Rebalancing Weapons

[NNeil6991]

I have been playing this game since before Season 1 (on console), and just wanted to post my thoughts on each of the weapons and their buffs/nerfs and what I would change.

• Mozambique: The quick-scoping mechanic to tighten the spray is oddly satisfying, however it would be nice to be able to equip a precision choke on it to make it a viable style-on-opponents secondary. It wouldn't be anywhere near as powerful as the PK or Eva-8, but it would make it more fun to use IMO.
• P2020: This one is hard, as buffing this weapon might actually break it due to its accuracy and fast reload speed. Maybe a slight buff to its headshot damage would make it feel like less of a death sentence to pick up.
• Hemlok: I feel like this gun is in a pretty good place. It's single fire is very accurate and its burst is fantastic for hipfiring. If you're are struggling with recoil control, pick this gun up.
• Flatline: This gun is such a disappointment to me. The gun has one of the more difficult recoil patterns (for apex) and no barrel stabilizer, so you'd think this would be offset by higher damage and a respectable dps. You'd be wrong however, as the dps is so low that it usually gets beaten by most other guns in the game at ranges where you'd think it'd have the advantage. I definitely feel that this should be the gun seasoned players gravitate towards, but in its current state the only people who use it just don't know any better.
• Scout: This semi-auto sniper feels very powerful with a 30 dmg body shot and sixty headshot. It is easy to spam and the reduced sniper sway buff makes it very easy to maintain accuracy. Its iron sights are incredibly annoying, but the same can be said for many guns on this list.
• RE-45: Very fun gun to use with an easy recoil pattern. It is actually a viable alternative to bring end game if you have trouble with the r99's recoil.
• Alternator: Not as fun or fast as the RE, but has an easy recoil pattern as well. It makes up for its slower firing speed by dealing more damage, allowing it to kill blue and purple shields without an extended mag.
• Spitfire: Has one of the more complicated recoil patterns in Apex, however it is still dependable due to its massive magazine size. Definitely not the powerhouse it used to be before the damage nerf, but it can still spray down and devastate an opposing player.
• Devotion: Completely broken by design since the beginning of the game. The only thing holding this gun back was the scarcity of energy ammo, which has been substantially increased through updates. It has a windup time before dealing max dps, but most players simply prime it before turning around corners or hipfiring. The recoil pattern seems difficult, but amounts to holding down right and then down left. Deals 750 dmg a magazine, kills in less than a second with a turbocharger and a little more than a second without one (depending on shield). You cannot trade with it at all unless you're hipfiring and strafing. It is a touch of death weapon currently. I don't think directly nerfing the weapon would be justified, as energy weapons are supposed to be powerful, but I would make energy ammo scarce again and offset this by bumping up the carrying capacity for it in your inventory. That way a dedicated havoc or devotion player can hoard the ammo, but you wouldn't have full squads carrying a devotion/havoc and a longbow.
• Havoc: Deals 650 damage a magazine and consistently kills due to the ammo buff given to it in one of the updates. The recoil seems to be straight up and is greatly effected by weapon sway. Great short and midrange weapon. Has a slight startup time, but nowhere near the windup time of the devotion. Again the only thing I would change is the scarcity of the ammo and the stackability of it in your inventory. Also has a hitscan singlefire mode (When using an attachment) with startup. Eats up multiple rounds a shot and has pretty bad damage dropoff. I don't think any more buffs to its singlefire mode would be good for weapon balance, unless it was changed from being a hitscan weapon.
• Triple Take: Good for harassing players at distance, but usually deals low damage due to its bullet spread. The precision choke mitigates this issue, but also further slows its fire rate. This seems like a fair trade between ease of use/firerate, and keeps the gun from being too op. It is actually very effective mid and close range as a shotgun, as quick scoping usually deals 40-60 dmg on body, and a headshot close range can deal upwards of 160 damage.
• Prowler: Low recoil smg with burst fire and full auto with a select fire. Very easy to use, firing five round bursts without a select fire and 3 round bursts with it attached (which is odd). It has a max magazine size of 35 and its slower rate of fire makes it easier to stay on target. It is consistent, easy to control, and deals respectable dps.
• R-99: Ridiculously overpowered gun. Has one of the more difficult recoil patterns, but once learned is a devastating short to mid range beast. Kills purple shields without an extended mag, empties its entire clip in less then a second, and has fast reload speeds. The only weakness it has is also its greatest strength: its dps. If you do not control for recoil or the enemy is slide jumping and strafing faster then you can track, you've just emptied most of your clip into the empty air. If you are close to an enemy with an r99, then you are most likely dead. IMO the recoil pattern, though difficult to control when compared to most other guns in Apex, is still far to simple considering how brutally effective this gun is.
• R-301: The king of broken weapons. Bran the Broken's favorite gun. This gun has an insultingly easy recoil pattern, and is accurate mid, close, far, and when hipfired. It has better dps then the prowler (which is a heavy ammo SMG for goodness's sake) and also has an easily spammable single fire for at range shots if you don't feel confident in burst firing it or lazering people from a mile a way with it. Does double damage on headshot, which means with its accuracy and solid dps it's only losing trades to turbocharged energy weapons or the R99. It is a jack of all trades like the Triple Take, but unlike the Triple Take it is the best or nearly the best at all of those trades.  IMO It needs a damage nerf desperately to make up for its high rate of fire and ridiculously easy recoil pattern.
• Wingman: does 45 damage a body shot and averages around 80 a headshot, depending on skullpiercer and enemy helmet. The -2 ammo nerf hurts it slightly in the beginning of the game but doesn't matter mid to late game with extended magazines. It has very inaccurate hipfire as well due to the nerf, but that also doesn't matter as its strafe speed while ads-ing is still incredibly good. The only reason people are using this weapon less is due to pathfinders being so meta and hard to hit with it, and the longbow being so incredibly overpowered since the recent update. If those issues are addressed, the Wingman will surge back to being meta and overused again.
• Longbow: Oppressive and overpowered. Full squads run it due to how easy it is to rack up damage and downs against teams at mid to long range. The sniper sway buff was great, but the increased fire rate unbalanced the gun completely, to where it can be consistently spammed for 55 damage body shots at range without an answer. It's skullpiercer attachment allows it to deal over one hundred damage, meaning if you hit a headshot you can down a player in 1-3 hits depending on armor/helmet. The rate of fire of this gun obviously needs to be tweaked again IMO.
• Peacekeeper: Very inconsistent (probably due to the meta being full of small hitboxes and the hitreg still being a work in progress) yet powerful shotgun. Can deal up to 110 dmg a body shot and 165 a headshot. However you are unlikely to hit those numbers consistently. You don't need to ADS to fire it accurately, as it doesn't tighten the spread or improve its accuracy at all. This allows the PK wielder to have ridiculous mobility, get uncomfortably close to an enemy, and PK dance them to death. You can also attach a precision choke to it, which allows you to tighten the spread when ADSing and hit devastating mid and close range shots with it. However the precision choke also comes with a visual bug which makes your hipfire reticle appear three or four times larger then the actual spread of the shells, so beware. This gun has been massively popular since the game came out despite the rechamber nerfs. IMO having to quickscope in to tighten the spread (like the mozambique) would help to balance this gun a little bit.
• EVA-8: Just a very consistent shotgun. Easy to track and hit shots. In my experience it usually deals around 20-60 damage depending on range. Can use up to eight shells before having to reload, and attaching a purple bolt to the gun allows a player to melt enemies by spamming it close range. This gun also does not need to be ADS'd to be fired accurately.
• Mastiff: Ridiculously overpowered, but it should be as it's a legendary weapon. Can hit up to 144 a body shot and 288 a headshot (ADSing). However you must ADS to tighten the spread to one shot the enemy. It can only fire four shots before reloading, but can fire while you are reloading. It's an all around powerhouse of a gun, and if you see it you should take it.
• Kraber: Suprisingly weak when compared to the Mastiff. Hits 125 a body shot and 250 a headshot. However it has to unscope to rechamber a round, so your aim is thrown off and the enemy can take cover, it has an atrociously slow fire rate, and can't even one shot the enemy if they are wearing a purple helmet. Most people currently pick it up to style on opponents, but a kitted longbow will actually win a sniper duel most of the time, especially if the longbow user is wearing a lvl three helmet, or the player using the Kraber only hits a body shot. IMO opinion, the Kraber needs a buff to headshot damage so that it always one shots, a slightly faster fire rate, and shouldn't unscope after firing a round.

