Apex Legends

Apex Legends Tap Strafing Is Being Removed From The Game

Respawn Entertainment

Written by

Mel Ramsay

Published

1st Sep 2021 13:51

In a move that has angered pro players and fans alike, Respawn has announced that it is removing Apex Legends tap strafing.

The move, which was discovered by more die-hard Apex Legends gamers, has been deemed an 'exploit' as it gives a big boost to gameplay.

Apex Legends Tap Strafing Explained

Tap strafing in Apex Legends is when a player side jumps during the game, but in a way where you can change direction quickly, and perform fast movements. You can effectively dodge bullets by performing 180 spins, and keep momentum.

This is something that only mouse and keyboard players can realistically achieve, and has been known by Apex Legends players to give a unique benefit, where it is more difficult to shoot at a player while they are performing a tap strafing manoeuvre.

Apex Legends Tap Strafing: When Is It Being Removed?

Respawn Entertainment, the company behind Apex Legends, has confirmed that 'after much debate' they will be removing it from the game entirely. This will happen in patch 10.1. We don't know exactly when this will be, but we do know that it's soon.

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

Apex Legends Tap Strafing: What Are Pro Players And Streamers Saying About It Being Removed?

As you can imagine, fans' reactions were very much divided following the news. Pro Apex Legends player Nokokopuffs replied to the Tweet: "Actually sh*ttest decision ever made", which (at the time of writing) has achieved over 12,000 likes on the platform.

Tyler "Trainwreck" Niknam, a popular Twitch streamer, also disagreed with the decision and replied to the Tweet with a video (warning: strong language).

pic.twitter.com/gf6mYRFZ1X
— Trainwreck (@Trainwreckstv) August 31, 2021

He said: "Hey, Respawn. I saw that you removed tap strafing. Instead of, you know, catering to console players (those f*cking casuals), why not catering to us PC gamers that made your game? And remove aim assist, aka legal hacking. Thank you."

The video has amassed over 300k views at the time of writing.

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About the author

Mel Ramsay

Mel was the Editor-in-Chief at GGRecon. She was previously a senior journalist at LADbible, where she also wrote regularly for GAMINGbible and SPORTbible. She then became Head of Editorial at Social Chain, where she led the teams on GameByte, FragHero, Sporf, Student Problems, and others. Her work can also be found on Sky News, BBC, The Drum, Huffington Post, Student Problems, TYLA, and a range of other publications.