ImperialHal slams “braindead” Valkyrie nerf in Apex Legends competitive

TSM pro Philip ‘ImperialHal’ Dosen has criticized the “braindead” nerf to Valkyrie’s Ultimate that only applies in Apex Legends competitive.

Since her arrival in Outlands, Valkyrie has been one of the strongest characters on the Apex Legends roster.

This is particularly true in competitive, where the Winged Avenger’s crowd control Tactical, incredible mobility, and unmatched rotations from her Ultimate are all invaluable.

As you would expect, this has made her a top-tier pick in the ALGS. Noticing this, Respawn decided to implement an indirect nerf to Valkyrie with the Spellbound Collection event that only affects pros.

The change stops players from using emotes while in the air that were previously used to help dodge bullets. Well, ImperialHal isn’t happy about the nerf, describing it as “braindead” and he’s concerned it’s going to make it too easy to shoot enemies rotating around the map.

ImperialHal slams secret Valkyrie ALGS nerf in Apex Legends

On January 10, Respawn implemented a small change to the tournament settings that affects the ALGS. One of them included “no emoting while in the air” during competitive play.

While at a glance this seems insignificant, it’s actually a secret nerf to Valkyrie as pros often use emotes while rotating with her Ultimate to make it harder for foes on the ground to shoot them.

Now, teams using Skyward Dive are going to be a lot more exposed to gunfire and it may even be possible to beam enemies straight out of the sky.

Reacting to the news on stream, ImperialHal claims the change is “braindead” and will result in teams getting “one-clipped out of the air” with no counterplay.

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Explaining to his viewers that hitting shots on opponents mid-air is easier on LAN, Hal is convinced that using a Valk Ultimate in competitive from now is a death sentence.

Either way, we’ll have to wait and see whether this indirect nerf will reduce the amount of Winged Avengers in the ALGS.