Apex Legends: Shockwave Patch Notes (Aug 5, 2024): what changed

Zone Overcharge: Controller Legends now have extra shield capacity when playing in zone

• The Zone automatically grants an overcharge of 25HP shield capacity
• This capacity is permanent while the player remains in zone (white ring area on the map)
• Overcharge is lost when leaving zone (after 5s delay)
• Overcharge can be healed with cells, batteries and abilities while in zone
• If a player enters the zone at full shields, the overcharge pip will fill automatically
• If a player acquires a shield core that overcharges beyond this extra zone capacity, that additional overcharge will still drain normally but the zone overcharge will remain
• Zone Overcharge will never enhance Legend Armor beyond maximum (red) capacity

Remote Pick-Up: Controller Legends can now remotely pick-up their undamaged Tacticals by looking back at them and pressing a button

• Additionally, if the player abandons the area, they will prompted to recover ALL possible objects
• Remotely recovering these objects will restore the Tactical charge

Threat Vision: Recon Legends now gain threat vision when aiming down sights

• Threat vision will highlight enemies that the character has Line of Sight to whenever using ADS (aim down sights)
• This ability will not work through walls or smoke, and it's limited in range by the type of scope or zoom range of an ability

Faster to use ~3s (was ~7.5s)

Shortened range of ~500m (was scanning the entire map)

No longer randomly distributed and all will now be turned on with every map

Scanning now grants 75 EVO (was 200 EVO)

Now pulses 3 times over 15s, with each pulse taking a snapshot of enemies in range for 5s

Now release a large in-world scan wave that players can spot to identify an activated beacon (enemies no longer receive a scan message)

Starting with Split 2 on September 17th, you can get the Premium Battle Passes the same way as before: by using 950 Apex Coins. You'll be able to earn enough Apex Coins via the Battle Pass to get future passes.

The Battle Pass options now include better rewards—and with the re-tuned Battle Pass challenges, it'll be faster to complete at only 60 levels.

Blast pattern size slightly increased

Damage increased to 7 (was 6)

Fire rate decreased

4 shots remaining activation

Quick reload overflows Magazine by 2

Slight increase to recoil

ADS strafe speed increased

Improved recoil

Damage increased to 14 at close range

Damage falls off to 10 at 11+ meters

No movement penalty when equipped

EVO Cache Spawn Rate in the first wave increased to 100% (was 50%)

Console crossplay into PC lobbies: Aim Assist strength reduced 18%

Console performance mode crossplay into PC lobbies: Aim Assist strength reduced 22%

Controller on PC: Aim Assist strength reduced 25%

Aim Flinch has been removed from all weapons & most abilities

Damage from the ring still incurs Aim Flinch

Bins that have been rerolled will appear slightly differently than ones that have never been opened

After the reset, multiple bins will convert into Legendary loot bins that provide smart loot, guaranteeing that the contents to be relevant upgrades for a squad

Mythic bins are locked and require players to hold interact on them for a significant amount of time to crack them open for their team

Displayed on the map and minimap

Reduce the spawn rate of Purple and Gold attachments by about 50%

Healing items now have a dedicated row and have been removed from the consumables category

Shield Cores have been moved to the top of the Gear category

Mantling at the same time in the same spot as a teammate no longer forces both players to drop

Critical Ammo state will now kick on when a player has 0 relevant ammo in their inventory

On screen Low Ammo indicators kick on earlier allowing players more opportunity to find ammo

• Indicator also now displays the icon of the ammo type

Pinging for ammo will now display the ammo icon in the kill feed

When emptying a weapon of all reserve ammo it will now automatically ping that the player is in need of ammo

When looking at ammo on the ground the tooltip now displays compatibility with any of your currently equipped weapons

Energy ammo: reduced individual spawn rate

Light & Heavy ammo: slight increase to individual spawn rate

Shotgun & Sniper ammo: increased individual spawn rate

Light ammo stack size increased to 72 (was 60)

• Individual brick size increased to 24 (was 20)

Energy ammo stack size decreased to 54 (was 60)

• Individual brick size decreased to 18 (was 20)

Shotgun ammo stack size increased to 20 (was 16)

• Individual brick size increased to 10 (was 8)

Disruptor Rounds removed from floor loot

Usable by all LMGs (Spitfire, Rampage, L-STAR, Devotion)

When aiming down sights automatically deploy a frontal Gun Shield

Gun Shield absorbs 40 damage

Gun Shield is recharged 12 seconds after taking damage or breaking

Gun Shield health increased to 75

Gun Shield recharge time remains the same as his passive

Aiming tightens hipfire spread instead of looking down sights

Attachments are mirrored to the second weapon

Both P2020 and Mozambique are automatic in Akimbo

Increased rate of fire

Longer reload times

Magazine size is doubled

Optics are disabled while in Akimbo

Toggle select fire to holster your second weapon and re-enable your optic.

