If you were one of the Apex Legends players who said the hidden Apex Legends Horizon nerf wouldn’t have an impact on the character’s popularity, we have some news for you: Horizon’s pick rate is starting to drop – and it’s quite a dramatic turn for the eccentric astrophysicist. We don’t know about you, but we certainly think Horizon herself Elle Newlands would have something to say about this.
Several days ago, Respawn Entertainment introduced the Spellbound Collection Event – and a title update with a fresh set of Apex Legends patch notes – to the battle royale shooter. For the most part, this was a welcome update. In spite of continual criticisms from the community on the BR’s monetisation, the Spellbound Collection Event saw the ever-popular Control LTM return alongside Seer’s heirloom item and quite a few interesting cosmetics.
One thing the aforementioned patch notes failed to mention among the minor weapon balancing changes and bug fixes, however, was a rather secret Horizon nerf. Not only did Respawn Entertainment reduce weapon accuracy while ascending in Horizon’s tactical ability Gravity Lift, it also reduced the affect of her Black Hole ultimate ability through walls and obstacles.
At a glance, you might not think these too impactful on the overall experience playing Apex Legends as Horizon. However, as that all-too-common adage goes, the numbers don’t lie – and they’re not looking good for Horizon. So, if you’re trying to climb the Apex Legends ranks, it might be worth considering someone else from our Apex Legends tier list.
Oh, and if you need a refresher on what this nerf has done, you can just check out the Reddit post below. The changes to her ultimate ability will certainly make pushing interiors a lot harder than they used to be.
So it turns out horizon’s q wasn’t the only thing that got shadow nerfed. Ult no longer appears to suck through walls (at least in the range) from apexlegends
As you can see on Apex Legends Status’ Horizon pick rate statistics page, her current pick rate is just 7.1% across all ranks; this is a decline of over 8% in recent days. This 7.1% is still quite respectable when you look at the larger picture from Apex Legends Status here, but it’s still a shocking decline when you consider the fact that Respawn Entertainment didn’t think these changes warranted a mention at all.
Given the gargantuan gulf between Horizon and the next most-picked Apex Legends character, Bangalore, she still remains the battle royale’s fifth most-popular character. However, there’s nothing to say her popularity won’t continue to decline in the coming days.
Apex Legends is one of the best battle royale games available today, and it’s one of the best competitive FPS games out there. But, we can’t help but think Respawn Entertainment should be a little more transparent with players when it comes to these changes; however minor, they are clearly having a huge effect on the battle royale.