Apex Legends Season 23 patch notes: Lifeline rework, Rift weapons, major balance updates

Season 23 of Apex Legends may not have a new Legend, map or weapon, but there are still many exciting changes in the update, which Respawn has laid out in the full patch notes.

The headline for Season 23 is Lifeline’s rework, as well as the buffs to support Legends generally, who are getting some love this season.

And while there isn’t a new weapon joining the loot pool as such, there are still new toys to play with, thanks to the new Rift Relics, which drops weapons from the Titanfall and Apex universe into the games for the first time.

And, as always, there are plenty of weapon changes, hop-up adjustments, and quality-of-life improvements to see here too.

Ranked hasn’t been changed around too much this season, but there are some tweaks to entry costs, and a new transparency feature to show the ranks of players in the game when loading in.

Check out the full patch notes for Apex Legends Season 23, From The Rift, below.

NEW MODE: LAUNCH ROYALE

Step back in time to the experience that started it all: Launch Royale. This new LTM drops players into the original Apex Legends circa 2019—it’s the old school weapons, Legends, abilities, ruleset, and map that started it all. That means no EVO Armor or Ability Upgrades—just pure skill and your wits to survive the Apex Games.

If you’re craving that old-school Apex vibe or just want to see how it all started, this is the best time to jump in and see where Legends were born. Conquer Launch Royale Challenges to unlock Legends and earn rewards like Apex Packs and more. Ready up, because we’re going back to experience that first drop once again.

LIFELINE REVIVED

Respawn Entertainment

The original medic is now a frontline menace! Lifeline dives into action with an aggressive new kit, the ability to teleport D.O.C. to your allies, glide for unmatched mobility, and deploy an indestructible force field that amps up healing efficiency for your squad. She’s not just saving lives—she’s fighting her way to the Champions Podium.

PASSIVE: COMBAT GLIDE

Hold JUMP mid-air to use to D.O.C. to briefly glide.

Deploy D.O.C. to revive teammates, leaving Lifeline free to defend.

TACTICAL: D.O.C. HEAL DRONE

D.O.C. heals nearby allies. D.O.C. can be assigned to follow allies once deployed.

ULTIMATE: D.O.C. HALO

Throw D.O.C. to activate Halo Shield System. All players inside use Health & Shield consumables faster.

UPGRADES

RIFT RELICS

Rift Relics come from the unstable Rift in the sky, creating a temporary tear in reality that provides the contestants of the Apex Games with powerful weapons and a new Survival Slot item, Boost Kits, that may just give you a boost that you need. You could say they’re aptly named. Grab the EPG-1 Launcher with splash damage and rocket-jumping capabilities. Unleash exotic Hop-Ups like Lifesteal, healing with every hit and instantly refilling health and armor on headshots. 

Rift Relics will appear randomly throughout each match, across many rounds. They will be easy for you and your enemies to spot, and they’ll also inform you if an enemy team has gotten there first. Destroy the Rift Relic to receive your reward, but be warned—the Ring messes with their stability.

NEW: SUPPORT CLASS PERKS

Last season we gave the Recon and Controller classes unique gameplay perks to help define their areas of expertise in the game. This season will be the season of Support!

Alongside Lifeline’s Revival, the Support Class is getting a specialization of their own through two new perks: Heal Expert and Revive Expert; empowering their reset and recovery role on the team, and continuing our efforts to bring more meaning and identity to the classes in Apex.

Support Legends will still maintain access to extended supply bins (blue bins), however, in the spirit of support, banner crafting is no longer an exclusive class perk and instead will be accessible to all Legends.

Support Class Perks

• Heal Expert
  • Support Legends now move at full walk speed while healing
  • Healing amount from small meds is doubled
• Revive Expert
  • Support Legends now have 25% faster revives (4.5s) and grant health regen to their ally on a successful revive
    • This health regen will restore an ally to full health, but can be canceled by incoming damage
    • Support Legends will also receive this health regen if revived
  • Additionally, Banner Crafting and Ally Death Boxes now spawn a Mobile Respawn Beacon
    • Support Legends can see Mobile Respawn Beacons inside Death Boxes

Collecting Banners will automatically take a Mobile Respawn Beacon in an ally deathbox if possible (will not replace current survival item).

