It’s time for Apex Legends archery
Apex Legends’ upcoming Legacy update is already shaping up to be one of its biggest patches ever. Now that developer Respawn Entertainment has released the official notes it seems there are even more changes than we thought. Along with the addition of the new Arenas mode and Valkyrie, the game’s new Legend, the Legacy update will also bring in dozens of huge new balance changes to Legends and weapons.
Among the biggest changes in Apex Legends: Legacy is the removal of Low Profile. This perk used to be applied to certain Legends who had smaller character models, like Lifeline, Wattson, and Wraith.
The perk caused these characters to take 5% additional damage, and for leg shots to do the same damage as body shots, to help mitigate the advantage of having a smaller hitbox. However, Respawn now feels that it can balance these characters within their own kits without relying on Low Profile, so the perk has been removed from the game.
The new patch will also include an update to the Apex Legends loot pool, and the items that players start each game with. After the update players will begin each match with a “starter kit,” which includes a level 1 EVO Shield, a helmet, a Knockdown Shield, two Shield Cells, and two syringes. Since everyone gets these to start, level 1 helmets and knockdown shields have now been removed from the loot pool.
Another big addition with this update is the game’s new Bocek weapon, a compound bow that fits into a new weapons category called Marksman. That category includes guns like the G7, 30-30, and Triple Take. The Bocek fires arrows that are nearly silent, giving you the drop on your target. The Bocek also has two Hop Up attachments: Shatter Caps, which splits each arrow into a shotgun-like spread, and Deadeye’s Tempo, which increases the bow’s fire rate if you release the arrows at the perfect time.
Along with these huge changes, the patch also contains dozens of small balance updates to both weapons and Legends, which you can check out in the full patch notes.
The game’s new patch will be released on May 4, the same day as the rest of the Apex Legends: Legacy update.
Apex Legends Legacy patch notes
Legend Updates
Low Profile Characters
- Low profile no longer exists! This trait has been removed from Wraith, Lifeline, and Wattson.
Dev Note
After our successful experiment with Wraith’s hitboxes, we are now confident that we can solve balance issues between smaller and larger Legends through changes to their kits and hitboxes. It is finally time for Low Profile to go the way of the dodo. (Sorry dodos.)
Lifeline
- Combat Revive: No longer deploys a shield. Can now revive two players at the same time. Can now cancel active revives in progress to allow your teammate to defend themselves with their knockdown shield.
- D.O.C. Heal Drone: Heal rate increased from 5hp per second to 8hp per second. Deployment time before healing begins reduced by roughly 33%.
- Care Package: Cooldown reduced from 6 minutes to 5 minutes. Now guarantees an upgrade (if possible) in three categories: Body Shield, Other Equipment (Helmet, Backpack, and Knockdown Shield), and Weapon Attachment, based on your team’s current gear when the Package arrives.
Dev Note
Lifeline’s kit was not in a particularly healthy place. The Passive shield was extremely strong to the point of frustration, while her Tactical and Ultimate seemed like they were becoming more and more obsolete. These changes are aimed to redistribute this big power differential between all of her abilities, making D.O.C. and Care Package more powerful and effective, while tamping down on the highly binary and situational Combat Revive.
Octane
- Stim: Reduced cooldown between stims from 4s to 1s. Increased health cost from 12hp to 20hp.
- Increased bullet spread while in the air and shooting from the low Launch Pad trajectory.
Dev Note
Octane continues to perform really well after the latest changes. Too well? We still love the frequency of the Jump Pad, but we’d like to make using Stim something Octane thinks about doing at the right time, instead of always slamming it by default.
Loba
- Burglar’s Best Friend: Can now run and slide at full speed while aiming the bracelet and while the bracelet is in the air. Loba will no longer be slowed after translocating.
Fixed a lot of bugs that caused bracelet tosses to fail. - Black Market Boutique: Increased cooldown from 90s to 120s.
Horizon
- Gravity Lift: Reduced lift speed by 30%. Reduced side-to-side acceleration. Limited the time you can sit at the top of Gravity Lift to 2 seconds. Increased cooldown from 15s to 20s.
