8:55am

Apex Legends™ - respawn_bean

AMPED OVERVIEW

We’re starting the hype train for Season 27: Amped, right now, and this is your invitation to get on board! There’s plenty to be excited about this season: major changes to Olympus, Valkyrie retakes the skies, while Rampart and Horizon are getting tune ups, the meta is shifting to close range chaos with a new ‘Double Tap Alternator’ Hop-Up and Gold Laser Sight for pistols and SMGs, and we’re introducing fun updates to Tridents! Grab your friends, squad up and get ready to dive into Amped!

For additional insights into some of Amped’s key updates, check out our highlights blog from last week and for details on all seasonal changes, please read on!

ANTI-CHEAT

Before we get into the nitty gritty of seasonal changes, a quick Anti-Cheat update for you all!

As part of our continued efforts to combat cheaters in Apex Legends, we launched a new detection model, in early October, to assist us in investigating possible 3rd party bots in our game. In just two weeks, over 1,000 bot accounts were banned. We saw a majority of bans hit Windows PC (71%) and Switch (21%). Detected bot infection rates spiked after the rollout as expected - meaning the new tech is successfully identifying bots - then tapered off as we banned these accounts. As a result, we saw a meaningful decline of player reports (for AFK and abandoned match behavior) on Switch and reports per user over the subsequent 28 days decreased for both PC and Switch. Our team is continuing their hard work to establish and maintain competitive integrity and we will continue to provide updates when we have information to share!

AUDIO UPDATES

We've been developing many new audio systems to address community feedback and improve audio reliability.This season we’re adding a new "Focused" mix option, intended to give you control over how you prefer to hear the action. Our new threat system will add dynamic contextual awareness to the mix. Multiband sidechain compression will help enemy footstep audio be heard more clearly. Environmental audio improvements offer a smoother blend between indoor and outdoor spaces. Additionally, we’re now armed with improved telemetry to more accurately discover causes of audio failures.

We will continue to monitor feedback in our community spaces as it helps us understand how these changes affect your gameplay experience as we continue to work on these systems. For more details, please check our audio-focused dev blog.

GAME STABILITY

We rolled out a profiling tool to our production servers to capture more information about instances of slow performance on servers. This tool (RProf) has commonly been used in our development environment to find slow segments of engine code and game script, but is now tuned for production use. From this, we have been able to examine and fix cases that are more unique to running the game at scale, and can more easily track degradations in performance over time. As always, game stability work is always happening behind the scenes and we will share updates when we have them!

RANKED

This season, we’re making balance adjustments to Kill Point values making eliminations more rewarding across all placements. We’re also making changes to loot distribution across Ranked Drop Zone POIs - there will still be some variance, obviously, but we’re hoping things feel a lot more even. We will continue to monitor player feedback on this change, and general sentiment surrounding drop zones. Additionally, we are reducing the requirement to earn the Ranked Ladder Champion Dive Trail from 3 completions to 2 to simplify seasonal goals, reduce grind, and make the Dive Trail more attainable while keeping it a mark of consistent top performance.

You’ll find all of the details about these changes later in this Patch Notes.

NEW FEATURE: WISHLIST

We want to give players some additional options for certain packs. Wishlist is a feature that will be enabled on select packs and will influence cosmetic drops for the Legends and loadouts you designate.

Here’s how it works:

Pick 5 Legends and 2 Weapons to add to your Wishlist
Depending on the pack Wishlist may only impact items of a certain rarity (specific rarity tier will be noted)
If the pack drops a Wishlist-enabled item you are guaranteed at least one item from your chosen Legends
All selections must be valid for Wishlist to be Active. A selection is valid as long as you don't own 100% of the items for that Legend or Weapon Class from the Apex Pack Pool
If a Wishlist is Inactive or Unavailable at the time of opening a Wishlist-enabled pack, the items will instead draw from the generic Apex Pack pool.