SKILL DISPLAY IMPROVEMENTS

Into the Rift is bringing nostalgia, but we’re also bringing something new: skill display improvements. This new feature will display the balancing of each match and update live as each player loads into the match—giving you a true rank distribution of all players. 

This is just the latest in our ongoing evaluation and improvement of Ranked. Players were looking for more insights and fairness in their matches and this is our next step.

BALANCE UPDATES

Battle Sense

Better health state awareness & feedback

• Added voice lines for when players are low on health
• Added voice lines for when players are low on shields
• Added prompt to heal when players are low on health
• Healing HUD icon will now flash when players are low on health

Better ammo awareness & feedback

• Added voice lines for when players are running low on ammo
• Ammo clip counter will pulse red when in a critical ammo state
• Lowered position of the Low Ammo prompt on the HUD

Both voice lines and on screen prompts can be toggled on/limited/off in Settings. The limited option provides a less frequent cadence for both voice lines and on screen prompts respectively.

Dev Note: We are continuing our work that was started last season around providing better awareness to the state of the game, and this time we’re tackling the health state. These additional mechanisms of feedback are incredibly helpful for some, but can be overwhelming for others. The addition of a settings menu allows for as much player customization as possible to best suit their needs when playing Apex.

Care Package

• Devotion returns to the floor
  • Spin up time decreased
  • Reverse Hipfire tightens slower and is less accurate
  • Removed Turbocharger slot
• Havoc enters the Care Package
  • Improved hipfire
  • Magazine size increased to 36
  • Damage increased to 19 (was 18)
  • Select Fire: Beam Shot
    • High ammo consumption 
    • Deadly accurate
    • Devastating damage

Gold Weapon Rotation

• C.A.R., Hemlock, L-STAR, Longbow, Mastiff

GAMEPLAY UPDATES

Crafting Stations

• All Legends can now craft Banner Cards

Loot Bin Reset

• If a player is near a bin during the reset phase, that Loot Bin will now eject loot (even if that bin was not opened recently)
• Gold Bins now spawn fewer pieces of gold loot

Dev Note: Even after adding the ‘recently opened Bins eject loot’ logic last release, we’re still seeing issues where players are racing to get that attachment or backpack they saw from afar in an open bin, and the loot bin slams shut denying the pick up. By adding a proximity check, now just being near a Loot Bin during Reset will ensure you can get what you want. 

Mythic Bin Updates

• Can now be tracked and pinged through walls more easily
• Improved logic to consider if the weapon you have is already a gold weapon and instead grants a different upgrade
• Location is now announced before spawning, is marked on the mini & full maps, and a warning is issued in game
• Time to Open reduced to 10s (was 11)
• Updated Mythic Bin Icons for better clarity and consistency

Dev Note: Mythic Bins are a big spike in power for the opening team, but it can sometimes feel like a lottery when it appears, leaving little room for counter play. We’re now messaging to the whole game when they appear to hopefully give players the chance to make an active choice to pursue the bin should they wish. This informed choice should feel more fair than it has in the past.

AMMO & ATTACHMENTS

Hop-Ups

• Boosted Loader
  • Now activates at 0 ammo 
  • Now goes on the Sentinel 
• Gunshield Generator
  • Shield recharge cooldown time decreased to 10s (was 12)
  • Reduced spawn rate
• Hammerpoint Rounds
  • Reduced spawn rate

Dev Note: We’ve rebalanced some of the Hop-Up spawn rates to compensate for the amount of power they bring to the table *cough* Hammerpoints *cough*. We like the big power swing and how they set up their respective weapons for the end game, but the consistency at which they were available felt a little too high.

WEAPONS

L-STAR EMG

• Damage increased to 18 (was 17)
• Gold Magazines now reduce the cool off time more than purple mags
• Smoothed out cool-off animations

Dev Note: The L-Star never really gained a benefit from Gold mags because it doesn’t have a traditional reload. To show it a little love, we’ve improved the Gold mags on the L-Star which should make them a more exciting find over Purple mags. In addition we’ve done some animation work to make firing feel smoother; especially when feathering the trigger, something the L-Star excels at. 

