Apex Legends devs planning Gibraltar rework to shake up \u201cmust-pick\u201d status Respawn EntertainmentGibraltar is in danger of losing his \u201cmust pick\u201d status in Apex Legends, but Respawn\u2019s developers think that\u2019s a good thing \u2014 the iconic Kiwi has steered too far away from being \u201cfun\u201d anymore, and that\u2019s a bad thing, they say. In a future patch, the Apex Legends devs are plotting to ship a Gibraltar update, targeting his \u2018bubble\u2019 ability (likely small nerfs) and how fun he is to play. Gibraltar has been a mainstay in Respawn\u2019s battle royale for some time now and reigns as a top pick in the pro scene. This is due to the legend\u2019s incredible \u201cDome of Protection,\u201d which gives Apex Legends squads a chance to survive firefights or reposition in safety. All that is under the microscope, warns dev John Larson. In an interview with Dexerto\u2019s Kijanna Henry, the Apex Legends balance director confirmed the team is eyeing a rework for Gibraltar, and it may be soon. \u201cMust pick\u201d status as odds with \u201cfun\u201d According to battle royale developer Larson (known as JayBiebs online), Gibraltar has become a clear \u201cmust pick\u201d character at the game\u2019s highest levels. High-ranked grinders and pro players are picking him \u201cout of necessity,\u201d even though Gibraltar is no longer \u201cfun.\u201d The main reason behind this dramatic swing is that his abilities and what he brings to a squad are invaluable, meaning one of each trio should have him, but the player stuck on Gibby suffers from the Kiwi defender\u2019s long cooldowns. \u201cGenerally,\u201d Larson explained, \u201cusing abilities is fun, pressing that button.\u201d Gibraltar mains are robbed of that \u201cfun\u201d dynamic, but when they do get to use their abilities they can swing skirmishes and entire games in a team\u2019s favor. Gibraltar bubble under microscope One potential avenue for Gibraltar changes would be through the legend\u2019s Dome of Protection ability, which has become an iconic part of the defender\u2019s kit over the years. \u201cIt\u2019s tough though,\u201d Larson admitted, \u201cbecause a lot of the ideas I see are things like, give bubble health. I don\u2019t like how that would affect Gibby, and that\u2019s not really how I\u2019d nerf the bubble. That would be way too big of a nerf, especially at the higher levels of the game, and especially in pro play. \u201cWhat I like is that the bubble is a great tool for resetting in combat. That\u2019s why he\u2019s a go-to support pick, because not many other legends in Apex have that 360-degrees protection, and it\u2019s just the best for resetting.\u201d Instead, Larson and his team have been eyeing \u201ctaking out some of his offensive power\u201d through his ultimate and how Gibraltar uses his bubble aggressively. Related segment begins 14:24 in video below. Low play rate stops Respawn plans Larson remained silent on when any Gibraltar rework would actually hit live Apex Legends servers, but did admit there\u2019s one roadblock stopping it from coming soon \u2014 Gibby actually has a low play rate. \u201cIt\u2019s a tough sell, nerfing a character with less than five percent play rate,\u201d the dev admitted, and said any rework won\u2019t arrive until their concerns are solved. \u201cWhat we\u2019re grappling with is how we transition him from a must-pick that no one wants to play, to an enticing pick that\u2019s not as dominant. \u201cIf someone has an idea to nerf Gibby\u2019s bubble,\u201d he added, \u201cbut also make it so you can boot up pubs and have fun with Gibby, that would be the dream.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Apex Legends devs planning Gibraltar rework to shake up \u201cmust-pick\u201d status Respawn EntertainmentGibraltar is in danger of losing his \u201cmust pick\u201d status in Apex Legends, but Respawn\u2019s developers think that\u2019s a good thing \u2014 the iconic Kiwi has steered too far away from being \u201cfun\u201d anymore, and that\u2019s a bad thing, they say. In a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14828","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14828","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14828"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14828\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14828"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14828"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14828"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}