Apex Legends Season 18 Patch Notes: Ranked Updates, Revenant Reborn, Weapon Nerfs and More
Patch Notes for Apex Legends Season 18: Resurrection: Ranked, Revenant Reborn and more.
- Apex Legends Season 18: Resurrection releases on August 8th.
- Respawn has no plans to revert ranked mode to post-season 17, but instead to retune it.
- Revenant is getting an entirely new abilities kit with a major narrative plot.
Apex Legends Season 18: Resurrection is just around the corner, launching on August 8th with tons of updates. Here’s everything we know about the Patch Notes for Season 18: Resurrection, ranked updates, Revenant Reborn and more.
Revenant Reborn: New Abilities
Apex Legends Season 18: Resurrection won’t feature a new Legend in the way players are used to. Instead of a brand new Legend, Revenant has gone through a full-on rework to bring him more in line with how Legends play in the current state of the game. His new toolkit is going to make him scary to play against, especially for hyper-aggressive players.
Revenant Passive Ability: Assassin’s Instinct
Revenant’s passive is getting a major buff, as it still keeps his old passive intact. Crouch speed is still faster than other Legends and he can climb walls, including moving horizontally now. Additionally, if Revenant manages to damage an enemy and get their health low enough, they’ll be marked so that your squad can see where they are.
Revenant Tactical Ability: Shadow Pounce
Revenant’s old silence ability is gone and has been replaced with a movement ability. This allows you to bound forward with a range similar to Octane’s Jump Pad and can be charged up for longer distance jumps. This will be a very good ability for players who like staying aggressive and covering distance to enemies fast, or getting away in a pinch.
Revenant Ultimate Ability: Forged Shadows
The death totem is gone in Patch 18 for Apex Legends and replaced with Forged Shadows. Using this ability will give Revenant a shroud of shadows that acts like a second shield, absorbing 75 damage before it breaks. This will also recharge after a set duration, or if he gets a knock. Getting a knock while Forged Shadows is up will also reset his tactical ability.
Revenant Reborn will be a free Legend for the duration of Season 18: Resurrection and if you complete a set of challenges he will be unlocked permanently.
New Mixtape Maps & Changes
Along with the new season of Apex Legends, Resurrection brings new maps to Mixtape mode. Broken Moon will finally be entering the rotation for Gun Run, Control and Team Deathmatch.
Gun Run and Team Match will take place in the Core and Control will take place in Production. The Developers have said these areas are a bit bigger than players are used to and have had extra zip rails put in to compensate.
Control Changes
- 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.
Ranked Updates
The Season 18 Ranked Updates for Apex Legends are all about improving on and tuning the major changes that players saw in the previous season. The developers at Respawn Entertainment have said that despite a massive number of players reaching Masters Rank, everyone will get to keep it and they will not be reverting any changes.
However, the retune will look to correct some of the mistakes and use what they learned to provide a better experience.
- Ladder Points will be adjusted down so as not to reward so many.
- Diamond+ Players will have a new set of rules introduced to make the climb to masters more challenging. This will include increased LP loss and reduced LP bonuses.
- They’ll also be looking at making adjustments to match wait times.
- Ranked Dive Trails will be removed and replaced with new end-of-season Banner Frames and Badge Rewards.
The map rotation for Season 18: Resurrection will be Broken Moon, King's Canyon and Olympus.
Ring Changes
There will be significant changes to the ring and its behavior to help dissuade players from ratting and encourage more mid-game fights. These changes are aimed to keep players moving with early ring damage will increasing and late ring damage decreasing. With these changes, the Devs hope for shorter match lengths by pushing the pacing of fights.
- 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.
- Round 1
- 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).
Weapon Changes
Season 18 for Apex Legends will also see various weapon changes, until the full Patch Notes are released these are everything we know so far.
Charge Rifle Rework
- New ballistics and projectile.
- Removed hit scan.
- 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.
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%.
Legends
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).
For more patch notes including bug fixes check out Respawns full breakdown of all the changes in Apex Legends Season 18: Resurrection.
Kill Code Story Arc
The first two episodes of Kill Code have been released already, continuing the story of Loba’s need for revenge on Revenant and his journey to becoming reborn. Something is happening between Hammond Labs and Silva Pharmaceuticals which has led to Revenant being changed.
There is a plan to tell a much bigger, longer-form story this season through both cinematics and in-game events. Narrative Lead for Apex Legends, Ashley Reed described it as a serialized narrative arc saying, “People will change, relationships will be rested and shattered and not everyone will make it out alive. We mean it this time.”
She also says that the story being told through Kill Code will take through to the end of 2023 and the next few seasons.
