Apex Legends dev explains why Caustic’s gas buff doesn’t affect downed players

Despite being given a bit of a buff in Season 10, Caustic gas only damages downed players at 5hp/s rather than benefitting from the boost. Now, an Apex Legends dev has explained why that is so.

Caustic has been one of Apex Legends’ go-to characters ever since the battle royale first released over two years ago.

The mad scientist may have slipped out of the top-tier slots in recent seasons, but he’s still pretty strong and at the start of Season 10: Emergence, received a bit of a buff.

His toxic gas traps now deal 5 HP of damage to start but will increase by one with each new tick. While some players have taken the buff pretty well, it doesn’t quite work on downed players, and no, it’s not a bug.

After knocking an enemy down, some Caustic players will immediately toss a gas trap in their direction, and many have noticed that it just stays at 5 HP/s, instead of increasing by each tick.

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As noted by Respawn’s Associate Live Balance Designer John ‘JayBiebs’ Larson, this intended change was left out of the patch notes but it has a purpose.

“Short answer: guns should kill people. Abilities should help facilitate that. Thirsts especially should not be driven by abilities, unless it’s a heavy-hitting ult with a big cost,” he said after a fan quizzed as to why downed players don’t suffer the additional damage. “Gas is good for a lot of things outside of sheer damage; players at the top end have shown us that.”

Some fans, naturally, disagreed with the developer’s take on things but at least any confused Caustic mains have got their answer.

Of course, things could change in the future, but it seems unlikely that any change is forthcoming anytime soon.