Respawn has finally shipped a new Pathfinder rework in the Aftermarket collection event update, after a fan-made Apex Legends balance change shared on Reddit inspired the battle royale devs to take a second look at the loveable robot scout’s core ability.
Pathfinder will now have a variable grapple cooldown moving forward, “based on distance traveled”. This means the Forward Scout can now enjoy cooldowns as low as 10 seconds per use. The maximum 35-second cooldown remains for long-ranged hooks.
This decision was a “compromise” from simply reverting the change, Respawn explained in their Aftermarket patch notes. Interestingly enough, they added, the idea was actually first posted on Reddit, well before the planned Oct. 6 update.
“Instead of dropping grapple cooldown back to 15 seconds where it was before, or move it to 25 seconds as a compromise, we considered a player suggestion — thanks Reddit! — to have the grapple drain energy as it goes,” the devs explained.
Funnily enough, the original Reddit post, shared by /u/Luckyshoe50 on Sep. 22, only got two upvotes and nine comments. Respawn’s developers also didn’t reply to the /r/ApexLegends thread at the time, though they clearly took notice.
Pathfinder has had his Grapple Gun reworked in the Apex Legends Aftermarket update.Pathfinder’s new grapple rework now works similarly to the Titanfall 2 hookshot ability, which would be set to a cooldown depending on use. “The difference is,” the devs continued, “we’re looking at your full distance traveled [for the timer].”
The new Pathfinder rework should help both skilled players, and those Pathfinder mains who “faceplant the grapple” a few times more than they’d like every Apex Legends match.
“Bad Pathfinder players no longer need to fear the faceplant… if you’re not going anywhere, you’re not incurring much of a cooldown,” the devs explained.
“If you’re a really, really good Pathfinder, and looking for the absolute max distance grapple, you’ll still have a 35-second cooldown… assuming you land it.
“This both buffs Path a little less for the scariest robot players out there, and also opens up room for extra skill expression; can you find useful short grapples that give you a shorter CD but still do something good [in the middle of a fight]?”
The loveable robot scout is by far one of the most popular characters in Apex Legends.Pathfinder copped his first huge grappling hook nerf in the Season 5 update on May 12. The Forward Scout’s core ability was slapped with a monster 20 second nerf, up to 35, to balance his ever-growing power in Apex Legends ranked play.
The Apex Legends release hero had a small buff added in the Aug. 17 patch three months later; he could drop the cooldown on his Zipline Gun by using survey beacons. This change did little to bring Pathfinder back into the top-tier meta, however.
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Before the Pathfinder changes in 2020, the robot scout boasted a 10.3% pick rate. This didn’t change much in Season 6; he is played in 11% of Apex Legends games.
Pathfinder mains have had to sit through multiple nerfs ahead of this Oct. 6 rework.The new Pathfinder rework isn’t the only Legend change coming in the Aftermarket event update either; Wraith is in line for a sprint rework, and Bloodhound has had their cooldown numbers tweaked slightly. Rampart got a turret buff too.
Read the full Apex Legends Aftermarket collection update patch notes here.
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