Apex Legends Season 18 Patch Notes Confirm Disruptor Rounds Are Returning

Apex Legends Season 18: Resurrection is just a few hours away, and Respawn has given players a detailed look at all the changes coming to the game this season via Season 18's patch notes and the Resurrection battle pass trailer, both of which were released this morning.

In addition to the known changes, like "Revenant Reborn" and a new animated series, Season 18 will also see the Charge Rifle get a complete overhaul. Additionally, Ranked Mode rewards will also receive some changes, with Ranked-exclusive skydive trails being removed and replaced with banner frames instead. But the patch notes revealed some other interesting changes to gameplay, like the reintroduction of the Disruptor Rounds and Selectfire Receiver weapon hop-ups.

Revenant Reborn

Though Revenant's new ability set was confirmed last week, the Season 18 patch notes revealed an additional detail: Revenant's new legend class. Currently, he's an Assault-class legend, but when he's "reborn" on August 8, he'll be moved to the movement-focused Skirmisher legend class, which will give him the class-exclusive Care Package Insight perk. This perk allows Revenant to see (and ping) Care Packages--and the highest-tier loot item inside them--through walls, terrain, and other obstacles.

Recharged Charge Rifle

Another massive change included in the patch notes is the completely reworked Charge Rifle. Instead of firing a sustained beam, the Charge Rifle will now be able to fire shorter bursts that can be charged up to increase damage. Damage also increases the farther the projectile travels, rewarding players for aiming well in long-range engagements. Additionally, the Charge Rifle's energy beam can now pierce multiple targets, making it the perfect choice for taking out multiple, closely grouped enemies at once. Starting this season, the Charge Rifle can also destroy doors and make use of an Extender Sniper Magazine attachment. Overall, these changes make the Charge Rifle function much more similarly to the way it did in Titanfall 2, so players who are familiar with Respawn's previous titles will likely find themselves right at home with the new Charge Rifle design.

Map rotation

The patch notes also provide confirmation on the upcoming season's map rotation. Season 18's public battle royale matches will take place on the following maps:

• Broken Moon
• Kings Canyon
• Olympus

Reworking the ring

The Resurrection patch notes reveal another feature that's being reworked this season: The ring itself. Starting in Season 18, Round 1's ring size will cover 20% more surface area than it currently does, giving players a bit more room to breathe (and loot) before they need to worry about rotating to the next POI. Subsequent rounds' rings will stay the same size, but there are some changes to incoming damage--Round 2's ring will now inflict 4 damage per tick, up from the current 3 points of damage, while Round 4's ring damage is being reduced from 20 damage per tick to 15.

There have also been some changes made to the ring's shrinking speed in certain rounds, but the biggest change by far when it comes to timing is a decrease in the overall time it takes to complete a battle royale match. Matches taking place on smaller maps will now last a maximum of 19 minutes (previously: 21.5 minutes), while matches held on larger maps (like Broken Moon) will now last a maximum of 20 minutes, down from the previous 22.5 minutes.

Weapons and hop-ups

The Rampage and R-99 are returning to the standard loot pool in Season 18, with the Nemesis and Mozambique (equipped with Hammerpoint Rounds) taking their place in the Replicator. The Double-Tap Trigger and Hammerpoint Rounds hop-ups are being removed from the game entirely this season, with the Boosted Loader and (somewhat controversial) Disruptor Rounds replacing them in the loot pool.

The Hemlock is being removed from the Care Package and returning to floor loot (with slightly decreased damage output). The Prowler SMG will take its place, entering the Care Package and receiving two buffs as a result: Increased damage (16 damage per shot, up from the current 15) and an automatically activated Selectfire Receiver hop-up, making the weapon fully automatic by default.

Lastly, the following weapons will be upgraded to Legendary-tier in Season 18:

• Alternator
• Charge Rifle
• Hemlock
• Peacekeeper
• Rampage

Legends

Aside from Revenant's massive overhaul, the biggest legend-related changes coming to Apex this season are changes in ability recharge rate. The following legends' will have their ultimate ability cooldown times changed in Season 18:

• Bangalore's Rolling Thunder: 240 seconds (+60 seconds)
• Catalyst's Dark Veil: 150 seconds (+30 seconds)
• Gibraltar's Defensive Bombardment: 180 seconds (-90 seconds)
• Horizon's Black Hole: 210 seconds (+30 seconds)
• Loba's Black Market Boutique: 150 seconds (+30 seconds)
• Mad Maggie's Wrecking Ball: 120 seconds (+30 seconds)
• Pathfinder's Zipline Gun: 180 seconds (+60 seconds)
• Wraith's Dimensional Rift: 180 seconds (-30 seconds)

Keep scrolling to check out the patch notes, which are listed in full below. For more information on the upcoming season, check out everything we know about Season 18, and don't forget to finish your Season 17 battle pass (and claim all the free loot from the Neon Network Collection Event) before Apex Legends Season 18: Resurrection goes live on Tuesday, August 8 at 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET.

