of Ballistic paired with a Revenant. There’s a decent chance you get to a point in a fight where you can’t use your abilities because of a Silence, and you can’t shoot your gun because of a Smart Bullet. You won’t even be able to play the game.
The theory-crafting around how broken or not-broken Ballistic might be is still nascent, mostly because no one has any idea how accurate these leaks are. For that matter, we don’t even know when to expect Ballistic in Apex. Several leakers have indicated in the past that the game won’t receive a new legend in season 16 and, as such, players might have to wait until season 17 to see how all of this pans out.
Still, the leaks give an interesting look at the design direction for characters that Respawn might be moving. And it’s always a good time to complain a little bit about overpowered characters, no matter how powerful they really are.