You get 5 Wishlist edits per season (refreshed each new season). After that, you can keep editing anytime for 500 Legend Tokens per edit.

See here for more specific details on how Wishlist functions and how our packs function.

NEW: AMPED SEASONAL PACK

This season, we're introducing the Amped Seasonal Pack, available all season long. This special pack is Wishlist-enabled and gives you a chance at unlocking:

The new ‘Bird of Prey’ Mythic R-99 Weapon
New Legendary cosmetics to change up your look
Wishlist activation for Epic-tier drop, relevant to your chosen Legends or Weapons

The Amped Seasonal Pack brings a new and more focused way to earn cosmetics all season long. You can earn up to 5 Amped Seasonal Packs throughout the season via challenges and the free Battle Pass Tracks.

For full details and Amped Seasonal Pack probabilities, please view our Additional Pack Disclosures page (updates November 4, 2025).

PATCH NOTES

BALANCE UPDATES

Care Package Rotation

Triple Take return to the floor (details below)
C.A.R. SMG enters the Care Package (details below)

Gold Weapon Rotation

Alternator SMG, G7 Scout, Havoc, Bocek Compound Bow, Akimbo Mozambique

GAME UPDATES

Extended Supply Bins & Weapon Supply Bins

Added icons back to the minimap and full-map

Arsenals

Increased ammo bricks to give full stacks of the applicable ammo type

Replicators

New craftable item: Arrow Bundle
- Only obtainable when crafting Ammo when Bocek Compound Bow is in your loadout
- On pick-up, fully replenishes your arrow reserves on one Bocek weapon
- Can only be picked up if you are holding a Bocek and it is not full on arrows

Mantle Boost

Added Mantle Boost ability to all Legends, granting velocity on a timed input after a mantle
Added options for customizing Mantle Boost input key or button
Added option to remap character movement ability
Added options for reducing the UI footprint on the HUD for Mantle Boost

Dev Note: We were inspired to add Mantle Boost by our players’ exploration of the unique momentum-based movement of Apex Legends. This new official Mantle Boost will enable all players to perform an advanced movement technique. It will be accessible, but it still requires skill to learn to use it and to know when it’s the right time to Boost.

Heat Shields Update

Heat Shields removed from Core BR Modes (including Trios and Duos).

Dev Note: We rolled out the removal of Heat Shields in Ranked with Season 26, focusing decision making for players around strong strategic plays and rotations. We have seen positive outcomes with that change so we’re expanding the change to all Core BR modes. Playing outside the Ring should be a risky endeavor that is only a last resort. Don’t wanna get burned? Get a move on, Legend.

Tridents 2.0

Foundational Improvements:
- Updated model and textures
- Collision tightened for a smoother ride and to allow occupants to be hit
- Trident can now be damaged and destroyed – starts at 800 health
- Trident occupants and the vehicle can be damaged independently
- Tridents can now damage enemies if hitting them at high speeds
- Camera and controls tuned for more responsiveness and precision
- Boost Meter has replaced the single use Boost
New Movement Features:
- Jump: Press Jump to jump from the ground
- Glide: Hold Jump to Glide when off the ground. While gliding:
  - Trident will very slowly lose altitude
  - Trident can be steered in any direction
  - Trident can boost forward
New Healing and Spawning Features
- Auto-Healing: If a Trident avoids damage for a period of time, it will slowly regenerate health and regress its damage state
- Auto-Respawn: A destroyed Trident will be replaced by a new one at its original spawning location after an indicated delay
Improved UI to better indicate to driver and passengers Trident health and damage information
Control mappings adjusted to account for new features

Dev Note: The Tridents are receiving a tune-up this season with a number of redesigns to offer players a more interesting, responsive, and satisfying driving experience as well as provide exciting counter play options. Tridents no longer split damage between occupants which should make them feel like a safer tool to use when making large rotations. However, they'll no longer provide movable indestructible cover when being used more tactically during a firefight.

