Check out the patch notes, which include a new Arena made out of Skull Town
Apex Legends players will return to the original Kings Canyon and World’s Edge maps in a new event, Respawn Entertainment and Electronic Arts announced Thursday. The Genesis Collection event starts June 29, runs through July 13, and adds limited-time cosmetics in addition to the restored maps. The event also comes with a host of balance changes, and we’ve listed Respawn’s official patch notes below.
Since Apex Legends first debuted in 2019, Respawn has shifted its maps around considerably. The developer has blown tunnels out to allow better access, and destroyed entire towns. Airships have crashed into mountains. And that’s just for the game’s original map, Kings Canyon. Most days, it’s impossible to experience these maps the way they were when players first encountered them. But Apex’s latest event changes that.
The Genesis Collection event adds the new Legacy Maps Takeover. During the event, the Trios and Duos queues will rotate between the season 0 version of King’s Canyon and season 3 version of World’s Edge. The map will change every hour. Skull Town, an area from the original version of Kings Canyon, will also appear as a new Arena for players to battle in. Similar to the maps, the Skull Town Arena will appear in the Arena playlist for an hour at a time.
In addition to the map changes, the Genesis Collection event also adds a host of free and paid cosmetics. Players who collect all 24 of the limited items, via direct purchase or through the special Genesis Event Apex Packs, will get an Heirloom item for Revenant. When the event ends, players can craft Revenant’s Heirloom — a very cool scythe — via the Heirloom crafting system.
Respawn’s new patch will make adjustments to several Legends as well as rebalancing a handful of weapons. Scroll down for the complete patch notes from Respawn.
Legend Balance Updates
Octane
- Launch Pad cooldown increased from 60 seconds to 90 seconds.
Dev Note: Octane remains the most popular legend by a large margin even after the stim nerf. Turns out jump pads are fun, but with the added utility from the two launch options, it’s only fair to bump up the cooldown.
Revenant
- Slightly slimmed down hitbox (specifically his midsection, arms, and upper legs).
- Stalker climb height significantly increased. It’s not literally unlimited now, but… that boy can really climb.
- Silence duration decreased from 20 seconds to 15 seconds.
- Reduced the duration of death protection by 5 seconds while using the Death Totem.
Dev Note: Revenant’s large frame places him at a significant disadvantage in gunfights, particularly against smaller legends who no longer have Low Profile. We’re shrinking some of his hitboxes to counteract this disadvantage, while also improving his ability to climb up walls and attack from unexpected angles. (We know this can be frustrating given how silent he is, so we’ll continue to monitor and add sound if necessary.) That said, we’re taking this opportunity to reduce some of the frustration that comes when playing against his tactical and ultimate.
Lifeline
- Increased hit box size, mostly in the legs and waist.
Dev Note: Unlike Revenant, Lifeline excels in gunfights given her small hitbox. Even with the res shield gone, it’s no surprise the smallest character in the game saw an uptick in performance with the removal of Low Profile. She remains small, but these hitbox changes bring her closer to the medium sized legends.
Bloodhound
- Eye of the Allfather scan revealed time decreased from 4 seconds to 3 seconds.
- Beast of the Hunt duration decreased from 35 seconds to 30 seconds. Time can still be added by downing enemies.
Dev Note: Bloodhound has remained a popular and powerful pick for multiple seasons now, mostly because of the sheer amount of information that can be gained with one tap of their tactical. Shortening the scan duration still provides a snapshot of information for Bloodhound’s team without stifling all enemies caught anywhere in the large range for a full 4 seconds.
Wattson
- Major Buff: Wattson can now place more than one Nessie on the map at a time with her Epic emote.
Dev Note: There can now be up to 20 Nessies active at once on any given map. Until that cap is reached, any Wattson can place as many as she likes. When the cap is hit, the oldest Nessie belonging to the Wattson who currently owns the most Nessies is removed.
Weapons Balance Updates
P2020
- Increased Fire Rate from 6.25 -> 7.0
- Increased Base Ammo from 12 -> 14
- Increased Lvl 1 Mag from 14 -> 16
- Increased Lvl 2 Mag from 16 -> 18
- Increased Lvl 3 and Lvl 4 Mag from 18 -> 21
Spitfire
- Increased Hip Fire spread
Dev Note: The Spitfire has continued to over perform so we’re hitting it’s close range hip fire accuracy which should help bring it in line.