All LMGs now benefit from the Reverse Hipfire mechanic found on the Care Package Devotion

New Hop-Up: Gun Shield Generator (see Hop-Ups section above)

White: 23 (was 22)

Blue: 26 (was 25)

Purple/Gold: 28 (was 27)

Empty reload speed decreased

Gun Shield Generator added

Reverse hip fire improved; shots needed for max hipfire reduced to 14 (was 21)

Base: 19 (was 20)

White: 23 (was 25)

Blue: 27 (was 28)

Purple/Gold: 29 (was 30)

Hipfire accuracy significantly reduced

Burst Delay slightly increased

Damage reduced to 19 (was 20)

White: 21 (was 24)

Blue: 24 (was 27)

Damage increased to 21 (was 18)

Hammer Point damage decreased to 23 (was 27)

Base: 10 (was 14)

White: 11 (was 16)

Blue: 12 (was 18)

Purple/Gold: 14 (was 21)

Hammer Point Damage for a full blast reduced to 54 (was 60)

Rate of fire significantly increased

Shotgun Bolt rate of fire multiplier decreased at all levels

Damage increased to 15 (was 11)

Pellet count reduced to 6 (was 8)

Damage increased per pellet to 11 (was 9)

Pellet count reduced to 9 (was 11)

Blast pattern shape changed

White: 23 (was 20)

Purple/Gold: 31 (was 28)

Base: 18 (was 16)

White: 20 (was 19)

Blue: 23 (was 22)

Purple/Gold: 26 (was 25)

Increase projectile size while Revved Up

Class Perk - Zone Overcharge: extra shield capacity when playing in zone (see above)

QoL - Remote Pick-Up: remotely pick-up their undamaged Tacticals by looking back at them and pressing a button (see above)

Class Perk - Threat Vision: gain threat vision when aiming down sights (see above)

Survey Beacons: multiple updates (see above)

Channel time when knocked decreased to 2s (was 3s)

Chase portal duration decreased 8s (was 10s)

Chase portal opening delay increased to 8s (was 6s)

Increased travel speed to void nexus by about 40% (was 1800)

Ult cooldown reduced to 3 min (was 3.5m)

When knocked, you can travel to a friendly Void Nexus without looking at it by pressing character action (H key/D-pad down)

Removed option to press character action to destroy your own Void Nexus (H key/D-pad down)

Ult Cooldown: removed ( Level 2 )

NEW Ringmaster: gain access to Ring Consoles

Whistler: lock-on time decreased to 0.1s (was 0.3s)

Mom! Get the camera! Friendly traps are now differentiated from enemy traps

Surveillance Drone: cooldown decreased to 30s (was 40s)

NEW: It's called Off the Grid: Crypto becomes cloaked when in drone

• While hidden from sight, Crypto's cloaking will still emit a close-range cloaking sound to sus his location and ability scans will still reveal his location
• Threat Vision related skills will not reveal Crypto

Improved Satellite Imagery: Ult now scans anyone it hits for 4s and will track through walls

Quick Ping: removed, improved handling now integrated into base kit

Upgrade - Gold-Plated: replaced Gold EVO Cache with Battery

Ammo drains from pip charge with use

Maximum number of place turrets allowed is now 1

Need 1 PIP of Ultimate change to draw or place Sheila

No longer requires a full charge to equip

Now uses an Ammo-Style Ultimate model

Focus of Attention: healthbars persist for duration of Silence

Passive move speed has been increased to weapon sprint speed

Passive is now quieter when active

Focus Scan: removed

NEW Split Focus: gain an additional Tac charge

Echo Relocation: no longer requires LOS to Echo to launch

• Can launch when LOS is blocked
• Can now cancel the tac mid charge
• Tac reticle will turn red when echo is behind you and you are launching
• Will slide-around boxes and geometry as best it can to reach Echo

2nd Shot Multiplier is now 2.5x (was 2x)

Can hit "Reload" when in ult to use an Ult Accel

Waypoint on PING within Passive range will track enemy for 10s

Will not show within 100m (for each ally individually)

added to all optics

expanded passive scanning screen area to be more consistent

Upgrade - Ult Reload: now also doubles Ult Accel use speed in addition to providing 2 extra bullets

Power Pylon: now regenerates shield charge

Split Current: removed

Urban island district of the city of Suotamo on Gaea

Designed for verticality with areas perfect for CQC

Pubs: for the first week after launch, August 6-12

Ranked: for the first 72 hours after launch, August 6-9

New mode for Apex's new and learning players

Battle as a squad against a smaller lobby of enemy bot squads in a quicker version of a standard battle royale match

