Apex Legends Season 18 patch notes: Ranked changes, balancing, map updates, more

Season 18 of Apex Legends is upon us, and Respawn has unveiled the full patch notes for update, complete with the overhaul to Revenant, various buffs, nerfs and changes, and more. Here are the Season 18 patch notes for Apex.

Season 18 doesn’t have a new Legend to shout about, with Revenant, released in Season 4, getting a complete overhaul, with new abilities and a new appearance.

The rest of the new content in this season is also fairly light, with no new map, weapon or major map changes to speak of.

But, that doesn’t mean there isn’t a lot to digest in the patch notes. From weapon and legend changes, to ranked and ring adjustments, here are all the changes coming in Season 18.

Apex Season 18 update time

Apex Legends Season 18 will go live on Tuesday, August 8 at 10am PT / 1pm ET / 6pm BST.

PlayStation players may be able to preload the update before then, but players on Xbox and PC will need to wait for the update to go live and then start the download.

Revenant Reborn

Respawn Entertainment

Revenant Reborn is the new character for Season 18.

The main attraction for this season of Apex is the new Revenant, called Revenant Reborn. Revenant will be unlocked for all players this season, and you can unlock him permanently by completing a handful of challenges before the season concludes.

Revenant’s new abilities and more can be found here.

Ranked updates

There’s no denying that Season 17’s ranked changes were not exactly successful. They resulted in far too many players reaching Master, and ‘ratting’ becoming a major problem.

Respawn is of course addressing this with the Season 18 update. You can see the major changes for Ranked outlined here, with the changes explained in full in the patch notes below.

Weapon changes, like the rework to the Charge Rifle and SMG nerf are also fully explained here in the patch notes.

Apex Legends Season 18 patch notes

RESURRECTION MAP ROTATION

The following maps will be available for public matchmaking in the Battle Royale mode:

• Broken Moon
• Kings Canyon
• Olympus

RING UPDATE

Ring behavior across maps in the BR has been updated with targeted tunings; including ring size, damage, and timings to several game phases to improve pacing in early and mid game. Here’s an in-depth look:

• Ring Size Changes
  • Ring 1 has increased 10% in radius per map, resulting in ~20% larger Ring 1 surface area
  • No other Ring sizes changed
• Ring Damage Changes
  • Ring 2 Damage increased from 3 per tick to 4 per tick
  • Ring 4 Damage reduced from 20 per tick to 15 per tick
• Timing Changes
  • Round 1
    • Preshrink time reduced from 90s to 75s 
    • Shrink speed on small Maps reduced from 167 to 160
    • Shrink speed on large Maps reduced from ~180 to ~165
    • Shrink time standardized to ~260s on each map 
  • Round 2
    • Preshrink time reduced from 165s to 120s
    • Shrink speed reduced from 160 to 140
    • Shrink time increased by ~25s per map 
  • Round 3
    • Preshrink time reduced from 135s to 90s
  • Round 4
    • Preshrink time reduced from 105s to 90s
    • Shrink speed reduced from 100 to 85
    • Shrink time increased from 40s to ~50s
  • Round 5
    • Preshrink time reduced from 90s to 75s
    • Shrink speed reduced from 50 to 40
    • Shrink time increased from 40s to 50s
• Maximum match length has been shortened
  • Small maps: reduced to ~19.0 mins (was ~21.5 mins)
  • Large maps: reduced to ~20.0 mins (was ~22.5 mins)

RANKED UPDATE

Read the full breakdown of this season’s ranked changes in our July 2023 Ranked Blog and check out an update on Ranked Rewards in our Resurrection highlights blog.

• LP Table Adjusted: LP Gain overall has been reduced. 
• Diamond+ Cost Adjustments: 50% increased losses.

• New:A small portion of Elimination bonus is exempted from bonus withholding due to mismatched MMR and LP. This value increases based on the player’s MMR.
• Skill & Rating Bonuses have been dramatically reduced.
• • We mentioned in our July 2023 Ranked blog that we would be bumping up the Elimination Bonus slightly. In our attempt to reduce the Master spike, we identified the need to instead reduce the overall points given within the whole system. Instead of bumping as planned, we took a different approach and reduced placement scores to make eliminations more valuable when compared to the now lowered placement score.

