Apex Legends System Override patch notes: Evo Shield, meta changes, more

The Apex Legends System Override Collection Event has kicked off on March 3, introducing the new Deja Loot LTM, Evo Shield, Octane’s Heirloom set, as well as changes to some Legends, weapons, and player inventories.

The biggest in-game event since the launch of Season 2, Apex Legends System Override has introduced new content and major changes to the battle royale.

The event started on Tuesday, March 3 and will run for two weeks, wrapping up on Tuesday, March 17. During System Override, there’s a brand new limited-time mode called Deja Loot, which features a never-before-seen equipment type called Evo Shield.

There are also some changes implemented to the game’s meta, including Bloodhound, Gibraltar, Crypto, Peacekeeper, Sentinel, and player inventories.

• Read More: Leaked Apex Legends file reveal Loba as next character

A long-awaited quality-of-life improvement has arrived for Muzzle Flash, which Respawn reduced for all weapons except shotguns and snipers. There are also fixes rolled out for plenty of bugs and issues that are currently plaguing the game.

A breakdown of everything included in this System Override update can be found below, including the full official patch notes.

Apex Legends System Override: New Deja Loot LTM

This Collection Event showcases a brand new limited-time mode called Deja Loot, which removes randomness and RNG as much as one can from a battle royale game.

All loot spawns at the same locations every match; the plane patch and circle locations will be changed daily but will remain fixed throughout the course of each day.

The first week of this LTM is played on World’s Edge and the second week on Kings Canyon, the map used for Seasons 1 and 2.

Apex Legends System Override: Evo Shield

Introduced in the Deja Loot LTM is a brand new type of equipment called Evo Shield, which, as the name suggests, is an evolving type of body armor.

When found on the map, Evo Shield starts out as a white Common Body Shield and as you inflict damage to non-downed enemy players, it levels up all the way to purple Epic armor.

• Read More: How new Evo Shield works in Apex Legends

For now, this is only be available in Deja Loot, but Respawn could consider adding it to the regular core default modes if community feedback is positive enough.

Apex Legends System Override: Meta Changes

As is usually the case with most major updates in Apex Legends, this System Override patch implemented balancing changes to some Legends, weapons, and player inventories.

Bloodhound, Gibralter, and Crypto all received some adjustments, while the Peacekeeper was nerfed and the recently-released Sentinel sniper rifle was buffed.

• Read More: All buffs and nerfs in Apex Legends March 3 update

Lastly, but perhaps most importantly, inventories have gotten a major rework. The base number of slots players have in their inventories has been increased, along with a buff to all tiers of Backpacks. In order to balance that, Respawn have reduced the stack sizes for eight different items, including Med Kits, Grenades, Shield Batteries, and more.

For more details, including the new stack sizes, make sure to visit our Apex Legends player inventories changes info page.

Apex Legends System Override: Muzzle Flash & Heirlooms

With this System Override update, Respawn haved addressed two of the biggest concerns players have had about Apex Legends – Muzzle Flash and Heirlooms. The intensity of Muzzle Flash has finally been reduced while aiming down sights for all weapons except shotguns and sniper rifles.

As for Heirlooms, a brand new system using Shards has been introduced, which essentially allows players to pick which rare set of items they’ll be getting instead of being given one that they might not want.

• Read More: How to unlock “free” Octane Heirloom

Speaking of Heirlooms, this event has added Octane’s new set into the game, with the premier item being a butterfly knife that players can twirl around their fingers as they zip across the map.

Apex Legends System Override update patch notes

Here are the full patch notes for this update, provided by Respawn Entertainment in their March 2 blog post:

• Limited Time Mode – Deja Loot
  • Deja Loot is a unique take on the Apex games where “random” is a dirty word. A glitch in the system has caused all loot to spawn in the same location every match for the duration of the event. Even the plane path and circle locations will be fixed for this mode, which will change on a daily basis while the loot location stays the same for the whole event.
    • Features new equipment type: Evo Shield [see below for details]
    • The first week will be played on World’s Edge and the second week we’ll go back to Kings Canyon
  • New equipment type: Evo Shield
    • When you pick up Evo Shield it will start out weaker than a Common Body Shield (White), but as you do damage to non-downed players throughout the match it can become even stronger than Epic Body Shields (Purple). Evo Shields change color as they progress, but their perpetual distinctive glow will help you identify them. Progress also carries over from person to person, so look forward to some interesting late game scenarios.
      • To start the Evo Shield will be exclusive to the Deja Loot gamemode and spawn at higher rates; after the event we’ll consider adding the Evo Shield to all matches, so please give us your feedback.
    • Exclusive Event Prize Track with two Legendary Weapon skins
    • 24 Event Limited premium cosmetic available directly or through System Override Event Packs
    • Octane Heirloom Set Preview
      • Unlock all 24 System Override cosmetics during the event and unlock the Octane Heirloom set for free

META CHANGES

BLOODHOUND

Designer note: The intent is for Bloodhound to use their tactical as they are approaching towns pre-combat versus reacting while in a fight.

