Apex Legends vaults the Sentinel — here’s what that means for ranked and ALGS

Respawn yanks the Sentinel – and yeah, this one hurts

Respawn has temporarily removed the Sentinel sniper from Apex Legends after a bug started bricking the gun mid-fight. Players reported the rifle refusing to fire more than one shot per charge and, in some cases, locking out ADS or movement until you dropped and re-picked it. “The coming weeks” is the studio’s timeline to fix and re-enable it – not exactly comforting with ALGS Last Chance Qualifiers landing in mid-October. As someone who loves the Sentinel’s crack-and-collapse playstyle, this caught my attention because it’s one of the few guns that genuinely rewards cool-headed timing under pressure. Losing it changes how you take long-range fights.

Key takeaways

• Sentinel is temporarily vaulted across modes due to a critical firing/charge bug; fix targeted “in the coming weeks.”
• Ranked and scrims will lean harder on Longbow, Charge Rifle, and marksman options to fill the gap.
• ALGS LCQ prep takes a hit: teams lose a reliable crack tool for coordinated pushes.
• This isn’t the first mid-season vault – Respawn has pulled weapons before when exploits or critical bugs surfaced.

Why this matters now

On paper, one gun disappearing shouldn’t upend Apex. In practice, the Sentinel is more than just another sniper. It’s the precision option that sits between the Longbow’s rhythm and the Kraber’s casino. Charged with a Shield Cell, it turns careful crosshair placement into instant flesh damage that sets up pushes. When that’s reliable, you can build a team’s entire tempo around it: crack a purple at 150 meters, queue the IGL’s call, send a Horizon lift or Ash port, and close. When it isn’t — or worse, when it bugs out and refuses to shoot — you’re gambling your entire fight on a weapon rollover. Vaulting it was the right call.

The timing is rough. “Coming weeks” puts the fix brushing up against ALGS LCQ scrims and the event itself. Pros can adapt, but reps matter; a sudden weapon removal forces last-minute scrim pivots. Expect coaches to rework poke phases, prioritize safer damage from the Charge Rifle, and lean into Longbow lines where Skullpiercer (when in rotation) turns head taps into real threat. The Kraber remains care-package roulette — powerful, but not a foundation you can plan around.

Breaking down the bug and Respawn’s call

The core issue players flagged: after charging, the Sentinel would only allow a single shot before refusing to fire again, sometimes dragging ADS and sprint down with it. That’s a worst-case scenario for a sniper designed around deliberate, spaced-out shots. Could Respawn have disabled the charge mechanic only? Maybe — but if the bug touches core firing states, half measures risk ripple effects. We’ve been here before: remember when Respawn pulled the Rampage and the Sentinel in 2022 over infinite charge exploits? When something breaks at the systemic level, hard vaults are the safer, faster fix.

The bigger frustration is the vague timeframe. “Weeks” covers a lot of ground, and Apex’s balance cadence is already juggling the usual seasonal tuning. Still, yanking a weapon mid-season takes guts and, frankly, respect for competitive integrity. Better to rip off the bandage than let ranked matches be decided by who did or didn’t hit a hidden input bug.

So what do you run instead?

• Longbow DMR: The most natural replacement. It rewards rhythm and head discipline, and with the right hop-up rotation, headshots actually matter. You won’t get the Sentinel’s “two taps and we’re in” energy, but you gain consistency and mag size.
• Charge Rifle: Since its rework, it’s more honest than its old hitscan days but still the poke king in the right hands. Think war of attrition, not commit-and-collapse — great for farming evo and forcing bats before a rotate.
• Marksman pivot (30-30, G7 Scout): If you were using Sentinel to control mid lanes, these can carry that mantle with faster follow-up and better ammo efficiency in sustained skirmishes.
• Utility-first loadouts: Pair a strong midrange (Hemlok, R-301, Nemesis) with mobility legends to convert crackless pressure into positional wins. Not as flashy, but ranked points don’t care about your montage.

One subtle meta ripple: sniper ammo demand dips when a marquee pick disappears. Expect slightly more freedom looting for Longbow/Charge Rifle stacks, and fewer squads double-dipping snipers. That generally speeds lobbies up — less poke stalemate, more midgame fights decided at 60-80 meters.

What I want to see from the fix

Clean firing state logic is non-negotiable — no more one-shot-and-done charges, no ADS lockouts, no phantom sprint cancels. Beyond that, I’d love a quiet audit of Sentinel’s edge cases: cancel windows when swapping weapons mid-charge, interactions with reload-canceling, and how charge decay behaves under latency. If Respawn needs to temporarily cap weird interactions to harden the gun, fine. Get it reliable first, spice it later.

The bigger picture

Apex thrives when precision is rewarded and risk feels fair. The Sentinel sits at the heart of that promise, and that’s why this stings. But the removal signals the right priorities: competitive integrity over PR optics. If the fix lands before LCQ, great. If not, teams will adapt — they always do. For the rest of us grinding ranked, take this as an excuse to broaden the toolkit. Your aim won’t suffer from a few weeks of Longbow discipline.

TL;DR

Respawn pulled the Sentinel after a nasty firing/charge bug. It’ll be back “in the coming weeks,” but expect ranked and ALGS LCQ prep to shift toward Longbow, Charge Rifle, and marksmen. It’s the right call for competitive integrity — now adapt your loadouts and keep your crosshair honest.