Apex Legends Releases Mid-Season 26 Update

Respawn has released a big update for Apex Legends, marking the middle of Season 26. While Apex Legends has had several smaller patches since the start of the season, this recent update includes many balance changes that could impact the meta.

Known as Showdown, the latest season of Apex Legends has brought many changes to the Outlands. While there was no new Legend, Respawn revamped the kits of some existing characters and adjusted the weapon pool. Additionally, the developer introduced a new permanent game mode called Wildcard, which put a chaotic spin on the battle royale formula. As Season 26 reaches the halfway point, more changes have been made to keep the experience balanced and exciting.

These changes came via the mid-season update for Showdown, which was released on September 16. The patch covered a lot of ground, making tweaks to Legends and weapons. Specifically, Ash received new nerfs to her kit to reign in her dominance, as she continues to be the most picked character in Apex Legends. According to the patch notes, her dash cooldown has been increased and her Arc Snare breaks more easily, among other things. Beyond Ash, Respawn nerfed Caustic and Sparrow, Apex Legends‘ newest character, reducing the effectiveness of some of their abilities.

The mid-season update also made big alterations to Seer and Mad Maggie. Respawn noted that it wanted to give both characters a revamp to make them fit better in the meta. Thanks to the update, Seer has seen major changes to all his abilities, along with new upgrades, to make him “fun to play with more in-combat power.” Meanwhile, Mad Maggie’s Riot Drill and Wrecking Ball have been tweaked to give her “more reliability and team utility.” She also received new Level 2 upgrades.

Besides Legends, the new update brought changes to the Apex Legends weapon pool. Notably, several new guns gained Locked Hop-Ups, while the points needed to unlock them were increased. Furthermore, gold magazines now take four seconds to automatically reload while stowed instead of two seconds. Several weapons, like the Devotion and Wingman, were nerfed, while the Bocek received improvements. It is worth noting that a subsequent tweet from the developer revealed that additional adjustments to the RE-45 were made, as previous nerfs earlier in the season were a bit too much. The Charge Rifle and 30-30 Repeater also received balance updates.

It will be interesting to see how these and other changes made in the update impact the meta in the remainder of Season 26 of Apex Legends. In addition to balance changes, the update brought the new Wild Iron Event, which introduced significant changes to Wildcard, including a Mythic Flatline and new Wild Cards. Time will tell if the new content will help keep players around for the remainder of the season.

Apex Legends 26.1 Patch Notes

BALANCE UPDATES

EVO Harvesters (Previous Hotfix)

Spawn rate increased to 10-11 depending on map size (was 7-8)
Reduced likelihood of multiple EVO Harvesters spawning in a single POI

Ring Exploit Prevention

Adjusted to prevent system abuse

LEGENDS

Assault Class

Stowed Reload: time to reload while stowed increased to 4s (was 2s)

ASH

Abilities

Passive: Predator’s Pursuit
- Increased dash cooldown to 12s (was 8s)
- Dash gives less of a boost when not dashing in the direction you’re moving
Tactical: Arc Snare
- Breaks more easily, base duration now 6s (was 8s)
- Less pulling strength
- Doesn’t deal extra damage to shields

Upgrades

Level 2
- Dual Breach & Marked for Death: removed
- NEW Longer Reach: increases Phase Breach range by 25m
- NEW Ultimate Cooldown: reduces Phase Breach cooldown by 30s

Dev Note: Despite nerfs in recent patches, Ash has stayed at the top of the pack and we want to bring her back in line with the rest of the squad. In particular, a longer cooldown on her dash alongside Dual Breach’s removal should make it easier to punish Ash’s misplays.

CAUSTIC

Nox Gas

Damage from gas ramps up more slowly, increases every 2 ticks (was every tick)
Removed aim punch when taking damage

Dev Note: Caustic’s recent improvements succeeded in bringing him back into the meta, but there were a couple places we wanted to tamp down to make the gas more forgiving to deal with.

