Apex Legends Season 9 Legacy: Full Patch Notes and Details

Apex Legends Season 9: Legacy is just around the corner and Respawn Entertainment just dropped the patch notes for the update which is scheduled for May 4. We got a glimpse into all of the balance changes, a preview of the new content and more. Apex Legends Season 9 Legacy patch notes finally address Spitfire and Horizon, which have been the two outliers in the current meta. Kraber’s droprate is also being reduced and Triple Take will be entering the care package loot pool. Here is a closer look at the Apex Legends Season 9 Legacy patch notes including the balance changes, new content, and more. 

Apex Legends Season 9 Legacy Patch Notes: Arenas

Arenas feature a new set of custom maps, tailor-made for close-quarters combat (with more to come in the future). Squads start each round in a spawn room, where they can get weapons, gear, and abilities, and adjust their loadout as their strategy changes. The first team to win three rounds with at least a two-point lead will be crowned the victor—unless they battle to a four-four tie. Then they’ll have the honor of participating in Ash’s favorite part of the game: Sudden Death.

Arenas are getting two exclusive maps as well as three repurposed maps from World’s Edge, Olympus and King’s Canyon. 

• Artillery from Kings Canyon
• Thermal Station from World’s Edge
• Golden Gardens from Olympus
• Party Crasher from Olympus (NEW)
• Phase Runner from World’s Edge (NEW)

Apex Legends Season 9 Legacy Patch Notes: Valkyrie

The game is getting its newest legend, Valkyrie. Here are her abilities:

Passive: VTOL Jets

Use your jetpack to reposition or reach high places. You have limited fuel and cannot use weapons while flying.

Tactical: Missile Swarm

Fire a swarm of mini-rockets that damage and disorient the enemy.

Ultimate: Skyward dive

Take to the skies to reposition a long-distance across the map. Your squadmates can join in.

Class: Recon

Scanning Survey Beacons reveals the next circle’s location.

Apex Legends Season 9 Legacy Patch Notes: Bocek Bow

The Bocek uses a new ammo type, Arrows, which are unique to this weapon. Arrows are more rare on the battlefield, but fired arrows will stick into surfaces and remain in the world for players to pick back up and reuse. The 1x hcog classic, 1x holosight, 2x hcog, 1x-2x variable, and 3x hcog optics can all be equipped. The Bocek can also be further modified with the two new hop-ups entering the game, Shatter Caps and Deadeye’s Tempo and it can equip both hop-ups together. 

Apex Legends Season 9 Legacy Patch Notes: Ring Update

The shrink speed of the rings are being adjusted in the upcoming patch. 

• 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

Apex Legends Season 9 Legacy Patch Notes: Balance Changes

Here are all the balance changes that are coming on May 4 in Apex Legends Season 9: Legacy. With the introduction of the Bocek bow, Respawn is introducing a new weapons category, Marksman Weapons, which will include the G7, 30-30, Triple Take, and Bocek. Weapons in this category are precision weapons that are most effective up to medium-long range and are the sort of in-betweens of Assault Rifles and Snipers. 

Weapons

ARC STARS

• Aim and movement slow removed from the initial stick.

P2020

• Increased bullet damage from 15 to 18
• Lowered fire rate from 8.5 to 6.25

MOZAMBIQUE

• Increased magazine capacity from 4 to 6
• Moved the lower 2 pellets inward in the blast pattern

WINGMAN

• Increased headshot multiplier from 2.0 to 2.15

LONGBOW

• Increased headshot multiplier from 2.0 to 2.15

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

SPITFIRE

• Reduced recoil controllability early in the pattern

HAVOC

• Increased recoil controllability early in the pattern

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

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

ASSAULT RIFLES

• Reducing the headshot multiplier for all assault rifles from 2.0 to 1.75

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.

Legends

Low Profile is being removed from all legends that were affected by it. 

BLOODHOUND

• No longer receives assists from Eye of the Allfather.

BANGALORE

• Smoke Launcher: Thickened Bangalore’s smoke.

FUSE

• Knuckle Cluster: Fuse now has two stacks of Knuckle Cluster. Reduced cooldown from 25s to 20s.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Apex Legends Season 9 Legacy Patch Notes: Kitted Weapon Rotation

Added: Wingman, Bocek, R99, Hemlock, and Sentinel

Removed: R301, 30-30 Repeater, Mozambique, Longbow DMR, and Spitfire

Apex Legends Season 9 Legacy Patch Notes: Loot Changes

• 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.
• 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.
• Removed Level 1 Helmets and Knockdown Shields from the loot pool.

Spawn chances for Level 1 EVO Shields in the loot pool have also been significantly reduced.

RELATED:  Apex Legends: Legacy – How Will the New 3v3 Arenas Work