Hemlock alt fire BROKEN

Team, the new Hemlock alt fire is not fire.

Consider what you have enabled. For a mere 15s cool down and a petty ammo cost (negated by infinite ammo mod) you have made every character in Apex a HARD counter to control legends.

Unlike legend counters (like Maggie vs Rampart) the devs have made every player an easy destroyer of anything control! I don’t care who you play, but if you come on my team as a rampart or catalyst, I’m assuming NONE of your tacticals will help. Because every player has a hemlock and if I turn my back to the rampart wall or reinforced door, a SINGLE hemlock shot… not another tactical, not an ultimate… a single…. Cheap… 15s cool down shot… from a NORMAL ground pickup weapon will neutralize anything you do! A whole minute of fortifying neutralized in an instant! I see it all the time now!

I mean, aside from caustic (obvious reasons) control characters have had a hard time keeping up in the meta and then the devs do a hemlock rework!?!?! To create an overpowered alt fire that makes control legends effectively useless? Why!? So you could bring parity to the R301!?! How does this rework even come close to “parity” with the r301?????? You guys have upended any sense of balance with this weapon rework!

Ok, so I’ve given my critique… obviously I’m not a fan. I think it was poorly thought out, poorly executed, and while I see what you guys were going for… I think it’s pretty hard to deny this change is game breaking (reference your own data on the hemlock use in the current meta)

So what to do about it. Well…

First, hemlock alt fire needs reworked PERIOD! To have a base ability like this is unprecedented! NO other weapons even comes close in base form. Its nearest equivalent is the charged bow which uses a grenade to add explosive arrows for a number of shots. THIS is where the devs should have gone with this rework…. Not base kit (rolling my eyes)

Grab the new hemlock, grab an arch star, spend 4 seconds charging the hemlock, you get 3 shots with EMP grenade on 15s cool down, or three shots with reduced effect… honestly, you guys just need to reel this thing in, it’s way too powerful and cheap!

Second, you could make it a gold tier attachment or some rare pickup. Honestly, I don’t care how you do it, but you need to reduce the prevalence in the game to keep control legends viable. Whichever way you choose will be better than what you have done.

Now for counter arguments. For all those touting this new weapon, I’m willing to bet you’re not fans of control legends and probably rarely play control legends; if you do play control, i bet they’re not your main. In either case, while I’m sure some of you laud this new alternative fire mode for its ability to uproot entrenched teams, I encourage you to think objectively about the time, resources, and tactics you spend (with hemlock) compared to what you used to. I think any “fair” reasonable person would come to the conclusion that the cheap cost associated with uprooting fortifications with the new hemlock is unbalanced and unprecedented in Apex. The cost simply isn’t there to justify the impact on the entire meta and I challenge anyone to find an equivalent change in the whole of Apex history.

There, off my soap box. Devs, I hope you take the free advice, because you need to do something.