Right now, everybody is feeling the effects of COVID-19. Respawn Entertainment is definitely feeling the ramifications with trying to support the competitive scene for Apex Legends. Today we spoke with professional player Claraphi about his experience competing, the current meta in the Apex Legends Global Series, and one wish he has for Apex Legends.

How did you become a member of SolaFide?

Claraphi: I became a player for SolaFide through current players Pride and Metro. They were already playing for SolaFide, but ended up needing a new 3rd, and I fit the position perfectly.

Which character do you main, and what about that character has made you attached to it?

Claraphi: I main Wattson. I've been playing the support role in Apex Legends since the game came out; she's just the character I can perform at the highest level.

Do you have any tips or words of advice you’d give to aspiring competitive players?

Claraphi: If I could give one tip to any aspiring competitors, its not to give up. I went from a nobody to everyone competing at the highest level knowing who I am just because of my performance in the ALGS. Get a team together and stick together! Winning teams aren't built over a month of scrims. Even if you have never made the finals, just keep putting in the work and understand what it takes to improve.

You’ve achieved four ALGS Finalists spots and gained 2 Bronzes out of those events. What was the experience like competing at such a high level against other pros?

Claraphi: Knowing I can consistently place highly in these tourneys feels great. Still working on becoming a champion, but that will happen eventually. It doesnt really feel that special competing against all the other top teams because we spend so much time playing against them in scrims anyway.

Fans on Reddit notice that every competitive event features the same group of Legends. Do you like the current meta or would you like to see it change?

Claraphi: I think the current meta is good with the split between Pathfinder, Gibby, and Caustic teams. It's a lot more diverse then it was before the ALGS was an event where everyone just played Pathfinder.

One thing that seems to be lacking is communication of Respawn’s part. There’s nothing like a roadmap or plan stating what comes next. Do you think that’s contributed to Apex's decline?

Claraphi: The lack of communication from Respawn Entertainemnt sucks, but it's understandable because of the whole COVID-19 thing ruined their whole competitive road map.

Are there any weapons you feel should be completely removed from the game either due to lack of usage or just because of balancing?

Claraphi: I honestly feel like the current weapon meta is great. I see a lot of people complaining about the Havoc Rifle, but I don't think its that strong. It's an assault rifle which means your strafe speed is very slow when using it, which just makes you very easy to hit.

If you could change one thing about Apex Legends either currently or before the game’s surprise launch, what would you change?

Claraphi: If I could change one thing about Apex Legends, it would be the tick rate of the servers. 20 tick rate is just way to low compared to games like VALORANT which have a 128 tick rate!

We want to thank Claraphi for taking the time to do this interview and wish him and his team the best moving forward!