Fear no more, Horizon should be audible (we hope…)
Respawn have revealed some major Horizon audio fixes as part of the mid-season Apex patch notes. The adjustments, tweaks and balances will arrive alongside the Apex Legends x Final Fantasy 7 event.
Other changes impact Catalyst and Rampart, as well as the R-99 and CAR SMG. There are also several changes to Storm Point, and a new map rotation too.
Apex patch notes: Horizon changes
Horizon has long been an area of controversy in Apex Legends. This will be the 10th time Horizon has seen changes since she was released in November 2020.
Poor audio from Horizon's falling has often been a complaint of those facing the gravity-defying space mom. Players find themselves jumpscared by a silent Horizon all too frequently in game.
Legend Changes:
Horizon
- Improved Horizon audio to make “falls” less silent
- Hard landing audio adjusted to match other legends
- Soft Landings now play audio in world ( not just for Horizon )
- Gravity Lift exit audio range increased to make it easier to hear characters who exit
Catalyst
- Piercing Spikes
- Now require line-of-sight to an enemy player to activate
- Spikes that have not been activated will still slow players
Newcastle
- Castle Wall: impact will now destroy Conduit’s Energy Barricade mines
- Mobile Shield: can now be destroyed by enemy Crypto EMP
- Delayed balance adjustments from the season 19.0 patch are now fully integrated
Rampart
- Amped Walls are no longer destroyed by friendly Crypto EMP or Mad Maggie’s Wrecking Ball
There are other small adjustments to Rampart and Newcastle, improving some of their interactions against other legends. Catalyst, who has been popular since release, also gets another slight nerf. This change reduces the ability to use her Piercing Spikes as an early warning system.
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Apex Patch Notes: Storm Point changes
After the major Storm Point rework at the start of Season 19, it is not a surprise to see several tweaks to the map.
Notably, there is now an extra Ring Console on the map. One has been added to Costal Camp. Additionally, the missing Console from Command Centre is also back. Lightning Rod, which accidentally kept the spawns from Thunder Watch before those two POI's combined, loses those as part of this update.
Storm Point:
- Added and adjusted cover at ZEUS Station & ECHO HQ
- Added Ring Console to Coastal Camp
- Added Trident to Barometer
- Adjusted the position of the Ring Console, Survey Beacon and Crafting Station at Lightning Rod
- Reduced volume of ambient audio at ZEUS Station & ECHO HQ
- Removed Ring Console, Survey Beacon and Crafting Station from Thunder Watch
- Resolved a number of additional bugs and rat spots
- Restored missing Ring Console at Command Center
- ECHO HQ
- Added four new staircases at ECHO HQ to improve vertical navigation around the perimeter
- Rooftop of ECHO HQ is now out of bounds, Zipline and rooftop hatch has been removed
- Wattson’s Pylon
- Adjusted position of the ziplines at Wattson's Pylon to improve consistency of mantle jumping
- Reduced amount of ultra rare loot at Wattson's Pylon
- ZEUS Station
- Added additional cover and ziplines at ZEUS Station for mixtape modes only
- Increased the speed of the redeploy balloon zipline at ZEUS Station by 25%
Other Changes:
The Apex patch notes bring some changes to two notable Apex SMG's, as well as a refresh of the weapons in the crafter.
Weapon Changes:
Crafting Rotation
- R-301 and Volt leave the crafter and are back on the floor
- Hemlok and Alternator enter the crafter
Weapons
- Mastiff
- Tactical reload time reduced to 0.9 (was 1.03)
- Empty reload time reduced to 1.6 (was 1.7)
- Draw Time reduced to 0.45 (was 0.8)
- R99
- Damage reduced to 11 (was 12)
- CAR SMG
- Damage reduced to 12 (was 13)
Apex developers have been fighting hard to balance the power of SMG's in the game. With a buff to the Mastiff and reduced damage to both the CAR SMG and the R99, the gap between SMG's and Shotguns should close even further.
Apex patch notes: Bug fixes
As always, the latest Apex patch notes bring several bug fixes and exploitation prevention. Have any of these impacted you?
- Firing Range: players dying with a Nessie in their inventory will no longer find the Nessie deleted.
- Players no longer get stuck due to spamming holosprays while skydiving
- Players no longer drop out of Wraith’s portal before reaching the other side
- Resolved small chance of getting 5 items in secret drawer of Extended Supply Bins
- Resolved bug preventing audio engine from properly utilizing fast storage drives when reading compressed audio data
- Startup logo video audio volume now respects the master volume slider
- Storm Point: players should now be able to use Evac Tower through the ceiling hatch in Command Center
- Trident collision should no longer occasionally push players through walls and floors
Legends:
- Ash: Ultimate can no longer be used with Tridents to get under map
- Bloodhound: Niflheim Hundr skin’s raven now white (was black)
- Catalyst
- Piercing Spikes ability description now shows the correct max number of traps
- Piercing Spikes can now be pinged again
- Ultimate no longer shows as ready in inventory without being fully charged
- Conduit
- Fixed Energy Barricade V-Shape deployment when looking directly at the ground
- Tactical can no longer be used on respawning team still in dropship
- Crypto: fixed Crypto taking ring damage while standing in a heat shield if controlling his drone in the ring
- Loba: restored movement speed while holding Tactical if it was activated while standing still
- Mad Maggie
- Fixed damage numbers not showing correctly when hitting Revenant’s ultimate shroud with Wrecking Ball
- Passive no longer works through Catalyst’s walls
- Revenant: no longer occasionally becomes invincible during his ultimate if his shroud is broken while marked by Vantage’s Sniper
- Vantage: corrected Sniper Ult bullets damage to marked targets when breaking Gibraltar’s arm shield or Revenant’s ultimate shroud
- Wattson: Ultimate correctly recharges shields when placed after Bangalore’s smoke
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