Crypto, first introduced in Apex Legends Season 3, remains a mostly situational legend because of its abilities. A reddit message from ‘u / Cryptic_Crane72D1’ offers several ideas on how Respawn can weaken the character to improve his viability.
The balance between all the characters in Apex Legends remains a formidable task for the Respawn team. The developer often explains their thinking process for the implementation of buffs and nerfs, and even confirmed that some legends will never be viable at the highest level of play.
Despite this, the Apex community continues to provide feedback on how to improve their favorite characters. In a Reddit post from u / Cryptic_Crane72D1, this Crypto player offers the developers some ideas on how to improve the Legend’s viability and speed of selection.

Despite several fans, Crypto has remained a mostly situational character since its launch in season 3.
Crypto’s passive ability reworked
Crypto’s passive is its Surveillance Drone, which allows the player and their teammates to spot enemies marked by the Drone. The concept creator claims that this is not a true passive, as it is actually linked to the tactics of Crypto, and suggests two alternatives to improve the kit.
The user’s “Off the Grid” idea would allow the “Surveillance Expert” to partially avoid detection by other legends’ abilities (such as the Bloodhound investigation). Instead of highlighting him, enemies would see a special notice to let them know that an enemy has been tracked down without revealing their location.
Another idea would be to allow him to see how many groups are in the area at all times, instead of having to scan Champion banners with his drone. The player admits that this particular ability can be too powerful, but still thinks it’s a way to possibly improve the character.
Why Crypto still sucks (and how to fix it): a critique / analysis on how to improve the character. by apexlegends
Crypto’s tactical ability works again
Crypto’s tactical ability revolves around his drone, which allows him to fly on the map and investigate enemies, pick up the teammates’ straps and indicate potential threats to his group. While in Drone mode, however, the Legend cannot move until leaving the Drone.
According to the Redditor, using the Drone interrupts the flow of fights and prevents players from contributing to team fights. To solve this, he suggests an alternative that will speed up the process and enable the character to stay mobile while using his tactics.
With the proposed solution, players can control the Drone remotely, but can also use it without going into a separate mode. Players can cast their bots to scan a specific area while staying mobile and avoiding any major separation from their team.

u / Cryptic_Crane72D1 suggested different ways to improve Crypto’s drone.
Crypto’s ultimate ability reworked
The last issue outlined in the report relates to Crypto’s ultimate ability: its Drone’s EMP explosion. Although the EMP may have a powerful ability, the user still thinks that it is too difficult for him to use the explosion effectively and then follow up his team to attack.
The proposed solution would be that the Surveillance Expert could deploy the EMP blast without using its Drone. This would be done by separating the ultimate from his Drone and giving him a separate EMP grenade – something that Respawn displays in the character’s revelation trailer.
If he can make the best in a throw, his EMP blast can be deployed without going into Drone mode. This is in line with the idea of the Redditor to make the character more agile and able to contribute during team fights.

One suggestion for improving Crypto is to separate its ultimate ability of EMP from its drone.
The post was well received on the Apex Legends subreddit and garnered 1.5k votes at the time of writing. Many of the responses were positive and agreed that Crypto’s current kit makes him too slow and prevents him from fighting with his team.
Although most of the reactions were positive, there was also criticism. One user replied, ‘How about buffing our characters who need it. Rampart literally has the lowest pickup rate, ‘and another points to the benefits Crypto has with its Drone.
Respawn has not yet commented on the report, but has already said they are looking at ways to improve him in future seasons. With legends like Bloodhound being used almost constantly, the Surveillance Expert may be up for the same treatment at some point in the future.