Longbow 

• Damage increased to 60 (was 55)

Dev Note: The Longbow hasn’t been fulfilling the fantasy of a sniper lately so we’re taking a big swing at its damage to really push its relevance and carve out a place for it within the long range meta. We’ll continue to monitor this change as the season progresses. 

P2020 

• Akimbo Only: base hipfire improved

Dev Note: Overall we’re really happy with Akimbo and the P2020s are performing well but could use a little improvement to their overall consistency to remain a competitive option.

Rampage LMG

• Revved State
  • Increased decay rate
  • Reduced cost per shot
  • Significantly increased energized capacity
  • Successfully charging up the Rampage with a Thermite will also trigger a reload

Sentinel

• Charging up the sentinel with Boosted Loader equipped (and within activation criteria) will overload the next mag as though it were a Boosted Reload
• Increased energized capacity
• Increased energize total time
• Successfully charging up the Sentinel with a Shield Cell will also trigger a reload

Dev Note: The Sentinel is a beloved sniper but can be a little intimidating to run with its high risk and reward gameplay flow. We wanted to open this up a little bit and make it easier to engage with and more approachable so we’re making the energized state a little more forgiving and adding Boosted Loader to temporarily increase its magazine size.

Spitfire LMG

• Damage increased to 19 (was 18)

Dev Note: Our LMGs have seen more play since the release of the Gunshield Generators but they still haven’t quite been able to compete with our more versatile ARs. These updates continue the work to push them into being valuable primary weapons. 

Peacekeeper

• Choke speed increased

Triple Take

• Choke speed increased
• Fire Rate slightly increased

Dev Note: Both the Triple Take and the Peacekeeper are doing well in the meta but are feeling a tad sluggish compared to the competition. These adjustments should make them feel a little more responsive.

Support Legends: New Class Perks

• Heal Expert
  • Move at full speed while healing, small med healing is doubled
• Revive Expert
  • Revive speed increased and revives grant health regen
  • Mobile Respawn Beacons will spawn when crafting banners and inside ally Death Boxes

Dev Note: Support Legends are the restorative anchors of the team. They are the legends who should help their allies reset and recover quickly. This class change aims to infuse a more classical approach to the support role, allowing these legends to inherently excel in healing and recovery.

To ensure the class felt like it had mastery over that domain, we wanted to make a strong statement about their recovery potential. As a Support, securing a revive should feel powerful. Lessening the downtime before your ally can re-engage is a potency that cannot be ignored – allowing them to fight immediately or pop a shield med to be at full strength much faster. Similarly, access to Mobile Respawn Beacons through Death Boxes and banner crafting means a lot less jumping through hoops to respawn a teammate if you’ve clutched up to recover a banner or made the long trek to a crafting station.

Support Legends often suffer from a lack of mobility or offensive utility to stay alive and properly anchor the team. Leaning into the ability to reset faster themselves makes them a strong backline force in combat and gives them more options to stay in the fight themselves. Both these changes are powerful and we’re eager to see how the more defined role alters the legend landscape in this support-focused season.

Conduit

• Savior’s Speed
  • Now works on ally Death Boxes and crafters when a banner can be retrieved
  • Now works on Respawn Beacons and Mobile Respawn Beacons when carrying an ally banner
  • Now works without min range limit on downed allies, allowing Conduit to race all the way to her fallen teammate
• Upgrades – Battpack: in addition to the extra battery per stack, this upgrade now also shows battery counts in Death Boxes

Dev Note: Conduit’s passive is great for helping to keep up with her team. Looking at her role as a Support Legend, we wanted to extend this passive to impact her recovery play potential as well. Additionally, we’ve combined Battery Collection and Battpack into a single upgrade to make it a stronger option for Conduit and other Legends (Mirage, Lifeline & Horizon).

