Apex Legends developers have revealed their intentions to remove Low Profile from every legend that is affected by the perk, after Pathfinder had the Passive removed in the Chaos Theory Patch Notes.
Apex Legends developers Respawn have, in the past, spoken of their hesitancy regarding Low Profile and Fortified – Passive Perks introduced to try and balance the effects of different sized hitboxes. Back in November, they even described them as a “curse” on the battle royale.
Caustic and Gibraltar, as larger legends and therefore easier to hit, were given Fortified, meaning they see incoming damage reduced by 15%. Smaller legends who are harder to hit – Lifeline, Pathfinder, Wattson and Wraith – were given Low Profile, meaning incoming damage is increased by 5%.
However, in the Chaos Theory Collection Event, Pathfinder had Low Profile removed. The buff for the robotic scout caught many by surprise, who quickly floated other legends they want to see without Low Profile.
Respawn essentially justified the changes by explaining that Pathfinder’s hitbox is too large to have the negative effects of Low Profile. “Although Path is still mobile, his hitbox is large,” they said. “While his overall win rate and encounter win rate is by no means low, it’s hard to justify keeping Low Profile on a hitbox of his size.”
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In response to the patch notes, one player called for Wattson to receive the same treatment, claiming she’s in a poor spot in the game’s Season 8 meta and the removal of Low Profile would be a valid buff.
Replying, Respawn’s Lead Game Designer Daniel Klein said: “My goal is to remove it from every character in the game eventually, but we gotta figure out how to nerf Lifeline before we can do that.”
Whether Apex actually reaches a spot where all Low Profile perks are removed from the game remains to be seen, but it brings an interesting dynamic into potential buffs and nerfs legends could receive. Could we see some medium-sized legends given Fortified as a buff, for example?
Whatever is coming in terms of legend buffs and nerfs, Respawn are clearly cautious to keep the game as balanced as possible. We expect the next major update will be at the start of Season 9.
