Apex Legends balance update patch notes – Wingman and Peacekeeper nerfs, Hitbox updates, Season 1 news

Respawn Entertainment released the patch notes for a slew of changes to Apex Legends on March 6 for the game’s first Live Balance Update on PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The developers also revealed a bit more about what to expect for Season 1 – here’s everything you need to know.

Although Apex Legends burst onto the scene with almost immediate success, it wasn’t without its faults. After a month of numerous reported bugs, rampaging hackers, overpowered guns (similarly some being near useless), annoying hitboxes and more, Respawn have finally announced what they hope to update in the near future.

What’s new?

Respawn explained what this patch will bring to the game while cluing in players on various changes to individual Legends, numerous buffs and nerfs to multiple weapons, as well what to look forward to when the first competitive season hits.

Wingman nerfs

Players should expect a major nerfs for the Wingman and Peacekeeper. While the fan-favorite pistol might keep most of its power, Respawn will try to make a few tweaks to make the difficulty to use it consistent with the versatility it gives.

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“We’ve found that the Skullpiercer Wingman has been on the stronger end,” Respawn stated. “But it’s designed to be a weapon with a higher skill ceiling. Our adjustments are attempting to move it more into the hand cannon space and away from full auto Deagle.”

Peacemaker nerfs and energy weapon improvements

The Peacekeeper’s rate of fire with the Shotgun Bolt attachment has also been adjusted, meaning that players will be punished for a longer period of time when they miss a shot. On top of this, the developers have finally acknowledged that players need more energy ammo if energy weapons are ever going to be widely used. With this in mind, the availability of energy ammo and weapons has been increased.

Respawn stated: “We’ve also adjusted the rate of fire of the Peacekeeper with Shotgun Bolt attachment, so players will have a larger window of vulnerability if they miss their shot. Additionally, the scarcity of energy ammo and lower number of energy weapons overall has made those weapons difficult to main, so we’ve increased energy weapon and ammo availability.”

Hitboxes

Respawn also gave some insight on the problematic hitboxes that seem to give some of the more slender Legends an advantage over others.

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“Our goal is to be able to have characters with different rig sizes, hitboxes and ability kits, and still have each character be roughly equal in power level, win rate and viability of pick. Overall, we want to try to increase the power level of the large rig characters, before we consider large nerfs to everyone else. While we’ve made small adjustments, we’re hopeful that increasing the power of large rigs is healthier than nerfing everyone else.”

Season 1 news and Legend adjustments

It looks like Respawn is going to wait until the start of Season 1 to update any of the Legends and address their balance issues. If problems persist, the company will also look to dish out fixes throughout the season. “If these adjustments prove to be insufficient, we’ll consider additional adjustments during Season 1,” they stated.

Minor balances to characters will include changes such as Wraith having her Into the Void cooldown increased, Bangalore’s Double Time being reduced from 40% move speed to 30%, and much more.

• Read More: When does Apex Legends Season 1 begin? Battle Pass release date, new characters and weapons

As for when the highly anticipated first season will begin, it sounds like players will still have to wait a while longer before the Battle Pass is available. On the plus side, there’s nothing to suggest that Season 1 won’t still go live at some point in March.

“We know you folks are fired up for info on Season 1 and Battle Pass,” said Jayfresh from Respawn. “We still have work to do to get everything ready for prime time and won’t be talking about it yet. There are a lot of moving parts and coordination that go into big announcements and launches like this so please be patient. I know the wait sucks but it’s coming and ask that you all please be patient with us.”

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Apex Legends Patch Notes for March 6 and beyond

If you want to find out more details about the weapon changes implemented in the March 6 patch, or the legend changes that have been announced for Season 1, you can find the patch notes below.

WEAPON ADJUSTMENTS LIVE ON ALL PLATFORMS

• Wingman
  • Rate of fire reduced from 3.1 -> 2.6
  • Skullpiercer Headshot damage multiplier reduced from 2.5 -> 2.25
  • Increased base hip fire spread and decreased the rate at which hip fire spread decays (shrinks back down).
• Peacekeeper
  • Shotgun Bolt rechamber rate has been reduced for the Peacekeeper only.
    • Level 1 mitigation 10% -> 7.5%
    • Level 2 mitigation 20% -> 13%
    • Level 3 mitigation 25% -> 16%
• Wingman and Peacekeeper availability has been reduced in all zone tiers.
• Increased availability of energy weapons & ammo in all zone tiers.

Why no P2020 or Mozambique buffs?

• We love y’all’s ‘Bique memes, so we’re hesitant to lose that 😛
• In all seriousness, our goal is to have a power curve of weapons. “Power curve” just means that some weapons will be weaker and more common, while others will be stronger and rarer. Some weapons are intentionally less powerful until fully purp’d with hopups and attachments, while other weapons on the bottom of the power curve are your early game, better-than-melee, but-gotta-upgrade-out-of-ASAP weapons. We’ve seen some good feedback from players about how to make these pistols more exciting without losing out on the goal above that we’re listening to. We’ll be continuing to watch player data and feedback and trying things out internally but for now, they’ll remain the same.

ADDITIONAL PATCH NOTES

• Fixed some script errors that we identified were occasionally causing disconnects during matches.
  • Caustic occasionally causing disconnects while throwing is Ultimate.
  • Pathfinder occasionally causing disconnects when activating a Survey Beacon.
  • Players occasionally causing disconnects when removing an attachment.
  • Gibraltar occasionally causing disconnects when pulling up his Gun Shield.
  • Players occasionally causing disconnects when entering Spectate Mode.

LEGEND ADJUSTMENTS WE’LL MAKE AT THE START OF SEASON 1

Major balance changes:

• Hit box size reductions and optimizations for Caustic, Pathfinder and Gibraltar
  • We’re better sizing hitboxes to character gear & model
  • Since these adjustments have a MAJOR impact on the game, we want to make sure there aren’t any major bugs, so we didn’t want to rush them out
  • If these adjustments prove to be insufficient, we’ll consider additional adjustments during Season 1

Minor balance changes:

• Caustic
  • Traps – Reduced cooldown to 25 seconds from 30 seconds
  • Traps – Increased radius and proximity radius by about 10%
  • Traps – Removed a 1 second delay on the smoke dealing damage to players
• Pathfinder
  • Insider Knowledge – Increased the number of beacons in the world to 12 from 10
• Lifeline
  • Care Package – Removed slight chance that level 4 armor and helmets will drop
• Wraith
  • Into The Void – Cooldown increased from 20 -> 25 seconds
• Bangalore
  • Double Time – Reduced move speed bonus to 30% from 40%