PATCH NOTES

BALANCE UPDATES

Armor Changes

• White to Blue evo points required increased to 200 (was 150)
  • Crafted evo points increased to 200
• Fixed overflow damage on level up applies to the next tier

Crafting Rotation

• Rampage and R-99 leave the crafter and are back on the floor
• Nemesis and Mozambique with Hammerpoint Rounds enter the crafter
• Double Tap Trigger and Hammerpoint Rounds removed from rotation
• Boosted Loader and Disruptor Rounds added to rotation
• Medkit price increased to 20 (was 15)

Care Package Weapon Rotation

• Hemlok Burst AR returns to the floor
  • ADS Recoil increased
  • Damage reduced to 22 (was 23)
  • Headshot multiplier reduced to 1.75 (was 1.8)
• Prowler Burst PDW enters the care package
  • Damage increased to 16 (was 15)
  • Select Fire Enabled defaulting to Full Auto

Gold Weapons Rotation

• Hemlok, Peacekeeper, Alternator, Rampage, Charge Rifle

Loot Spawn Changes

• Blue and Purple Weapon Attachment spawn rate reduced by 20%
• Blue and Purple Armor spawn rate reduced by 30%

WEAPONS

Charge Rifle Rework

• New ballistics and projectile
  • Removed hitscan
  • Removed pre-fire laser
  • Projectiles have player passthrough: 80% damage retained
  • Opens doors
• Projectiles gain damage with distance
  • 50 meters: 75 Damage
  • 300 meters: 110 Damage
• New charge mechanics
  • Holding the trigger down will increase charge
  • Releasing the trigger will decrease charge
  • Fires at 100% charge
• Added Extended Sniper Mag attachment slot
  • Base: 4
  • White: 5
  • Blue: 6
  • Purple/Gold: 8
• Ammo Consumption per shot reduced to 1 (was 2)
• Handling timings adjusted
  • Tactical reload time decreased to 3.5 (was 4.0)
  • Empty reload time decreased to 4.6 (was 5.1)

All SMGs (R-99, Alternator, CAR, Volt)

• Strafe Speed: ADS strafe scale reduced to 0.75 (was 0.85)
• Headshot multi reduced to 1.25 (was 1.5)

R-99

• Vertical Recoil slightly increased
• Ammo capacity reduced
  • Base Ammo reduced to 17 (was 19)
  • White Mag reduced to 20 (was 21)
  • Blue Mag reduced to 23 (was 24)
  • Purple/Gold Mag reduced to 26 (was 27)

M600 Spitfire

• Added Barrels for improved stability
• ADS Recoil improved
• Hipfire spread slightly improved

Mastiff

• Blast pattern tightened

HOP UPS

Boosted Loader (Hemlok, Wingman)

Reloading when near empty will speed up reloading and overload the next magazine

• Hemlok overload ammo: 9
• Wingman overload ammo: 3

Disruptor Rounds (Alternator, Peacekeeper)

Increases shield damage

• Alternator shield damage increased by 20%
• Peacekeeper shield damage (per pellet) increased by 25%

Double Tap Trigger (EVA-8, G7 Scout)

• Removed from floor and crafting bundles

Grenades

• Frag Grenade
  • Outer Radius increased to 350 units (was 320)
  • Inner Radius increased to 125 units (was 96)
• Thermite
  • Adjusted fire VFX to better match damage area

LEGENDS

Revenant has been reborn

• Updated class to Skirmisher (was Assault)
• New abilities (see above)

Ultimate Cooldowns

• Bangalore: Rolling Thunder to 240s (+60s)
• Catalyst: Dark Veil to 150s (+30s)
• Gibraltar: Defensive Bombardment to 180s (-90s)
• Horizon: Black Hole to 210s (+30s)
• Loba: Black Market Boutique to 150s (+30s)
  • Ultimate Accelerants grant 25% ult charge (up from 20%)
• Mad Maggie: Wrecking Ball to 120s (+30s)
• Pathfinder: Zipline Gun to 180s (+60s)
• Wraith: Dimensional Rift to 180s (-30s)

Tactical Updates

• Ballistic’s Whistler
  • Reduced delay before an overheated weapon starts cooling down to 1s (was 2s)
  • Reduced how long it takes an overheated weapon to cooldown to 8s (was 12s)
• Loba’s Burglar’s Best Friend
  • Cooldown reduced to 25s (was 30s)
• Seer’s Focus of Attention
  • Slow Duration reduced to 0.5s (was 2.5s)
  • Silence Duration reduced to 8s (was 10s)
  • Firing Speed increased to 1.4s (was 0.9s)

MAPS

• Broken Moon
  • Maps added to Mixtape: Production Yard & The Core (Read more about these maps in our highlights blog here)
  • Multiple rat spots removed
• Kings Canyon: multiple rat spots removed
• World’s Edge: smoothed Legend movement on road edges

WORLD SYSTEMS

• Crafting Workbenches, Survey Beacons, Ring Consoles
  • Removed ‘exclusion radius’ that caused some POIs to get these objects more than others
  • All POIs now have an equal chance of receiving a Ring Console, Survey Beacon or Crafting Workbench