PATCH NOTES

BALANCE UPDATES

Armor Changes

• White to Blue evo points required increased to 200 (was 150)
  • Crafted evo points increased to 200
• Fixed overflow damage on level up applies to the next tier

Crafting Rotation

• Rampage and R-99 leave the crafter and are back on the floor
• Nemesis and Mozambique with Hammerpoint Rounds enter the crafter
• Double Tap Trigger and Hammerpoint Rounds removed from rotation
• Boosted Loader and Disruptor Rounds added to rotation
• Medkit price increased to 20 (was 15)

Care Package Weapon Rotation

• Hemlok Burst AR returns to the floor
  • ADS Recoil increased
  • Damage reduced to 22 (was 23)
  • Headshot multiplier reduced to 1.75 (was 1.8)
• Prowler Burst PDW enters the care package
  • Damage increased to 16 (was 15)
  • Select Fire Enabled defaulting to Full Auto

Gold Weapons Rotation

• Hemlok, Peacekeeper, Alternator, Rampage, Charge Rifle

Loot Spawn Changes

• Blue and Purple Weapon Attachment spawn rate reduced by 20%
• Blue and Purple Armor spawn rate reduced by 30%

WEAPONS

Charge Rifle Rework

• New ballistics and projectile
  • Removed hitscan
  • Removed pre-fire laser
  • Projectiles have player passthrough: 80% damage retained
  • Opens doors
• Projectiles gain damage with distance
  • 50 meters: 75 Damage
  • 300 meters: 110 Damage
• New charge mechanics
  • Holding the trigger down will increase charge
  • Releasing the trigger will decrease charge
  • Fires at 100% charge
• Added Extended Sniper Mag attachment slot
  • Base: 4
  • White: 5
  • Blue: 6
  • Purple/Gold: 8
• Ammo Consumption per shot reduced to 1 (was 2)
• Handling timings adjusted
  • Tactical reload time decreased to 3.5 (was 4.0)
  • Empty reload time decreased to 4.6 (was 5.1)

All SMGs (R-99, Alternator, CAR, Volt)

• Strafe Speed:ADS strafe scale reduced to 0.75(was 0.85)
• Headshot multi reduced to 1.25 (was 1.5)

R-99

• Vertical Recoil slightly increased
• Ammo capacity reduced
  • Base Ammo reduced to 17 (was 19)
  • White Mag reduced to 20 (was 21)
  • Blue Mag reduced to 23 (was 24)
  • Purple/Gold Mag reduced to 26 (was 27)

M600 Spitfire

• Added Barrels for improved stability
• ADS Recoil improved
• Hipfire spread slightly improved

Mastiff

• Blast pattern tightened

HOP UPS

Boosted Loader (Hemlok, Wingman)

Reloading when near empty will speed up reloading and overload the next magazine

• Hemlok overload ammo: 9
• Wingman overload ammo: 3

Disruptor Rounds (Alternator, Peacekeeper)

Increases shield damage

• Alternator shield damage increased by 20%
• Peacekeeper shield damage (per pellet) increased by 25%

Double Tap Trigger (EVA-8, G7 Scout)

• Removed from floor and crafting bundles

Grenades

• Frag Grenade
  • Outer Radius increased to 350 units (was 320)
  • Inner Radius increased to 125 units (was 96)
• Thermite
  • Adjusted fire VFX to better match damage area

LEGENDS

Revenant has been reborn

• Updated class to Skirmisher (was Assault)
• New abilities (see above)

Ultimate Cooldowns

• Bangalore: Rolling Thunder to 240s (+60s)
• Catalyst: Dark Veil to 150s (+30s)
• Gibraltar: Defensive Bombardment to 180s (-90s)
• Horizon: Black Hole to 210s (+30s)
• Loba: Black Market Boutique to 150s (+30s)
  • Ultimate Accelerants grant 25% ult charge (up from 20%)
• Mad Maggie: Wrecking Ball to 120s (+30s)
• Pathfinder: Zipline Gun to 180s (+60s)
• Wraith: Dimensional Rift to 180s (-30s)

Tactical Updates

• Ballistic’s Whistler
  • Reduced delay before an overheated weapon starts cooling down to 1s (was 2s)
  • Reduced how long it takes an overheated weapon to cooldown to 8s (was 12s)
• Loba’s Burglar’s Best Friend
  • Cooldown reduced to 25s (was 30s)
• Seer’s Focus of Attention
  • Slow Duration reduced to 0.5s (was 2.5s)
  • Silence Duration reduced to 8s (was 10s)
  • Firing Speed increased to 1.4s (was 0.9s)

MAPS

• Broken Moon
  • Maps added to Mixtape: Production Yard & The Core (Read more about these maps in our highlights blog here)
  • Multiple rat spots removed
• Kings Canyon: multiple rat spots removed
• World’s Edge: smoothed Legend movement on road edges

WORLD SYSTEMS

• Crafting Workbenches, Survey Beacons, Ring Consoles
  • Removed ‘exclusion radius’ that caused some POIs to get these objects more than others
  • All POIs now have an equal chance of receiving a Ring Console, Survey Beacon or Crafting Workbench

