Apex Legends has some of the best FPS gameplay around, and I won’t hear otherwise. The gunplay, the dynamic movement, and the abilities all sing together in a perfect, enjoyable, balanced harmony. Well, sometimes. In Season 22, akimbo weapons were introduced to the battle royale, and while they’re jolly good fun, the incredibly overpowered akimbo Mozambiques have been terrorizing lobbies. Finally, Respawn has swooped in with a long-overdue nerf which should hopefully put the pesky pistol-shotgun back in its place.
The irony is that the Mozambique has long been Apex Legends’ most memed gun – in the early days of the battle royale game, it was hands down its weakest weapon and was only really picked up out of desperation. While there have been moments over the years where it has been somewhat viable, it’s rare you’d ever see someone walk into a final zone showdown with a Mozambique in hand.
However, that all changed this season when Respawn allowed players to wield akimbo Mozambiques (and P2020 pistols, too) if you could find two of the same gun. The effects have been dramatic, to say the least. With deadly accuracy and high damage output, the akimbo Mozambiques have been arguably the strongest close range loadout option in the game. It’s been that way for weeks – so long, in fact, that Season 23 is now less than three weeks away.
Now though, a new patch has delivered several tweaks to the Mozambique (both the singular weapon and its akimbo variant) that collectively result in a sizable nerf. Here are the changes that Respawn has made in today’s update:
- Single & Akimbo Mozambique have had their rate of fire reduced at base and all bolt rarities
- Magazine Size for a single is reduced to 5 (was 6)
- Magazine Size for Akimbo reduced to 10 (was 12)
- Blast pattern scale increased
- When using Akimbo Mozambiques, the projectile size is now reduced (normalized to other shotguns)
It appears that the community is just as relieved as I am, as there’s an overwhelmingly positive response to this patch on social media. While of course the Mozambiques have been extremely potent and fun tools that you can use for your own benefit, more often than not you’ll be on the receiving end of their immense power, and that’s no fun at all. Hopefully Respawn hasn’t overcorrected here and the Mozambiques are still good enough that you’d want to pick them up, but at least now they won’t be the all-conquering close-range king.
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