Respawn delays Apex Legends tap strafing patch after “unexpected side effects”

Respawn Entertainment have delayed the Apex Legends update intended to remove tap strafing after the developers saw it disrupted other movement techniques in the game.

The studio is still planning to remove the tap strafe mechanic from Apex soon, but have yet to find a solution that wouldn’t affect other key movesets as well. It’s because of this that Respawn will hold off on the patch update for now.

“The Apex Legends team has recently discovered some unexpected side effects of our planned changes to tap-strafing,” Respawn said in a Sept 13 tweet. “It is still our intention to address some of the most egregious use-cases of tap-strafing, but for now we are delaying our planned change to a later patch.”

Seasoned Apex players have a litany of tools at their disposal for outplaying and outmaneuvering their competition in the battle royale.

Respawn are aware of how important these mechanics are for their player base, and they’re approaching the tap strafe nerf with caution to avoid any unintended gameplay elsewhere.

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“Movement is sacred in Apex,” Respawn continued. “We weigh every change to these systems carefully and value feedback.

“After further testing, we’ve concluded we need to take more time to get this right to make sure related movement mechanics aren’t caught in the cross-fire.”

Respawn are still moving forward on the planned changes though holding back on it for now out of an abundance of caution.

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There’s been plenty of top Apex Legends streamers and pros members speaking out to #SaveTapStrafing like iiTzTimmy, Rogue, ImperialHal and more, but Respawn are sticking to their decision.

Unless the studio changes course, tap strafing is still scheduled to be removed  in Apex Legends despite the brief delay.