In season 7, Respawn introduced Horizon as their new legend. This brilliant astrophysicist has a knack for soft landings and gravity manipulation.
All of her abilities are centered around gravity manipulation. Following her release, she became an instant hit among the player base. Consequently, her win rate in most all level competitions was also climbing at a fast pace.
She provided more fluid movement in the air. Since Apex Legends is a game highly influenced by its movement, her inclusion meant players now had more options to play as a character with crazy movements.
Respawn believes Horizon released strong but not overpowered. However, in the mid-season Fight Night event, Respawn decided to nerf her tactical by increasing her tactical cooldown from 16 seconds to 21 seconds. Turns out, after the nerf, her win rate increased.
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Horizon’s Win Rate Increased Post Nerf
Instead of a decline, her win rate and pick rate both increased after the new patch went live. And it really bewildered the developers as it doesn’t make any sense. Some fans speculated maybe most players with good skills started to pick her more and more. That may have created a snowball effect.
As a result, she might be witnessing this massive spike in her win rate. But that still doesn’t explain the whole story, according to the devs.
This bizarre situation left some devs truly confused. At first glance, it doesn’t make any sense, as nerfing a character usually leads to a decreased win rate for that particular character. Despite all that, Horizon is slowly becoming one of the more popular legends in the game, as per with other popular characters like Wraith.
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