R-301 to get massive nerf in Apex Legends Season 16

As confirmed by developers Respawn Entertainment, Apex Legends' popular assault rifle R-301 is set to receive influential nerfs in the game’s much-anticipated new season, Revelry. All assault rifles will receive some changes to weaken the weapon class in close-range situations.

For any battle royale or shooter game, the weapon system needs periodic attention from the development team to retain a balanced state. The R-301 is a popular assault rifle in the game due to its accuracy and effectiveness in both long and close-range combat.

With recoil and hip-fire accuracy, the R-301 remains unmatched in Apex Legends’ current weapon pool, and some players have repeatedly mentioned the need to balance the weapon’s overpowered state. With Season 16, Respawn finally seems to have paid attention to the community's opinion.

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Apex Legends’ weapon pool, including R-301 Carbine, set to encapsulate massive changes through Season 16 update

The popular R-301 Carbine utilizes Light Rounds and supports a range of attachments that help boost its statistics. It features auto and semi-automatic firing modes, which are powerful and widely used in the game. The R-301’s semi-automatic mode can be enhanced with an Anvil Receiver, which doubles its damage at a small cost.

As proclaimed by Respawn Entertainment, the R-301 will receive a considerable nerf to its damage stat. An R-301 bullet will now deal 13 health damage to an enemy’s body instead of 14. With this change in place, players must land a few more bullets to take down enemies, thus slightly reducing the R-301’s efficiency.

It is unknown whether the R-301’s head and leg damage stats will remain the same. Presently, an R-301 bullet deals 25 damage to the head and 11 damage to the legs, which can be doubled with an Anvil Receiver.

Furthermore, all assault weapons, including the R-301, will feature reduced hip fire accuracy after the Season 16 update. This change is being implemented to reduce the efficacy of assault rifles in close-range scenarios, which will indirectly buff the current meta surrounding shotguns, pistols, and sub-machine guns.

Aside from changes to the existing weapon pool, Apex Legends will also welcome a new energy weapon called Nemesis. According to the developers, the four-round burst rifle has been tuned to compete with the R-301 and Flatline assault rifles.

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Commencing on February 14, Apex Legends’ sixteenth season will be dedicated to evolving the hero shooter’s existing Legend meta instead of adding a new Legend. The Legend class system will receive a huge revamp, adding five new classes to the meta.

Some exciting Legend reworks surrounding Lifeline, Sheer, and Wraith are also in line, in addition to a brand new Team Deathmatch mode which will replace the existing Arenas.