Update January 13: A January 13 Apex Legends update sees the return of the Rampage and Sentinel. Respawn tweeted out that the infinite charge exploit has been fixed. The Rampage has also been nerfed, now dealing less damage. Our original story follows.
Respawn has temporarily disabled both the Rampage LMG and Sentinel sniper rifle in Apex Legends following fan feedback that an exploit in the battle royale was making both weapons unfairly overpowered. The legendary MIL-SPEC Bangalore skin has also been disabled, following repeated issues where the cosmetic was causing the game to crash.
The exploit in question for both the Rampage and Sentinel involves how both weapons can be uniquely charged, the former with thermite grenades and the latter with shield cells. A charged Rampage will fire more quickly, while a charged Sentinel will deal immense amounts of damage. The discovered exploit allowed players to keep both weapons charged indefinitely, creating a cheap way to decimate enemies throughout an entire match.
The infinite charge exploit was actually first discovered last year, and Respawn implemented a hotfix patch to fix the issue in December. However, the exploit has reared its head again in recent weeks, as players found a new workaround for exploiting the Rampage and Sentinel.
On January 4, Respawn producer Josh Medina tweeted that the team had returned from holiday vacation, and were starting to work on a fix for the exploit. Apex Legends live balance designer John Larson also tweeted about the exploit, hinting that those who used it might be getting an account ban in the near future.
In the meantime, Respawn has decided to just remove the Rampage and Sentinel from ground loot, preventing anyone from being able to use the exploit. The two firearms are disabled in all modes, so you can’t use the Rampage or Sentinel in Trios, Duos, Ranked, or Arenas.