Apex Legends’ Chaos Theory patch brought in a series of expected balancing adjustments as well a big surprise one. Gibraltar’s Gun Shield bleedthrough made its way to the game after the latest update—despite it not being listed in the patch notes.
With the new patch, any damage that exceeds the gun shield’s 50HP will bleed straight through to Gibraltar, according to Respawn. Damaging the shield will also count towards stats and Evo Shield progress.
The measure was a long-requested nerf to Gibraltar’s gun shield, but was slated for a later patch. Lead designer Daniel Klein said last week that the team was working to adjust his gun shield, but some “nasty bugs” got in the way.
Respawn said that there may be “minor inconsistencies with how bleed-through is handled with individual shotgun pellets” and that the team is working on a fix. Klein also said that the bugs are “mostly shotgun related,” which reinforces that bleedthrough may not work as intended with weapons such as the Mastiff, EVA-8, Peacekeeper, or Mozambique.
The lack of bleedthrough was a strong point in Gibraltar’s kit. The sturdy defender could get hit with a shot from a powerful weapon, such as a Kraber or a Sentinel, and essentially negate its damage with the gun shield. As of the current patch, however, excess damage will bleed through to Gibraltar.
Gibraltar has the second-highest win rate in Apex and is “a very close second” to Horizon, according to Klein. He “incredibly strong, especially at highest skill levels” and was in line for a nerf. In addition to the bleedthrough, the Chaos Theory removed his faster healing when inside the Dome Shield—a change that may not be drastic enough in itself, but synergizes with the bleedthrough to curb his power.
