Seer has always been a hotly debated legend in terms of popularity and pick rate, having been completely overshadowed by his fellow Recon legends until FURIA exposed the world to his potential at the 2022 Championship. However, this popularity came with a price, as he received nerf after nerf with each passing season.
Season 17’s Dressed to Kill event continued this trend, but also introduced sweeping changes to his kit on June 20 that have done the exact opposite, boosting his player base to new heights.
According to Apex Legends Status, Seer was previously ranked as the 16th most played legend out of 24 playable characters with a 1.9 percent pick rate, the lowest he’s ever sat in the leaderboards. One week after the Dressed to Kill update, Seer has jumped all the way up to eighth place with a 5.2 percent percent overall pick rate, his highest since his release in season 13.
All three abilities in Seer’s kit received massive changes with the Dressed to Kill update. His Heartbeat Sensor Passive had its range reduced from 75m to 50m. Exhibit, his ultimate, now can only be thrown 15m instead of 50, and now only shows footsteps for enemies in the zone. The old diamond scan markers only show up whenever enemies fire in the zone, making it harder to accurately track enemies while in the heat of battle.
Related: Apex Legends patch notes: Dressed to Kill update
However, the biggest change was to his Tactical, Focus of Attention, which received buffs and nerfs to its entire design. Casting Focus of Attention is now 30 percent faster, and includes the full body scan once again, but only for 2.5 seconds, instead of the old eight second scan. The Tactical also lost its ability to cancel the healing and reviving of enemies, but gained a slowing effect that lasts two and a half seconds, and an increased silence from 1.75 seconds to 10 seconds. For comparison, Revenant’s Silence lasts for 15 seconds, letting the Ambush Artist directly compete with an assault legend’s offensive power.
With popular mobility characters like Horizon and Valkyrie enabling teams to aggressively move in for fights or reposition out of risky situations, Seer’s 10 second silence presents itself as one of the best options in the entire game for finding enemies out of position, or simply winning fights by being the first to scan and shut down an enemy team’s entire ability kit. Previously, Focus of Attention would be used to gain a health advantage by cancelling enemy healing or revives, but the newest changes now promote an aggressive mindset, with teams looking to capitalize on their overwhelming ability advantage instead of looking for fight resets.
When the Dressed to Kill patch notes first released, many pros agreed that while on the surface, Seer’s entire kit took a big hit, the changes to his Tactical were impactful enough to keep him relevant, or even better than his initial state.
When it comes to competitive team composition, Seer has always found himself as the most popular recon legend in pro play for the past three seasons. Despite repeated nerfs during that time, Seer remained in the majority of team compositions at the Split One Playoffs, and in the majority of teams for the regular season of Split Two. Not only did he fill the Split One necessity for scanning Recon Beacons and locating the next ring, the season 16 class overhaul now enables his team to scout out and take isolated fights with the new Recon map scan.
When first announced, many pros and content creators saw the Seer changes in a positive light, but their tune quickly changed after getting to test out the legend themselves. TSM’s ImperialHal found immediate success when trying out Seer on the ranked ladder and in international scrims, and expressed concerns over his impact in the coming ALGS Split Two Playoffs.
Despite the community’s views of Seer, the Ambush Artist continues to have a devastating impact on casual, ranked, and competitive play, despite the large amount of changes he continue to receive. With the ALGS Split Two Playoffs in two weeks, Seer already seems like a must-pick for every team, and could continue to climb with the entire world cautiously watching his impact on a global stage.
