Apex Legends' new gun may be the most broken weapon in its history, but boy is it fun to shoot missiles from an SMG

My favorite Apex Legends weapon is probably the 30-30 Repeater, and not just because of the buffs that marksman rifles have received in recent seasons. After that, I've always loved the sound of the Volt SMG, as well as the baroque Dreamweaver skin that I will never change. As you can tell, my tastes are based more on look, feel, and sound more than power, but it's still fun to run about with something completely broken whenever it appears. The latest overpowered weapon is a special R99 variant known as the Bird of Prey, and I can't remember ever seeing something this busted in Apex before.

As a mainstay in our list of the best battle royale games, Apex Legends need to keep things fresh each season. In Season 27, that's through this wacky iteration on the game's classic SMG. The Bird of Prey R99 can be found in Care Packages in Apex Legends' Mixtape mode during the Supersonic event which launched last week. It's fully kitted out with all gold attachments, but it also packs a special surprise when you beam an opponent.

If you lock onto an opponent for long enough, the Bird of Prey will launch five missiles at them in addition to your steady stream of ammunition. These hone in on the target, following them around corners and into cover, dealing an extra ten damage each. They don't always hit, but they've finished off more opponents than I'd care to admit in the past week.

This essentially gives every legend Valkyrie's tactical ability for free. There's a short recharge time, of course, but you can let loose more missiles a match than Arnie in Commando, which sure is saying something.

I'll be honest, the weapon is completely and utterly broken. This is compounded by the fact that Mixtape has instant respawns, which means you can kit your whole squad out with dual Birds of Prey by quickly jumping off the map, looting each others' boxes, and respawning. Just don't all do it at the same time.

This is also a silver lining, though. The Bird of Prey can't be found in ranked, the ALGS, or any competitive modes. While sometimes changes leak over to the more serious side of the game, I can guarantee you that this won't be one of them.

I don't know where I stand on the new R99. On the one hand, it's incredibly fun to use. On the other, it creates chaotic endgames where a dozen players are spamming missiles at each other as bullets perforate your shields. Ultimately, I think that the point of Mixtape is to have a bit of fun. And what's more fun than an SMG that shoots homing missiles?