The Apex Legends devs have made the decision to disable the Sentinel sniper rifle in response to a game-breaking exploit discovered earlier this week. The exploit allowed the bolt-action rifle to fire at a blinding pace, making the weapon appear “fully automatic.” There is currently no word on when the sniper will make its return to the game.
The bug was discovered by Reddit user wingedkeyboard, who found the exploit while practicing with the Sentinel in the firing range. The exploit is very easy to replicate, making the Sentinel way more deadly than it’s meant to be. The sniper deals 70 damage to the body and 140 to the head, which is meant to be balanced by the slow rate of fire. The bug allows you to bypass the rechambering animation, making for an incredibly fast and incredibly deadly sniper rifle.
Weapon designer David Bocek commented on the original Reddit post, joking that if you wanted a Sentinel buff, here it was. He also confirmed that the bug wasn’t an intentional update to the weapon, and that the Apex Legends team was “workin on [it] right now.” After a couple days, Respawn has finally taken action against the exploit.
Respawn announced its decision on Twitter yesterday, confirming that the Sentinel has been temporarily removed from the game. “Due to an exploit with the Sentinel Sniper Rifle, we've decided to disable it while we work out a fix,” the team writes. “More info to come as we have it.” The team also reveals a bug from the Flashpoint game mode, which was causing the circle to spawn on top of players, has been fixed.
A fix for the Sentinel bug should hopefully be available soon, and the weapon will be allowed back into the game. Without the Sentinel, you’ll be fairly limited in viable sniper rifle options. The Triple Take and Longbow will typically be easy to find, but the ever-powerful Kraber will only be available via supply drops.
There is currently no confirmed date for the Sentinel’s return to Apex Legends. We can only hope the fix will come quickly, and the sniper will be added to the game once again.
Source: Respawn