Certain Apex Legends Characters Pick Rates Are Suffering in Season 5
Certain Apex Legends characters pick rates are suffering, while others are rising after drastic buffs and nerfs following the launch of Season 5: Fortune’s Favor.
Respawn Entertainment’s patch notes for Season 5 included significant buffs to characters like Mirage, as well as severe downgrades for Pathfinder in particular.
Dreamteam.gg’s data of “Most Popular Legends” paints a very shocking picture of pick rates for certain characters.
In fact, on the week of Season 5’s release, Mirage’s pick rate shot up from 1.81% of PC players to 6.82%, where Pathfinder’s pick rate took a dive of 22% to 10.56%, slashing the number of players using the robot in half.
Click to enlargeThe overview of all the Legend picks on average (over all platforms) is as follows;
Wraith – 26.37%
Pathfinder – 10.30%
Lifeline – 8.15%
Caustic – 8.06%
Loba – 7.03%
Octane – 6.50%
Bloodhound – 6.45%
Bangalore – 6.36%
Mirage – 5.78%
Wattson – 4.67%
Revenant – 4.53%
Gibraltar – 4.36%
Crypto – 3.18%
Looking more in-depth at Pathfinder, the mobility character’s abilities were nerfed pretty badly in Season 5, with his Tactical grapple ability receiving a 35-second cooldown, where it used to be a mere 15 seconds. Respawn Entertainment devs explained the change, saying;
Given the power of quick repositioning in Apex, being able to use Pathfinder's grappling hook multiple times in a fight is both too powerful and muddies combat legibility.
The stats tell a heartbreaking story for Pathfinder mains, who are moving away from the happy robot for greener (and quicker cooldown) pastures, with his pick rate and win rate reducing from highs of 19.95% and 8.89% respectively, to 12.9% and 3.13%.
Click to enlargeMirage’s pick rate trajectory is a different story. The designer notes of the Season 5 patch notes state;
The hope for this rework is that it gives more depth to Mirage gameplay by giving Mirage players avenues to get better at Bamboozling people.
And boy, did it give it depth. Not only can Mirage now control his decoys from afar, lasting a very long 60 seconds, he also has a team of mimics for his Ultimate Ability. Mirage is also now invisible when reviving a teammate (and the downed squad member is also cloaked) and using a respawn beacon.
The buffs have finally made Mirage a viable character, where he may previously have been mainly played for fun. Mirage now appears in Tier A of our Apex Legends tier list, and is cementing himself as the best combat medic in the game (sorry, Lifeline.)
The stats for Mirage see a dramatic rise in his pick rate from the time of the update, only slowing down in recent weeks.
Click to enlargeIt's possible over the coming weeks, and new patches and updates to Apex Legends, that we will see even more drastic changes in pick rates for certain Legends, as more balance issues are addressed, and perhaps even class-specific abilities come into play.
Image via Respawn Entertainment