The Mozambique Hammerpoint attachment is making the shotgun a key part of the metagame in Apex Legends season 2. The Mozambique shotgun in Apex Legends had become an in-game joke of sorts among players, and even the development team. Respawn actually went as far as to create a unique animation of its characters throwing the gun away in disgust whenever it was traded for a different weapon in King’s Canyon. However, with season 2 of Apex Legends, the gun has gotten a huge boost with a new hop up attachment called Hammerpoint.

What the hop up does is increase damage done to players once their shield is gone. It can take as little as two shots from the three-round magazine to knock out a player once their shield is fully depleted. Additionally, the P2020 has also become a force to be reckoned with, since it’s compatible with the same attachment. Equipping Hammerpoint to the pistol can make it so it’s nearly as efficient as a fully stocked assault rifle like the R-301. What were once terrible guns are now widely considered some of the best in the game.

Kotaku discovered that the Mozambique shotgun’s newfound power was quickly picked up by the game’s community. Now it’s not at all surprising to see players running the Mozambique, P2020, RE-45, or Alternator in the final moments of a match. Both the RE-45 and Alternator have received attachments that pair really well with Hammerpoint hop up weapons. The newly added Disruptor Rounds hop up allows players to do more damage to shielded targets, meaning that you can quickly melt somebody’s shield and then quickly switch over to your Hammerpoint gun to take out their health bar. It’s an incredibly satisfying combo that’s really surprising to see coming from guns that were once considered unusable in the late game. You just have to find all the right attachments before you can make it work.

On top of those new additions, the P2020 and Alternator have received a base damage increase making them better as early game pickups even without their new attachments. Shotguns have received an overall nerf to ammo stacks. Players were once able to typically run around with one stack of 64 shotgun rounds for an entire game. But now, stacks are only limited to 16  rounds meaning you’ll have to dedicate some serious inventory space if you’re running the Peacekeeper or EVA-8. Since the Mozambique only uses three rounds a magazine, the problem is mitigated a bit, and it actually might be more useful to hold onto throughout a match as opposed to the previously mentioned weapons.

Energy weapons also received a lot of support in the Season 2 update. The Havoc, Triple Take, and Devotion all got new attachments in the form of extended energy magazines, making them each more efficient in longer battles. Furthermore, after the Wingman received a nerf to its magazine size following fan backlash earlier on when the game released, the gun’s Skullpiercer attachment has increased in rarity so it’ll be harder to find on the game’s map.

Based on these new additions, it’ll be really fascinating to see how the Apex Legends metagame changes as the season continues to roll on. The biggest changes to the game right now not only come in the form of gun rebalancing, but a new legend named Wattson, as well as radical changes to the overall map. It certainly has breathed new life into the title after its popularity started to wane a few months following its release. If Respawn can continue to add and make meaningful changes to the overall game, hopefully, its player base will stick around.

Next: Sorry, Apex Legends Will Not Be Adding Titans

Source: Kotaku