Respawn introduce circle damage changes in Apex Legends

Developers Respawn Entertainment have made some major changes to the circle damage in Apex Legends‘ new Apex Elite Queue.

On June 10, Respawn published a post on Reddit to outline a change to how much damage the circle inflicts in the new Apex Elite Queue, and those changes are now live. 

Those caught in the first Circle will now experience 15% damage per tick, 20% damage per tick in the second circle, and 25% damage per tick in the remaining circle.

The developers revealed that their intentions behind this adjustment was to try and stop players from camping outside of the circle, to try and finish with a top-five placement in the Elite Queue.

• Read More: Apex Legends EA Play demo revealed a major fix for Bloodhound’s Tactical Ability

These changes are already live on all platforms, but affect the Elite Queue only. The damage stats for the circle in the regular playlist remain the same. 

Every Circle in the Apex Elite Queue will not inflict a higher percentage of damage to players that get caught in it.

New Apex Legends circle damage stats

• First circle now does 7% damage per tick [previously this was 15%].
• Second circle does 15% damage per tick
• Third circle does 20% damage per tick
• Remaining circles do 25% damage per tick.

In addition to going over the damage adjustments, Respawn also announced another server patch will be going live, with patch notes released on Tuesday, June 11.

The new updated addresses some of the bugs and glitches that have recently appeared in the game, such as a issue where Caustic’s Nox Gas Traps would damage players through walls.

Respawn’s June 12 Reddit post can be read in its entirety below, which included new patch notes: 

Hey all,

EDIT: Players that don’t have the patch trying to join those that do may result in game crash. If you are experiencing crashes while trying to join a friend, this should be resolved in the next few hours as the patch is propagated. Please make sure that you have restarted and updated the client as you’ll get stuck in matchmaking if you try to play without the update.

We’ve got a patch rolling out to all platforms this morning with some fixes. Before the end of the week we’ll also provide an update on the Known Issues we talked about last week. Notes below for the fixes that are in this one. [you’ll need to download the update].

6.11.2019 PATCH NOTES

• EDIT: this patch also fixed the bug with healing items not functioning when using the keybinds for them.
• The following config commands are now enabled:
  • fps_max
  • mat_letterbox_aspect_goal
  • mat_letterbox_aspect_threshold
• Fixed issue with players not being rewarded with Loss Forgiveness after their teammate left during an Apex Elite match.
  • Also made improvements so that Loss Forgiveness works more consistently in other cases where it wasn’t working correctly.
• Fixed bug where Caustic’s Nox Gas Traps would damage players through walls.
• Fixed exploit where you could repeatedly place Caustic’s Nox Gas Traps with no cooldown.
• [PS4 Only] Fixed bug with in-game reward message not displaying the right image for Playstation Plus subscribers [previously this was showing an orange and purple checker image instead of the right asset].
• Fixed issue with “nerfed” skydiving from a Jump Tower.
• Resolved a number of localization issues for Xbox and PS4.
• Fixed issues with items sorting incorrectly when looting a deathbox.
• Fixed issues related to heavily decreased accuracy when ADS and sliding.
• Fixed audio bug related to Octane’s Jump Pad.
• Fixed a number of game logic script errors.

These changes to the Circle damage only affect the Apex Elite Queue, which is part of the Legendary Hunt limited time event.

What is the Apex Elite Queue?

The Apex Elite Queue is a new playlist introduced in Apex Legends as part of the currently ongoing Legendary Hunt limited time event.

The Queue is only available to players to manage to finish in the top-five of any regular match, meaning that matches played in this special playlist will feature a higher level of competition. 

• Read More: Apex Legends ‘Legendary Hunt’ event – Elite Queue, challenge rewards, 2XP dates and more

Players who finish in the top-five of regular matches are not required to load into the new playlist, as they can continue to play in the default mode if they don’t want to face tougher opponents.

However, those who do qualify for the Queue and do indeed choose to play in it are then able to try and unlock special cosmetic items available exclusively via that playlist:

• Rare Wolfpack G7 Scout weapon skin – Finish in the Top 5 in an Apex Elite match.
• Epic Master of the Hunt Bloodhound Legend skin – Finish in the Top 5 in any queue five times (consecutive or nonconsecutive).
• Legendary Tamed Beast Triple Take weapon skin – Win twice in any queue (consecutive or nonconsecutive).

Last updated at 8:00am (EST) on June 14, 2019.