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Apex Legends patch notes: What changes in season 22 update?

The shockwave of these patch notes will be felt for a while.

EA

• Toby Saunders

Published: Wednesday, 7 August 2024 at 12:49 pm

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Apex Legends season 22 is here and so are its patch notes.

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The update is available to download and install across all platforms now and brings with it season 22 or, as it’s otherwise known, Shockwave.

What changes are in the Apex Legends season 22 update patch notes? Well, we’ve got class perks, balance changes, Legend updates, and more.

More, you say? Yep. A new map leads the highlights: E-District.This new map will rotate with Broken Moon and Storm Point in Pubs and Ranked for the first half of the Shockwave season.

Keep reading to find the full list of Apex Legends patch notes for season 22.

What changes in Apex Legends season 22?

Apex Legends. EA

The major headline change in Apex Legends season 22 is the introduction of a new map: E-District.

According to the game’s official website, E-District "was designed to offer players a fresh and innovative experience. While it retains the core elements that define a great Apex map, we also pushed the boundaries by incorporating numerous buildings, emphasizing verticality, and creating varied landscapes".

You can see the new neon-soaked map in the image above.

For the first half of the season, E-District will rotate with Broken Moon and Storm Point across Pubs and Ranked matches. E-District will also be the featured map for the first three days of the season.

A new season means a new battle pass, of course, in another headline change. You’ll be able to unlock the premium battle pass by completing a set of challenges before 17th September at 6pm here in the UK (10am PT in the USA).

On top of all that, you’ll also find new class perks for Controller and Recon and various balance, Legend and gameplay updates. There’s a lot to get through in the full list of patch notes, including new Bot Royale mode for new players.

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Full Apex Legends patch notes for season 22

Apex Legends. EA

There are so many patch notes to get through, we’ve left some of them out here (like weapon and Legend balance adjustments), so you’re best off checking out the official blog post on the season 22 patch notes.

With that in mind, here is a selection from the full list of Apex Legends season 22 patch notes (courtesy of EA):

Controller and Recon Class Perks

Controller Class

New Class Perk

Zone Overcharge: Controller Legends now have extra shield capacity when playing in zone

• The Zone automatically grants an overcharge of 25HP shield capacity
• This capacity is permanent while the player remains in zone (white ring area on the map)
• Overcharge is lost when leaving zone (after 5s delay)
• Overcharge can be healed with cells, batteries and abilities while in zone
• If a player enters the zone at full shields, the overcharge pip will fill automatically
• If a player acquires a shield core that overcharges beyond this extra zone capacity, that additional overcharge will still drain normally but the zone overcharge will remain
• Zone Overcharge will never enhance Legend Armor beyond maximum (red) capacity

New Quality of Life

Remote Pick-Up: Controller Legends can now remotely pick-up their undamaged Tacticals by looking back at them and pressing a button

• Additionally, if the player abandons the area, they will prompted to recover ALL possible objects
• Remotely recovering these objects will restore the Tactical charge

Recon Class

New Class Perk

Threat Vision: Recon Legends now gain threat vision when aiming down sights

• Threat vision will highlight enemies that the character has Line of Sight to whenever using ADS (aim down sights)
• This ability will not work through walls or smoke, and it’s limited in range by the type of scope or zoom range of an ability

Survey Beacons

• Faster to use ~3s (was ~7.5s)
• Shortened range of ~500m (was scanning the entire map)
• No longer randomly distributed and all will now be turned on with every map
• Scanning now grants 75 EVO (was 200 EVO)
• Now pulses 3 times over 15s, with each pulse taking a snapshot of enemies in range for 5s
• Now release a large in-world scan wave that players can spot to identify an activated beacon (enemies no longer receive a scan message)
• Enemies scanned will display along the edges of the mini-map even if not in

Update: Stat Trackers

• We've made a huge quality of life upgrade to Stat Trackers and are separating out the Stat and the Art. You'll now be able to set these on your Legend Banner Cards separately. The Art on your trackers have also been made universal, which means they can be applied to any Legend Banner Card. We wanted to give players more ways to customise their Banner Cards and let you show off your more than just one Legend there. It’s also a great way to show off your Legend ships!
• Login at any point during Shockwave to automatically unlock three new Stat Trackers to add to your mix and match collection

