Apex Legends Season 26 patch notes

With Season 26 of Apex Legends starting soon, Respawn has released the patch notes for this season's update. The notes are long since they cover many additions, from legend and weapon changes to quality-of-life adjustments.

We have gathered them in one place so you can read them to prepare for the new season or before you jump into the action.

Apex Legends Season 26 patch notes

Here are the complete patch notes for Apex Legends Season 26 that were posted on the game's official website:

Credit: Respawn Entertainment

Balance Updates

Care Package

• Peacekeeper returns to the floor
• Akimbo P2020 enters

Gold Weapon Rotation

• EVA-8, Hemlok, RE-45: Burst, Sentinel, Wingman

EVO Harvesters

• EVO rewarded by Harvesters increased to 425 (was 350)
• Overhauled placement to guarantee spawns closer to the geo-center and away from POIs cores
• Spawn rate reduced to 8 or 9 depending on Map size (was 17-20) 

Gameplay Updates

Care Package

• Peacekeeper returns to the floor
• Akimbo P2020 enters

Gold Weapon Rotation

• EVA-8, Hemlok, RE-45: Burst, Sentinel, Wingman

EVO Harvesters

• EVO rewarded by Harvesters increased to 425 (was 350)
• Overhauled placement to guarantee spawns closer to the geo-center and away from POIs cores
• Spawn rate reduced to 8 or 9 depending on Map size (was 17-20) 

NEW: Elite Weapons

• Limited-time standard-issue weapons are replaced with one from Ballistic's private collection
• Features devastating new mechanics from across the Outlands
• Showdown’s Elite Weapon is the RE-45: Burst
• Swaps Light ammo for Energy ammo
• New spin-up mechanic that fires 3-round bursts in rapid succession

NEW: Locked Hop-Ups

• Hop-Ups removed from floor loot
• Now pre-equipped and locked to weapons, start as inactive
• Can’t be removed or transferred
• Gain Locked Hop-Up Points to activate by:
• Dealing damage to other players with the weapon (damage from any any other source grants partial credit)
• Upgrading at the appropriate Arsenal
• Picking up Hop-Up Boosters
• White, blue, and purple kitted weapons do not come with Locked Hop-Ups
• Gold kitted and Care Package weapons come with their Hop-Ups already unlocked

Helmets

• Removed Gold and Mythic helmets from floor loot

World’s Edge: Rampart’s Big Maude

• Paintball weapons are no longer offered at vending machines
• Blue and purple kitted weapons are now offered at vending machines
• Reduced time to unlock weapons by 2 seconds

Loot Bins

Extended Supply Bins

• Top drawer contents now give support items to everyone
• Secret drawer and EVO value remain unchanged
• Removed icons from minimap and full-map
• Before Bin Reset: small chance of spawning an Amp and/or an Ult Accelerant
• After Bin Reset: guaranteed Amp and/or Ult Accelerant

Weapon Supply Bins

• Top drawer contents now give assault items to everyone
• Secret drawer and EVO value remain unchanged
• Removed Icons from minimap and full-map
• Before Bin Reset: small chance of spawning Amp and/or Hop-Up Booster
• After Bin Reset: guaranteed Amp and/or Hop-Up Booster if a squadmate needs one

Legendary Supply Bins

• Amps and Hop-Up Boosters added to the pool

Legends

Controller Class

• Zone Overcharge: now continuously regenerates shields while in zone
• Taking damage stops this for 6s
• Ring Consoles: players can spawn a taller custom EVAC from Ring Consoles they have scanned

Bangalore

Abilities

• Passive: Double Time
• Speed increased by 5%
• Tactical: Smoke Launcher
• Canister breaks and travels through doors
• Projectile speed increased to 2900 (was 2500)
• Pull out time reduced to 0.25 (was 0.35)
• Cooldown reduced to 30s (was 35s)
• Gas now reactive: ordnance and abilities can disable it for 5s when used inside/nearby
• Ultimate: Rolling Thunder
• Cooldown reduced to 210s (was 270s)
• Reduced anim frame to fire projectile to 1 (was 5)

Upgrades

• Level 2
• Ultimate Cooldown+ & Tactical Cooldown: removed
• Cover Me: moved to Level 2
• Electric Smoke: electrifies Tac dealing 100 damage to enemy Ults and destroys Tacs
• Level 3
• Refuge: removed, integrated into Cover Me
• NEW ECM Payload: electrifies Ult dealing 10 more damage, destroys enemy deployables
• NEW Medal of Honor: faster revives and passive triggers running towards knocked allies

