Apex Legends: Defiance Patch Notes

Celebrate the 3rd Anniversary of Apex Legends with Defiance, an all-new season that introduces a brand new, 9v9 limited-time mode with Control, a Legend packed with punk rock attitude with Mad Maggie, the first map update to Olympus, a thrilling new Battle Pass, a new Ranked season, and more.

To further celebrate the game’s third anniversary and its amazing community, Apex Legends players can unlock three top Legends, three thematic packs, plus one Legendary pack for each of them just for logging in for the first three weeks of Defiance.*

Mad Maggie, cutthroat warlord and the Outlands’ meanest mad-lass, is back and she’s coming into the Apex Games like a wrecking ball with an offensive playstyle. With enhanced shotgun proficiency, the ability to dislodge enemies behind cover, and a crushing Ultimate, aggressive players are going to love playing as Mad Maggie.

Passive: Warlord's Ire
Temporarily highlight enemies you’ve damaged. No movement speed penalty when wielding Shotguns.

Tactical: Riot Drill
Fire a drill that attaches to an obstacle and burns enemies on the other side.

Wrecking Ball
Throw a ball that releases speed-boosting pads and detonates near enemies.

Check out Maggie in action here.

Defiance kicks off with Control, a brand-new limited-time mode that delivers an adrenaline-fueled 9v9 experience where two teams fight to capture and control points on the map. Featuring the largest team sizes in Apex Legends to date, players will pre-select their loadouts, drop in, and for the first time ever have the opportunity to experience the rush of having the same Legends fighting side by side, creating thrilling moments that can only happen in Control. In this mode, death is not the end, as throughout the match players will be able to respawn and carry on the fight until one team earns enough points to be declared the winner. So get ready to experience the spectacle of 9v9 Legend combat when Control kicks off on February 8th. Check out the full blog from Designer Mark Yampolsky here.

To celebrate the 3rd Anniversary and the amazing community of Apex Legends, we’re giving away rewards to all players who log in during the first three weeks of Defiance.* From February 8 to February 15, all players will unlock three Octane thematic packs just for logging in; if players don’t already have him, he’ll automatically be unlocked. From February 15 through February 22, players that login will unlock three Wattson thematic packs, as well as the Legend herself if she’s not on the player’s roster. Then we round out the celebration with Valkyrie, where between February 22 and March 1st players that login unlock three Valkyrie thematic packs plus one Legendary pack, with those that have yet to unlock this high-flying Legend getting her just for logging in. So be sure to login between February 8th and March 1st to unlock your rewards!

*Conditions & restrictions apply. See playapex.com/third-annivesary-login-rewards for details.

Someone or something has hacked into Olympus’ Phase Runner, sending the floating city crashing down and creating destabilizations across the city that change the face of the map: perhaps forever. Players will experience a malfunctioning Olympus, with new terrain exposed and more POIs than ever. And that’s not all!

• Expanded map; spreading squads out more so the map’s center area (Labs/Estates) isn’t the only go-to combat zone each game and reducing the frequency of spontaneous 3rd-parties.

• Better rotational options to help players get around and out of dangerous chokepoints

• New interactive map toy and play spaces to help attract players into the new areas, creating fresh new experiences for Olympus

Check out the full blog from map designer, Alex Graner that goes into detail about what to expect from the Olympus Map Update.

Players in the regular Play Apex queue will drop exclusively into Olympus for the first week of the season, after which we’ll add Storm Point and Kings Canyon into the rotation.

Wildlife Update

It’s now been a full season since we introduced PvE into Battle Royal and while we were happy with how wildlife launched, we’ve seen that Prowlers were a bit too punishing and not quite rewarding enough. Additionally, we have seen some bad edge cases that create frustration for players that we’re hoping to address this season. We’ll go more in depth on the exact details and our reasoning behind them in another blog, but in short:

• Prowler damage reduced from 30 to 20 and reduced knockback force.
• Increased Prowler Nest completion reward from 90 to 150 crafting materials (250 total for the large Prowler Nest in the center of the map).Note: Crafting rewards are divided eveningly to all squadmates nearby at time of clearing the nest. All players (regardless of squad) in the area get a share of the 250 crafting material reward when the large Prowler Nest is cleared.
• Overhauled wildlife targeting rules to use damage as the primary factor which should help wildlife targeting feel more fair and less random.
• Introduced a targeting cap for Prowlers, so only 3 Prowlers will be able to target a player at any time.
• Prowler Den spawns are now disabled when there are two teams inside of the same Nest (except for the massive Prowler Nest at the center of the map). 
• Prowlers are now neutral when outside the ring unless engaged in combat.
• Prowler Dens are now disabled outside the ring if the Prowler Camp is passive.
• Wandering Prowlers in the small Wildlife Nests have been reduced from 3 down to 2 and their wander radius is reduced by half until they are engaged in combat.
• Made some tweaks that should help squads clear Prowler Nests quicker.

