August Montgomery Brinkman a.k.a Ballistic, is an Assault Legend introduced to Apex Legends at the start of Season 17. The 63-year-old is a support legend suited to an aggressive playstyle. Famed for his iconic CAR SMG, he was the Thunderdome’s very first celebrity and returns to the games with a bang. This guide will explain his abilities, optimal playstyle and synergy Legends weapons to fully understand how to get the best out of the veteran Apex competitor. His playstyle requires an understanding of playing him solo or with a team, and his ability to force favourable fights onto opponents is second to none.
Abilities
Whistler
The Whistler is a projectile that does 20 damage upon impact and has the effect of heating up the gun of the enemy that they hit. Overheating the gun causes 30 damage and a stun. Holding the tactical will allow Whistler to lock onto enemies. This ability cripples the enemy’s ability to fight back and punish pushes with aggression. It also limits opponents’ DPS unless they want to take damage and get stunned. Even if it doesn’t hit enemies directly, it will still stick to surfaces for a short duration and deal 5 damage and apply the overheating effect if enemies get too close. Even if enemies aren’t in the line of sight, it could be useful for zoning or clearing. Using it as a pre-engage or to repel aggression, Whistler has the versatility that can cripple enemies’ abilities to fight back.
Suppress your enemies with the Whistler
Sling
Ballistic has a Sling, which gives him access to a third weapon. This makes him similar to Rampart who can carry two weapons but has a third in Sheila. The benefits of this third weapon allow Ballistic to round out his gun loadout to be more balanced. This passive will allow him to take engagements on all fronts, or beef up his close-range DPS. Supply Drop and Fully Kitted Weapons cannot be stored in his Sling, and his Sling weapon cannot take attachments. I would recommend going for something that increases close-range damage output and is easy to hit shots on. This also gives him more flexibility in his first two weapon choices and doesn’t force a specific playstyle onto him.
Tempest
Ballistic’s Tempest is simply a team fight buff on a 2-minute cooldown. Best when pushing teams, it has a wind-up time and isn’t instantaneous but gives you and your team 30 seconds of faster reloads, faster-armed move speed, and infinite ammo. After activation, teammates can move out of Ballistic’s ultimates’ 10-metre radius and still have the buff from Tempest for the full duration.
Ballistic’s sling weapon will also be upgraded to a gold weapon during his ultimate. With a third gold weapon, Ballistic’s theoretical DPS should jump significantly for 30 seconds and gives him a significant power spike that will give him an inherent advantage that is hard to ignore in a team fight.
Using Tempest and Whistler aggressively with an All In mindset should reap the best rewards out of his kit. While pushing multiple teams can and will end in disappointment, if Ballistic can isolate a fight against another team and channel his abilities, players should not be scared to hold W and dive into the enemies to seek engagements.
Let us see what we can teach the riffraff, shall we? ☕
Celebrate the latest Legend to join the games with the Ballistic Launch Bundle, available until May 30. pic.twitter.com/aK8asJphKY
— Apex Legends (@PlayApex) May 13, 2023
How to play Ballistic
Ballistic suits an aggressive and pushy playstyle. His abilities are all very offensive and are best utilised when pushing to kill enemy teams through a team fight. While Whistler has a fairly substantial cooldown, Tempest being a 2-minute cooldown is powerful as that should be up for every team fight, and gives players and their teammates an edge against their opponents for an extended period of time.
Paired with other aggressive Legends, Ballistic is the anchor of the team that supports teammates and enables him teammates, while individually, he can frontline frag and lead his teams into fights. Ballistic’s kit when fully utilised is an All-In kit, and therefore players can expect high frags and a lot of fighting to get the best out of their abilities.
Supplementing this playstyle is the Tempest which is a buff for all teammates and himself, and increases the theoretical DPS of his team with the increased reloads, armed-movement speed and infinite ammo. He’s a support Legend in coordinated team comps with voice chat, but he can be a frag seeker in an individual queue setting for ranked play. Differentiating between the two based on your situation will be critical in playing this Legend well as he’s not very good outside of fighting and doesn’t have a lot of utility or inherit defensive presence.