Game rules are the same as in standard battle royale modes

Play with Bots in your squad or bring your own Human friends

Bot Legends: overhauled as part of Bot Royale

• Improvements made to pathfinding, shooting, ability deployment, and interactions with game objects
• Several Legends were added as Bots in Bot Royale including: Bangalore, Bloodhound, Conduit, Fuse, Gibraltar, Lifeline, Octane, Seer, Vantage, and Wraith

Respawn into a skydive near your teammates as long as one teammate is still alive

If all players die, the team is eliminated

Respawn timers increase with each passing round

Respawn timers for your squad increase each time a squadmate dies

Respawn timers decrease when squad members:

• Deal damage
• Earn knockdowns
• Earn kills
• Execute enemies

Killing an enemy will reveal their squadmates for a brief time

Players start with blue knockdown shields (knockdown shields removed from the loot pool)

Respawning ends and all deaths are final upon reaching a specific round

• Trios Revival: Respawning ends at Round 5
• Straight Shot Revival: Respawning ends at Round 4

Straight Shot returns as Straight Shot Revival

Features new respawn mechanic found in Trios Revival

Akimbo P2020 and Mozambique replace the single versions in loot

Enemy Highlight and Enemy Health Bars are enabled

Purple and gold tier LMGs will include the new Gun Shield Generator hop-up

Akimbo weapons added into all Mixtape Loadouts and Gun Run

• R99 moves out of all loadouts, replaced with akimbo weapon variants

Gameplay Rules: decreased Ult charge while capturing points

Score limit increased to 75

Shield Regen activates on kills

For new accounts created after the launch of Shockwave

Complete Welcome Challenges to progress through the Welcome Pass

• Challenges can be completed in any BR mode and Bot Royale
• Unique set of challenges designed around foundational skills
• Welcome Challenges do not refresh

Receive rewards for reaching each level of the Welcome Pass

• If the player already has the reward in their inventory, they will receive the Crafting Metals value instead

Start with three Legends: Wraith, Bangalore and Lifeline

• Unlock Bloodhound, Pathfinder, Gibraltar, and a Legend of their choice through progression

No RP reset for Rookie IV to Rookie I, players will keep the RP they have from the last split

Bronze IV to Platinum IV will reset to Bronze IV 1000 RP

Platinum III reset to Bronze III 1500 RP

Platinum II reset to Bronze II 2000 RP

Platinum I reset to Bronze I 2500 RP

Diamond IV reset to Silver IV 3250 RP (with +250 demotion protection)

Diamond III reset to Silver III 3600 RP

Diamond II reset to Silver II 4200 RP

Diamond I reset to Silver I 4800 RP

Master and above reset to Gold IV 5650 RP (with +250 demotion protection)

New Players (complete onboarding and above Level 20): Starting Rookie IV 1 RP

Returning Players who didn't play last season (excluding Rookie tier which won't reset): Starting RP threshold for Bronze IV 1000 RP

Players can participate in matches without 10 matches limitations

There is no Re-Entry mechanic; play as much as you want

Only your top 10 match results count towards your final standings

• If you get a better match score, it will replace your current lowest score

Improved end ring generation system

Can no longer use Death Boxes through walls

Cleaning up disconnected players in Mixtape

Firing Range: Mythic weapons are no longer taken away after respawning

Fixed a storm point zipline that could kick players off too early

Fixed bad actor ping crashes

Fixed prowler spawn den bullet collision hull

Improvements to help stop deathboxes from getting stuck in doorways and blocking exits

Should now be lootable in broken doorways

Will now contain a shield core if the enemy disconnected before dying

Alter's ult can no longer be used for free if you place it onto a moving object and use it immediately

Bangalore smoke highlights should no longer get blocked by other players

Fixed an issue that let players affected by Catalyst ultimate to see through Bangalore smoke

Movement hitch when using Seer's passive while unarmed should no longer occur

No more thefts from an explosive hold without warning, destroying Loba's Black Market

Mantling on the same location as your teammate won't knock you down

Additional starting grenade added for Control & Lockdown

EVA 8 back into Close-Quarters loadout

Faster health regen for all mixtape modes

Lockdown Score Limit reduced to 400 (was 500)

Reconnect match timer reduced to 2 minutes (was 5 min)

Team Deathmatch Score Limit reduced to 40 (was 50)

Mixtape's Skull Town got a spawn audit (adjusting positions & angles)

Nessies can once again bounce to their hearts content in the firing range (just not anywhere else)

Speaking of, a new Nessie (with an appreciation for cinema) has appeared around the firing range

Largely optimized Performance Mode on Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5, for more consistent frame rates and fewer resolution drops

• Xbox Series X and PS5 can expect 10 FPS or higher improvements in GPU-intensive scenarios

Fixed several causes of graphical corruption issues

PC: removed Adaptive Supersampling video settings option. A small percentage of players used this option and those that did received no benefit from it unless they had a powerful GPU and low res monitor

Mitigated performance impact of looking at Death Boxes and intermittent performance spikes from champions banners