All weapon buffs & nerfs in Apex Legends Season 17: L-Star, Triple-Take, R-99, more

Season 17 for Apex Legends is finally here, and a lot of popular weapons have been adjusted. Here’s a breakdown of every weapon buff and nerf in the latest seasonal update.

With each new season introduced to Apex Legends, the development team seems eager to shake up the previous meta from last season.

Now, Respawn Entertainment has released the official patch notes for the Season 17 update, which brought with it a ton of weapon balance changes.

Notably, underused weapons like L-Star and Triple-Takes were hit with some hefty buffs, while the R-99 had one bullet removed from all magazine sizes. The update also increased the chances of finding gold loot in Vaults but also removed gold weapons from purple cargo bots.

Here’s a full breakdown of every weapon change in the new Season 17 update.

Apex Legends Season 17 buffs and nerfs: Weapon changes

BALANCE UPDATES

Crate Rotation

• L-Star EMG enters the crate
• RE-45 returns to the floor

Weapon Crafting Rotation

• Alternator SMG enters the crafter
• Sentinel enters the crafter
• EVA-8 returns to the floor
• 30-30 Repeater returns to the floor

Gold Weapon Rotation

• Flatline, Triple Take, Spitfire, Mastiff, Volt

Loot Spawns

• Improved Vault Loot
  • Increased chances of gold loot
  • Added light mags to spawn pool
• Improved Cargo Bot Loot
  • Removed small healing items, Mobile Respawn Beacon, White Armor,  White Backpack
  • Adjusted Large Healing and Heatshield spawns to allow for more desirable loot spawns
  • Removed gold weapons from purple tier Cargo Bots but increased spawn chance in gold tier

WEAPONS

L-Star EMG [Crate]

• Added Disruptor Rounds: 60% damage increase against shields
• Base Damage Reduced to 16 (was 17)
• Projectiles now have passthrough: 60% damage retained
• Projectile growth increased
• Improved recoil pattern
• Removed barrel
• Ammo Stockpile: 324
• Reduced VFX brightness when hitting unarmored targets

30-30 Repeater

• Projectile size increased when fully charged

Triple Take

• Projectile size increased
• Improved hipfire spread
• Tightened bullet pattern when fully choked
• Ammo per shot reduced to 1 (was 3)
• Magazines sizes adjusted to match the new ammo costs
  • Purple Mag: Increased to 10 shots (was 9)

R-99 SMG

• Removed 1 bullet from base and all magazines
  • No Magazine reduced to 19 (was 20)
  • White Magazine reduced to 21 (was 22)
  • Blue Magazine reduced to 24 (was 25)
  • Purple & Gold magazine reduced to 27 (was 28)

Charge Rifle

• Reduced shots per magazine to 3 (was 4)
• Reduced spawn rate

For more information on Apex Legends Season 17 – from a first look at the new hero to a full run-through of the ranked changes – check out our Apex Legends news hub.