Is Taxi2g's Apex Legends perma-ban for ult-dashing justified?

In a weird turn of events, Apex Legends streamer Svend-Erik ‘Taxi2g’ Høegh was banned for life from the game a couple of weeks ago. Accused of exploiting the ult-dash glitch during the match, he was kicked out of a match during a stream on January 12, 2022.

Thinking this was some kind of mistake, he then tried playing Apex Legends on two other alternate accounts, both of which were consecutively banned as well. This was followed by an official email from publisher EA the next day claiming Taxi was caught cheating.

No further response from them has been offered that sheds light on the validity of the situation.

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Is Apex Legends' ult-dash ban fair?

Post the ban, Taxi admitted that he had used the ult-dash glitch to gain the upper hand during gameplay in Apex Legends.

Since EA specifically states that in-game exploits of mechanics or bugs count as cheating, it looks to be a well-deserved punishment. Oddly enough though, there have been claims going around that many people who have been exploiting the speed glitch still haven't been locked off from playing Apex Legends.

So was this ban genuine for abusing an exploit or just a random, out-of-the-blue whack?

If it is the former, then why isn't it affecting everyone? If it's the latter, shouldn't Respawn make it a priority to fix their anti-cheat system so it doesn't doll out banhammers at the drop of a hat?

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A look at ult-dash, the mechanic that can lead to an instant ban in Apex Legends

Ult dash is a glitch that allows a Legend (title for the game's cast of 19 playable characters) to gain a sudden burst of speed for a few seconds. This boost can be spammed infinitely in bursts.

Youtuber RossBobSquirrel explains it in the following video:

However, only 5 Legends can perform this exploit: Gibraltar, Seer, Bangalore, Caustic and Horizon. This glitch is possible due to these Legends having throwable Ultimates - each character's powerful signature ability.

The glitch requires the Legends to have their Ultimate ready to use. Players must press the Ultimate button, followed by the melee button and then immediately the swap weapon button.

The Legend performs a punch that boosts them forward after the melee input and the weapon swap cancels the punch animation. This allows the boost to be triggered repeatedly using the sequence of inputs.

Note that if the Legend ends up completing the punch animation, they won't be able to perform the glitch unless swapped with another Legend.

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EA's popular hero-based battle-royale based in the Titanfall universe has consistently been one of the most popular games on the market for a while now.

In this game, players control one of many unique heroes in exciting skirmishes acros expansive landscapes against 60 players. Apex Legends is available as a free-to-play title on PC, PS4, PS5, XB1, XSX|S and Switch.