LEGEND CHANGES

VALKYRIE

Dev note: Valkyrie’s pick rate has been up and down all year, and we feel she’s currently in a place where she’s not living up to her potential. This set of buffs should help to modernize this fan-favorite.

VTOL Jets

Jetpack cooldown and fly speed reworked

Cooldown
- Recharge delay significantly reduced (8 → 2.5 sec)
- Recharge time significantly reduced (~10.9 → 3 sec)
- Fuel doesn’t start recharging until you touch ground
- EMP effects drain jetpack fuel
Speed
- Horizontal fly speed and strafe amount significantly increased
- Vertical fly speed increased. Additional vertical speed when flying straight up
- Reduced initial speed boost for first 0.5 sec (~25% faster → ~5% slower)
Total fuel reduced (8 → 6 sec)
Initial fuel consumption slightly increased

Dev note: Valkyrie’s Jetpack broke new ground when it was introduced to Apex, but over time we started to feel it wasn’t living up to the high-flying promise of a Jetpack character. This new change rewards longer burns of the jetpack, allowing you to cover distance faster. Learning to use the (largely forgotten) flight mode is one of the keys to success with the updated jetpack!

Missile Swarm

Removed self damage and stun effect
Added short (1.5 sec) full body scan on hit
Tac damage now puts movement passives on cooldown (like other EMP effects)
Removed 5 seconds of cooldown (30 sec → 25 sec)
Removed vertical clearance firing restriction
Improved missile pathing to work better in some situations such as low clearance situations (firing indoors or at targets under a bridge)
Increased max range (~100m → 125m)

Dev note: Valkyrie’s tactical was one of her biggest pain points, with many situations where it was either was more likely to stun her than to hit the target (or just wasn’t allowed). We improved the reliability of her tactical, and also took the opportunity to lean a bit more into Valkyrie’s identity as a recon by adding a short scan to the missiles.

Skyward Dive

Increased launch height 15% (integrated Afterburners upgrade)
Reduced cooldown by 30 seconds (3 min → 2.5 min)
Reduced delay before takeoff (2 sec → 1.5 sec)
Slightly reduced time slowly rising before takeoff (1.83 sec → 1.33 sec)
Removed self cancel cooldown penalty
Reduced damage cooldown penalty (54 sec → 30 sec)

Skydive Improvements

Allow tactical to be fired when skydiving (except from drop ship)
Land faster when skydiving (spend less time slow falling near ground)

Dev note: The skies belong to Valkyrie.

Upgrades

Level 2
- Afterburners: Removed (included by default)
- Eyes in the Sky: Moved to Level 2
- Full Coverage: Changes missile swarm pattern to 4x5 (was 3x5)
Level 3
- Full Tank: Removed (jetpack reworked)
- NEW Supersonic: Ultimate launch time reduced ~50%
- REWORKED: Ariel Expert: Improves jetpack horizontal speed, significantly improves handling, decreases initial fuel consumption, slightly reduces total fuel.

Dev note: To top off Valk’s update, we added a few new premier upgrades, allowing you to push either her Ultimate or Passive to their final forms.

RAMPART

Dev note: Rampart’s effectiveness and pick rate have slipped to extremely low levels in recent months. We hope this refresh to her kit will enhance her survivability and make her more of a viable Controller pick.

Battle Modder

Adds additional effect to old passive (Modded Loader). Cover walls permanently gain health as Rampart gains Evo Levels.

