Apex Legends has found itself in a marksman meta for a while now. Getting up close and personal, the R99 SMG remains unmatched, but at range? The G7 Scout and 30-30 Repeater are by far the most meta choices.
Just take a look at the data from the Apex Legends Global Series (ALGS) Championship. Oblivion may have clutched a fairytale victory in Sapporo, but there were no such surprises when it came to the weapons used.
R99 & Marksman Rifles Dominate ALGS Champs Stats
According to data collected by the Apex Legends Status website, the R99 was by far and away the deadliest weapon used in the tournament, with 153 kills across the four days of competition. The next-highest was the Scout, with just 71 kills.
However, when you sort for damage, it’s another story entirely. The Scout now leads the pack with 77,364 across the long weekend, with the R99 behind.
Fellow marksman weapon, the Triple Take, takes bronze with 39,941 damage. This shows us that, at medium to long range, the marksman weapons are king. For dealing poke damage and wasting opponents’ resources, they’re perfect. Any closer, you can switch to an SMG.
AR Buffs Could Signal Meta Shift in Ranked
But could the recent assault rifle buffs change this? As a part of the Winter Wipeout update, both the R301 and VK47 Flatline received buffs, increasing the damage of each bullet by one for both guns. Could this be enough to replace the marksman rifles in ranked and pro-level competition? Maybe.
The biggest hurdle facing assault rifles at the highest level of play is the accuracy that pro players can achieve with SMGs, even at medium range. When you can beam someone with an R99 or Alternator from 100 meters and utilize the same weapon for close-quarters fights, why pick up an assault rifle instead?
That’s why pros are leaning towards marksman weapons for their primaries, because they’re more effective than sniper rifles (which, aside from the Kraber, accumulated just 6 kills across the three weapons in ALGS Champs).
From that data, we can deduce that the assault rifle buff probably won’t topple the marksman meta in the ALGS, and also won’t be impactful enough to change the tide against SMGs. However, ranked could be a different story.
Anecdotally speaking, I don’t see half as many marksman rifles in ranked as we do on stage at the top tier of tournaments. Maybe that gives away my lack of grinding recently, but assault rifles could find a foothold here.
Players are less cagey in ranked; RP is less important than hundreds of thousands of dollars. People push harder, take fights more readily, and don’t tend to take potshots from a distance. Here, the assault rifle could shine.
I’ll take any opportunity to pick up a Flatline again. It’s my dedicated beamer and probably the weapon I’ve used most across my seven years of playing the game, and more players following suit would only make heavy ammo more readily available as I loot their death boxes.
It will never replace SMGs until they receive a hefty nerf of their own, and even then, they’d probably be replaced by shotguns for their short-range utility. But I’ll be happy if I can reliably crack some shields without resorting to the Scout on the ranked ladder this season.