MODES

• Control
  • Capture Bonus bounty reduced ~20%
  • Capture time reduced to 10 seconds (was 20 sec)
  • Score limit reduced to 1000 (was 1250)
  • Spawn waves removed: players should spawn instantly at the location they choose including Home Base, Captured Points, and MRB (Note: MRB will still use the dropship)
  • Timed events: Airdrops, MRB, Capture Bonus should all start ~30% sooner in match-time

BUG FIXES

• About Game Mode button now works while in game modes
• Adjusted sizing and positioning of elements on the Switch’s communication wheel to give it more breathing room
• Consumables UI no longer freezes while in use and reviewing inventory
• Dying or swapping Legends with a Golden Backpack full of large healing items no longer causes the items to be thrown from the player in Firing Range
• Challenges no longer flip to NBR version when tracking in Ranked matches
• Fixed black line in Kill Feed when a player dies out of bounds
• Fixed persistent gift notifications after returning to lobby
• Fixed players from different teams being able to ride in the same trident if they interacted with both a mounted Sheila and the trident simultaneously
• Fixed Support Bins occasionally being prevented from providing Survival items (Heat Shield or Mobile Respawn Beacons)
• In-game map no longer clips behind the challenges on 16:10 resolutions
• Players should now properly spectate the player who knocked or killed them (without being knocked), and not who killed their teammates or who thirsted them from the downed state
• Players can no longer get stuck inside a Trident’s collision box
• Pinging Icarus Vault from the map (with vault key in inventory) won’t present a malformed string
• Predator badge no longer fades away on Champion screen
• Reduced the animate in time of death recap in Control, Team Deathmatch, and Gun Run
• Spectres no longer stand in Catalyst’s Piercing Spikes
• Unitframe consumable progress now updating in the inventory screen
• Using remapped controls on a Gamepad/Controller no longer prevents pinging from the map
• Fixed players seeing the ranking of players they are spectating

AUDIO

• Fixed animations not playing audio in rare cases
• Improved prioritization for certain enemy movement sounds
• Players movement transitions no longer occasionally play duplicate audio events

LEGENDS

• Ballistic
  • C.A.R SMG doesn’t default to heavy ammo after being converted to a golden gun in sling with light ammo
  • Tempest no longer applies to teammates when friendly fire is enabled in Firing Range
• Pathfinders voicemails during an Ash heirloom inspect no longer stretched on 16:10 resolutions

• Gibraltar and Bangalore
  • Fixed ultimates not triggering if thrown on Ziprail Launcher and Skydive Towers
  • Fixed ultimates not cooldown if they’re killed while holding the ultimate grenade
• Horizon: Lethal Lass skin no longer obstructs ADS on Prowler with 1x HOLO
• Loba: Lunar Wolf skin no longer has broken mesh
• Rampart: Sheila’s ammo counter now correctly rotated

MAPS

• Broken Moon:
  • Added building west of the core to minimap
  • Loot tick now correctly drops loot at Production Yard
  • Removed invisible collision above playing field
• Olympus: indoor props without collision no longer blocks picking up loot

MODES

• Firing Range:
  • Ballistic’s Whistler is no longer heard across Firing Ranges when shot at the ground
  • Dummies no longer occasionally shoot while set to inactive
  • Small door’s audio and FX no longer heard/seen across Firing Ranges

WEAPONS

• Left most ammo on squad member unitframes now represents their currently equipped weapon
• L-Star: low ammo indicator now only appears when ammo is actually low
• P2020: fixed high inaccuracy with first shot using ADS

QUALITY OF LIFE

• Firing Range
  • Dynamic dummy spawning now remains off when you die
  • Legend ultimates will be fully charged after loading into the Firing Range, swapping Legends, and dying
  • A new nessie… and more!
• French
  • In-game/lobby chat now available when language is set to French on console
  • Corrected French translation for R-301 Mastery Challenge Level 20
• Kill feed will now call out when a player has been removed from the match
• Multiple stickers can now be placed
• Players can longer interact with enemy holosprays through walls
• Ranked progress bar no longer bounces value while sitting on Match Summary screen
• Seer: Exhibit AR throw indicator is no longer offset from ground
  • (no longer gives false impression of where the Ultimate will land)
• Support Perk – Crafting Banners: after grabbing the first banner, you can now immediately grab the second one as well
• Weapon Mastery:
  • New animated celebration sequences when unlocking and completing trials, as well as mastering weapons
  • New animated icon in the HUD weapon element when a weapon is level 100