- Horizon’s abilities will now get zapped by Wattson pylons.
Dev Note
Horizon is powerful and popular, but that’s not why we’re making these changes. We believe that mistakes in Apex Legends should be punishable, and when Horizon could just get herself out of bad positioning while popping a whole battery, this just wasn’t true. These changes have two goals: 1) make it much more possible for enemies to shoot Horizon as she sits in her gravity lift and 2) make gravity lift less of an impromptu sniper tower.
Fuse
- Knuckle Cluster: Fuse now has two stacks of Knuckle Cluster. Reduced cooldown from 25s to 20s.
Dev Note
More help is coming, but we want to be very careful how we buff him so that he doesn’t just become the Legend that kills you with his abilities.
Bangalore
- Smoke Launcher: Thickened Bangalore’s smoke.
Dev Note
Last patch we optimized Bangalore’s smoke particles and inadvertently thinned them out. This aims to get her back to the original visuals while keeping the optimizations.
Bloodhound
- No longer receives assists from Eye of the Allfather.
Dev Note
Bloodhound’s scan is strong, but the goal of this change in particular is to reconsider assists and their implications for Ranked Points. There’s enough intrinsic value in sonar scans, and it’s a slippery slope to consider crediting assists for other non-damaging abilities. Crypto will remain an exception. The active nature of Crypto’s drone scan is notably different from the passive option with Bloodhound. This should encourage Bloodhound players to act on the information they get from the scan, to eliminate instances where they might try to snag a quick assist without committing to a fight in the same way Crypto has to.
Crypto
- Crypto’s drone can now scan and open care packages.
- Can no longer use his drone to “hijack” a respawn beacon that’s already in use.
Weapons Updates
Supply Drop Rotation
This season, we’re taking the Peacekeeper out of the supply drop and putting the Triple Take in its place. Of course, with any supply drop change, these weapons will have their stats updated. See how each weapon changes down below.
Crate Weapon Drop Rates:
Since we are exchanging a shotgun with a marksman weapon, now was a good time to rebalance the drop rates of crate weapons. The Kraber will spawn less often in the early game and more often in the mid game to better accommodate its power. The Triple Take will be the most common early game crate weapon, with the Prowler being the most prominent late game crate weapon.
Fully Kitted Rotation
- Added: Wingman, Bocek, R99, Hemlock, and Sentinel
- Removed: R301, 30-30 Repeater, Mozambique, Longbow DMR, and Spitfire
Hop Ups
- Shatter Caps – Fire select to toggle between standard mode and shatter mode. In shatter mode, rounds split into a blast pattern on firing. This hop up will be equipable to the 30-30 Repeater and the Bocek.
- Deadeye’s Tempo – Firing at the perfect moment increases fire rate. This can currently be attached to the Sentinel and the Bocek.
- To make room, the Hammerpoint and Skullpiercer hop ups are being vaulted for now, and won’t be available.
Assault Rifles
- Reducing the headshot multiplier for all assault rifles from 2.0 to 1.75
Dev Note
This was already the case for the Hemlok, so the affected guns are the R301, Flatline, and Havoc.
Peacekeeper
- It comes with the Precision Choke by default, which can be toggled off
- Pellet damage reduced from 10 to 9
- Rechamber time increased from 0.9 seconds to 1.1 seconds
- Reload times increased (regular from 2.45 to 2.5, empty from 3.35 to 3.5)
- Pellet spread increased in general, and spread when charged increased for all charge levels (from 0.65/0.45/0.2 to 0.85/0.65/0.35)
- Quickly loses charge after leaving ADS
Dev Note
Since the Peacekeeper is coming out of the crate, we are bringing many of the stats back in line with their previous values. We are also reducing its damage potential and bringing in the effective range a bit since the Precision Choke is always available now.
Triple Take
- As a crate weapon, it will come with a 9 ammo clip and 63 reserve ammo
- Fire rate increased from 1.2 to 1.3
- Time to full charge reduced from 1.1 seconds to 1 second
- Retains charge briefly after leaving ADS
- Move-speed while aiming down sights has been increased to match other marksman weapons — faster than snipers, slower than ARs
- Increased spread while airborne and aiming down sights
Havoc
- Increased recoil controllability early in the pattern
Dev Note
This should help make up for the reduced headshot multiplier and make it a bit more usable in mid-range fights.