For a summary of the updated Battle Pass offerings, please check out our dedicated blog and infographic here. Here's a TLDR:

• With the launch of Season 22 on August 6th through Split 1, we want to give you an opportunity to get the Premium Battle Pass. You can unlock it by completing a series of simple in-game challenges before the end of Split 1 on September 17th at 10:00am PT:
• Play 2 matches in Trios on a specific map
• Deal 1,000 damage as a Recon or Controller Legend in BR
• Open 15 Supply Bins in any mode
• Deal 500 damage in BR with a specific weapon
• Complete 10 levels of the Battle Pass
• Starting with Split 2 on September 17th, you can get the Premium Battle Passes the same way as before: by using 950 Apex Coins. You’ll be able to earn enough Apex Coins via the Battle Pass to get future passes
• The Battle Pass options now include better rewards—and with the re-tuned Battle Pass challenges, it'll be faster to complete at only 60 levels

Balance Updates

Care Package

• EVA-8 returns to the floor
• Blast pattern size slightly increased
• Damage increased to 7 (was 6)
• Fire rate decreased
• Now takes Boosted Loader Hop-Up
• 4 shots remaining activation
• Quick reload overflows Magazine by 2
• Slight increase to recoil
• R-99 enters the Care Package
• ADS strafe speed increased
• Improved recoil
• New Feature: Damage fall-off
• Damage increased to 14 at close range
• Damage falls off to 10 at 11+ meters
• No movement penalty when equipped
• EVO Cache Spawn Rate in the first wave increased to 100 per cent (was 50 per cent)

Gold Weapon Rotation

• Mozambique Akimbo, P2020 Akimbo, R-301, Rampage, Sentinel

Gameplay Updates

Aim Assist

• Console crossplay into PC lobbies: Aim Assist strength reduced 18 per cent
• Console performance mode crossplay into PC lobbies: Aim Assist strength reduced 22 per cent
• Controller on PC: Aim Assist strength reduced 25 per cent

Aim Flinch

• Aim Flinch has been removed from all weapons & most abilities
• Damage from the ring still incurs Aim Flinch

Loot Bin Reset

Starting with Shockwave, all loot bins will close and reroll their loot with a significantly increased chance at high tier and rare loot at the mid-way point of the match.

• Bins that have been rerolled will appear slightly differently than ones that have never been opened
• After the reset, multiple bins will convert into Legendary loot bins that provide smart loot, guaranteeing that the contents to be relevant upgrades for a squad

Mythic Bin

One Mythic bin will spawn into the match with:

• One random Care Package weapon
• Gold version weapons of those that the squad is running at the time of opening the bin
• Medical supplies and grenades
• Large XP bonus to the squad
• Mythic bins are locked and require players to hold interact on them for a significant amount of time to crack them open for their team
• Displayed on the map and minimap

Loot Pool

• Reduce the spawn rate of Purple and Gold attachments by about 50 per cent

Reorganisation: Death Boxes and Loba’s Black Market

• Healing items now have a dedicated row and have been removed from the consumables category
• Shield Cores have been moved to the top of the Gear category

Traversal

• Mantling at the same time in the same spot as a teammate no longer forces both players to drop

Battle Sense

Better Ammo Awareness & Feedback

• Critical Ammo state will now kick on when a player has 0 relevant ammo in their inventory
• On screen Low Ammo indicators kick on earlier allowing players more opportunity to find ammo
• Indicator also now displays the icon of the ammo type
• Pinging for ammo will now display the ammo icon in the kill feed
• When emptying a weapon of all reserve ammo it will now automatically ping that the player is in need of ammo
• When looking at ammo on the ground the tooltip now displays compatibility with any of your currently equipped weapons

Enemy Health Bars

• When damaging an enemy, players are now shown the enemy’s Armor and Health state. This Health Bar is only active for a brief time after dealing damage and then fades away. Health Bars, like Enemy Highlights require direct line of sight

Enemy Highlight

• Enemy players will now be highlighted with a red outline similar to how allies are highlighted with a blue one. The highlight is most prominent at close ranges and the intensity fades as targets get farther away. Enemy Highlights require direct line of sight (you can breathe now, Bangalore mains)

