Apex Legends season 21 weapon changes: Charge Rifle buff, Wingman nerfed, Skullpiercer removed, and more

Apex Legends Season 21 weapon and attachments patch notes (Image via Respawn Entertainment)

Apex Legends Season 21 is just around the corner and Respawn Entertainment has released the seasonal patch notes. Among the most noticeable changes, the devs have decided to completely disable the Skullpiercer Hop-Up in an attempt to reduce the effectiveness of weapons like 30-30 Repeater and Longbow DMR.

This article will highlight all the weapon changes alongside any balance updates for Apex Legends Season 21.

Apex Legends Season 21 All Weapon Changes

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Here is a list of all the changes that will be ingrained in the upcoming seasonal update for Apex Legends:

Weapons and Attachments

30-30 Repeater

Skullpiercer Hop-Up removed

The developers have taken note of this weapon being exceptionally lethal in medium and long-range gunfights with the Hop-Up. This change was made to help other marksman guns and sniper rifles compete.

Charge Rifle

ADS recoil improved and stabilized

This is not a significant buff but it will make it more usable as the devs have turned down its massive recoil kick.

Longbow DMR

Skullpiercer Hop-Up removed
Barrel Stabilizer attachment removed
Base recoil significantly improved
Projectile gravity reduced
ADS in and out time reduced

A smaller number of attachments for this entry-level sniper will help players utilize it more efficiently. However, the removal of the Hop-Up slot will result in a significant damage output reduction.

Triple-Take

Now takes Boosted Loader Hop-Up

The Boosted Loader will help the community make the most out of it and reduce the reload times by a large margin.

Hop-Ups

Skullpiercer removed from the loot pool
Boosted Loader added to the loot pool

The Boasted Loader will now add extra bullets when reloading supported weapons before the magazine is emptied.

1x Digital Threat Optic

Removed from loot pool and all locked set weapons

This optic is completely removed from all weapons, as it has a massive impact on the Legend pick rates due to its synergy with certain characters. The devs will likely implement perks after performing analytics, during Apex Legends Season 21, as an alternative to the use of this optic.

Also Read: Who is Alter in Apex Legends?

Care Package

Wingman returns to the floor

Projectile size reduced to pre-care package values
Damage reduced to 45 (was 50)
Skullpiercer Elite removed
Hipfire accuracy reduced
Now takes Boosted Loader Hop-Up
No longer takes magazines as an attachment

Devotion enters the Care Package

New Reverse Hipfire: Sustained hip-fire will tighten accuracy instead of widening
Damage increased to 16 (was 15)
Magazine size increased to 54 (was 48 at purple)
Reserve Ammo: 324
Empty reload time significantly reduced

Gold Weapons Rotation

Nemesis Burst AR, Triple-Take, Peacekeeper, Prowler PDW, and Longbow DMR

Guaranteed Weapons out of Loot Bins

The first loot bin opened by an unarmed player will always contain a weapon

This is a massive change that will provide the player base with an opportunity to fight against enemy squads without worrying about finding a weapon.

Retrieving Banners from Death Boxes

Collecting a banner will no longer lock the player out of critical gameplay actions

Running, shooting, punching, and reviving will all break out of the banner collect animation while still registering as a successful collection
Players can immediately interact with a Death Box a second time while the animation is playing or continue holding the interact button to collect and enter a Death Box in one flow

This is a massive change that will enable players to optimize looting and prevent idling while collecting banners in Apex Legends Season 21.