Amped Cover

Adds amped shield roof to wall
Walls can now be charged by doing damage through the amped shield or by having the wall be damaged by enemies. Wall charge is converted to a speed boost by going over the wall
- Wall can store up to 300 damage, which results in a 15 second speed boost at full charge. Speed boost time scales linearly with stored charge.
- Wall charge is only usable by teammates, and each teammate can use stored charge individually. Speed boost is automatically given to nearby teammates when the wall is destroyed.
- Damage to wall is stored at 25%, while damage through amped shield is stored at 100%
- Speed boost only applies when sprinting
Battle Modder health increases:
- Wall health increase by 200 per Evo level (400 → 800 at max level)
- Shield health increased by 25 per Evo level (175 → 225 at max level)
Health while wall building reduced (120 → 100 )
Amped shield arc star damage multiplier removed (1.5x → 1.0x)
Wall frag grenade damage multiplier increased (1.0x → 2.0x)

Dev note: Rampart’s walls are core to her identity and playstyle, but felt like they’d been left behind. With her new passive giving the walls more health and roof, the walls should keep you safer in more situations while the speed boost should help your team capitalize on the impact from the wall. We’ve also increased the damage walls take from grenades, and reduced their health while building to preserve counterplay.

Upgrades

Level 2
- Ultimate Cooldown: Removed
- Bandolier: Removed (replaced with Combat reserve)
- NEW: Combat reserve: Bigger ammo stacks, extra grenades slots, access red weapon supply bins
- NEW: Locked and Loaded: gain faster reloads and infinite ammo when behind amped cover and shield is in tact
Level 3
- Ramped up: Unchanged
- Amped Reloads: Removed (replaced with Locked and Loaded)
- NEW: Rebuild Module. Amped cover will regen health and rebuild shield section after not being damaged for a period of time

Dev note: Rampart’s upgrades allow you to lean either into a more aggressive Assault playstyle or doubling down on her walls to hold space and apply constant pressure to opposing squads.

HORIZON

Dev note: Horizon has been in an interesting place in the meta. She is at her lowest pick rate ever, but maintaining a strong encounter win rate. We’re giving her back some of the power that’s been nerfed previously to make her a more attractive pick, and we are adding a few new fun upgrades to play with. We’ll continue monitoring to see how she performs in live.

Gravity Lift

Increased lift speed (300 → 375)
Increased hover time at top of lift (0.5 sec → 1.5 sec)
Cooldown reductions:
- Reduced cooldown by 5 seconds (25 sec → 20 sec)
- Reduced delay before cooldown starts 8 sec (10 sec → 2 sec)
- Effectively reduced cooldown from 35 sec → 22 sec

Black Hole

Reduced cooldown by 30 seconds (3.5 min → 3 min)
Increased health (175 → 225)

Upgrades

Level 2
- Ultimate Cooldown: Removed (included by default)
- Tactical Cooldown: Removed (included by default)
- NEW: Gravity Boots: Press crouch while in the air to fall much more quickly
- NEW: Newt Scoot: Press jump after exiting gravity lift to glide
Level 3
- Conservation of Energy: Unchanged
- Combat Reserve: Removed
- NEW: Knock Expert: gain tactical charge on knocks.

REVENANT

Dev Note: We are seeing Revenant pull away from the rest of the roster in very high tier lobbies, and believe it's in part due to his ability to drop on enemies suddenly from very far away. Given how fast his 'weapons up' time is now, we felt reducing the maximum amount of distance he can travel in Shadow Pounce will reduce the frustration on the receiving end. We think this combined with the Valkyrie and Horizon changes will create a more even split between our most mobile characters.

Reduced the maximum possible velocity of Revenants Shadow Pounce

LOOT & ATTACHMENTS

AMPS

Reduced healing rate of Overflow Healer
Added Infinite Ammo and Over Armor to early game floor loot
Added Over Armor potential Assault Bin amps

ATTACHMENTS

Gold Laser Sight

New laser tier added: usable with all SMG and Pistol weapons
- Greatly improves ground and aerial hipfire spread
- Adds reverse hipfire – Continuous firing tightens hipfire spread