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Maps

• Pubs & Ranked Rotation
• Broken Moon
• E-District
• Stormpoint
• NEW E-District
• Urban island district of the city of Suotamo on Gaea
• Features 17 POIs
• Designed for verticality with areas perfect for CQC
• Exclusive map at launch
• Pubs: for the first week after launch, August 6-12
• Ranked: for the first 72 hours after launch, August 6-9

Modes

Bot Royale

• New mode for Apex’s new and learning players
• Battle as a squad against a smaller lobby of enemy bot squads in a quicker version of a standard battle royale match
• Game rules are the same as in standard battle royale modes
• Play with Bots in your squad or bring your own Human friends
• Bot Legends: overhauled as part of Bot Royale
• Improvements made to pathfinding, shooting, ability deployment, and interactions with game objects
• Several Legends were added as Bots in Bot Royale including: Bangalore, Bloodhound, Conduit, Fuse, Gibraltar, Lifeline, Octane, Seer, Vantage, and Wraith

Revival: LTM feat New Respawn Mechanic

• Respawn into a skydive near your teammates as long as one teammate is still alive
• If all players die, the team is eliminated
• Respawn Timers:
• Respawn timers increase with each passing round
• Respawn timers for your squad increase each time a squadmate dies
• Respawn timers decrease when squad members:
• Deal damage
• Earn knockdowns
• Earn kills
• Execute enemies
• Killing an enemy will reveal their squadmates for a brief time
• Players start with blue knockdown shields (knockdown shields removed from the loot pool)
• Respawning ends and all deaths are final upon reaching a specific round
• Trios Revival: Respawning ends at Round 5
• Straight Shot Revival: Respawning ends at Round 4

Straight Shot Revival (Starts August 20)

• Straight Shot returns as Straight Shot Revival
• Features new respawn mechanic found in Trios Revival
• Akimbo P2020 and Mozambique replace the single versions in loot
• Enemy Highlight and Enemy Health Bars are enabled
• Purple and gold tier LMGs will include the new Gun Shield Generator hop-up

Mixtape

• Akimbo weapons added into all Mixtape Loadouts and Gun Run
• R99 moves out of all loadouts, replaced with akimbo weapon variants
• Mixtape Map Rotations
• August 6-12, 2024
• TDM: Skull Town, Habitat
• Control: Thunderdome, Production Yard
• Gun Run: The Core, Monument
• August 13-19, 2024
• Control: Barometer, Lava Siphon
• Gun Run: Fragment, Skull Town
• Lockdown: Zeus Station, Thunderdome
• August 20-26, 2024
• TDM: Habitat, The Core
• Control: Barometer, Lava Siphon
• Gun Run: Fragment, Skull Town
• August 27-September 2, 2024
• TDM: Habitat, Skull Town
• Control: Production Yard, Thunderdome
• Gun Run: The Core, Wattson
• September 3-9, 2024
• TDM: Habitat, The Core
• Control: Barometer, Lava Siphon
• Gun Run: Fragment, Skull Town
• September 10-16, 2024
• TDM: Skull Town, Zeus Station
• Control: Production Yard, Thunderdome
• Gun Run: The Core, Wattson
• LTM: Akimbo & LMG Only Loadouts
• August 13-19, 2024
• TDM: Habitat, Skull Town, The Core, Zeus Station
• August 30-September 3, 2024
• Weekend of Lockdown
• Gameplay Rules: decreased Ult charge while capturing points
• Zeus Station, Monument, Skull Town, The Core, Thunderdome
• September 3-9, 2024
• Big TDM
• Gameplay Rules
• 15 Minute Time Limit
• Score limit increased to 75
• Shield Regen activates on kills
• Thunderdome, Habitat, Zeus Station, Skull Town, Fragment, The Core

New Player Experiences

Welcome Pass and Challenges

• For new accounts created after the launch of Shockwave
• Complete Welcome Challenges to progress through the Welcome Pass
• Challenges can be completed in any BR mode and Bot Royale
• Unique set of challenges designed around foundational skills
• Welcome Challenges do not refresh
• Receive rewards for reaching each level of the Welcome Pass
• If the player already has the reward in their inventory, they will receive the Crafting Metals value instead
• Start with three Legends: Wraith, Bloodhound and Lifeline
• Unlock Bloodhound, Pathfinder, Gibraltar, and a Legend of their choice through progression

Ranked

We will implement a brand new reset rule at the start of the new season.