30-30 Repeater
- Slightly increased projectile speed
- Reduced charge time from 0.5s -> 0.35s
Longbow
- Damage increased from 55 -> 60
Arenas Price Adjustments
The figures below represent changes to the cost in materials to unlock or upgrade weapons, utilities, and Legend abilities in Arenas matches.
Weapon Prices
- P2020 Lvl 1 Upgrade: 50 -> 25
- P2020 Lvl 2 Upgrade: 125 -> 75
- P2020 Lvl 3 Upgrade: 200 -> 150
- RE45: 250 -> 200
- EVA: 250 -> 300
- Mastiff: 500 -> 400
- R99: 550 -> 500
- Volt: 500 -> 550
- Spitfire: 550 -> 600
- L-Star: 400 -> 500
- R301 Lvl 2 Upgrade: 300 -> 350
- G7 Scout: 350 -> 400
- G7 Scout Lvl 3 Upgrade: 250 -> 200
- 30-30: 350 -> 400
- 30-30 Lvl 3 Upgrade: 250 -> 200
Utility Prices
- Arc Star: 100 -> 125
- Gold Backpack: 250 -> 300
Legend Ability Prices
- Crypto EMP: 600 -> 500
- Crypto Drone: 100 -> 50
- Revenant Death Totem: 600 -> 500
- Lifeline DOC Drone 50 -> 75
- Fuse Knuckle Cluster 150 -> 75
- Bloodhound Ult 350 -> 450
Arenas Balance Changes
Legend Ability Adjustments
- Pathfinder’s Grapple starting charges reduced to 2 charges from 3.
- Pathfinder’s Zipline round cooldown increased from every round to every other round.
- Rampart’s Sheila round cooldown reduced from every 3 rounds to every other round.
- Wattson’s Interception Pylon round cooldown increased from every round to every other round.
- Octane’s Launch Pad cooldown increased from every round to every other round.
- Octane’s Stim starting charges reduced to 2 charges from 3.
Other
- Added a scoreboard to the map screen.
- You can now report players by pressing [SPACE / Y] in the map screen
- From Round 3 and onward, you’ll now start with a shield battery in addition to 2 syringes and 2 shield cells.
- Care packages will also land 5s earlier to make the contained weapons a more viable option before the round closes out.
- 6x scope moved from base sniper weapons to Lvl 1 upgrade.
Arenas Map Adjustments
Party Crasher
- Adjusted circle logic to favor downtown a bit more.
- Simplified the minimap’s visual language.
Phase Runner
- Raised cover height on certain props throughout the map to prevent unfair advantages to large rig Legends.
- Added a few trees to reduce the ease of spawn sniping (looking at you, Reptar…).
Arenas Bug Fixes
- The UI for Purple devotion now shows the attached turbocharger.
- Players will no longer be chosen as Jump Masters during the legend select screen.
- Updated the sniper stock to show an empty slot when needed.
- Can no longer get stuck in the crouch position after dying while reviving a teammate during a round in Arenas.
Quality of Life Changes
Valkyrie
- Updated fuel gauge UI to better indicate when you’re using fuel and when you’re running low.
Rampart
- Will now have custom animations for LMG reload. These have no impact on her current reload times.
MISC
- Added VO for when your Ultimate is ready, or not ready.
- When your Ultimate gets to 100%, you’ll be prompted to tell your team with new VO for each Legend.
- At any point in time, you can ping your Ultimate icon (in your inventory) to show your teammate what percentage you’re at (in quickchat).
- Added VO for when you enter a Replicator, so your teammates know you are crafting and won’t leave you behind! Probably.
- Added VO for pinging a friendly Trident, in addition to the neutral and enemy states that already existed.
- You can now turn off FOV scaling when certain abilities are used. Look in the options.
- Reduced the frequency of Ring endings near out-of-bounds areas (like canyon walls or map edges).
- Healing items will now play the entire healing sound when used by other players, instead of just the beginning and ending.
- Muting players will now also mute text to speech.
Bug Fixes
Bloodhound
- Passive tracker icons will no longer be shown in the end-of-game screen.
Caustic
- Fixed an issue with enemies not getting highlighted when in Caustic’s Nox Gas.
Fuse
- Players can now see the number of grenades in the grenades stack when viewed on floor.
- Fixed the 1P arm color on “Board to Death” to match the 3P view.
- Fuse will no longer produce a third arm when ADS’ing and using the tactical at the same time.
Gibraltar
- Being struck by a direct hit of Fuse’s Knucklecluster will no longer cause Gibraltar’s Gun shield to take unnecessary damage.