• Gave a slight increase to high tier consumable drops on all wildlife.

Drop Ship Pathing.

While Storm Point has a relatively healthy spread of landing locations, we realized the typical drop ship logic often made the high northeast corner of the map particularly tough to land in. Rotating the distribution and moving the centerpoint slightly northeast should make Highpoint and Lightning Rod more accessible while still allowing players to land in the lower southwest portion if they desire.

Each image below shows 400 drop ship simulations, before and after the change:

Finally, a few miscellaneous changes:

• Improved wildlife combat versus vehicles. Targeting and damage now focuses on an occupied vehicle opposed to individual players in the vehicle
• Improved wildlife interactions versus electrical abilities making stunning wildlife with Wattson’s fences and Ash’s tactical more reliable

In Apex Legends the primary goal is to be the last Legend standing, and racking up kills is the vehicle to get you there. Last season, we made changes that opened up flexibility by compensating players with high kill counts that didn’t necessarily place first. We like this flexibility, but after observing the pacing of high-level ranked games, we saw players were focused on seeking out kills a little too much. Players that focus on fighting for higher placements and teamplay should be more faithfully awarded. 

Change Summary: 

    Max Kill KP: 175 → 125
    Placement Points & Per Kill Bonus:

This tuning is more punishing to teams that undervalue placements. We’re bumping up placement points for teams in the top 5; easing back on the ‘Kill KP Cap’ and adjusting ‘Per Kill Bonuses’ to require ~2-3 less Kills to hit the maximum.

Split 1 will be played on Olympus, and we’ll move over to Kings Canyon for Split 2 in April.

COMMUNICATION FILTER

During this season we’ll be releasing a new feature where players will be able to determine which players they want to receive voice and text chat from called Communication Filter. Players can find the feature in the Options Menu under Gameplay and will have 3 options to choose from.

• Everyone = You see and hear all Text / voice chat from all players.
• Friends Only = You only see and hear friends text / voice chat.
• Off = You do not see or hear any voice or text chat.

Players can also unmute anyone they choose, friend of friend or a good random squadmate.

LEGENDS BALANCE

Crypto

Drone View HUD and other  Quality of Life updates:

• Added gamestate (e.g. Ring information, round timers), minimap, killfeed, team status, , and ping information to the Drone's HUD.
• Repurposed the Drone HUD's old Crypto health/shield presentation into displaying the health of the Drone itself.
• Survey Beacon markers are now displayed in-world while piloting the Drone (same as when controlling Crypto himself).

Neurolink changes:

• Increased the Neurolink detection FOV from 160 -> 240 degrees.
• Neurolink detection is now disabled while the Drone is being recalled.

Surveillance Drone changes:

• The deployment of the Drone has received a rework:
  • Pressing the Tactical button causes Crypto to send the Drone flying in a straight line in the direction of Crypto's view for a few seconds.
  • If thrown to a wall (or other geo), the Drone will hit the wall and re-orient itself so that it's facing away from the wall.
  • Crypto no longer immediately accesses Drone View after deploying his Drone in this way.
  • Pressing and holding the [Tactical] button will launch the Drone forward in the same way, but then Crypto will immediately access Drone View.
• Reduced Drone health from 60 -> 50.
• The HUD marker for the Drone has been tweaked to increase visibility.
• The HUD marker for the Drone is now always displayed on-screen while the Drone is deployed (instead of only when the Drone was off-screen.

Dev Note

Crypto has been off the grid in terms of pick rate. The goal of these changes was to make his kit more accessible and engaging. With a new deployment option, we lowered drone health to prevent reckless drone deploy. Crypto is still a methodical, calculating legend, and manually piloting Hack should still be the primary way to access macro-level recon. The drone view HUD updates should help here as well. Crypto’s never been weak per se; we’re cognizant of his strengths at high-level play and will be keeping an eye on his usage and performance.

