Respawn Entertainment’s next major Apex Legends update is almost upon us and there’s a lot to unpack when it comes to the legend meta. However, one change you may have been expecting is Apex Legends’ Season 16 Horizon nerf – of which, a part of was accidentally introduced in the latter half of Season 15. We all know how this impacted Apex Legends’ Horizon pick rate when it was accidentally introduced, and now it looks like we could see an even more drastic downturn as this alteration itself is fully implemented.
While we don’t have full access to the latest set of Apex Legends patch notes just yet, we do know what to expect from the Revelry update as Horizon mains. As explained by Devan McGuire, Apex Legends’ lead legend designer, during a pre-season preview event, Respawn Entertainment is going to “bring Horizon back down to Earth” by reducing accuracy in her Gravity Lift.
This is something we knew about already, but it remains to be seen just how impactful this update will be – as there’s no telling whether the nerf we saw briefly last season will be identical to the one we see in Season 16.
However, what we didn’t know about before is the fact that Respawn Entertainment has “nudged her lift speed up a little bit”, as McGuire explains, “to encourage more of her vertical traversal use”. This should allow Horizon and her squad to make aggressive plays faster, escape enemy gunfire upwards more effectively, and manoeuvre the battlefield to greater effect.
McGuire does go on to add that there’s a “little bit of [a] change” coming to ensure players aren’t sitting in Horizon’s Gravity Lift reigning terror; however, we don’t quite know what this means. We can only assume that this will mean the Gravity Lift will ‘kick’ players out a lot sooner than it did before.
As a legend that will fall into the Skirmisher class following Respawn Entertainment’s refreshing of Apex Legends’ classes and class perks, the fact that these changes to Horizon’s Gravity Lift focus on mobility make a lot of sense. This reinforces the role Skirmisher legends are loosely supposed to play in this battle royale, one of mobility in combat and facilitating escape.
Whether you’re a fan of these changes or not, Apex Legends is regarded as one of the best battle royale games out there for a reason and we have no doubt this Horizon nerf will – at the very least – refresh the shooter’s meta. We don’t know where she’ll sit on our Apex Legends tier list moving forwards, but we can’t imagine Horizon will enjoy undisputed dominance any longer.