Apex Legends Update Snuck In Long-Awaited Gibraltar Nerf

Apex Legends' patch notes for the latest update already nerfed Gibraltar in one way, but the patch notes have since been updated to include a long-awaited change not initially noted. The patch notes now correctly say that Gibraltar's Gun Shield has been nerfed so that it'll allow excess damage to bleed through to Gibraltar's armor or health, and on top of that, damage done to his shield will now count towards players' own damage trackers as well as their Evo Shield gains.

The Gibraltar nerf now reflected in the patch notes is one that Respawn Entertainment and the Apex Legends community have been talking about for a while now. Its introduction in the last update was inspired by frustration around the Gun Shield mechanics with regards to the shield's ability to block huge amounts of damage with ease. Those frustrations should now be alleviated with players able to shatter the Defender Legend's shield while knowing that their work isn't done in vain.

We're updating the latest @playapex patch notes to capture a missed change to Gibby:

📈: Damaging a Gibraltar's Gun Shield now counts as damage towards Evo Shield and stats
🛡️: Damage that exceeds the Gun Shield’s 50hp will now bleed through to damage Gibraltar

— Respawn (@Respawn) March 9, 2021

With the way the Gun Shield worked previously, it could soak up gratuitous amounts of damage that far exceeded the 50 HP the shield's allotted without the Gibraltar player having to worry about getting damaged in the process. The best example to illustrate the problem is that if you shot Gibraltar's Gun Shield with a Kraber, you'd only break the Gun Shield itself whereas that shot on any other Legend would shatter their Body Armor. With the nerf now released, that same Kraber shot will shatter the Gun Shield and inflict the rest of the bullet's damage (-50 if the Gun Shield was fully charged) onto Gibraltar himself. You'll get the Evo Shield progress regardless, too, so now trading shots with a Gibraltar across vast distances might actually be worth the effort.

The change was always expected to come at some point, but not in this update. The fact that it's now been released is surprising in that sense, but it's something most players who've grown frustrated with Gibraltar have been looking forward to for a while now.

That nerf is also yet another change for the game's Defender meta which was already notably affected by the latest update. Wattson, Rampart, and Caustic all got buffed or nerfed as well, and Gibraltar already lost the bonus healing speed effect granted under his Dome Shield. Anecdotally, it already seems as though there's been some shifts in the Defender meta, but it'll take some time still for the update's effects to settle since the patch has only been out for a day.