Spitfire
- Reduced recoil controllability early in the pattern
Dev Note
The Spitfire is too strong at the moment, boasting good damage output with low recoil. Making it a bit harder to control early in the pattern should give more time for opponents to fight against it. That said, we’re prepared to make more changes to the Spitfire if it remains too powerful.
30-30 Repeater
- Increased leg damage multiplier from 0.75 to 0.85
- Move-speed while aiming down sights has been increased to match other marksman weapons — faster than snipers, slower than ARs
Dev Note
The 30-30 could use some love, so we’re bringing up the amount of leg damage it does. This should make it a bit more consistent without raising its high “best case” damage potential.
G7 Scout
- Move-speed while aiming down sights has been increased to match other marksman weapons — faster than snipers, slower than ARs
- Increased hipfire spread size (reduced accuracy) to be more in line with other marksman weapons
Dev Note
The 30-30 Repeater and the Bocek Compound Bow have more accurate hipfire than the baseline marksman weapon values, so the G7 Scout will be less accurate in hipfire than these other weapons.
Longbow
- Increased headshot multiplier from 2.0 to 2.15
Wingman
- Increased headshot multiplier from 2.0 to 2.15
Dev Note
As we’ve done before when the Skullpiercer is out of the loot pool, we’re giving the Longbow and Wingman a compensatory buff.
Mozambique
- Increased magazine capacity from 4 to 6
- Moved the lower 2 pellets inward in the blast pattern
Dev Note
This brings up the baseline power level so “only” finding a Mozambique early in the match gives you more of a fighting chance, and makes up for the removal of Hammerpoints.
P2020
- Increased bullet damage from 15 to 18
- Lowered fire rate from 8.5 to 6.25
Dev Note
Similar to the Mozambique, we want to bring up the P2020’s baseline power level a bit. Most players couldn’t take advantage of the fast fire rate, so bringing that down while increasing the damage should help players win more early fights with the P2020.
Arc Stars
- Aim and movement slow removed from the initial stick.
Dev Note
Sticking someone should feel rewarding, considering it’s a rare occurrence that’s difficult to pull off. While an argument can be made that getting stuck should be a personal death sentence, the inability to at least relocate and spare teammates from the follow-up explosion makes it hard to counter against a coordinated team. This change should help mitigate that without stripping away the satisfaction of hitting a nice stick.
Starter Loot
- Players will now start a match with a “Starter Kit” consisting of a Level 1 EVO Shield, Helmet, and Knockdown Shield, plus two Shield Cells and Syringes each.
- We’ve removed Level 1 Helmets and Knockdown Shields from the loot pool.
- Spawn chances for Level 1 EVO Shields in the loot pool have been significantly reduced.
- Along with the lowered or removed spawn chances for these items, we’ve rebalanced the loot pool such that higher-level versions of these items will appear nearly the same as they do now, but other item types will appear more often (weapons, ordinance, health, ammo, etc.)
Dev note
We’ve wanted to take a crack at improving the loot game for a while, with our design goals being to make picking up loot feel more impactful to the game, and to thin out our loot a bit in general, since we’re always adding new items to the pool. The recent Locked & Loaded takeover mode helped us field-test some of the changes we’re looking to make moving forward: certain pieces of loot, and low-tier loot types specifically, are being put on notice.
We’re removing Level 1 Helmets and Knockdown Shields from the ground loot because these seemed like the least exciting, least meaningful equipment pickups we had. Their power is practically invisible, so they don’t really feel like a character improvement in the way that things like, say, a Backpack feels (getting those extra slots feels SO chunky!).
We’re keeping Level 1 EVO Shields in the loot pool (albeit at a lower spawn chance) in addition to adding them to your starter kit because having them sprinkled around is still important for “shield-swapping” shenanigans.
