Apex Legends dev reveals Fuse’s OP ultimate that was eventually scrapped

Respawn Entertainment’s lead game designer, Daniel Klein, has revealed a ridiculously overpowered Ultimate for Fuse, that was eventually scrapped before his introduction in Season 8 of Apex Legends.

Season 8 of Apex Legends has dropped Fuse into the mix, a larger-than-life Aussie who has a penchant for pyrotechnics, explosions, and pretty much anything chaotic and loud. The update dropped on February 2, bringing a host of changes to Respawn’s battle royale. The biggest of these changes was Fuse, but he was accompanied by balancing changes, bug fixes and much more. Players are just about getting to grips with the Explosives Enthusiast, and his selection of abilities. Currently, they are the Knuckle Cluster, Grenadier and The Motherlode. However, Respawn have revealed that his abilities, particularly his Ultimate, could have looked massively different if original ideas had come to fruition.

During an AMA on Reddit, Respawn were asked about “tried and cancelled” Ultimates for some of the game’s characters. Lead game designer Daniel Klein responded, explaining that one of the original ideas for Fuse’s Ultimate was a “straight up giant bomb”.

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“You’d shoot it like a mortar,” he explained, “Similar to what his current ult looks like, but when it came down, after a short warning, it would just fucking kill you. That was fun! Not for the other people tho. So we didn’t ship it.” Many Redditors loved the idea, although accepted that Respawn had probably done the right thing by letting it die on the cutting room floor. Some even compared it to Call of Duty’s infamous tactical nuke.

The Ultimate Fuse dropped with – The Motherlode – drops a circle of flame, meaning enemy players caught unawares can be trapped by a wall of fire. 30-30 Repeater guide | All legend buffs and nerfs | All weapon buffs and nerfs | Fuse guide | What is in the Season 8 battle pass? | Season 8 Patch notes | How to open explosive holds | Spitfire guide | R99 guide | Mastiff guide | When is Apex for Switch out? It’s a cool ultimate, but only time will tell how impactful it can be in the long run in a game as varied as Apex Legends. We also wouldn’t be surprised to see some balancing to Fuse in the future, especially if he ends up being as strong on release as Horizon was. Respawn have said they are going to try releasing new characters stronger, and work on balancing them back if needed, rather than releasing them weak – like Rampart.