Insane Vanguard glitch makes High Alert even stronger despite nerf

Luca Di Marzo
High Alert Vanguard nerf

Vanguard’s mid-Season 1 update introduced a number of Perk balancing adjustments including a nerf to High Alert but players were quick to notice that it works better than ever.

Sledgehammer Games took the opportunity to address the numerous complaints concerning fire ruining the Multiplayer experience by issuing a Dauntless and Fortified Perk buff. High Alert was also fine-tuned receiving a nerf that was meant to delay the Perk’s activation.

Although an abundance of fire no longer seems to be an issue, one player has proved that the nerf to High Alert may have had the opposite effect on the popular Perk.

High Alert perk Vanguard

High Alert is an extremely popular perk that Vanguard players love to equip in the Perk 2 slot. There are a ton of great options in the Perk 2 slot, including Forward Intel and Piercing Vision, but High Alert is often found on the best Vanguard loadouts.

The Perk emits a vision pulse when enemies outside your view see you. Evidently, this is a great choice for multiplayer as it covers your blind spots perfectly. Sledgehammer aimed to nerf High Alert by adding a slight delay to activation after an enemy looks your way.

It turns out, the update may have turned the Perk into the most overpowered option in the game as the video below showcases High Alert activating through a large rock.

You can clearly see in the killcam posted by MrClawzz that the enemy received a pulse through the boulder. The Perk is only supposed to activate when a player has their sights set on you.

The added information that this stronger than ever High Alert provides can result in easy kills as seen in the clip above. This is likely the result of a bug causing High Alert to activate through walls that arrived via the January 11 Vanguard update.

Some Vanguard players in the comments were quick to point out that this could be the work of Intuition, “I’m thinking it may have been the intuition perk. It alerts when enemies are behind walls and near you. As your turned the corner of the rocks it set the perk off for him. Edit: kill cam says high alert….may be a glitch in the killcam feed?? Idk?”

Although, MrClawzz’s killcam confirms that the enemy player was using High Alert.

If it really is a bug, there’s no doubt that Sledgehammer will act quickly to fix it given how game-breaking of a mechanic it is.


For more Vanguard check out how Warzone & Vanguard players are slamming “embarrassing” Attack on Titan crossover.

Image Credits: Activision / Sledgehammer Games

About The Author

Luca is an Associate Editor at CharlieIntel. An accomplished, writer with interests in sports and gaming alike, Luca is focused on Call of Duty and FIFA as a content creator. After earning his BA in English Literature at Concordia University, he began writing for Gamelevate, OddsShark, and H4X. Luca joined CharlieIntel in 2021. You can reach Luca at [email protected], or via X @TheLucaDiMarzo.