Bizarre Apex Legends bug bounces bullets and equipment away from targets

[jwplayer UQowmNq2]In the past week, the Apex Legends community has been absolutely dumbfounded by some new collision bugs that seem to be causing certain shots and equipment to ricochet away from their intended targets.

The first instance in which this bug was observed felt like a scene straight out of a surreal anime. Albralelie, a professional player for TSM, fired a Sentinel shot at an enemy on July 20 only for the bullet to be…punched away?

From Albralelie’s POV, players were quick to note that maybe he had missed and the Wraith or someone had fired back a missed Sentinel shot at precisely the right time. While this would provide a comforting answer, the mystery isn’t so easily solved as the enemy doesn’t seem to be in the process of shooting at all.

• Read more: Apex Legends developers respond to claims of burnout at Respawn

Confirming that the foe was not shooting and was, in fact, punching—the internet is fortunate enough to have the downed player’s POV as well. From their angle, you can clearly see their teammate come into view mid-punch, then a second trail of smoke as the bullet is redirected in the opposite direction.

Unless Respawn Entertainment has shadow buffed melee in the game to the extent that players can now time punches to deflect incoming damage, Apex Legends seems to have a collision bug on its hands.

And the glitch isn’t limited to snipers and punches, as evidenced by another clip shared on Reddit by ‘turndown4matte.’ In their clip, they’re playing Caustic and throw out his ultimate, Nox Gas Grenade, only for it to mysteriously alter course midway through the air, diverting its path and curving to the left.

• Read more: Apex Legends players devise genius buff for Crypto

In the clip, you can also see that their teammate throws an Arc Star moments before the Gas Bomb launches along the exact same trajectory. With nothing else involved, bullets or punches, it stands to reason that there is some sort of collision bug involved in these equipment interactions as well.

There is no sensible answer to either of these clips. In both, game elements appear to interact in a way that was not intended. Punching bullets and deflecting grenades with other thrown equipment could be pretty cool, but they haven’t been a part of Apex Legends and it would feel strange for those mechanics to be suddenly, covertly introduced. 

As of yet, there has been no response from the game’s developers. In the meantime, maybe space out your team’s grenade tosses.