LOCKED HOP-UPS

Double Tap Trigger

375 Locked Hop-Up Points to unlock
Compatible with Alternator

Accelerator

Accelerator removed from all compatible weapons
- G7 Scout, Flatline, and CAR

Skull Piercer

Skull Piercer removed from all compatible weapons
- 30-30, Wingman, and Longbow

Graffiti Mod

Removed from: Spitfire and EVA-8
Added to: Mozambique and Wingman

Gun Shield Generator

Removed from: Rampage
Added to: Triple Take

Selectfire Receiver

Increased points to unlock to 450 on the Charge Rifle (Previous Hotfix)

WEAPONS

LMG

All LMGs (Except L-STAR EMG)

Removed Reverse Hipfire mechanic from LMGs
Hipfire spread decreased to compensate
Updated reticles to original plus design

Dev Note: Reverse hipfire provides a lot of power in close quarters combat. This season, we want to give some room for our true close quarters weapons to shine, so we have removed this mechanic from LMGs.

MARKSMAN

All Marksmans

Reduced projectile size and scaling
Decreased projectile launch speed
Reduced headshot damage multiplier

Dev Note: The Marksman meta has been reigning strong for a few seasons now and the time has come for us to hit them with some more potent adjustments. We are hoping that these changes will hit their long range consistency, as well as remove the spikiness that can come with landing one or two headshots.

30-30 Repeater

Headshot multiplier reduced (Previous Hotfix)

Bocek Compound Bow

Added 2x-4x AOG Scope as a compatible attachment

Dev Note: We did it.

Triple Take \[Floor Loot]

Damage reduced to 22 per bullet (was 23)
Increased choke charge time
Increased fire rate while hipfiring

PISTOL

P2020 \[Care Package]

Increased fire rate
Increased magazine size to 26 (was 22)

RE-45 Burst

Horizontal and vertical recoil improvements (Previous hotfix)
Purple mag size increased by 3 (Previous hotfix)

SHOTGUN

Peacekeeper

Full burst damage reduced to 99 (was 108)
Increased choke charge time
Rechamber time decreased to 1.1 (Reverting a previous hotfix)
Clip size reduced to 5 (was 6) (Previous Hotfix)

Dev Note: The PK has been super dominant since coming out of the care package. While we have seen some good downward movement since our most recent set of hotfixes, we hear you, damage and range are the pain points here. We are giving back some of the handling we took away in a previous hotfix and hitting it accordingly.

SMG

Alternator SMG

Damage increased to 19 (was 18)
Magazine size adjustments:
- Blue magazine decreased to 26 (was 27)
- Purple and gold magazines increased to 30 (was 29)
While using Double Tap Trigger:
- Shoots bullets out of each barrel, simultaneously
- Reduced fire rate
- Damage per bullet reduced to 15

C.A.R. SMG \[Care Package]

Added Hop-Up: Galvanic Gavel
- Allows the magazine to be swapped between Disruptor and Hammerpoint Rounds
- Upon first pick-up, begins on Disruptor Rounds
Magazine size increased to 30 (was 28)
Improved reload speed of the mag swap

Prowler PDW

While in burst fire mode, holding down the trigger now releases subsequent bursts
Slightly increased burst delay

Volt SMG

Increased projectile size in close quarters

SNIPER

All Snipers

Reduced projectile size

Charge Rifle

Maximum damage reduced to 99 (was 110)
Damage reduced by 40% while using Select Fire mode (was 25%) (Previous Hotfix)
Damage scaling minimum distance increased to 75 meters (was 50m) (Previous Hotfix)

MAPS

Olympus:

Added Somers University POI (replacing Orbital Cannon) and moved Elysium nearby.
Added Gravity Engine POI (replacing Energy Depot)
Added Stabilizer POI (replacing Docks)
Added Dockyard POI
Added large amounts of additional cover in open rotation spaces around the following POIs:
- Phase Driver
- Oasis
- Clinic
- Hammond Labs
- Estates
Hammond Labs: Transformed terrain and added tunnels to protect players and provide additional options to attack the waterfall high ground.
Hammond Labs: Moved additional cover from Control mode into the base map, including the home base structures.
Hammond Labs: Added jump tower behind Hammond Labs.
Rift: Added new camp in the center of Rift to reduce open space. Added additional cover to open spaces in Rift.
Rift: Replaced vacuum behavior of the Rift teleporter with a Horizon Lift to prevent players from entering accidentally.
Rift: Added a large camp between Rift and Gardens to resolve the previously large open space and help players contest the high ground.
Grow Towers: Replaced the third Grow Tower with buildings and tunnels to help players safely rotate through the POI when teams are holding the towers. Added jump tower.
Turbine: Added a new camp underneath the highway between Turbine and Estates to prevent players from being gatekept at the ramp.
Turbine: Added a new rotation from the east tunnel that connects directly to Gravity Engine (previously Energy Depot).
Carrier: Added two additional doors at the central chokepoint to prevent the fight from stalling.
Phase Driver: Increased Phase Driver loot cooldown from 45 seconds to 90 seconds.
Added a camp in the circular pit between Hammond Labs and Somers University (previously Orbital Cannon).
Bonsai Plaza: Added additional ziplines to access high walls around the POI.
Removed a large amount of Trident barriers across the map.

Dev Note: While Olympus has been a fan favorite for a while, we want to action on player feedback related to how to improve its competitive integrity. Keeping in mind both high-level matches and overall balance, we made some significant revisions to POIs like Energy Depot and Orbital Cannon to address anything from lopsided rotations to a distinct lack of cover in some of the more desolate areas. It was important to maintain the map’s identity during this process, so we wanted to only add to what makes Olympus so special while being very surgical and precise about anything that was removed or replaced.

Pubs & Ranked Rotation

Olympus
Broken Moon
World’s Edge

Mixtape

11/04/25 - 1/5/26 Map Rotation
- TDM
  - Skull Town, Thunderdome, Fragment, Estates
- CONTROL
  - Barometer, Labs, Production Yard, Lava Siphon
- GUN RUN
  - Estates, Skull Town, Zeus, Thunderdome

WILDCARD

Wildcard

11/04/25 - 11/18/25
Wildcard: Kings Canyon

Wild Cards

We’ve seen meaningful positive player sentiment surrounding Wild Cards in Wildcard, so: Wild Cards are now activated and here to stay, even when we don’t have an active event! Every match now features a range of Wild Cards, bringing extra chaos and surprises for more unpredictable and exciting gameplay.
Wild Cards
- Extra Ordnance
- Drone Support
- Smoke Out
- High Velocity
- Status Report
- Speedy Charge
- Recharger
- Fast Draw
- Monstrous Strength

Wildcard Gameplay Updates

Highlight on Enemy Elimination balance tweaks
- Enemy highlights will no longer trigger on a team unless there is only one enemy still alive.
- Enemy highlights will no longer trigger if players choose to manually bleed out.
- Enemy highlight duration reduced 5 seconds -> 2.5 seconds.

Dev Note: Currently in Wildcard, when you eliminate any enemy, their teammates are highlighted for a period of time. We are updating the rules of this system to reduce the benefits of thirsting as well as have more natural encounters without having enemy locations constantly revealed.

Shield Cells
- Increased carrying capacity of shield cells from 12 -> 15
- More shield cells spawn in loot, reduced ammo spawns to compensate.

Dev Note: We’ve heard feedback that players were running low on healing items throughout a wildcard match, so we have increased carrying capacity and increased their loot spawns to make this pain point a little smaller.

Gold 1x Digital Threat sight returns to loot as a rare spawn.
- Equippable on SMGs, Shotguns, and Pistols.

Dev Note: Similar to the 1x Holo, The Gold Digital Threat scope has been vaulted for some time, and we know it is a fan favorite for some. We are re-introducing it to the Wildcard loot pool for this season as a fun item to find and make your SMGs, Shotguns, and Pistols even more deadly!