Caustic

Nox Gas

• Damage Increased to 10-15 (was 4-10)
• Now causes aim punch to victims when causing damage
• Caustic’s Health Bar does not show while inside
• Increased visibility both outside and inside his own gas
• Green highlighting is still active
• Clouds now have threat indicators for victims
• Now Grounds enemies: slowing them once and draining them of movement cooldowns
• “Slow” changed: immediately drains velocity to the desired speed even if the target is moving at high velocity or in the air
• Gas now reactive: ordnance and abilities can disable it for 5s when used inside/nearby

Abilities

• NEW Passive: Field Research (was Nox Vision)
• Gain research points from poisoning enemies, opening unique Death Boxes, and scanning ring consoles
• Unlock an upgrade point for every 100 research points (max 2)
• Can uniquely have all 4 upgrades unlocked at once
• Tactical: Nox Gas Trap
• Trap health increased to 225 (was 150)
• Trap can be activated earlier while inflating
• Reduced toss and stow by 0.1s
• Increased trap activation radius to 260 (was 140)
• Increased gas radius to 300 (was 282)
• Doubled lifetime to 22s (was 11s)
• Caustic traps take ring damage
• Increased activation delay to 0.8s (was 0.2s)
• Traps take bullet damage while inflating
• Traps take critical (1.4x) damage when hit in the o-ring/base
• Ultimate: Nox Gas Grenade
• Reduced cooldown to 2min (was 3m)
• Reduced toss and stow time by 0.05s
• Increased projectile speed to 1500 (was 1300)
• Increase duration to 20s (was 15s)

Upgrades

• Level 2
• Parabolic Force & Residual Toxins: removed (integrated into base kit)
• NEW Extra Traps: one additional charge, increased max in world by 2
• Breathe It In: moved to Level 2
• Level 3
• NEW Gas Fighter: Tac recharges 300% faster while in gas
• Particle Diffuser: increases Ult radius by +50%

Ammo and Attachments

NEW Hop-Up Booster

• Grants 100 Locked Hop-Up Points on pick-up
• Only found in Weapon and Legendary Supply Bins
• Can not be picked-up without a Locked Hop-Up weapon
• Does not appear in Loba’s Black Market

Locked Hop-Ups

Accelerator

• 150 Locked Hop-Up Points to unlock
• Compatible with Peacekeeper, L-STAR, and Alternator
• Must have weapon in hand in order to receive additional Ult gain on knock
• Assist window reduced to 3s (was 10s)
• Ult gain on knock increased to 30% (was 20%)
• No longer comes pre-equipped to white, blue, and purple kitted weapons

Graffiti Mod

• 300 Locked Hop-Up Points to unlock
• Compatible with Volt, Spitfire, and EVA-8
• Greatly improves weapon handling
• Slightly increases magazine size
• Adds paintball rounds for some battlefield flair

Gun Shield Generator

• 250 Locked Hop-Up Points to unlock
• Compatible with Hemlok, R-301, and Rampage

Selectfire Receiver

• 250 Locked Hop-Up Points to unlock
• Compatible with Charge Rifle and Prowler

Skull Piercer

• 400 Locked Hop-Up Points to unlock
• Compatible with Wingman, Longbow, and 30-30

Weapons

LMG

Devotion LMG

• Widened reverse hipfire spread
• Removed improved scaling from high-tier barrels and stocks (Previous Hotfix)
• Mag size reduced to 48 (was 52) (Previous Hotfix)

M600 Spitfire & Rampage LMG

• Widened reverse hipfire spread

Pistol

Akimbo P2020 (Care Package)

• Increased damage to 25 (was 24)
• Decreased reload time
• Improved hipfire accuracy
• Added Hop-Up: Kinetic Feeder

RE-45 Burst

• Added to floor loot
• Also found on Energy Arsenals

RE-45 Auto

• Removed from floor loot

Shotgun

EVA-8 Auto (Previous Hotfix)

• Damage per pellet increased to 7 (was 6) 
• Reduced rate of fire
• Purple and Gold bolts now match other shotguns

Mozambique Shotgun

• Slightly tightened blast pattern
• Increased rate of fire in akimbo and single fire modes
• Increased rate of fire when using a white or blue shotgun bolt

Peacekeeper (Floor Loot)

• Increased magazine size to 6 (was 5)
• Increased choke time
• Widened blast patten
• Increased rechamber time
• No longer deals headshot damage

Maps

NEW: E-District Daytime

• Lighting overhaul: now takes place during the day 
• Lotus: new rotation added
• Added adjacent doorways to many shops for additional flow
• Removed some buildings and clutter to improve readability