It's time the Outlands remembered the name Ballistic ☕ pic.twitter.com/0ZwW2dYa8I
— Apex Legends (@PlayApex) May 6, 2023
Synergy Legends
As mentioned above, Ballistic suits an aggressive playstyle and therefore has synergy with aggressive Legends that can also move forward and push into enemy teams with an advantage. During fights, Ballistic’s team will find the most success when pushing into teams and forcing the fight, so we’ve picked Legends that can make this easier and more successful.
Bangalore
Ballistic synergises well with Bangalore as Bangalore having unlimited ammo inside her own smoke with a gold sight makes a powerful combination. Her increased movement speed when getting shot at synergises well with Ballistic’s ultimate in fight situations which can make her movement both quick, hard to track and unpredictable. Running an SMG and shotgun with Digital Threat allows Ballistic’s teams to blind enemies while seeing enemies through the smoke. Add to that Bangalore’s ultimate can zone opponents and push them away or cut off their escape, and Ballistic’s Tempest can push into that open space.
Bloodhound
Ballistic will pair well with recon Legends as his inherently aggressive playstyle paired with scans will allow for his team to push up with the intel they need. Why Bloodhound has so much synergy with Ballistic due to the synergy their ultimates have. If Ballistic channels Tempest and Bloodhound channels Beast of the Hunt, Bloodhound may turn into the single most powerful individual on the battlefield for the duration of the two ultimates. A bloodhound with faster reload, armed and movement speed, with infinite ammo and wallhacks pushing into teams sounds terrifying. For the duration of the two ultimates being activated, Bloodhound will be the Legend with the highest peak in power level within Apex Legends history. Best put this advantage to use.
Aggressive pushes? Zoning? Bloodhound and Bangalore work well with Ballistic
Pathfinder
Another Legend that can both individually and collectively push other teams, Pathy’s grapple and zipline cover ground and assists teammates in gaining high ground. With a Ballistic, Pathfinder can be channelled into Tempest and then grapple onto nearby high ground for an off-angle, or create a zipline that pushes into the enemy team. Pathfinder could give Ballistic team comps another dimension and angle for enemy teams to worry about, and he also excels in pushing onto enemies.
Best guns
The SMG weapons are powerful in the meta and since Ballistic will seek out fights aggressively, it is a good idea to run an SMG inside one of Ballistic’s three weapon slots. There is some more freedom with the secondary being a more personal choice of comfort.
Another idea is to have two Assault Rifles as the main weapons outside of Ballistic’s sling and have a weapon for closeup fights in Ballistic’s sling. The distinction players need to make is that Ballistic will seek engagements and therefore having two weapons that can perform well enough in close combat is crucial to maximising his optimal playstyle. Personally, I would recommend the Flatline as it is good in the meta, has versatility in terms of its range, and is reliable close quarters.
Ballistic’s back with a boom
Sling weapons
Sling weapons get upgraded to gold weapons during Tempest. This means choosing powerful gold weapons for Ballistic’s sling will maximise his DPS increase. Another factor to consider is his sling weapon is better suited to be close-range because long-range weapons without attachments are difficult to hit shots on without the correct site. With this in mind, I recommend the following weapons for Ballistic’s sling:
- Mozambique: The pistol shotgun has a fast reload, is a quick shotgun, and when gold, will have the hammer point hop up and a digital threat site. The Golden Shotgun Bolt has the reloading passive when sliding which also allows players to use it at the beginning and end of engagements. Theoretical DPS is off the charts with this one!
- RE-45 Auto: The alternative to Mozambique, especially if you’re running a light weapon anyway. While a little weaker because it will be harder to crack enemy shields than with the Mozambique, it is still a great alternative and a nifty little weapon that can do a lot of damage in one magazine.
- R-99: The gun has low recoil, spits out bullets the fastest, and is a close-range menace. I especially recommend the R-99 to those using controllers as the recoil is consistent. An alternative to the R-99 is any of the other SMGs. All the SMGs are very powerful right now.
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