- Gibby’s Ultimate will no longer damage a friendly’s Horizon’s Ult.
- Gun Shield will no longer take additional bleed through damage.
Horizon
- Horizon’s tactical will no longer ascend Caustic’s gas traps or Octane’s Jump pads to the heavens.
- Fixed an issue with the appearance of Horizon’s teeth when using the “Golden Boson” skin.
Lifeline
- Lifeline will no longer use Wraith’s animations while in the boxing ring.
- Enemy Care packages will now have loot if the enemy Lifeline leaves the game before it lands.
- Fixed an issue that was preventing Lifeline’s tactical from functioning properly while in Caustic gas.
Loba
- Completed another pass to prevent Loba from getting into unallowed areas.
- Fixed an issue causing Loba’s tactical to improperly fail on the Phase Runner map in Arenas.
- Fixed an issue that caused Loba’s tactical to be improperly disrupted by Horizon’s gravity lift.
Mirage
- Corrected an issue with Mirage flickering while in the Lobby.
Octane
- Fixed obstructed ADSing while using the Compound bow and the 3x sight.
Pathfinder
- Can no longer swap weapons faster if the holster animation is canceled.
- Did a Zipline pass on Arena Maps to prevent Pathfinder getting into unfair positions.
Rampart
- Fixed a logic error when using Wraith’s Portal and Sheila at the same time.
- Did a pass to allow more places to place Amped Walls on Olympus.
- Fixed an audio issue with Rampart’s Tactical when in close quarters.
- Fixed an issue with Sheila disappearing off of Rampart’s back if shot during an emote.
- Players no longer fall under the ground when using Shelia on certain slopes.
Revenant
- Death Totem can now be damaged in Firing Range.
Valkyrie
- Did an environment pass to prevent Valk from entering areas not meant to be entered.
- Amped cover will no longer push players into geo if Skyward Dive is initiated near it.
- Valkyrie’s Ult UI no longer remains on screen if observer switches to another POV.
- First person view no longer obstructed when using a shield battery.
- Fixed an issue with players not being able to cancel being hooked up to Valks Ult.
Wattson
- Wattson no longer uses Wraith’s animation in the boxing ring.
- The Nessie that Watton leaves behind with her Epic emote should no longer fall over dead when using a Legendary skin.
Wraith
- Addressed a bug that sometimes caused Wraith’s portal to improperly appear as open after a player entered it just before it closed.
Other
- Fixed a bug where players have to play one Ranked game after a Season or Split reset for the reset to fully take effect. Note that players who have not played a Ranked game recently before this update will still have to play one more game of Ranked with their RP changing before this bug is completely fixed.
- Matchmaking will be canceled if the party leader changes the playlist to a mode that a party member is not eligible for.
- Fixed an issue preventing Switch users from scrolling through all their emotes while in handheld mode.
- Resolved an issue that was sometimes slowing down controller players’ turn speeds when running at high FPS.
- Addressed some audio issues with Phoenix Kits.
- Entering the Fight Night ring on Olympus should no longer cause you to experience glitches with gunfire audio.
- Solved a performance problem caused by having large numbers of friends via Steam and/or Origin.
- Knocked legends can now open the inner door inside Explosive Holds as normal.
- Your scope sight should no longer flicker when ADSing using the Bocek Bow while riding a Trident.
- Similarly to the above, ADSing with the Bocek Bow while riding a zipline should no longer cause flickering.
- Resolved an issue that was preventing ping VO from playing when at a distance from teammates.
- Fixed an issue that sometimes prevented players from joining a friend’s lobby when using the “join” button from the Friends tab.
- Solved an issue that was preventing Respawn beacon audio from triggering properly.
- Fixed some buttons with weird “hitboxes” in the Clubs tab.
- Rejecting invites from the Clubs tab should now work as expected.
- Fixed an issue that sometimes prevented loot from appearing as expected in death boxes.
- The consumables interface should no longer show up on the podium screen.
- Resolved a rare bug that allowed you to use a Shield Battery even when shields were full.
- Fixed an issue preventing some colorblind settings from appropriately changing the color of enemy HP bars.
- Colorblind settings are now properly applied to trackers in the Legends tab.
- Addressed an issue that sometimes caused the ring to become silent for recently-respawned players.
- Solved a bug with “Death UI” being shown to players who reconnected early in the match.
- The “random” music pack should no longer play default music on the match summary screen or the lobby.
- Fixed some VFX issues with Legendary knockdown shields.