All major changes for weapons in Season 5 of Apex Legends

Apex Legends, being a shooter game about playing competitively, has always had a laser-focused meta-game. And in Season 5 of Apex Legends Respawn will be continually trying to maintain that with a balance pass of a bunch of weapons. Various weapons in Season 5 of Apex Legends have been hit with nerfs, with some notable removals as well. A few items even got buffed, so let’s dive in and find out what’s going on.

With that said, here are some of the major changes to the game in Season 5 in regards to weapon balance. Most of these chances are based on community reaction to certain OP weapons, as well as some attention Respawn paid to the prospect of bringing beloved weapon classes back into relevance in the meta-game. are about to get very interesting.

Legendary Peacekeeper

The rather powerful Peacekeeper was already a serious threat before this, and it was nerfed pretty heavily in Season 4. Respawn has reinforced the nerf this round, but not in a too obvious way. The Peacekeeper has been locked to Legendary loot drops now in Season 5 of Apex Legends. Having this core weapon locked to a restricted and rare loot class will force some players to shuffle their strategy around. The 20-round mag is the same in this round, but there is one core upgrade of note. The Precision Choke Hop-Up is now integrated with the weapon by default. The Peacekeeper will now charge when used with ADS, meaning that the shots will have drastically reduced spread over the course of the next shots. The final shot will be laser accurate.

Demoted Mastiff Shotgun

The Mastiff also got nerfed a bit, in that it is the only weapon in the class to not have an integrated Hop-Up. The compensation for this 6-round platform is that it is now a Common tier weapon, it does have a Level 3 bolt and a faster rate of fire compared to the Peacekeeper, making it an interesting option.

Anvil Receiver removed

Anvil Receiver, one of the most powerful and deadly Hop-Ups in Season 4, has been hit with a full removal. The mod will no longer drop in-game, and it has been removed from both the R-301 Carbine and the VK-47 Flatline as a possible mod. This change will require a shift for many players who relied on Anvil Receiver, but there are some options. Selectfire Receiver Hop-Up may now slide back into prominence thanks to its rapid fire rate and similar damage boost.

Skullpiercer Rifling returns

To compensate for the other removal and nerfs to weapons in Season 5 of Apex Legends Respawn has brought something back. Those of you playing in Season 2 may remember the Skullpiercer Hop-Up that attached to various weapons and added a nice boost to headshots. The mod is now back in a new form this time around. Skullpiercer Hop-Up will equip to Longbow DMR or the Wingman with an increased headshot scaling value.

Precision Choke for Triple Take only

The Precision Choke being integrated to other weapons this patch cycle has led to it needing to have its presence with other weapons reduced. Now the increased accuracy mod will only be allowed to be equipped to the Triple Take.

If you want the full details on what weapons in Season 5 of Apex Legends, check out the full balance details pulled from the patch notes below.

Weapon balancing patch notes

• Mastiff
  • The Mastiff is being rotated out of the care package to a regular weapon with its power reduced accordingly. 
  • Reduced damage per pellet from 18 to 13. 
  • Reduced headshot multiplier from 2.0 to 1.25. 
  • Increased blast pattern distances for the outer pairs of pellets. 
  • Increased blast pattern scale ADS multiplier from 0.5 to 0.55. 
  • Reduced fire rate from 1.3 to 1.0. 
  • Reduced projectile size to be more in line with other regular shotguns.
  • Increased shell count from 4 to 6.
  • Increased projectile speed to standard shotgun speed.
• Peacekeeper
  • Peacekeeper is being rotated out of a regular weapon and into the care package weapon with its power being increased accordingly.
  • Tightened pellet spread pattern.
  • Reduced rechamber time from 1.2 to 0.9.
  • Reduced reload times from 2.65 to 2.45 base and 3.6 to 3.35 empty.
  • Increased projectile size to improve consistency at close range.
• Alternator
  • Increased Mag size from 16 to 19. Level 1 Extended mag is now 22, Level 2 is now 25, and Level 3 is now 27. 
• RE-45 
  • Increased damage from 11 to 12.
  • Reduced reload time from 1.74 to 1.5 base and 2.12 to 1.95 empty
• Havoc
  • Vertical recoil increased.
  • Horizontal recoil slightly increased.
  • Recoil on the first 2 shots increased.
• Longbow DMR
  • Headshot scale reduced from 2.15 to 2.1.
• Wingman
  • Headshot scale reduced from 2.1 to 2.0. 
• Hop Ups
  • Adding Skullpiercer Hopup for DMR and Wingman.
    DMR w/ Skullpiercer – Headshot scale 2.1 -> 2.5
    Wingman w/ Skullpiercer – Headshot scale 2.0 -> 2.25
  • Vaulted Anvil Receiver.