Respawn Entertainment announced plans to remove “tap-strafing” from Apex Legends in an upcoming patch. The controversial movement technique is wildly popular as of late, and while it’s technically an exploit, many don’t see it as a problem considering it takes loads of skill to pull off.
So what is tap-strafing, exactly? Basically, it’s a maneuver in Apex Legends that lets you change direction midair in a pinch without slowing down at all. Imagine zipping around corners as if momentum was never interrupted, and that’s tap-strafing.
Unless you’re a seasoned Apex Legends player, any footage of tap-strafing is hard to recognize, but the below video should give you some idea of how it works.
A significant point to consider here is that this technique was community-discovered, not intentionally implemented by developer Respawn Entertainment, and therefore an exploit. So come patch 10.1, tap-strafing is getting removed from Apex Legends.
“After much consideration and debate, we’ve decided to remove tap-strafing from Apex Legends,” said Respawn Entertainment in a statement on Twitter. “Our reasoning: It’s inaccessible, lacks readability/counterplay, and is exacerbated by movement abilities.”
After much consideration and debate, we've decided to remove tap-strafing from @playapex in patch 10.1.
Our reasoning: It's inaccessible, lacks readability/counterplay, and is exacerbated by movement abilities.
The next patch notes will include a more detailed note about this.
— Respawn (@Respawn) August 31, 2021
The reaction from most Apex Legends pros is, well, not particularly kind — ranging from nasty comments hurled Respawn Entertainment to advocating that players should play something else in protest. The blowback is downright bananas.
Some of the tweets below contain NSFW language, so read ahead at your discretion.
Written by Kyle Campbell on behalf of GLHF.