Wild Cards balance
- Reduced shield recharge rate on Recharger wildcard when sprinting.
- Reduced initial speed gain when using the Wallruning wildcard.

Dev Note: In Season 26, these wildcards were some of the strongest bunch in the pool and in some cases were becoming frustrating to play against. We are tuning them down a touch to bring them in line with some of the other wildcards coming in this season.

New Mythic Weapon rotation.
- WEAPONS LEAVING
  - L-STAR
  - Devotion LMG
  - Hemlok
  - R-99
  - Peacekeeper
- WEAPONS RETURNING
  - Kraber
  - Triple Take
  - Wingman
  - Prowler
  - P2020 Akimbo
  - Rampage LMG
    - Automatically Revved up when first being picked up.
  - G7 Scout
    - Double Tap and Sniper Scopes can be attached.
- NEW WEAPONS
  - C.A.R.

RANKED

As part of our ongoing efforts to improve the Ranked experience, we conducted a matchmaking test at the end of Season 26 (more on that here). We will return with the results of this test once the data has been compiled, so keep an eye out!

Scoring Tuning

Kill Points changes
1st: 22 RP (was 20 RP)
2nd: 20 RP (was 18 RP)
3rd: 18 RP (was 16 RP)
4th: 16 RP (was 14 RP)
5th: 16 RP (was 12 RP)
6th: 14 RP (was 10 RP)
7th: 14 RP (was 10 RP)
8th: 14 RP (was 10 RP)
9th: 12 RP (was 8 RP)
10th: 12 RP (was 8 RP)
11th-15th: 8 RP (was 6 RP)
16th-20th: 6 RP (was 4 RP)
Challenger Bonus changes
- If the killer’s rank is 1 tier lower than the victim: KP +20% bonus, was 15%
- If the gap is 2 tiers: +30% bonus, was 25%
- If the gap is 3 tiers: +40% bonus, was 35%

Dev Note: Throughout Season 26, we consistently heard feedback that eliminations often felt undervalued compared to placement. Many players expressed that strong combat performance didn’t always translate into meaningful progression, especially in mid-to high-tier lobbies.

In Season 27, we’ve adjusted Kill Point values to make eliminations more rewarding across all placements. This tuning increases the RP value earned from fights while keeping placement as a significant factor in final score calculation. Our goal is to better recognize player impact in every match — rewarding those who take risks and perform well in combat, without overshadowing strategic play and survival.

Drop Zones Loot Overhaul

Made the loot that spawns across all Drop Zone POIs more fair.
- There is still variance between POIs, but it is much less than previously.
Maintains the same number of spawns across the map for each loot item, but changes where they are more likely to spawn, in order to avoid inflation/deflation.
These loot changes are for Ranked only, not Unranked.

Dev Note updated: Drop Zone has been a contentious topic within the community; while some praised how it improved the competitiveness of Ranked, others expressed concerns - primarily, the negative impact unbalanced POI loot levels have on the fairness of the mode. Our focus is to listen to those concerns to try to bring the feature to a satisfactory spot. As such, we did this loot overhaul to bring POIs in line with each other as far as we could without changing the maps or causing loot inflation/deflation. We'll continue to monitor your feedback as the season progresses.

Ranked Ladders (coming later this split)

Ranked Ladder

Start Date

End Date

Ranked Ladder 1

11/‌13/‌2025

11/‌16/‌2025

Ranked Ladder 2

11/‌20/‌2025

11/‌23/‌2025

Ranked Ladder 3

11/‌27/‌2025

11/‌30/‌2025

Ranked Ladder 4

12/‌4/‌2025

12/‌7/‌2025

Ranked Ladder 5

12/‌11/‌2025

12/‌14/‌2025

Ranked Ladder 6

12/‌25/‌2025

12/‌28/‌2025

Ranked Ladder 7

1/‌1/‌2026

1/‌4/‌2026

Ranked Ladder 8

1/‌8/‌2026

1/‌11/‌2026

Ranked Ladder 9

1/‌15/‌2026

1/‌18/‌2026

Ranked Ladder 10

1/‌22/‌2026

1/‌25/‌2026

Ranked Ladder 11

1/‌29/‌2026

2/‌1/‌2026

Ranked Ladder 12

2/‌5/‌2026

2/‌8/‌2026

Ranked Challenges

The requirement to earn the Ranked Ladder Champion Dive Trail has been reduced from 3 completions to 2.

