Apex Legends

• [p]RSPN_Caseroos: Casey, Game Designer[/p]

• [p]RSPN_Evan: Evan, Senior Game Designer[/p]

PATCH NOTES: PREVIOUS UPDATES & FIXES

GAME 

• [p]Arenas: Duels is now Kills = Wins, timeouts will result in draws[/p]
• [p]New DMA detections[/p]
• [p]Players can no longer slide or interact with Respawn Beacons farther than intended[/p]
• [p]Various crash fixes[/p]

LEGENDS

• [p]Nox Gas Trap duration extended to 22s (was 11s)[/p]
• [p]Enemy Nox Gas Trap is highlighted[/p]

• [p]Power Sword VFX no longer visible while cloaked[/p]

• [p]Energized Healer should now heal as intended[/p]
• [p]Ultimate Conductor upgrade no longer causes charging when it shouldn’t[/p]

COMMUNITY DRIVEN BUGS

• [p]Crash after opening Apex Packs: fix in progress, typically caused by switching tabs immediately after opening. In the interim, players can minimize impact by avoiding rapidly switching tabs after opening. [/p]
• [p]Newcastle has no shield while reviving after drop: investigating, Knockdown Shield can be dropped and picked-up to kickstart charging in the interim[/p]
• [p]Retro Packs Progress Bar: fix in progress, visual error only. All opened Retro Packs will count towards progress and reward(s) will still be awarded.[/p]

• [p]Resolved a bug causing Wattson's Energized Healer to not heal as much as it should[/p]
• [p]Fixed the Power Sword effects being visible when Mirage was cloaked[/p]
• [p]Updated Arenas: Duels so that only Kills = Wins and timed out Duels now result in draws. This change is to address players hiding during the match.[/p]
• [p]Resolved an issue causing Mad Maggie's intro animation to crash on PS4[/p]
• [p]Updated the description of Daily Challenges to be more accurate[/p]
• [p]Fixed an issue causing Apex Pack prompts to send players to the wrong screen[/p]
• [p]Updated the Apex Pack info screen to be more accurate[/p]
• [p]Resolved an issue allowing players to slide and interact with a Respawn Beacon from further than intended[/p]

PATCH NOTES

BALANCE UPDATES 

• [p]Spitfire, R-301, R-99, Flatline, Akimbo Mozambiques[/p]

LEGENDS

• [p]Passive: Spark of Genius[/p]
  • [p]50% faster Ult accel consumption[/p]
  • [p]Passive Shield Regen increased to 2s (was 1s)[/p]
• [p]Tactical: Perimeter Security[/p]
  • [p]Increase fence node HP to 50 (was 25)[/p]
  • [p]Cooldown reduced to 4s (was 15s)[/p]
  • [p]Fences now slow sliding and jumping enemies, and consume cooldowns on Ash’s dash and Sparrow’s double jump[/p]
  • [p]Fences placed across doors will electrify the doors[/p]
    • [p]Stuns enemies when they open an electrified door or kicks it in[/p]
    • [p]Electrification ends if the fence is obstructed or the fence is removed, and restarts when the fence is active again[/p]
  • [p]Removed doors exploding when opened into the line of a fence[/p]
• [p]Upgrades: Level 2[/p]
  • [p]Falling Stars: integrated into base kit[/p]
  • [p]NEW Help is Here: gain all support perks (access Support Bins, faster revives with health regen, gain MRB with Banners)[/p]
  • [p]NEW Ultimate Conductor: damage to enemies is converted to Ult charge and knocks give a burst of 30% Ult charge[/p]
• [p]Upgrades: Level 3[/p]
  • [p]NEW Energized Healer: gain double small med healing[/p]
  • [p]Power Pylon: double Ult HP, healing rate, and capacity[/p]