Caustic

Nox Gas Traps are now destroyable after detonation

• 150hp
• Detonated traps will expire at 11s (instead of 12.5s)
• Gas effects linger for two seconds after barrel destruction or expiration (gas particles still linger a bit longer as they dissipate)

Supply Drop Rotation

The Alternator SMG returns to the ground loot this season and taking its place is the powerful mid-range energy Volt SMG.

Alternator SMG

• Removed disruptor rounds hop-up

Volt SMG

• Damage increased from 15 to 17
• Max mag size increased from 26 to 28

Hop Ups

Kinetic Feeder - Triple Take & Peacekeeper

Sliding with the Triple Take or Peacekeeper significantly speeds up choke time and automatically reloads rounds.

Hammerpoint Rounds - P2020, Mozambique & RE-45

• P2020
  • +50% unshielded damage
• Mozambique
  • +35% unshielded damage
• RE-45
  • +35% unshielded damage

Shatter Caps - 30-30 Repeater & Bocek Bow

• Passively affects hip-fire for both weapons
  • ADS remains precision shot
• No longer able to toggle on/off
• 30-30 pellet damage reduced from 8 to 7
• Bow pellet damage reduced 12 to 11

Triple Take 

• Removing projectile growth from bullets
• Damage reduced from 23 to 21 per bullet

Dev Note

The Triple Take’s return to floor loot has been really positive, but it’s proving to be a bit ahead of the pack with its ranged performance. We’re eliminating the bullet growth it retained from its days as a sniper to pull it in line with other Marksman rifles.

VK-47 Flatline 

• Damage reduced from 19 to 18 per bullet

Rampage LMG (Hotfix)

• Rampage damage reduced from 28 to 26
• Reduced number of shots during the Revved state from ~40 to ~34

Dev Note

On January 13, 2022 we implemented a hotfix to the Rampage and Sentinel infinite charge bug. We took that opportunity to get out a Rampage nerf early. Noting these changes here for anyone who missed our earlier messaging.

Fully Kitted Rotation

• Added: RE-45, Triple Take, Peacekeeper, Prowler, Havoc 
• Removed: Mastiff, 30-30 Repeater, R-301, CAR, Longbow

Weapons in Crafting

• VK-47 Flatline and Longbow DMR are now craftable for 30 mats at any crafting station.
• Weapons in crafting can not be found on the ground.
• Crafted weapons come with no attachments and two boxes of ammo

Dev Note

As we continue to introduce new weapons and loot into the game we must consider the impact it has on loot saturation and the ability to find specific pieces for loadouts. With this change we are able to keep weapons available but give our floor loot some breathing room. 

