Apex Legends has rolled out its 19th season, bringing in a host of new features and tweaks for players. The significant updates include a new Ignite Patch, an added legend, and modifications to weapons and existing characters.
The Ignite Patch has quite a few things up its sleeve. Players can expect adjustments to existing characters and weapons that help level the playing field. The developers aim to make the game enjoyable for everyone, from newcomers to seasoned players.
A new legend has been added to the roster, offering a different set of skills and adding a new layer to the game’s strategy. While the developers have not revealed too much, introducing a new character always shakes things up a bit.
Existing weapons and characters have not been overlooked. Changes have been made to balance the game and to encourage diverse strategies. This keeps the gameplay fresh, as players must re-think their tactics.
NEW LEGEND: CONDUIT
Rowenna grew up amidst a war, but in a move that turned the tide, one Monarch Titan sacrificed itself to end the fighting. In the years after, her home planet of Nexus established ties across the Outlands, introducing Rowenna to the Apex Games. The Games represented everything she aspired to–heroism, hard work, sacrifice—and she became a dedicated fan.
When her elder sister Diwa suffered a terrible injury at work, Rowenna resolved to support her family no matter what. She stole the battery from the Monarch, still rusting on the hill, and had a combat rig built with its battery at the core. She used it to qualify for the Apex Games, and even though the battery exposes her to poisonous radiation, she refuses to give up. No one else was going to get hurt to support her family. Rowenna’s choosing to have hope for her dreams or die trying. Now, it’s Conduit’s chance for a day in the sun.
Check out more on our newest and brightest Legend, Conduit, in our highlights blog and read on for details on her abilities.
PASSIVE: SAVIOR’S SPEED
Gain a burst of speed when running toward a teammate out of Tactical range.
TACTICAL: RADIANT TRANSFER
Blast your ally with energy, regenerating temporary shields for them when in danger.
ULTIMATE: ENERGY BARRICADE
Deploy an array of shield jamming devices which damage and slow enemies.
IGNITE MAP ROTATION
The following maps will be available for public matchmaking in the Battle Royale mode:
- Broken Moon
- Olympus
- Storm Point
STORM POINT MAP UPDATE
Read the full breakdown of the Storm Point updates in our Ignite Highlights blog here.
ANTI-CHEAT UPDATES
NEW IN-MATCH NOTIFICATIONS
A new feature that launched during Resurrection is live: in-game notifications for banned players. This notification will appear in the kill feed when a player in your current match has been removed. This alert will only be triggered by our anti-cheat systems and will not display when someone quits a match, loses connection or is kicked for AFK. This is the first of many steps the team is taking to improve visibility and player feedback when users are actioned.
RANKED
NEW FEATURE: PROMOTIONAL TRIALS
In Season 19, players will enter a Promotional Trial state when they reach the peak of their tier. During a Trial, LP loss and gains are frozen, allowing the player to focus on completing the trial:
- Completing the conditions of a Trial within the given match count limit (either by winning a game or completing the alternative) will allow promotion into the next tier with a 250 LP promotional bonus
- Failing to complete the Trial within the match limit results in the Trial ending and a loss of LP based on the player’s performance
- Trials are time limited to 5 matches, increasing by 1 game each time a player fails and then reenters the same Trial, up to a max of 10 retries
- Promotional Trials are skipped during Provisional matches
Trial Tier | Main Condition | Alternative Condition |
Rookie → Bronze | Win a game | During the Trial:
|
Bronze → Silver | Win a game | During the Trial:
|
Silver → Gold | Win a game | In 3 different matches complete both:
|
Gold → Platinum | Win a game | In 3 different matches complete both:
|
Platinum → Diamond | Win a game | N/A |
Diamond → Master | Win a game | N/A |
RANKED TUNING
If you missed our recent reddit Dev Team Update, we’ve made some tuning adjustments for Ignite’s Ranked:
- Increasing the amount of Rating Bonus given to help players’ ranking catch up to their skill bracket
- Reduce the bonus that is withheld and thus the difficulty of climbing, when players are actively pushing against their skill ceiling
- Provisional Bonuses are adjusted to land players closer to the expected statistical 1.5 tier drop at the end of their 10 provisional games
Ranking difference restrictions for 3 stack premades has been REMOVED. Players will now be able to play with friends no matter where they are on their climbs—with the caveat that your squad will face more difficult battles if there’s a bigger discrepancy between your skill.
PATCH NOTES
- Cross Progression will be rolling out in phases across existing platforms—read more in our detailed blog here
- Holosprays can now be deployed while skydiving
Rolling out the new Rendering Hardware Interface (RHI) code on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and S—more background info on RHI can be found via our Reddit post here.
