New Apex Legends bug allows players to down each other in drop ship

A bug in the latest Apex Legends v3.1 patch has meant that players can now down opponents before they even get the chance to land.

Imagine loading into a game of Apex Legends with your mates. You are getting ready to drop onto Worlds Edge, looking forward to a game filled with plenty of kills and intense action. 

Except, instead of dropping normally, your body flops aimlessly towards the ground, downed without a bit of health. That could be you in this current patch, as there’s an exploitable bug which allows players to down each other before they even drop onto the map. 

Currently, as you load into game, you can run around and melee people in the drop ship. You can’t see where you are in the ship, or who you are meleeing, but it’s possible to land a few pot shots onto someone and down them before the game even starts. 

• Read more: Apex Legends v3.1 patch notes

You can start meleeing from loading screen – even before the drop ship countdown is done – meaning you can down a couple of opponents in the fifteen seconds it takes to start the game.

If you and your partners are all downed in the drop ship, you will be eliminated from the game before it even starts. However, if you aren’t knocked in the ship, your health will refresh to full once you jump out to your preferred landing zone. 

This can have a major impact on the game. Instead of landing healthy and ready to loot, you must first stop to revive before getting equipment. Plus, if you get the chance to revive a downed ally as they land, they’ll only come back with the default 20 health.

• Read more: Images of next Apex Legends Heirloom set leaked

That means you might not have adequate time to prepare for later rounds before the circle closes in, or leave you vulnerable to nearby teams who didn’t have to wait for a downed ally. You might also be lacking supplies, so you might not even have enough meds to top your mate up.

Thankfully, Respawn Entertainment are aware of the bug and are working on a fix to be deployed as soon as possible, although there’s no current ETA on the patch. We will update you once a fix is released.

For now, players will have to be mindful of where they stand in the drop ship, and try and aimlessly run around to avoid getting knocked down before the game even starts.