Top Players Outraged by Apex Legends’ Tap Strafe Movement Nerf

Well, it seems like Apex Legends has done it again—igniting yet another round of heated discussions that pits PC enthusiasts against console warriors, controller users against those wielding a mouse and keyboard, and of course, the ever-present clash between seasoned experts and casual participants. This time, the heart of the debate is tap strafing—a nimble movement technique favored by the game’s elite mouse-and-keyboard players to keep them on their toes and out of harm’s way. The latest update has dialed back the frequency at which players can ‘lurch’ during a tap strafe, significantly diminishing its effectiveness. While most players may not even notice this tweak, it’s created quite a stir among the game’s most devoted and skilled PC users.

Apex Legends sure has had its challenges lately. Although the game’s developers have been shaking things up with fresh content and rebalancing in recent seasons, it hasn’t stopped players from drifting away. It’s far from being a ghost town—daily Steam peaks still hit over 100,000—but that’s a significant drop from the bustling days of early 2024, when figures soared past 300,000. It’s unfortunate; even though Apex is arguably still one of the most thrilling FPS experiences, I’ve found myself stepping away for a bit recently.

This week’s mid-season update brought a slew of beneficial changes, yet tucked away under bug fixes was a crucial note: “Added a buffer to tap strafes to combat automated movement tech at high frame rates.” In other words, Respawn is cracking down on players using macros to mimic advanced techniques, which usually gives less-skilled players an edge. Unfortunately, this adjustment impacts the purists who have painstakingly honed their tap strafing skills over the years. The update introduces a slight but unmistakable delay between direction shifts, disrupting the once-fluid movement. While tap strafing isn’t rendered useless, it’s certainly a shadow of its former self.

This shift has left top-tier PC players and some high-profile content creators—known for their impressive maneuvers—feeling let down.

Professional Apex player Alan ‘Vaxlon’ Gonzalez didn’t hold back, saying, “Honestly, I was pretty happy with the direction of where Apex was going with making characters stronger, but nerfing an enjoyable character like [Pathfinder] AND nerfing the enjoyment of tap strafing is beyond frustrating. It feels like 1 step forward and 2 steps back. Keep the fun, don’t nerf it.”

Echoing that sentiment, Apex community icon and ALGS Championship victor Phillip ‘ImperialHal’ Dosen labeled the change “game breaking” in his rundown of the update.

Even if this update won’t directly impact most players, making changes that rile up major influencers and top professionals isn’t the best move when the game could really use positive buzz from those figures. Sure, Respawn’s aim to address macros is understandable, but it’s clear that the method of doing so hasn’t sat well with everyone. I doubt we’ll see a rollback on this, though, and high-skill mouse-and-keyboard players will likely just have to adapt to the new standard.

For more insights into Respawn’s battle royale, we’ve refreshed our Apex Legends characters tier list to show where the meta stands after the update.

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