That's my opinion on all of the weapons. Let me know if I missed any.

[EA_Blueberry]

@NNeil6991 

Thank you for the detailed list! Based off what you mentioned for each weapon it's pretty consistent on what we've seen mentioned from others on these boards.

Regarding the Prowler though, do you think it's right where it should be or get buffed/nerfed?

[NNeil6991]

If the devs nerf the 301s damage/dps so that its dps isn't higher than the prowler's (no rifle should have higher dps than an Smg IMO) and increase the difficulty of the r99's recoil pattern, it'll be in a good place - no buffs required. I play with alot of people who use it over the r99 already, as they prefer the consistency of the increased magazine size and the easier recoil pattern. However without the nerfs to at least the 301 it will always be a subpar choice to pick up, which is a shame.

[TheGreenFellow]

Generally agree.
- R301, I wouldn't touch the damage, I'd tweak the handling characteristics.
- I think the P2020's an easy buff target.
- I think the Hemlock isn't that great, but would be if other weapons were toned down like you advise.

Regarding the Prowler, for me, I'd rather it started in full-auto mode and that the select-fire hopup added the burst mode, perhaps tweaked to have less recoil than it currently does now (to make the 'upgrade' worthwhile). Picking up the gun on the off-chance you find the alternate fire hop-up is just too risky compared to the alternatives, most times.