• [p]Shrank Vantage’s upper body hitbox to better match her character model[/p]
• [p]Passive: Spotter’s Lens[/p]
  • [p]Can now ping up to 3 enemies at a time[/p]
  • [p]Can see the health bars of targeted enemy[/p]
  • [p]Pinging an enemy will reveal their position when further than 50m away (was 100m)[/p]
• [p]Tactical: Echo Relocation[/p]
  • [p]Echo will auto-recall after you jump[/p]
  • [p]Faster jump activation time[/p]
  • [p]Increased base and max distance Echo can fly by 10m[/p]
  • [p]Integrated Bat Bounce into base kit[/p]
  • [p]Reduced time to redeploy guns after jump to 0.2s (was 0.5s)[/p]
  • [p]Widened the FOV that Echo needs to be in to jump to[/p]
• [p]Ultimate: Sniper’s Mark[/p]
  • [p]Integrated Ultimate Reload upgrade into base kit[/p]
    • [p]Ultimate accelerators are used 50% faster, and provide 2 extra bullets[/p]
  • [p]Laser is now hidden until Vantage shoots[/p]
    • [p]Laser lasts for 15s, timer refreshes with each shot[/p]
  • [p]Laser is now more representative of aim[/p]
• [p]Upgrades: Level 2[/p]
  • [p]NEW Controlling my Prey: gain access to Ring Consoles and zone overcharge[/p]
  • [p]NEW Improved Mark: marked enemy icon is visible through walls, briefly highlights enemies, and reveals their health bar to your squad upon mark[/p]
• [p]Upgrades: Level 3[/p]
  • [p]NEW Tactical Cooldown: reduce Tac's cooldown by 5s[/p]
  • [p]NEW Sniper Cover: adds Gun Shield to Sniper’s Mark[/p]

• [p]Passive: decreased dash cooldown to 8s (was 10s)[/p]
• [p]Tactical: slightly decreased tether strength when pulling hard (like when using movement abilities)[/p]
• [p]Upgrades: Level 2[/p]
  • [p]Dual Breach: moved to Level 2[/p]
  • [p]NEW Charged Knock: gain HP regen on a knock[/p]
• [p]Upgrades: Level 3[/p]
  • [p]Ghost in the Machine: removed[/p]
  • [p]Greedy Snare and Twin Snares: moved to Level 3[/p]

• [p]Ultimate: Void Nexus[/p]
  • [p]Chase portal usage warning delay reduced to 3.5s (was 5s)[/p]
  • [p]Chase portal activation delay reduced to 6s (was 8s, Previous Hotfix)[/p]
  • [p]Cooldown after usage increased to 60s (was 30s, Previous Hotfix)[/p]

• [p]Tactical: Whistler[/p]
  • [p]Damage on activation reduced to 15 (was 20)[/p]
  • [p]Damage from overheat reduced to 15 (was 30, Previous Hotfix)[/p]
• [p]Ultimate: Tempest[/p]
  • [p]Removed time extension from knocks (Previous Hotfix)[/p]
• [p]Upgrades[/p]
  • [p]Extra Bullets: moved to Level 2[/p]
  • [p]Lasting Bullet: moved to Level 3[/p]

• [p]Tactical: Radiant Transfer[/p]
  • [p]Reduce cooldown to 21s (was 31s, Previous Hotfix)[/p]
  • [p]Reduce recharge delay after damage to 1s (was 2s)[/p]

• [p]Tac & Ult: decoys now swap weapons when you do and also properly holster melee weapons[/p]

AMMO & ATTACHMENTS

• [p]Explosion reduces momentum if hit while in-air or sliding[/p]
• [p]Explosion consumes the cooldown on Ash’s dash and Sparrow’s double jump[/p]

• [p]Can now be used by R-301[/p]

• [p]Removed from: Devotion, Mastiff, Bocek, and Sentinel[/p]
• [p]Added to: Havoc, Flatline, and Mozambique[/p]

WEAPONS

• [p]Improved recoil[/p]
• [p]Increased damage to 20 (was 19)[/p]

• [p] Reduced burst fire delay[/p]

• [p]Reduced Skullpiercer headshot damage[/p]
  • [p]Uncharged: 80 (was 86)[/p]
  • [p]Charged: 120 (was 130)[/p]

• [p]Explosive arrow on hit damage increased to 55 (was 40)[/p]
• [p]Increased rate of fire[/p]
• [p]Max charge damage increased to 65 (was 55)[/p]

• [p] New ADS firing animation: returns the weapon to center screen sooner[/p]

• [p]Improved horizontal recoil in burst fire and full-auto[/p]
• [p]Reduced burst fire delay[/p]

• [p]Increased rechamber speed when energized[/p]

MAPS

• [p]Kings Canyon[/p]
• [p]World’s Edge[/p]
• [p]Broken Moon[/p]

• [p]TDM: Fragment, Party Crasher, Skull Town[/p]
• [p]Control: Caustic, Production Yard, Lava Siphon[/p]
• [p]Gun Run: Skull Town, Monument, The Core[/p]

MODES

• [p]Fight 1v1: win as many 1v1 Duels as you can in the time given[/p]
• [p]Even Duels: dueling players are assigned matching Legends and weapons for even ground[/p]
• [p]Leaderboard: tracks players’ performance over the course of the match[/p]
• [p]No abilities: abilities will be turned off for the first part of the event, allowing players to focus on gun skills and movement[/p]
• [p]Three maps: Encore, Habitat, and Party Crasher available at launch with a variety of spawn points[/p]