BALANCE UPDATES
Crafting Rotation
- RE-45 and 30-30 Repeater leave the crafter and are back on the floor
- R-301 and Volt enter the crafter
- Boosted Loader removed from crafting rotation
- Digital Threat optic removed from crafting rotation
- Hammerpoint Rounds added to crafting rotation
Care Package Weapon Rotation
- L-Star EMG returns to the floor
- Removed Disruptor Rounds
- Projectile size reduced
- Improved recoil pattern
- Reduced randomness in the early part of the recoil pattern
- Damage increased to 17 (was 16)
- Barrel attachment improved to match other weapons
- Wingman enters the care package
- New hop-up – Skullpiercer Elite: ignores helmet headshot damage reduction
- Boosted Loader hop-up attached
- Base damage increased to 50 (was 45)
- Projectile size increased
- 110 ammo
Care Packages
- Care Packages will now always have 1 weapon at all stages of the game
Gold Weapons Rotation
- Havoc, RE-45, C.A.R. SMG, L-Star, Longbow DMR
Hop-Ups
- Boosted Loader: removed from floor loot
- Turbocharger: Removed 1 damage reduction when equipped
WEAPONS
30-30 Repeater
- Increased hipfire spread
Bocek Bow
- Faster initial draw speed
- Select Fire button now toggles Shatter Caps
- Tightened Shatter Caps blast pattern
Charge Rifle
- Improved bullet drop ballistics
- Increased projectile size
Hemlok
- Damage reduced to 21 (was 22)
Longbow DMR
- Increased projectile size
Sentinel
- Increased Amped Shot projectile size
LEGENDS
Bangalore
- Double Time: reduced duration to 2s (was 3s)
- Smoke Launcher: smoke lifetime reduced to 18s (was 23s)
- Rolling Thunder: stun duration reduced to 6s (was 8s)
Catalyst
- Piercing Spikes
- Core no longer blocks projectiles, allowing bullets to pass through
- Max in-world count reduced to 2 (was 3)
- Throw range decreased by about 50%
- Dark Veil
- Cooldown now starts after the wall comes down
- Reduced lifetime to 25s (was 30s)
Passive Updates
- Pathfinder’s Insider Knowledge: can now scan Care Packages after allies have already scanned them
- Wraith’s Voices from the Void: reduced look time required to trigger (feels more reliable/consistent)
Ultimate Updates
- Newcastle’s Castle Wall
- Reduced recovery time on landing
- Increased max leap height
- Revenant’s Forged Shadows: reduced time extension window for assists to 3s (was 30s)
- Vantage’s Sniper’s Mark: bullet count increased to 6 (was 5)
MAPS
Olympus
- Addressed a number of bugs and rat spots
- Addressed known exploits to get underneath the map
Kings Canyon
- Addressed multiple rat spots
- Fixed geo holes in world between Relic and Caustic Treatment
Storm Point
- Added two Mixtape maps based on new POIs (ZEUS Station and Wattson’s Pylon)
- Addressed a number of bugs and rat spots
WORLD SYSTEMS
- Players now respawn with the shields and weapons that they had when they were eliminated
- Body shield and helmet level are preserved
- Knockdown shield is reset to white
- Backpacks are removed
- Inventory will contain some ammo for their weapons, two syringes, and two shield cells
- Weapons are maintained, unless that weapon was a care package weapon, and all weapon attachments are removed, including from kitted weapons
- Replicator, Ring Console, and Survey Beacon spawn rates have returned to being even across all POIs
MODES
Mixtape Map Rotation
- Control
- Caustic Treatment and Siphon are out
- Barometer and Production Yard are in
- Gun Run
- Skulltown and Fragment are out
- The Core is in
- New map: Wattson’s Pylon
- TDM
- Fragment and Habitat are out
- Phase Runner is in
- New Map: Zeus Station
BUG FIXES
- Closed an exploit that allowed players to survive ring damage longer than expected using the Phase Runner on Olympus
- Death Boxes can no longer fall into unreachable areas – or lava
- Heat Shields can no longer stick to Tridents
- Heat Shields no longer provide protection above them on higher ground
- Holster weapon UI no longer appears when healing outside the ring
- Knockdown Shield FX no longer remains on while spectating
- Longbow’s Dawn’s Awakening skin no longer has visible barrel with scopes
- Nemesis’ Demon’s Whisper skin no longer obstructs player view
- Provisional badge icon restored on Ranked match summary screen
- Rarity display now updates after equipping from store or pack opening
- Resolved occasional “[UI] Array index 100000000 is out of range (array size 45)” error when launching the game
- Revenant now faces direction he is shooting in third person view
- Skydiving into an exiting respawn dropship will no longer propel the player along with it
- Squad sorting now consistent between HUD and Inventory
- Swapping to lower tiered armor after taking damage no longer requires refreshing the Death Box
AUDIO
- Resolved rare cases where the priority system would kill certain local player weapon sounds at an incorrect time
GRAPHICS
- Fixed squads’ animated poses sometimes ghost slightly on each other
- PC
- Fixed Intel ARC graphics cards defaulting to suboptimal video settings
- Fixed issue with low resolution textures when using adaptive supersampling or after changing resolution
- PC DX12: fixed occasional bad triangle rendering on AMD cards
LEGENDS
- Loba: Tactical is no longer canceled when thrown on a tower near Containment
- Mirage: resolved not breaking cloak sometimes when switching weapons
- Revenant
- Assassin’s instinct
- Digital threats now highlight enemies after being highlighted by Assassin’s Instinct
- Fixed cases where enemies were not being highlighted correctly
- Highlight no longer interferes with other legend highlights
- Highlight now applies to Mirage decoys
- Forged Shadows shroud no longer gets stuck on indefinitely (previous hotfix)
- Assassin’s instinct
- Wattson: fences now collapse when the round ends, preventing ongoing damage audio in post-match screen
QUALITY OF LIFE
- Added Offscreen Portraits setting
- Caustic: restored “Shield Cracked” VO in German
- Firing Range: blue Nessie stays hidden for now… but a new challenger has appeared
- Implemented additional security measures
- Improved PC controller support
- Controller input will no longer be processed when a different window has focus
- Added native support for PS4 and PS5 Bluetooth-connected controllers. Players who have been relying on Steam Input to use PS4 and PS5 controllers over Bluetooth should disable that setting in Steam.
- Mixtape: assists are now awarded for Assisted Kills by ALL Teammates in modes where multiple squads are teamed together
- Pings
- Ping Enemies on the map: double-clicking the Ping Button will place an Enemy Ping on the map at that position
- Reply to Enemy Pings with Ok, Hold On, and Wait ping reply options
- Rampart: players can now pick up their amped walls while in placement mode
- Revenant
- Add vibration support when Forged Shadows shield is damaged, and when the shield reforms or breaks
- Improve vibration support when charging Shadow Pounce