Dev Note: This change simplifies seasonal goals, reduces grind, and makes the Dive Trail more attainable while keeping it a mark of consistent top performance.

BUG FIXES

Wildcard
- Fixed players being able to revive each other to stay alive in the ring longer than intended
Locked Hop-Ups
- Fixed Locked Hop-Ups not working properly in the Firing Range
- Fixed some issues with Ballistic’s sling and Locked Hop-Up weapons
- Fixed some issues with the Locked Hop-Up UI
Ranked
- Fixed issue where you could not remove map pings in the prematch preview
Misc
- Fixed the infinite ammo amp sometimes causing the player to respawn with locked inventory slots
- Fixed retro packs in the store not updating the amount of packs already opened
- Fixed skydive emotes leaving a breadcrumb on the legend tab but not the specific legend which had the new unlock
- Fixed health bars sometimes not displaying properly when firing through windows
- Fixed a wall that could be seen through around Artillery

LEGENDS

Valkyrie
- Fixed green color correction when skydiving being oversaturated.
Rampart
- Fixed issue where camera could jump around when walking into Amped Cover.
Catalyst
- Enemies near her Piercing Spikes should no longer see two threat indicators for a single spike
Gibraltar:
- Fixed incorrect damage flyout UI when shooting his passive arm shield
Newcastle
- Fixed Castle Wall sometimes hitting enemies through floors and walls

QUALITY OF LIFE CHANGES

Requeue, with Squad
- Requeue has been expanded to allow players outside of a party to opt-in to continuing to play together.
  - Each Party Leader (including parties of 1, ie. solo queuers) has the option to either ‘play again’ and merge their party together with other parties that also want to play again, or they can requeue with only their existing party.
  - This does not create any kind of Friends relationship – it only forms a new Party that can continue to play together without having to return to the Lobby.

Designer’s Note: We want to remove as many barriers as possible to keeping a fun time going. When you do find that magical unicorn of a random player and everyone wants to keep playing into the next match, this is the solution.

UX/UI
- Added a button prompt in the Legend Locker screen for Legend skins, Weapon skins, and Melee skins to show/hide the UI to get a better view of the cosmetic
- Standardized a number of square button widgets, mostly in the lobby menu, to achieve a more consistent interactivity and aesthetic across the game
Misc.
- Added a new voice chat option to toggle your microphone.
- Ranked - Added announcer VO saying which Drop Zone your team is landing at. Note: The Core on Broken Moon and Trident on Storm Point do not currently have VO.

LEGENDS

Valkyrie
- Fixed green color correction when skydiving being oversaturated.
Rampart
- Allow interactions such as looting while holding Sheila
- Added additional placement mode for walls. By pressing Aim Down Sights, you can place a single wall and then pull out your weapons (matching the launch behavior). Placing a wall with the Attack button is unchanged from the current behavior.
- Reduced size of ‘amped’ bullet tracers when shooting though amped cover
Rampart
- Added voice lines when being summoned to the Void Nexus when knocked

ENGINE

PC:
- Improved the performance of loading models and textures on systems with integrated graphics, especially Intel Iris XE laptops. This improves map loading times and reduces issues with missing models in-game.
- Added PC support for Handheld/Compact UI which makes it easier to play Apex on PC Handheld devices. Players can toggle between Full, Compact or Auto UI in game Settings.

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