Crypto

• Surveillance Drone: now takes ring damage (10% per ring tick)
• Upgrades – Off the Grid
  • Players within 20m of Crypto will now be able to spot a faint cloaking “flicker” effect every 1.5s to help identify hidden Cryptos nearby
  • Cloaked audio range and volume have been increased

Dev Note: Off the Grid has been a strong pick and has offered up some wild and creative new play patterns that feel on theme for Crypto, but it has also come with frustrations that have felt like unfair advantages or exploitable drone behaviors. These targeted changes aim to make it more possible to find a Crypto you know is in your immediate vicinity, and discourage ring-parking patterns without taking away the core of what the upgrade has brought to the Crypto fantasy. You’ll still have to work to spot the glitch in the matrix, but you’ll spend much less time scouring for invisible collisions with him.

Gibraltar

• Dome of Protection
  • Cooldown reduced to 17s (was 30s)
  • No longer destroyed by Crypto’s EMP or Maggie’s Wrecking Ball
• Upgrades: Level 2
  • Fresh Start: removed
  • Shots Shots Shots: removed
  • NEW Big Bruddah: increase Ult Radius by 20%
  • NEW Fast Shotties: move faster with shotguns and auto-reload shotguns on knocks
• Upgrades – Baby Bubble: now reduces cooldown to 12s (was 25s)

Dev Note: Much of Gibraltar’s strength can come from the versatility of his dome. In From the Rift, we’re removing the hard counters and allowing Gibraltar to play off his dome more frequently and utilize the new class perks more. With the new Revive Expert perk coming online, we’ve shifted his early game upgrades to offensive choices to play off the new dome frequency or lean into the power of his Ult.

Horizon

• Upgrades
  • Battery Collection: removed
  • NEW Battpack: in addition to the extra battery per stack, this upgrade now also shows battery counts in Death Boxes

Mirage

• Life of the Party: health bars no longer show during Ultimate to give away the real Mirage
• Upgrades: Level 2
  • Miracle Worker: removed
  • NEW Battpack: in addition to the extra battery per stack, this upgrade now also shows battery counts in Death Boxes

Dev Note: The new Support Class Revive Expert perk made Miracle Worker obsolete, so we’ve replaced it with another minor support-focused choice…for now.

Newcastle

• Mobile Shield
  • No longer takes damage
  • Can now be repositioned even when Newcastle is downed
• Retrieve the Wounded: revive Shield HP/Tier increased by +50%
  • White 300 (was 200), Blue 450 (was 300), Purple/Gold 750 (was 500)
• Upgrades: Level 2
  • Thick Shield: removed
  • NEW Hero’s Hustle: greatly increases move speed when reviving
• Upgrades: Level 3
  • Stronghold: Castle Wall HP improvement increased to 500 (was 250)
  • NEW Ultimate Savior: Castle Wall grants shield regen to allies in impact radius
    • Regen effect lasts for 15s and damage will pause regen for 2s
    • Won’t begin regeneration until revived if downed

Dev Note: With the new Revive Expert perk and the Mobile Shield simplifying to an invulnerable version, two of Newcastle’s upgrades needed to be replaced. We’ve aimed to tap into the support angle of his kit with both, giving speed to make bigger revive plays and shield healing to encourage Newcastle to leap to his ally’s aid. Additionally, Newcastle’s shields are getting beefed up this season to allow more players to feel safe behind his sources of protection regardless of skill level.

Revenant

• Forged Shadows: shield will now regen up to 50HP instead of instantly refreshing after a 3s delay

Wattson

• Upgrades: Level 2
  • Fresh Start: removed
  • NEW Revive Expert: gives access to Support Class Revive Expert Perk

Dev Note: The new Support Class Revive Expert perk made Wattson’s “multi-class” revive perk option feel less relevant. So we’re trying out a rather potent upgrade this season and letting Wattson tap into the power of the improved revives of the Support Class. We’re keen to see how this kind of cross-class upgrade selection influences her overall power, pick rate and the identity of the new class ability in general.

MODES

Launch Royale

Take a trip back in time to experience what it was like to play Apex when it first launched. The following changes are meant to be a highlight of some of the most important differences and are not completely inclusive to all changes. Additionally, quality-of-life improvements from modern Apex Legends have been retained for a smoother experience.