• Increased the scan distance for Eye of the Allfather by 3x.
  • Increased time to activate: .4s -> .8s
  • Increased duration of scan: 2s -> 3s

 GIBRALTAR

• Gun Shield health reduced: 75 -> 50.

 CRYPTO

• Primary weapons will now automatically reload while in drone view.

INVENTORY UPDATE

• Base inventory slots increased 8 -> 10.
  • Common Backpack: expands inventory to 12 slots.
  • Rare Backpack: expands inventory to 14 slots.
  • Epic Backpack: expands inventory to 16 slots.
• Grenade stacks reduced to 2 -> 1.
• Light / Heavy / Energy ammo stacks reduced from 80 -> 60.
• Syringe and Shield Cell stacks reduced from 6 -> 4.
• Med Kit and Shield Battery stacks reduced from 3 -> 2.

PEACEKEEPER

• Mag size reduced from 6 -> 5.
• Increased reload time from 2.5s -> 2.65s.
• Increased reload time with empty mag from 3.5s -> 3.6s.
• Slightly increased the scale of the blast pattern from 1.6 -> 1.7.

 SENTINEL

• Base damage increased from 65 -> 70
• Reduced time it takes to rechamber from 1.85s -> 1.75s.

QUALITY OF LIFE 

• Muzzle flash adjustments:
  • Reduced the intensity of muzzle flash while aiming down the sight for all weapons except shotties and snipers
• Red dot has been added to the iron sights for Prowler and L-STAR; iron sights dot will stay properly centered during weapon sway and bob movements.
• Heirloom crafting
  • We’re changing up the Heirloom system to make it easier for you to acquire the heirloom you want. Instead of an entire Heirloom set dropping at once, you’ll now receive Heirloom shards. You can then use those shards to pick the exact Heirloom set you’d like. The shards will have the same drop rate as the previous system, so that after 500 Apex Packs, you will have enough Heirloom Shards to obtain an Heirloom set from the Heirloom shop. And don’t worry, your existing progress towards the 500 Apex Packs will carry over with the switch. Remember that once a player owns all of the Heirloom sets, the player will not be eligible to receive more shards until more Heirloom Sets are added to the game.

BUG FIXES

• Fixed bug for cases where Bangalore would appear invisible when equipped with certain skins. The Apex Overdrive and Killer B skins have been re-enabled now for affected players.
• For cases where sometimes Revenant’s Ultimate Totem could be destroyed or disabled when placed too close to some geometry, it will now be refunded back to the player at full charge when this happens.
• Fixed a bug for where sometimes players would enter a match with a different character than they selected and all loadouts being set back to default after the match.
• Cleaned up some areas around World’s Edge with bad collision or provided ways for players to exploit them.
• Fixed an exploit near Geyser where players could climb to a spot that provided an unfair advantage.
• Fix for cases where players were able to punch and shoot enemies clipping through doors and other areas with thin geo.
• Fixed bug for cases where full-auto mode would be disabled when players equipped the Anvil Receiver hop-up while in single-fire mode for R-301 or Flatline.
• Fix for cases where there could be a delay with firing the Havoc after cancelling a reload.
• Fixed a bug where players could place Gibraltar’s Dome Shield on Crypto’s Drone allowing the Dome to be mobile while in use.
• Fixed bug for cases where players were able to reroll Daily Challenges without being charged the Legends Tokens for reroll.
• Fixed a bug for cases where unlocking new badges would not trigger the red dot notification to make players aware a new badge is available.
• Fixed a bug where if players were respawned while spectating someone under Revenant’s death protection, they would return in that state permanently and unable to use heal items.
• Fixed players getting assist credit by using abilities that place status effects (e.g. Crypto Drone, Revenant tactical etc) on enemies after they are knocked down.
• Fixes for cases where the Store would show placeholder images when content would be slow to load.
• Fix for cases where audio from Wattson’s skydive emote would continue to play after she lands.
• Stability fixes to reduce crashing and script errors.
• Various stability and polish bug fixes for Firing Range.