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To start this out, I've done some mild experimenting on the firing range to figure out how long Caustic's traps and his grenade stay active once deployed, and what I learned was this:
- Gas Traps stay active for about 13 seconds, and deal 13 ticks worth of damage
- Gas grenades stay active for 21 seconds and deal 21 ticks worth of damage.
With this knowledge, we can now map out how much potential damage the gas can do:
| Tick | S0 Damage | S0 Total | Current Damage | Current Total | New damage | New total | Notes: |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01. | 1 | 1 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 5 | |
| 02. | 2 | 3 | 7 | 13 | 5 | 10 | |
| 03. | 3 | 6 | 8 | 21 | 5 | 15 | |
| 04. | 4 | 10 | 9 | 30 | 5 | 20 | Most people have escaped the gas before the 4th tick, meaning a difference between 30 damage, and 20 damage, or 1/3rd your health, or 1/5th of your health. |
| 05. | 5 | 15 | 10 | 40 | 5 | 25 | |
| 06. | 6 | 21 | 11 | 51 | 5 | 30 | |
| 07. | 7 | 28 | 12 | 63 | 5 | 35 | |
| 08. | 8 | 36 | 12 | 75 | 5 | 40 | |
| 09. | 9 | 45 | 12 | 87 | 5 | 45 | |
| 10. | 10 | 55 | 12 | 99 | 5 | 50 | |
| 11. | 10 | 65 | 12 | 111 | 5 | 55 | 11 ticks can knock someone with current numbers |
| 12. | 10 | 75 | 12 | 123 | 5 | 60 | |
| 13. | 10 | 85 | 12 | 135 | 5 | 65 | |
| 14. | 10 | 95 | 12 | 147 | 5 | 70 | |
| 15. | 10 | 105 | 12 | 159 | 5 | 75 | S0 numbers needed 15 ticks to knock someone, which traps couldn't do. |
| 16. | 10 | 115 | 12 | 161 | 5 | 80 | |
| 17. | 10 | 125 | 12 | 173 | 5 | 85 | |
| 18. | 10 | 135 | 12 | 185 | 5 | 90 | |
| 19. | 10 | 145 | 12 | 197 | 5 | 95 | |
| 20. | 10 | 155 | 12 | 209 | 5 | 100 | New numbers require people to tick damage 20 times before getting knocked |
| 21. | 10 | 165 | 12 | 221 | 5 | 105 |
What can we learn from these numbers? Remember that Tick no. 13 is when the Gas Trap deals its final tick of damage. Back in the beginning of Apex, that would have been enough to deal 85 damage to a player who was stuck in the gas for its FULL DURATION. Today that 13th tick would have been more than enough to knock someone down, as tick no. 11 would have dealt 111 damage. But with the new changes, even if the enemy was standing in the gas FOR ITS FULL DURATION, FROM START TO FINISH, they would still only be dealt 65 damage, or only a little more than half your health. Which means if you find a stray gas trap anywhere on a map left behind by a Caustic, you can sit in it, be dealt all 13 ticks worth of damage, and all it would do to you is about 2 syringes worth of damage. That is not an effective pushing deterrent, that is absolutely pitiful.
For the ultimate? Previously, if you took the full brunt of the Ultimate gas, it would have been enough to knock you and take half your knocked health, but it wouldn't have been enough to outright kill you. Today, if you sit in it for all 21 ticks worth of damage, it would kill you completely, but with the upcoming change? If you sit in the gas, literally from the very beginning and until it runs out, it would only be able to deal a TOTAL MAXIMUM of 105 damage, enough to knock you, but nothing else. Which means that:
IF YOU POP EVEN ONE SINGULAR SYRINGE WHILE SITTING IN THE ULTIMATE GAS FOR ITS FULL DURATION, YOU CAN NOW OUTLAST THE GAS WITH 20 HP LEFT.
That would be impossible with the current numbers, and even Season 0 numbers. It would also mean that plays like locking people in rooms full of gas are now no longer viable tactics, as they can just stand in there and out-heal it.
Which just goes to show that even Season 0 gas (which was god awful I might add) was still more powerful than the upcoming damage tweaks.
But of course this only discusses the gas alone as a damage source, what about using the gas in conjunction with weapons?
Most people in active engagements of course seek to escape the gas as it still has a slowing effect and obscures vision, but unlike Season 0, the current Nox gas doesn't have its blinding effect anymore, meaning that if you have a threat scope, or you're standing close to someone else, your vision is basically unobstructed. This also means that people with some game sense will at most take 3-4 ticks worth of damage, which can mean the difference between 20 damage, or 30 damage, or said in a different way, a third of your health gone, or only a fifth of your health gone, which can be a night and day difference in hectic battles, as most of you will be able to attest.
This damage nerf is ridiculous. It is beyond stupid. They have completely neutered it to the point where the gas is no longer a dangerous obstacle to keep people at bay, but it's become barely a nuisance to just wade through with almost zero consequence.
I hope Respawn are reading the sub and read these posts, because if they don't tweak these numbers, they are effectively taking Caustic out behind the shed and shooting him in the back.
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