• New Season Reset Rules
• No RP reset for Rookie IV to Rookie I, players will keep the RP they have from the last split
• Bronze IV to Platinum IV will reset to Bronze IV 1000 RP
• Platinum III reset to Bronze III 1500 RP
• Platinum II reset to Bronze II 2000 RP
• Platinum I reset to Bronze I 2500 RP
• Diamond IV reset to Silver IV 3250 RP (with +250 demotion protection)
• Diamond III reset to Silver III 3600 RP
• Diamond II reset to Silver II 4200 RP
• Diamond I reset to Silver I 4800 RP
• Master and above reset to Gold IV 5650 RP (with +250 demotion protection)
• Special Cases
• New Players (complete onboarding and above Level 20): Starting Rookie IV 1 RP
• Returning Players who didn't play last season (excluding Rookie tier which won’t reset): Starting RP threshold for Bronze IV 1000 RP

Ranked Rumbles

Ranked Rumble returns September 13-17, 2024, with a new best of 10 matches format and free rewards.

• Players can participate in matches without 10 matches limitations
• There is no Re-Entry mechanic; play as much as you want
• Only your top 10 match results count towards your final standings
• If you get a better match score, it will replace your current lowest score

World Systems

• Improved end ring generation system

Bug Fixes

• Can no longer use Death Boxes through walls
• Cleaning up disconnected players in Mixtape
• Firing Range: Mythic weapons are no longer taken away after respawning
• Fixed a storm point zipline that could kick players off too early
• Fixed bad actor ping crashes
• Fixed prowler spawn den bullet collision hull

Adaptive Supersampling

• Fixed an issue that caused screen tearing
• Fixed an issue that caused Legend banner poses to appear distorted

Death Boxes

• Improvements to help stop deathboxes from getting stuck in doorways and blocking exits
• Should now be lootable in broken doorways
• Will now contain a shield core if the enemy disconnected before dying

Legends

• Alter's ult can no longer be used for free if you place it onto a moving object and use it immediately
• Bangalore smoke highlights should no longer get blocked by other players
• Fixed an issue that let players affected by Catalyst ultimate to see through Bangalore smoke
• Movement hitch when using Seer’s passive while unarmed should no longer occur
• No more thefts from an explosive hold without warning, destroying Loba's Black Market

Quality of life

• Mantling on the same location as your teammate won’t knock you down
• Mixtape Gameplay
• Additional starting grenade added for Control & Lockdown
• EVA 8 back into Close-Quarters loadout
• Faster health regen for all mixtape modes
• Lockdown Score Limit reduced to 400 (was 500)
• Reconnect match timer reduced to 2 minutes (was 5 min)
• Team Deathmatch Score Limit reduced to 40 (was 50)
• Mixtape’s Skull Town got a spawn audit (adjusting positions & angles)
• Nessies can once again bounce to their hearts content in the firing range (just not anywhere else)
• Speaking of, a new Nessie (with an appreciation for cinema) has appeared around the firing range

Graphics

• Largely optimised Performance Mode on Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5, for more consistent frame rates and fewer resolution drops
• Xbox Series X and PS5 can expect 10 FPS or higher improvements in GPU-intensive scenarios
• DX12 (PC)
• Fixed several causes of graphical corruption issues
• Large optimisations to both CPU and GPU performance. With these changes, we expect that the DirectX 12 beta should now perform better than DirectX 11 for the majority of players.
• PC: removed Adaptive Supersampling video settings option. A small percentage of players used this option and those that did received no benefit from it unless they had a powerful GPU and low res monitor
• Mitigated performance impact of looking at Death Boxes and intermittent performance spikes from champions banners

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Authors

Toby SaundersFreelance Writer

Toby Saunders is a freelance writer specialising in Video Game journalism. He has a wealth of experience in the field and is published on many different websites including PCGamesN, Nintendo Life and Pocket Tactics. He has a degree in Film Studies (he gets to write about Film and TV occasionally, too).

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