Finally, granting these pieces of gear from the start of the game is also intended to improve the “hot drop” situation: having more health, some headshot damage reduction, and a little knockdown protection can help give players some more time to react to a chaotic hot drop than before.
Be on the lookout for more loot changes in the future! This will be an ongoing project.
Quality of Life
- Badges are now sorted by categories and can be filtered by “all” or “unlocked only”. This suggestion came directly from players. Thank you! It’s so much better!
- When looting death boxes, players can now see health bars for everyone on the team.
- Challenges can now be “favorited” by going into the challenges menu and right clicking a challenge. That Challenge will then be added to a new favorites tab that will appear in the lobby and in the match’s map screen.
- Pressing and Holding F2 while in-game will bring up the ability description page for your character. This is only available on PC.
- Players can now request better equipment by going into their inventory and pinging a piece of equipment.
- Your first Challenge Reroll of the day is now free.
- Rerolling your challenges will allow you to choose from either BR-focused challenges or Arenas-focused ones.
- Holo Sprays, Quips, and Emotes, can be favorited. These will be used whenever the player is prompted to do a random emote.
- Club Invites v2: You can now include what you want to play when you send your clubmates a party invite via the Club tab. Select as many club mates as you want to send the invite to at once via the member list.
- Ranked: Fixed edge cases where an abandon penalty would be incorrectly applied due to server errors.
- Flight path adjustments: Removing edge dropship flight paths to prevent matches where large portions of the map receive little to no traffic. These screenshots show a before/after comparison of possible flight paths on Kings Canyon.
Ring Update
We’re continuing work from the Fight Night update to improve match pacing towards the end of the game. We’re slowing down the closing speed of the late game Rings to allow you more time to fight and maneuver your way into the Ring. We’re also reducing the “waiting” time before Rings 4 and 6 start to close.
- Ring 4 pre-shrink time reduced from 2:00 to 1:45
- Ring 4 shrink speed reduced from 33 second close time to 40 seconds
- Ring 5 shrink speed reduced from 20 second close time to 40 seconds
- Ring 6 pre-shrink time reduced from 1:30 to 1:00
- Ring 6 shrink speed reduced from 1:40 close time to 2:00
Bug Fixes
Bloodhound
- Fixed an issue with the Tactical UI not showing while in Bloodhound’s Ultimate.
Pathfinder
- Gas Traps and Jump Pads will no longer float into the sky when placed next to a zipline.
Wraith
- Slight wall bumps no longer inadvertently cancel Wraith’s tactical.
Mirage
- Decoys no longer die after a tick of thermite damage.
Octane
- Ordinances will no longer get stuck and disappear when being bounced off of Jump Pads.
- Death Totems will no longer bounce when a Jump Pad is placed under it.
- Players will no longer have weapons drawn if they are knocked as they enter the Fight Night ring via a Jump Pad.
- Updated Octane’s Helicopter emote to correctly remove his leg for which he is using it to do said helicoptering.
Wattson
- Fixed the “Extend” prompt for Watson’s fences not appearing in certain situations.
- Haute Drop skin will no longer block view when reloading the Sentinel.
Loba
- Fixed more areas where Loba’s Bracelet fails.
- Red Handed skin on consoles will now properly animate.
Rampart
- Mobile Respawn Beacon now has proper collision with Amped Cover.
- Jumping on and off a damaged Shiela will no longer transfer the flame effect to your weapon.
Horizon
- Players will no longer have weapons drawn if they are knocked as they enter the fight night ring via a Gravity Lift.
- 1x holo sight will no longer block view when using certain skins.
- Fixed an issue with NEWT not getting refunded if it immediately dies due to a bad spot.
Fuse
- 1x holo sight will no longer block view when using certain skins.
Flatline
- Part of the iron sight was being displayed over the whole weapon.
Prowler
- Supply Drop Prowler can now toggle fire modes.
Sentinel
- Moved tool tips to not overlap hop up icons.
- Fixed a graphical issue when swapping to Sentinel.
Misc.
- Fixed a menu issue with the advanced look options being hidden.
- Survey beacons will now appear on the map when teammates are respawned.