Respawn is set to fix a myriad of issues in Apex Legends with the next patch for the Battle Royale shooter, including Gibraltar’s sticky shield and the game’s long-standing hit registration issues.
Respawn Community Manager Jay Frechette revealed the changes and improvements included in the upcoming patch, which is set to roll out early this week, at the official Apex Legends sub-Reddit.
The patch will address the amusing bug that allows players to stick objects to Gibraltar’s Gun Shield, including Caustic’s gas canisters to create what is now known as the “Gib-Caustic Joust.”
“Admittedly it’s been fun to see the results of this but the behavior is not intended by design and could get out of control,” Frechette wrote. Items will no longer stick to Gibraltar’s shield after the update, so players who want one last crack at the Gib-Caustic Joust now only have a few days to enjoy it.
Gibraltar, along with Caustic, will also receive a fix for the Fortified passive ability, which was introduced in update 1.1.1. The ability was designed to make up for the bigger hitboxes of the two characters by granting a 10% reduction in damage, but players reported that they were taking both shield and health damage when shields were fully charged. With the upcoming patch, Fortified will start working properly to improve the playability of Gibraltar and Caustic.
The next Apex Legends patch will also roll out fixes that Respawn expects will eliminate many instances of incorrect hit registration, along with behind-the-scenes trackers of bullet damage logic. The developer has also refined the network problem indicators on the upper right of the screen, as one possible cause for hit detection issues is internet connection problems. Respawn expects some hit registration problems to persist though, and encourages players to keep sharing videos and sending in reports after the patch is rolled out.
Respawn will also fix the “Pick Me Up” banner bug for Lifeline that is causing PlayStation 4 units to crash, and will re-enable the banner once the patch is live.
The new Apex Legends patch will also make several improvements to the game’s audio, for problems such as sounds dropping out and missing sounds for extended time. There will also be several changes, including lowering the master volume for all sounds during the character select screen through the drop sequence and increasing the volume of the footsteps of enemies in close proximity.
Respawn has not identified a specific date for the release of the next Apex Legends patch, but players should expect it to arrive in a few days.