• General Changes
  • Original Kings Canyon Map and POIs
  • Original Loot Distribution and loot items
  • Players drop with no equipment or healing items
  • Armor Core/Evo has been removed, each piece of armor is pickup only and does not evolve. Original shield swapping mechanics are now in play.
  • Original Ring timings and damage
• Legend Changes
  • No Class-based Legend Perks, fortified perks removed
  • Each Legend has had the majority of their stats and abilities reverted to the first season’s balance. 
  • Re-introduced being able to “bunny hop” while healing
  • Re-introduced “punch boosting” where punching the ground behind you gives a slight speed boost
  • Players can infinitely jump on ziplines, max 3 interactions before cooldown is removed
  • Shields are not automatically regenerated on finishers, now exclusive to Gold Armor
• Equipment Changes
  • Equipment items and attachments have their original tunings from the first season
  • Gold Items have their passives changed to their original state:
    • Gold Knockdown – Self Revive
    • Gold Backpack – Fast Heal
    • Gold Armor – Shield Regeneration on Execution (this is not a trait granted by default anymore)
  • Original capacities on all Magazines
  • No Laser Sights, Sniper Magazines, Energy Magazines (they didn’t exist yet!)
  • Original HopUps: Select Fire, Energy Choke, Turbocharger, Skullpiercer
  • Helmet protections have been reverted to balance in first season
  • Ammo stacks in inventory has been changed to match original carrying capacities
• Weapon Changes
  • Original Attachments equipped on every gun
  • Original tunings on all weapons, Launch Royale variants have been created to authentically recreate the feeling of the original weapon handlings
  • All hipfire is reverted to its much tighter spread
  • All original Gold kitted weapons are restored
  • Global headshot damage is now 2.0x (with some exceptions per weapon)
  • Original Crate weapons come down in care packages: Mastiff, Kraber, LSTAR

Straight Shot Revival 

• Includes Rift Relics
• Weekend Rotations
  • November 22-25, 2024
  • November 29-December 2, 2024

Trios Revival 

• Includes Rift Relics
• Weekend Rotations
  • December 6-9, 2024
  • December 13-16, 2024

Rift Relics

The items available in Rift Relics will be updated regularly, adding an additional weapon to the lineup as well as rotating the available Boost Kits.

• Boost Kits
  • Hover: ADS in the air will allow the player to hover, keeping them afloat and steadying aim
  • Void Reflex: damage that would knock a player instead sends them into the Void for several seconds, returning at critical health
  • Reactive Regen: Health/Shield bars regen over time
  • Squad Heal: using a health/shield consumable also applies it to nearby teammates
  • Nessies: summon Nessie companions to fight on your behalf
• Relic Weapons
  • Relic Alternator: Launch Royale Alternator modified with Disruptor Rounds
  • Relic Mastiff: Launch Royale Mastiff
  • Relic L-Star: Launch Royale L-Star with high fire rate and limited magazine capacity
  • Relic Spitfire: Launch Royale variant with fast reload, improved hipfire, and heavy ammo
  • Relic Wingman: Launch Royale variant with Skull Piercer
  • Relic Prowler: Launch Royale Select Fire (automatic) Prowler with high power scope
  • Relic G7 Scout: Launch Royale G7 with sniper scope
  • Relic 30-30 Repeater: players heal for a percentage of the damage dealt to enemies and monsters
    • If the player succeeds in landing a headshot, health and armor are immediately highly refilled
    • Embedded Dual Loader
    • Mag size of 12
    • SkullPiercer Hop-Up
• Special Weapon – EPG-1: single fire, direct energy propelled launcher

MAP ROTATIONS

Pubs & Ranked

• Broken Moon
• Storm Point
• World’s Edge

Mixtape

• November 12-December 16, 2024
  • TDM: Habitat, Zeus Station, Skull Town
  • Control: Lava Siphon, Thunderdome, Barometer
  • Gun Run: Skull Town, Fragment, Wattson
• December 17-January 6, 2024
  • BigTDM: Habitat, Skull Town, Party Crasher
  • Control: Thunderdome, Production Yard, Lava Siphon
  • Gun Run: Fragment, Wattson, Skull Town
  • Lockdown: Zeus Station, Monument, The Core

RANKED

Entry Cost Tuning

• Lower entry cost above Platinum Tier
  • Platinum: 45 RP (was 55 RP)
  • Diamond: 65 RP (was 70 RP)
  • Master+: 90 RP (was 100 RP)

Ranked Skill Display Changes

• Disclosure of Ranks for all match players
  • Updates live as you and your opponents enter a match
  • Shows the true rank distribution of all Players as the match starts

Dev Note: This has been added specifically to address matchmaking and perception of unfairness in matches. We believe that this change gives our Players the right amount of information so that they feel informed about what they are up against as they enter a match.