MAD MAGGIE

Abilities

Tactical: Riot Drill
- Firing animation sped up by 10%
- Drill now comes out immediately after releasing the button (was delayed by a few frames)
Ultimate: Wrecking Ball
- Throw animation sped up 25%
- Wrecking Ball is now more reliable at moving around/over obstacles
- Explosions deal up to 25 damage (was up to 20)
- Reduced lifetime to 7s (was 10s)
- Speed pads increase movement speed for 3.5s (was 2s)
- Speed pads give fortified buff for the duration, doesn’t stack with already fortified Legends
- Speed pads last 20s (was 60s)
- Speed pads deactivate 6s for the player using it after being used
- Speed pads no longer drop from the final explosion

Upgrades

Level 2
- Shots Shots Shots: removed
- NEW Gunrunning: Passive movement speed increase also works with SMGs and Pistols
- Fire Ball: now drops magma patches along the ground as it moves and Mad Maggie takes 50% less fire damage from all sources

Dev Note: Mad Maggie was effective in certain circumstances, but we wanted to give her a bit more reliability and team utility to compete against other Legends. It’s now easier to get both her Tac and Ult to go where you want them to go. The fortified speed pads give her and her squad stronger options to both push and rotate. And the new Gunrunning upgrade allows her to have more flexibility in the close-range weapons that she can use effectively.

SEER

Abilities

Passive: Heart Seeker
- Long View upgrade now permanent, increasing range for Passive + Tac to 75m (was 50m)
- Now one constant heartbeat instead of differing beats for each enemy
- UI and audio pulse to indicate when the heartbeat scans happen
- Directional waveforms are now taller or shorter depending on whether the enemy is close or far from where you are aiming
- Improved UI visibility
Tactical: Focus of Attention
- Reduced weapon holster time by 60% when activating Tac with a gun out
- Scanning someone with Tac now gives Seer a speed boost for 4s
- Scan duration increased to 4s (was 2.5), slow duration to 1s (was 0.5s), and silence duration reduced to 2.5s (was 8s)
- Cooldown reduced to 20s (was 30s)
- Increased delay before the scan goes off to 1s (was 0.7s)
- VFX adjusted including extra clarity on AOE effects that let you know where the scan will hit
Ultimate: Exhibit
- Artist’s Reach upgrade now permanent, increased throw range to ~50m (was 15m)
- Sphere radius increased to 38m (was 34m)
- Seer gains enhanced jumping and ADS hover while inside any Exhibit
- Added threat indicator within 15m of the center that enemies will see
- Adjusted throw’s pitch while aiming so you don’t have to aim as far up to get longer throws

Upgrades

Level 2
- Artist’s Reach: removed (improved and added to base kit)
- Ultimate Cooldown: removed
- NEW Lasting Beats: enemies who leave the dome have their locations shown for 5s
- NEW Home Base: Tac recharges 4x as fast in your Exhibit sphere
Level 3
- Long View: removed (added to base kit)
- NEW Energizing Focus: regen 25 shields when hitting an enemy with Tac
- Split Focus: no longer has a downside

Dev Note: It’s time to bring Seer back into the meta. He’s been popular before, but that strength usually came at the cost of being extremely frustrating to play against. We’re aiming to have Seer be fun to play with more in-combat power, while avoiding some of the issues that made him feel oppressive as an opponent.

SPARROW

Abilities

Tactical: Tracker Dart
- Tracking duration now 12s (was 15)
- New VFX when aiming to show if your dart will activate a nearby Enemy Scan Beacon
Ultimate: Stinger Bolt
- Bolt health now 400 (was 550)
- Bolt’s pulsing now slows Sparrow and his allies, not just enemies
- Adjusted the animations when aiming Stinger Bolt to make it easier to see the trajectory

Upgrades

Level 2
- Extra Traps: now gives 1 additional trap in world (was 2)

Dev Note: Sparrow’s continued popularity surfaced some frustrating elements to his kit. His Stinger Bolt should now be easier to take down with 1 or 2 people, while his tracking should no longer lock opponents down for too long. We also included a couple of QOL improvements related to aiming his abilities.

LOOT & ATTACHMENTS

ATTACHMENTS

Gold Magazine

Time to reload while stowed increased to 4s (was 2s)

LOCKED HOP-UPS

Accelerator

Increased points to unlock to 300 (was 150)
Removed from: Peacekeeper, L-Star, and Alternator
Added to: G7 Scout, CAR, and Flatline

Graffiti Mod

Increased points to unlock to 425 (was 300)
Added to: Mastiff

Gun Shield Generator

Increased points to unlock to 375 (was 250)

Selectfire Receiver

Increased points to unlock to 375 (was 250)

Skull Piercer

Increased points to unlock to 600 (was 400)

Turbocharger

600 points to unlock
Compatible with Havoc and Devotion

Dev Note: We’re really happy with how Locked Hop-Ups have changed the game and provided a clearer path to unlocking a weapons power. However, we’ve found that the values we launched with have been a little too generous and that power is coming online a little earlier than we’d hoped. Increasing the unlock requirements should reign in their early game strength while still maintaining their consistency in the mid to late game.

