Crypto has been in a rough spot in Apex Legends since his initial release in the game’s third season.
While some dedicated players have been able to take his somewhat lackluster kit and find devastating ways to use it, the wider player base has never been quite as keen to adopt the Surveillance Expert. A rework going into this season promised improvements to Crypto’s gameplay flow that Crypto mains and other fans were excited to see go live.
But unfortunately for the developers at Respawn, it seems to have only been the Crypto mains who have retained that excitement. Despite the rework and balance tuning, Crypto currently sits at the bottom of Apex’s pick rate at 1.9 percent, according to Apex Legends Status. He’s second only to Rampart, who has a pick rate of 1.4 percent.
This sparked a lot of community discussion last week, seeing as kit reworks to the likes of Mirage in previous years have had significantly more staying power when it comes to the legend’s popularity. “Crypto season 12 buff was more a QoL,” said one user who went on to explain they saw the adjustments to be exclusively targeted at players who already regularly played the legend. “If you didn’t like Crypto before the buff, you’re still not gonna like him.”
But other players who tried out Crypto’s rework suggested it would have had more of an impact if Crypto’s new ability to throw his drone had a bit more utility. Many in the thread had assumed prior to release that the drone throw would have had significant range and were frustrated to see the drone stopped after only flying 25 meters.
This makes a toss followed by immediate activation of Crypto’s EMP ultimate dangerous as you’ll still be within range of its area-of-effect. Commenters suggested a buff to the range to make the ability usable in combination with the EMP more safely would make him more fun to play. But another person downplayed the idea since the current range seemed very intentional by Respawn. “I guess they really don’t want players to be able to use the drone like an EMP nade of sorts,” they said.
Whether Respawn chooses to further buff Crypto remains to be seen, but it appears that a lot more needs to be done for the legend to start turning heads away from the popular mainstays. But you can potentially expect a sudden rise in his pick rate when the Warriors collection event goes live on March 29 alongside Crypto’s Heirloom: the Biwon Blade.
Ultimately, balancing solutions will be the only way that pick rates remain high long-term. But seeing that other legends like Seer and Rampart at the bottom of the list aren’t receiving much love in that department either, hopes shouldn’t remain high.
