The Apex Legends developers revealed their intentions to remove the Low Profile from all legends affected by the privilege, after Pathfinder removed the Passive in the Chaos Theory Patch Notes.
The Respawn developers of Apex Legends, in the past, spoke of their hesitation about Low Profile and Fortified – Passive Perks introduced to try to balance the effects of hitboxes of different sizes. In November, they even described them as a “curse” on Battle Royale.
Caustic and Gibraltar, as bigger legends and therefore easier to hit, received Fortified, which means that their damage received is reduced by 15%. Smaller legends that are more difficult to hit – Lifeline, Pathfinder, Wattson and Wraith – have received a low profile, which means that the damage taken has been increased by 5%.
However, at the Chaos Theory Collection Event, Pathfinder had the Low Profile removed. The robotic scout’s chandelier caught many by surprise, who quickly released other legends they wish to see without the low profile.
Pathfinder saw Low Profile removed in the Apex Legends Chaos Theory patch.
Respawn essentially justified the changes by explaining that the Pathfinder hitbox is too big to have the negative effects of Low Profile. “Although Path is still mobile, its hitbox is large,” they said. “While your overall win rate and match win rate are by no means low, it is difficult to justify keeping Low Profile in a hitbox of your size.”
In response to the patch notes, a player asked Wattson to receive the same treatment, claiming that she was in a bad position on the game’s 8th season goal and the removal of Low Profile would be a valid buff.
In response, Daniel Klein, the chief game designer for Respawn, said: “My goal is to remove it from all characters in the game eventually, but we have to figure out how to cancel Lifeline before doing that.”
Klein’s response suggests that Apex could remove all the low-profile advantages, eventually.
Whether Apex really reaches a point where all low-profile privileges are removed from the game is not yet known, but it brings an interesting dynamic to potential buffs that the legends of nerfs could receive. Can we see some medium-sized legends given Fortified as a buff, for example?
Whatever is to come in terms of legendary buffs and nerfs, Respawns are clearly cautious to keep the game as balanced as possible. We hope that the next major update will be at the beginning of season 9.