GRAPHICS

• DirectX 12 is no longer a beta! Compared to DirectX 11, our data indicates that DirectX 12 has been both faster and more stable for most players, especially in BR matches when the game is more frequently bottlenecked by the CPU.
  • Fixed the most significant cause of stuttering and extremely low FPS in the lobby, which occurred while preloading maps for the first time. Framerates may still be reduced on low-end CPUs, but much improved compared to before.
  • Cursor should now be correctly aligned when using aspect ratios that don’t match screen resolution
  • Tooltips in inventory and Death Box menus should now be correctly placed when the game is in full-screen mode
  • Significantly improved shader compilation times in the main menu and the lobby for machines with 4 or fewer CPU cores. On a 2-core CPU with hyperthreading, we found that compiling shaders could be up to 5x faster.
  • Remaining known issue: streaming in higher levels of detail for models can still be slow on very low-end machines, leading to stuttering and sometimes missing or low-quality models in game.
• With Season 23, Apex Legends utilizes the extra performance of the PS5 Pro. Players can expect slightly higher resolution and more stable frame rates, as well as increase model quality in Performance Mode (120 Hz)

BUG FIXES

Looking for something else? Our public Trello board is updated weekly with the status of bugs that we can talk about ahead of the patch note drops. We also update our game status here for those of you not on other social platforms.

• All Legends will now be unlocked for Bot Royale
• Ballistic’s Ult will once again speed up the L-star’s overheat animation
• Fixed an issue where players would receive an aimpunch, when in a heat shield, when outside the ring.
• Gunshield Generator and Gibraltar arm shield should now respect the incoming direction of the projectile when deciding to deal carry over damage to the player
• Low Ammo indicators will no longer display when inside of Fight Night on Olympus
• Players will now be highlighted in the void when using PS5 performance mode

QUALITY OF LIFE

• Big Maudes is now stocking Akimbo Mozambiques and P2020s
• Mobile Respawn Beacons deploy much quicker
• Newcastle’s Castle Wall: improvement to allow the expanding wall to try to curve more (reduces cases of wall ending early in some scenarios)
• Health bars vs. smoke improvements
  • Added delay to the destruction of the smoke volumes to better match the smoke dissipation
  • Overall makes health bars less visible through the edges of smoke or during a smoke fade
  • Slightly expanded the size of the smoke volumes to better match the smoke visuals

Apex Packs 

• BP Retro packs: new limited-time pack containing previously released Battle Pass items from a specific season
• Retro packs: bringing back content from previously released event packs such as the Raiders CE, Grand Soirée, and Legendary Hunt retro packs
• Loot Pool Browser: allows you to clearly preview the possible loot pool, probabilities, disclosure information, and any already-owned items enhancing visibility into what items can be obtained
• Mass pack opening: an easier way to open multiple packs that also gives players the option to select the pack type they want to open. Players can now easily see their inventory of Apex Packs, the loot pool of certain packs, and have the choice to open all or a select number of the type of pack they want to open.
• Spark Bonus Meter: earn limited-time rewards by filling the meter as you open eligible packs (marked by a “Spark” icon). This feature will be available for limited periods during the season.

Firing Range

• Death Boxes: dead players now spawn Death Boxes
  • Each player can only spawn one Death Box, and the previous one will dissolve if another death occurs in short succession
  • Death Box dissolves after 90 seconds
• Full Combat Hard Dummies: new option to fight against HARD Full-Combat dummies
  • Take cover, Much more aggressive and accurate with shots
  • and execute juke maneuvers when closer to a player
  • Use a variety of weapons, and can throw Thermites
• Nessie was a little late to trick or treating this year, but she brought a friend to make up for it