Mad Maggie Buffed But Still Fails to Become Meta: Here's Why

Mad Maggie was released in Apex Legends back in Season 12 but the legend hasn’t seen much play. According to Apex Legends Status, her pick rate at all ranks has never gone beyond 3%. Her average rank is also the highest among all legends at Platinum 2. In Season 14, Respawn decided to buff the legend’s tactical and ultimate abilities. Despite this Maggie seems to be flying under the radar. Her pick rate hasn’t gone up too much. Let’s look at why Mad Maggie fails to become meta despite buffs.

Mad Maggie abilities and buffs

Everything about Mad Maggie’s kit screams aggression. Maggie’s passive Warlord’s Ire temporarily highlights enemies she’s damaged, allowing her to track them for a short period of time after they’ve moved behind a wall or object. The passive also lets her move faster when holding a shotgun. A buff to EVA-8 and the addition of the Double Tap Trigger hop-up has tied in well with her passive which lets her run faster with a shotgun. Many players pick up the EVA-8 in the early game before switching over to the Peacekeeper. With the Double Tap Trigger, there is a case for sticking to the EVA-8 as well.

Her tactical Riot Drill helps her deal damage to enemies behind walls, and obstacles like Gibraltar’s bubble or Newcastle Shield. With the Season 14 buffs, Riot Drill’s launch speed has been doubled making it travel faster and farther. Her ultimate Wrecking ball also travels twice as farther now and deals damage to enemy objects like Amped Cover Shields and Sheila. It outright destroys objects like Black Market, Castle Walls, Exhibit, Death Totem, Black Hole, Dome of Protection, and Gas Barrels. As a result, Wrecking Ball now lets her and the team push aggressively into fights and attaching a Riot Drill to her ultimate causes even more mayhem.

So why isn’t Mad Maggie popular?

Despite these buffs making Mad Maggie a strong legend on paper, she still rarely appears in casual and pro play. As mentioned before her average rank is one of the highest according to Apex Legends Status at Platinum 2. While players like HisWattson are playing her in ranked games and scrims, she still hasn’t gained traction overall.

According to Apex Legends commentator Raynday Gaming, “legends who start out being poorly picked and underpowered take a long time to get into the meta”. This is true for legends like Seer who are currently in the pro play meta and a staple in tournaments. When Maggie first came out, she didn’t leave much of an impression so now it’s going to take a while for casual players to go back to her and utilize her kit. When it comes to pro play, until Respawn further optimizes her ultimate, she will likely remain a very niche pick. Although Wrecking Ball actually wrecks things now; player ultimates, shields, it still remains slightly unreliable. It still sometimes travels in odd ways or bounces around unpredictably.

Another factor is that despite being able to push aggressively, Maggie’s utility to the team (and those of offensive legends in general) is quite limited compared to defensive and recon legends; meta favourites like Seer, Valkyrie, Newcastle and Wattson. Raynday brings up this issue in one of his videos stating, “there is a different type of Apex that sometimes you have to play to bring characters that aren’t in the meta, into it. And what that does is it essentially collapses the economy (and) how Apex pros behave”. Pro players like to “be safe, less aggressive” at higher levels of play. “They like more utility in fights, that they can actively use to be defensive and Maggie’s utility is all about pushing.”