“Pay to win” Apex Legends heirloom gives buff to underused legends

Connor Bennett
Apex Legends characters holding Katar artifacts

Apex Legends players believe the Katar Artifact is “pay to win” as it now gives a buff to Rampart and Vantage’s ultimates that make you harder to spot. 

Like pretty much every multiplayer game these days, Apex Legends is deep into the cosmetics game. Log in, head to the Apex Store, and you’ll be greeted with a massive selection of items. The newest of which, though, are the Apex Artifacts. 

Just like the much sought-after Heirlooms, Artifacts are lore-based melees weapons. However, they also go a step beyond that. You can get a customizable deathbox skin too. Well, provided you’ve upgraded and unlocked the base, theme, power source variants, and the activation emote. 

The Katar is the only Artifact you can get your hands on. Yet, right now, that is good news for anyone who mains Rampart or Vantage. Despite their not-so-stellar pick rates, the Katar actually gives a buff to these two by making their ultimates invisible. 

That’s right, in Season 22, players have found a bug that allows anyone who wields the Katar with Rampart or Vantage to hide their ultimate – including the guns and their lasers. Yes, they’re impossible to spot as a result. 

Players have quickly labeled that as “pay to win,” seeing as getting your hands on a Katar is not cheap. “Wow, what a find, Pay 2 Win without a doubt,” one said

“Wait is this why I’ve been getting so many consecutive hits since the new season lmao, thought there was an unusually high number of people unaware that I was looking at them,” another added. 

“This explains why I’ve been aiming dead on someone with vantage and they just stood there and accepted it lol,” commented another. 

In the past, Respawn has acted quickly with regards to pay-to-win items. They adjusted the iron sight on the Splash Zone Flatline skin when that became problematic. But, we’ll have to wait and see on the Katar.