Bangalore and Bloodhound formed one of Apex Legends‘ simplest and most effective synergies: Bangalore blocked vision with her smoke, and Bloodhound’s ultimate allowed them to see through that smoke. But following changes to both characters with massive implications for their playstyle, ALGS players could turn to an old favorite—Seer.
In the patch notes for Apex‘s Double Take event, the legend balance changes noted alterations to Bangalore and Bloodhound that change fundamental aspects of their ability kits both have had since the early days of Apex. Enemies inside of Bangalore’s smokes will now show as white outlines to other players also inside of the smoke. While these outlines won’t show to players outside of the smoke, it’s still a huge change that impacts the effectiveness of Bangalore’s smokes to make combat more difficult and help her team reset. But it also sneakily buffs her in situations where teams want to aggress and take a clean fight, giving the teams fighting a clear view of each other while hiding the action from those outside the smokes. Meanwhile, Bloodhound’s ultimate no longer sees through smokes or gas. Enemies will only appear highlighted in red if nothing interrupts their line of sight to Bloodhound.
Those are huge changes for both the casual Apex audience and ALGS pros. Bangalore and Bloodhound have rarely been unpopular with Apex players, with Bloodhound the fourth-most picked legend currently and Bangalore sitting at sixth, according to Apex Legends Status. But those numbers become even more impressive in ALGS play: the lowest pickrate for either legend in any major ALGS region in the current split is Bloodhound in APAC North, where they’re picked 80 percent of the time. Every other region currently selects both legends in more than 90 percent of games, leading to lobbies filled with teams running the pair.
That will almost assuredly change, as the pros used the two characters for the same reason you do in ranked: The combo of Bangalore’s smokes and Bloodhound’s ultimate is just too good, and if another team has that synergy while you don’t, you’re at a major fight disadvantage. Without that synergy, teams might look to an old recon king to fill the void in Seer.
Pro Apex players love recon characters. Information is king in the battle royale, and the best recon characters not only tell you where other teams are in your immediate vicinity, but also have access to recon beacons that can give your team a momentary glimpse of where everyone is on the map guiding your rotations. For that reason, it’s unlikely teams start abandoning recon characters. They just need one that can still reveal people from afar in smokes and Caustic’s gas better than Bloodhound, and Seer can still do that.
While Seer was utterly dominant for about a full calendar year in pro play, he was subsequently nerfed to hell in 2023, and ALGS players stopped using him. However, a lot of the utility he lost came back, at least in part, through the legend upgrade system introduced in season 20, and he’s now the legend most likely to fill the recon void left by Bloodhound.
Seer’s ultimate, unlike Bloodhound’s, will be able to give teams those infamous “diamond” scans in smokes and gas, with everyone on the team benefiting from the ultimate. And with Bangalore’s smoke adjustment residing more in the realm of “change” than “nerf,” I think it’s likely we’ll see teams try out a new partnership of Bangalore and Seer in ALGS coming soon.
As for Bloodhound? They’ll likely remain popular for casual play. But don’t expect to see them in ALGS play anytime soon; the nerf to the Beast of the Hunt ultimate likely means teams will drop the legend wholesale.