LOOT

Amps (Previous Hotfix)

Spawn rates reduced at match start
Icon added to enemy health bar for which Amp they have

WEAPONS

LMG

Devotion LMG

Removed perk that would turbocharge after equipping a purple barrel, magazine, and stock

MARKSMAN

Bocek Compound Bow

Decreased charge time to fully nock an arrow to 0.35s (was 0.45s)
Improved hipfire spread

PISTOL

RE-45 Burst (Previous Hotfix)

Reduced projectile size to match other pistols
Reduced magazine size by 3 at all tiers, including base
Increased horizontal and vertical recoil

Wingman

Damage increased to 50 (was 48)
Skullpiercer headshot multiplier reduced to 1.92 (was 2.0)
- Skullpiercer headshot damage stays unchanged at 96

SHOTGUN

Mastiff

Increased delay before firing when drawing the weapon to better match our other shotguns

Peacekeeper

Increased size of blast pattern when choked

MAPS

Unranked & Ranked

E-District
Kings Canyon
Olympus

Mixtape

TDM: Fragment, Skull Town, Zeus Station, Estates
Control: Hammond Labs, Caustic Treatment, Barometer, Lava Siphon
Gun Run: Wattson’s Pylon, Monument, Estates, Skull Town

MODES

Duos

Reduced squad count to 15 (was 30)
- Reduced player count to 30 (was 60)
Ring starts partially closed, timings adjusted
Drop ship now starts at the edge of the ring (similar to Wildcard)
Ring closes 4 times

WILDCARD

Wildcard Trios: Wild Iron (September 16-30, 2025)

Kings Canyon Wildcard
Rampart Care Packages: Mythic Flatline
Increased spawn rate for explosive gear
Added chance to find EPG in loot
8 new Wild Cards available in Replicators (see above)
- Crackerjack
- Down Bad
- Extra Ordnance
- Good Doctor
- Gren-Aid
- Sent Packing
- Shield’s Up
- Stowed Reload

Wildcard Trios: Core (September 30-October 14, 2025)

RANKED

Ranked Ladder Scoring Changes

Entry Cost no longer included in Ranked Ladder scoring

Dev Note: One of the key goals for the Ranked Ladder is to create a fair comparison across players of similar skill levels. By removing Entry Cost from the scoring, we ensure that performance in matches (not rank-specific costs) is the only factor that drives your Ladder RP. This levels the playing field for all players competing on the same leaderboard.

BUG FIXES

Ammo notifications no longer broken after dropping the Infinite Ammo Amp
Increased accuracy when pinging the map when zoomed
Locked Hop-Ups + Points
- Fixed some strings where the Locked Hop-Up Graffiti Mod was incorrectly named
- Points will no longer occasionally reset when moving between Ballistic’s sling after leveling up
- Locked Hop-Ups once again work as intended after respawning in Firing Range
“No Ammo” message no longer appears on screen when your knockdown shield’s destroyed
Players once again spawn with primary weapon equipped in Wildcard
Switch 2 dynamic mode will no longer occasionally switch joycon modes

LEGENDS

Alter: “Celestial Essence” skin once again plays effects correctly
Caustic: fixed an exploit that allowed him to accumulate research points quicker (Previous Hotfix)
Mad Maggie
- Tac no longer deals up to 33% less damage than intended
- Wrecking ball no longer gets caught/reflected backwards by friendly Mirage decoys
Rampart: hexagon FX no longer missing from the amped shield

QUALITY OF LIFE

Added “For You” section in the shop that contains personalized offers that rotate weekly
Ranked Drop Zones: removed the jumpmaster, now all teammates skydive independently
Wildcard Respawn notifications
- Reduced the size of the announcements to take up less screen space
- Removed the announcement for when individual teammates have died
- Reworded death banner to read “Last Legend Standing”

ENGINE

Shader count reduced by nearly 50%, improving performance and startup times especially on PC
Now uses bindless resources for particle and FX rendering. This reduces CPU usage especially in cases of intense combat with lots of character abilities being triggered.
PC: fixed an immediate crash when booting the game if the player has an Unknown Display Driver (sometimes the result of uninstalling previous drivers). Note: there may still be other issues with Unknown display drivers.