Map rotations

Unranked & Ranked

• Broken Moon
• E-District
• Storm Point

Mixtape (August 5-September 15, 2025)

• TDM: Thunderdome, Fragment, Skull Town
• Control: Lava Siphon, Barometer, Production Yard
• Gun Run: Skull Town, Thunderdome, Zeus Station

Modes

Trios & Duos (August 5-September 15, 2025)

Wildcard (August 5-18, 2025)

• Second Chance Revivals
• Legend stacking possible
• Self Revive Drop Kit
• Simplified Loot & Inventory
• Auto Looting
• EVO Orbs
• Level up weapons
• Reduce respawn timers
• Grant a percentage of shield & Ult charge
• Kickstart health regen

Wildcard (September 9-15, 2025)

• Return to core Wildcard experience

Ranked

Drop Zones Details

• Match start: squads are randomly assigned a POI
• Pre-Legend Select: players are presented with a map preview of Drop Zone
• After Legend Select: players deploy via squad Dropship to assigned zone with nearby enemy POIs marked for imminent threat
• During landing: added warning for incoming threats if an enemy squad invades Drop Zone

Heat Shields

• Heat Shields are disabled in Ranked

Scoring

Challenger Bonus: reworked bonuses when eliminating higher-ranked opponents

• If the killer’s rank is 1 tier lower than the victim: KP +15% bonus
• If the gap is 2 tiers: +25% bonus
• If the gap is 3 tiers: +35% bonus
• If the gap is 4 tiers or more: +50% bonus

Entry Cost Adjustment

• Bronze: 10 RP (was 0 RP)
• Gold: 38RP (was 35 RP)
• Platinum: 48 RP (was 45 RP)

Kill Points Adjustment

• 1st: 20 RP (was 26 RP)
• 2nd: 18 RP (was 22 RP)
• 3rd: 16 RP (was 18 RP)
• 4th: 14 RP (was 16 RP)
• 5th: 12 RP (was 16 RP)
• 6th: 10 RP (was 16 RP)
• 7th: 10 RP (was 14 RP)
• 8th: 10 RP (was 14 RP)
• 9th: 8 RP (was 12 RP)
• 10th: 8 RP (was 12 RP)
• 11th-15th: 6 RP (was 10 RP)
• 16th-20th: 4 RP (was 10 RP)

Placement Points Adjustment

• 2nd Place: 100 RP (was 95 RP)
• 3rd Place: 75 RP (was 70 RP)
• 6th Place: 40 RP (was 30 RP)

System

• Added report option for Wallhacking/Impossible Gamesense

Bug Fixes

• Burst weapon firing sounds now stop if the weapon overheated due to Ballistic's Tac
• Fixed inconsistent behavior when picking up some weapon attachments
• Fixed intermittent issues when predicting aim punches from ring damage
• Firing Range: fixed a few bugs that allowed other players in the server to impact your game
• Replicator: can no longer craft on a side with an item printing
• Ring visual effects now consistently show up in Kings Canyon
• Storm Point’s Northpad Tower drops sniper loot again
• Ziprails make a first person noise when attaching

Legends

• Wattson
• Corrected the used weapon name for eliminations from electrified door
• Dropping Gold Helmet no longer removes effects of Energized Healer upgrade (Previous Hotfix)
• Double doors no longer have one door electrified if the other breaks
• Ultimate Conductor no longer gives Ult charge from self damage (Previous Hotfix)
• Ultimate Conductor gives burst Ult charge correctly
• Bangalore: Ult missile no longer destroyed if it hits Newcastle Tac

Quality of Life

• Bots: improvements to behavior
• Lifeline: updated Halo’s enemy coloring to help differentiate against the ring
• Newcastle: Ult can now be targeted and placed over Alter’s Tac portals 
• Replicator: updated color and associated assets to blue (was purple)
• Vantage: scanning an enemy will no longer show shield information if enemy’s eliminated. Previously, dead enemies would show if banner was active. (Previous Hotfix)
• Wattson: electrified doors no longer end if the fence placer dies or disconnects
• Updates and tuning to some VFX, primarily on 1P Impact FX revolving around Armor and Flesh Impacts
• Armor: 90% less smoke, 40% less debris
• Flesh: less lingering blood with shorter lifespan, smaller blood size debris

Audio

• Reduced occlusion of roof footsteps for clarity and consistency
• Skydiving audio will be quieter in intended in certain situations
• Mic monitor in audio settings now displays for solo players in lobby

Graphics

• New tonemapping for a more natural appearance of highlights with very bright colors
• VFX: more consistent brightness regardless of in-game auto exposure, preventing extreme brightness in dark areas

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