MODES

• Control
  • Capture Bonus bounty reduced ~20%
  • Capture time reduced to 10 seconds (was 20 sec)
  • Score limit reduced to 1000 (was 1250)
  • Spawn waves removed: players should spawn instantly at the location they choose including Home Base, Captured Points, and MRB (Note: MRB will still use the dropship)
  • Timed events: Airdrops, MRB, Capture Bonus should all start ~30% sooner in match-time

BUG FIXES

• About Game Mode button now works while in game modes
• Adjusted sizing and positioning of elements on the Switch’s communication wheel to give it more breathing room
• Consumables UI no longer freezes while in use and reviewing inventory
• Dying or swapping Legends with a Golden Backpack full of large healing items no longer causes the items to be thrown from the player in Firing Range
• Challenges no longer flip to NBR version when tracking in Ranked matches
• Fixed black line in Kill Feed when a player dies out of bounds
• Fixed persistent gift notifications after returning to lobby
• Fixed players from different teams being able to ride in the same trident if they interacted with both a mounted Sheila and the trident simultaneously
• Fixed Support Bins occasionally being prevented from providing Survival items (Heat Shield or Mobile Respawn Beacons)
• In-game map no longer clips behind the challenges on 16:10 resolutions
• Players should now properly spectate the player who knocked or killed them (without being knocked), and not who killed their teammates or who thirsted them from the downed state
• Players can no longer get stuck inside a Trident’s collision box
• Pinging Icarus Vault from the map (with vault key in inventory) won’t present a malformed string
• Predator badge no longer fades away on Champion screen
• Reduced the animate in time of death recap in Control, Team Deathmatch, and Gun Run
• Spectres no longer stand in Catalyst’s Piercing Spikes
• Unitframe consumable progress now updating in the inventory screen
• Using remapped controls on a Gamepad/Controller no longer prevents pinging from the map
• Fixed players seeing the ranking of players they are spectating

AUDIO

• Fixed animations not playing audio in rare cases
• Improved prioritization for certain enemy movement sounds
• Players movement transitions no longer occasionally play duplicate audio events

LEGENDS

• Ballistic
  • C.A.R SMG doesn’t default to heavy ammo after being converted to a golden gun in sling with light ammo
  • Tempest no longer applies to teammates when friendly fire is enabled in Firing Range
• Pathfinders voicemails during an Ash heirloom inspect no longer stretched on 16:10 resolutions

• Gibraltar and Bangalore
  • Fixed ultimates not triggering if thrown on Ziprail Launcher and Skydive Towers
  • Fixed ultimates not cooldown if they’re killed while holding the ultimate grenade
• Horizon: Lethal Lass skin no longer obstructs ADS on Prowler with 1x HOLO
• Loba: Lunar Wolf skin no longer has broken mesh
• Rampart: Sheila’s ammo counter now correctly rotated

MAPS

• Broken Moon:
  
  • Added building west of the core to minimap
  • Loot tick now correctly drops loot at Production Yard
  • Removed invisible collision above playing field
• Olympus: indoor props without collision no longer blocks picking up loot

MODES

• Firing Range:
  • Ballistic’s Whistler is no longer heard across Firing Ranges when shot at the ground
  • Dummies no longer occasionally shoot while set to inactive
  • Small door’s audio and FX no longer heard/seen across Firing Ranges

WEAPONS

• Left most ammo on squad member unitframes now represents their currently equipped weapon
• L-Star: low ammo indicator now only appears when ammo is actually low
• P2020: fixed high inaccuracy with first shot using ADS

QUALITY OF LIFE

• Firing Range
  • Dynamic dummy spawning now remains off when you die
  • Legend ultimates will be fully charged after loading into the Firing Range, swapping Legends, and dying
  • A new nessie… and more!
• French
  • In-game/lobby chat now available when language is set to French on console
  • Corrected French translation for R-301 Mastery Challenge Level 20
• Kill feed will now call out when a player has been removed from the match
• Multiple stickers can now be placed
• Players can longer interact with enemy holosprays through walls
• Ranked progress bar no longer bounces value while sitting on Match Summary screen
• Seer: Exhibit AR throw indicator is no longer offset from ground
  • (no longer gives false impression of where the Ultimate will land)
• Support Perk - Crafting Banners: after grabbing the first banner, you can now immediately grab the second one as well
• Weapon Mastery:
  • New animated celebration sequences when unlocking and completing trials, as well as mastering weapons
  • New animated icon in the HUD weapon element when a weapon is level 100

A NOTE ON WINDOWS 7

If you're still on Windows 7 (or you've taken a look at Trello), you might have noticed an issue with crashing with DirectX11. While the team has been using all available technology to investigate a possible solution, it has become apparent that testing Apex Legends on older OS is no longer viable due to outdated technologies, limited testing availability, and discontinued support from Microsoft themselves. As such, Apex Legends will be moving away from supporting Windows 7.