• [p]Abilities: Legends abilities are turned on for a new exciting strategic layer[/p]

RANKED

• [p]Ranked Tier Display: now shows the tier distribution per squad instead of per individual player. Ranked matchmaking for premade squads is done based on the highest RP value in the squad. This change will group all squad members, premade or otherwise, to show the entire squad based on the highest Rank Tier in that squad.[/p]
• [p]Ladder Champion Dive Trail: granted to all players that completed the Ladder Champion placement Challenge in Split 1 and will be accessible for all of Split 2. If you wish to retain access to the Dive Trail, you must complete the same Challenge in this current split. [/p]

BUG FIXES

• [p]Audio: walking while holding a Bocek will once again produce third-person footstep audio[/p]
• [p]Arrows[/p]
  • [p]Should once again despawn properly[/p]
  • [p]Those shot into the Arena’s barrier wall will no longer stay there once the round started[/p]
• [p]Arsenals: will no longer steal ammo out of your inventory[/p]
• [p]Firing Range[/p]
  • [p]Artemis should no longer spam spawn *meow*[/p]
  • [p]Arrows can no longer be picked-up across Firing Range instances[/p]
• [p]PC: Full shader compiles should no longer occur every time the game loads, especially after a Windows update[/p]
• [p]Tac no longer occasionally used with some Legends when holding Akimbo weapons while activating Ult[/p]
• [p]"Tracked and Recommended" tab once again shows tracked challenges in match summary[/p]
• [p]Tracked challenges lobby widget now shows the further progressed challenge of the two[/p]

LEGENDS

• [p]Alter[/p]
  • [p]Fixed issue where any legend would cancel the void nexus activation if you tried to travel to it while holding an ultimate in your hands.[/p]
  • [p]Fixed issue where Lifeline would cancel the void nexus activation if she did a hard fall impact.[/p]
  • [p]Fixed enemy and dummy highlighting in the void and from Alter's tactical not working when friendly fire was enabled in the firing range.[/p]
  • [p]Fixed issue where Alter's teammate would not get an MRB when crafting banners if Alter had selected the "Friends" upgrade, but was dead.[/p]
• [p]Ash: Greedy Snare now plants correctly after the first hit[/p]
• [p]Mirage: will now consistently exit cloak when hit while healing[/p]
• [p]Sparrow: Stinger Bolt no longer instantly break Revenant’s Shadow Shroud[/p]

QUALITY OF LIFE

• [p]Arsenals: increased the interact size of the consoles, making it less likely that you unintentionally grab a new weapon while enhancing your current weapon[/p]
• [p]Battle Pass gifting has returned[/p]
• [p]Fixed misprediction hitches when taking ring damage or when ending heals[/p]
• [p]Gibraltar’s arm shield and Gun Shield Generators are now accounted for in the Death Recap[/p]
• [p]Rampart can now interact with more things while holding Sheila[/p]
• [p]Re-wrote the 'hold to use' system to make it more accurate and players should swap weapons on accident less often as a result[/p]
• [p]Thermite Grenade Visual Updates[/p]
  • [p]Added detonation FX[/p]
  • [p]Added new elements to update visuals: updated spark materials, hotter bottom to see better the thermite AOE, all assets dissolve faster[/p]
  • [p]Reduced number of particles[/p]
  • [p]Reduction in overdraw[/p]
  • [p]Updated sparks to enhance the feel[/p]

AUDIO

• [p]De-prioritized friendly zip-lines so enemies will always be played[/p]
• [p]De-prioritized non-threatening enemy footsteps (bodyfall and downed) to ensure potential threats are always played[/p]
• [p]Experimenting with lowered volume/inaudible friendly footsteps when under significant threat—let us know if this is helpful![/p]
• [p]Reduced volume of Hovertanks in Kings Canyon[/p]

GRAPHICS

• [p]PC[/p]
  • [p]Improved GPU uploading performance, which can increase performance stability and reduce missing models or textures for some players[/p]
  • [p]Launch argument -no_render_on_input_thread has been made the default for players with 8 or more cores on their CPU. This improves performance stability and input latency, especially when paired with high-polling rate mice or controllers. It can still be enabled manually for players with fewer CPU cores, and it can be disabled with -render_on_input_thread.[/p]
  • [p]Reduced CPU overhead of multithreading on machines with many CPU cores[/p]