Crafting

• Medkit price lowered from 20 to 15
• Kinetic Feeder added to crafting rotation

• Fixed issue where multiple Legends were missing voice lines when pinging a caged flyer.
• Fix for Booster Loader where ammo counter would remain highlighted when switching from a low ammo Hemlok or Wingman to another weapon.
• Replicator fix for cases where an item could become stuck inside after crafting with a full inventory.
• Fixed an error that would tell players to come back in a decade when matchmaking.
• Fix for cases of lighting issues in some areas on Olympus.
• Fix for cases where Mirage Ultimate Decoys could get stuck on surfaces raised slightly off the ground.
• Arenas: Fix for cases where Crypto’s Drone charges could be used multiple times with single Drone.
• Arenas: Fix for cases where trying to charge a Rampage or Sentinel Rifle as the round starts results in the charge being cancelled when the round starts.
• Crypto’s Drone fix for cases where it wouldn’t show friendly nameplates.
• Fix for cases where players were able to use melee on incline surfaces to get speed boost while sliding.
• Fix for cases where revving up a Rampage LMG while removing extended mag causes the revved up bar to appear forever.
• Fix for cases where the timer for charging the Sentinel and Rampage was not showing the correct time left for animation.
• Fixed cases when specific Legendary Horizon skins would block part of screen when ADSing with a Prowler + 1x holo scope.
• Fixed issue where weapon challenges would not show progress in the after match summary.
• Fixed a bug where Charging up the Sentinel required 2 cells instead of 1 when wearing a golden armor.
• Reduced L-STAR impact vfx.
• Fixed a bug for cases where players could get a jump boost from deathboxes that are in the vicinity of Horizon’s Gravity Lift after it’s been used.
• Reticle Color Customization - Limiting values to 0-255 to avoid exploits.
• Reticle Color Customization - improved inconsistency in UI color when ADSing with different sniper scopes.
• Reticle Customization fix for cases where rapidly adjusting the lighting bar can result in a performance drop on other platforms and a crash on Switch.
• Based on  feedback, we’ve adjusted the in-world icon for Ash's passive to be smaller and closer to the ground.
• When Ash’s tactical hits an object it cannot stick to, it should now bounce off instead of destroying itself (tactical cooldown will not be refunded anymore)
• Improved the targeting experience for Ash’s ultimate by preferring locations that are farther away
• Audio Fix for cases where R-99 gun fire SFX persists when spectator changes to another player while R-99 is fired.
• Storm Point: Fixed cases where players were unable to shoot through the chain-link fences at Antenna. 
• Storm Point: Fix for cases where players could get stuck inside the map by using Valk’s Ultimate on Command Center.
• Storm Point: Based feedback we’ve adjusted Final Round Rings so they don’t end in areas with no cover or populated by Prowler Dens.
• Storm Point: Fix for cases where a player could be launched by a Gravity Cannon while below it.
• World’s Edge: Changed Fragment from high-tier to mid-tier loot. This happened in the 11.1 update, but was inadvertently omitted from those patch notes.
• World’s Edge: Fixed an issue with Loba’s ultimate where it would not tell you items inside the panels at Trials were locked (though the alarm got triggered as normal).
• Fix for cases where Gibby's arm would be missing during Pathfinder’s "Iron Haymaker" finisher.
• Fix for cases where the Entire map hears audio if a player cancels beacon scan.
• Fixed issue where Valk’s "Cloud Marauder" Legend skin had darker hands in 1P versus what's shown in the Lobby and in other 1P skins.
• Fix for cases where Players hit by Seer tactical just as they enter crafting could lose certain functionality.
• Fixed issue where Caustic barrels that are still being deployed (mid-throw) were not being deleted after Caustic dies.
• Fixed issue where sometimes Wattson's Interceptor Pylon would heal for less than intended.
• Fix for cases where a crash could occur when players accept join club requests by clicking the approval button twice.
• Fixed a bug where moving through Wraith's portal could feel choppy when placed in the air via Gravity Cannons.
• Fixed a bug where stocks didn’t drop from wildlife on Storm Point
• Improved wildlife combat versus vehicles. 
• Improved wildlife interactions versus electrical abilities making stunning wildlife with Wattson’s fences and Ash’s tactical more reliable
• Gave a slight increase to high tier consumable drops on all wildlife.
• Added the ability to see your teammate survival item while the inventory is open.

Fixing some weird rules in how assists and kills are determined and properly rewarded.

• Quitting players can no longer deny kills & assists
• Reviving no longer resets damage history

• Observer: Added a toggle to disable kill feed while in free cam.
• Observer: Fixed ring visibility on mini map.
• Observer: Fixed kill calculations for the Status & Stats screen.
• Fixed Stats Summary generation for team slots with default names.
• Disabled Club features in Private Match.
• Added unique player ID’s to Post-Game API (same ID’s seen in the Real-Time API).
• Real-Time API changes:
  • Added “weaponSwitched” event. Shows the current item equipped by the player.
  • Added player names for events squadEliminated and matchStateEnd.
  • Added teammate names for observerSwitched event.
  • Fix for items appearing as “Unrecognized”.
  • Fix for characterSelected event not populating with all players.

Play Apex Legends for free* now on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, and PC via the EA app, Origin and Steam.

Follow Apex Legends on Twitter and Instagram, subscribe to our YouTube channel, and check out our forums.

Sign up for our newsletter today to receive the latest Apex Legends news, updates, behind-the-scenes content, exclusive offers, and more (including other EA news, products, events, and promotions) by email.

This announcement may change as we listen to community feedback and continue developing and evolving our Live Service & Content. We will always strive to keep our community as informed as possible. For more information, please refer to EA’s Online Service Updates at https://www.ea.com/service-updates.

*Applicable platform account and platform subscription (sold separately) may be required. A persistent internet connection and EA account required. Age restrictions apply. Includes in-game purchases.