There’s a nasty new bug going around in Apex Legends and no, we’re not talking about the coronavirus.
Fortunately for players of Respawn’s popular battle royale, this affliction isn’t a threat to your physical health, though frequent use of choice expletives will certainly be a side effect of those affected. As for what the unintended feature entails: you’re better off checking out the clip over on Reddit for a visual explanation, uploaded recently to the Apex subreddit.
As the footage recorded by user Kemble95 shows, they’re sent into a downed state after being ambushed by an enemy team. Nothing unusual there, of course, but where events start to take a turn towards bizarre is when Kemble, despite being at death’s door, continues attacking a similarly weakened Lifeline. As regulars to Worlds Edge and Kings Canyon will know all too well, the use of offensive abilities while in the downed state should be impossible and Kemble being able to use Wraith’s melee attack in such a way is clearly unintended behaviour.
As of writing, it appears as if nobody has been able to discern the means of replicating the bug, so it’s tough to say just how prevalent it is among the wider player base. There’s every chance that what Kemble experienced is little more than a freak occurrence triggered under very specific circumstances. Whatever the case, Respawn is seemingly unaware (or not concerned) with the issue, as it’s yet to appear on the game’s regularly updated Trello board meant to keep track of such nuisances.
We’ll let you know should the situation change, but for now, you’re unlikely to face many issues going about your daily Apex Legends routine. Should you find yourself in a similar position to that above, however, we’d suggest just, you know, staying as far away from opposing downed players as possible.