Apex Legends Iron Crown update: All weapon and legend balance changes

The Apex Legends devs have released their highly anticipated Iron Crown event on August 13, which brought along with it various balance changes to the guns and legends in the game.

The Iron Crown Event launched on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC, giving players entirely new ways of competing in King’s Canyon, namely with the addition of a Solo mode.

But before they drop into the Apex Games, players might want to look at the balances Respawn Entertainment made to fan-favorite weapons like the Alternator, RE-45 and more.

Alternator getting nerfed for Iron Crown

Players might be wondering why their Alternator isn’t destroying shields like it used to, even with the Disruptor Round Hop-Up.

• Read more: All skins revealed for Iron Crown Collection event

“Disruptor rounds on the alternator are shredding shields a bit too quickly and still proving to be stronger than intended,” the devs said in the latest patch. “So we’re reducing the disruptor rounds multiplier on shield damage.”

The devs have reduced the “shielded damage multiplier” for the Disruptor from 1.7 down a bit to 1.55.

Devs toning down the R-301 at range

The R-301 might have been too reliable at long range, as the devs are making it a bit harder to land shots outside of mid range scenarios.

“We’ve made these changes as we’ve seen that the R301 is a bit stronger than intended at long range,” the Respawn devs noted. “We’ve adjusted recoil to balance keeping it effective at medium to close range.”

Respawn wanted the rifle to be more aligned with its “original intent,” as they’re making it harder to “auto fire and still laser enemies at long distances.”

The Technological Tracker got an upgrade

Bloodhound players are already loving the Iron Crown event as it gave the legend a new Heirloom weapon, along with key upgrades to track foes much more effectively.

• Read more: Apex Legends lore reveals Octane and Lifeline’s complicated relationship

They will now be able to see traversal clues left by other players at a greater distance, since the devs increased the range of Bloodhound’s Passive Ability to 25 meters.

Similarly, the devs adjusted the area of effect for Eye of the Allfather to an eye-opening 110 fov.

There’s a lot more to unpack with the various tweaks to weapons and characters, so make sure to read the patch notes for them below.

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Apex Legends Season 2 – Weapon and Legends Patch Notes

WEAPON BALANCE

Disruptor Rounds with Alternator:

• Reduced Shielded damage multiplier 1.7 -> 1.55.
  • Designer Notes: Disruptor rounds on the alternator are shredding shields a bit too quickly and still proving to be stronger than intended, so we’re reducing the disruptor rounds multiplier on shield damage.

RE-45:

• Increased Magazine Size for all tiers to the following:
  • Base: 16
  • Common: 19
  • Rare: 22
  • Epic: 25
  • Designer Notes: We’re giving the RE-45 a small boost in power by giving it one more round for every mag size. Downing a non-fortified enemy with the RE-45 with 0, 50, 75, and 100 shields requires 10, 14, 16, and 19 shots respectively, so this extra round gives the gun the ability to one-mag more armored enemies instead of leaving them barely alive.

R-301:

• Increased vertical and horizontal recoil. Slightly increased recoil pattern randomness.
  • Designer Notes: We’ve made these changes as we’ve seen that the R301 is a bit stronger than intended at long range. We’ve adjusted recoil to balance keeping it effective at medium to close range–which is the original intent–but it should be more difficult for players to auto fire and still laser enemies at long distances.

LEGENDS

General

• Made adjustments to Pathfinder’s and Low-Profile Legends hitboxes.
  • Taking shots to the hip now does torso damage instead of leg damage. This should more closely match the behavior of the other Legends.
• Fixed a bug where activating a healing item would cancel the Ultimate for Legends that need to prime it [Bangalore / Pathfinder / Caustic / Gibraltar / Bloodhound]
• Fixed an exploit where players would sometimes be able to still shoot while downed.

Bloodhound

• Increased the distance that Bloodhound can see traversal clues left by other players [but not other kinds of clues] to 25 meters.
• Adjusted the area of effect for Bloodhound’s Tactical to 110 fov.

Wraith

• Based on player feedback, we’ve reduced the “hum” audio that’s playing while using Wraith’s Kunai.
• Fixed issue where actions for Wrath would have a slight delay when her weapon is holstered and crouching or sliding while the kunai is equipped.
• Fixed an exploit that allowed players to remove the cooldown for Wraith’s Tactical Ability.

Mirage

• Fixed a bug where Bloodhound’s Ultimate Ability could be activated with no charge up time while riding a zipline.
• Fixed bug where Mirage was able to stay invisible and still be able to shoot and melee when using his Ultimate on a zipline.

Octane

• Fixed bug where sometimes Octane’s Jump Pad would not launch the player.