Stop, drop, and get rolled.
The Apex Season 20 mid season patch is bringing a huge set of nerfs to Bangalore. There is also a major tweak to Care Package weapons, including the removal of the popular Lifeline perk that allowed her to spawn in a Care Package.
The Apex Season 20 patch drops on Tuesday, and will deliver a new LTM and make a new global heirloom available for purchase through the Shadow Society Collection Event.
Major Bangalore nerf coming to Apex Legends
This Bangalore nerf coming with the Apex Season 20 patch is the biggest nerf to a legend in the game since Seer. Her Smoke Launcher tactical receives several changes, and her Ultimate cooldown is also getting increased.
In addition, her Legend Upgrades are also getting adjusted. Here are the Bangalore nerfs in full:
- Rolling Thunder: Cooldown increased to 4.5 min (was 4)
- Smoke Launcher
- Cooldown increased to 35s (was 33)
- No longer deals damage
- Smoke duration decreased to 11s (was 18)
- Smoke particles now dissipate faster
- Upgrades: Level 2
- Big Bang: removed
- NEW Tactical Cooldown: reduces Tactical cooldown by 5s
- Upgrades: Level 3
- Cover Me: Auto-Ping no longer tracks the player who triggered double time
- Refuge : Heal Rate increased to 3.5 HP/s (was 3HP/s)
In the Patch Notes, Developers address the dominance that Bangalore has had. This has been especially prevalent in high level play. Her smokes can be oppressive, and were a big reason why SMG's lost the ability to equip a Digital Threat at the start of Season 20.
The nerf to her 'Cover Me' Upgrade is long overdue, that perk felt incredibly overpowered and seemed in desperate need of some sort of adjustment.
Even with this nerf, Bangalore is still a strong legend. It will take some time to get adjusted to playing with her tweaked kit, especially using Smokes in a different way, but don't write her off just yet.
Season 20 patch also removes first ring Care Package Weapons
One of the hallmarks of Apex Legends Season 20 so far has been the prevalence of Care Package weapons. It feels like most fights involve at least one player having one of these powerful items. The Season 20 mid season patch will reduce that issue slightly.
- First set of Care Packages
- Care Package weapons removed
- Seasonal Gold weapons now spawn in their place (R-301, RE-45, Mastiff, Devotion, 30-30)
- Second and third set of Care Packages are unchanged
Now, at the start of a game you won't find a Kraber, EVA-8, Bocek or Wingman. Instead, will be whatever the current seasons Gold weapons are. This will still be a nice upgrade for your team, but will mean less teams have insanely powerful weapons super early into a match.
Other changes in the Apex Season 20 mid season patch:
Other notable changes include a nerf to Lifeline. Despite only really having a minor impact in Season 20, besides Aurora in the ALGS Pro League, Respawn are nerfing her Care Package Legend Upgrade. Instead of accessing a Care Package weapon, she instead gets a Gold Plated Care Package that will spawn Golden Gear. This includes an EVO Cache.
However, Lifeline does get a buff to her Tactical Cooldown Legend Upgrade. This will reduce her cooldown by 25 seconds, meaning you always have the DOC avaliable.
Conduit also gets a further nerf, as does Revenant. These two are a terrible combination in Ranked, being able to absorb insane amounts of damage. Revenant loses the ability to have his Tactical refreshed by knocking players, and his Ultimate gets increased. Conduit's Radiant Transfer has a further cooldown increase.
A surprise inclusion on the list of Buffs was Caustic. His Gas Damage will increase by 1 every tick, instead of every other tick. However, his powerful Particle Diffuser perk gets moved to Level 3, which will offset this buff slightly.
See the full notes below:
Season 20 Patch Balance Updates:
Care Package
- First set of Care Packages
- Care Package weapons removed
- Seasonal Gold weapons now spawn in their place (R-301, RE-45, Mastiff, Devotion, 30-30)
- Second and third set of Care Packages are unchanged
Weapon Spawn Rates
- Assault Rifle and Marksman Rifle spawn rates normalized per zone
Weapon Changes:
CAR (from Season 20 launch, missed in Patch Notes)
- ADS vertical recoil slightly increased
EVA-8 [Care Package]
- Blast pattern tightened
- Initial projectile size increased
- Improved handling
- Reduce ammo reserves to 64 (was 96)
Rampage
- Energize time slightly reduced to better match the animation
Wingman [Care Package]
- Ammo Reserves decreased to 72 (was 90)
- Can no longer equip the 1x Digital Threat
- Optic is no longer locked and can be replaced
Legend Changes:
Ballistic
- Upgrades
- Ammuvision: removed
- Lasting Bullet: moved to Level 2
- NEW Speedy Whistler: successful hits with Tactical give a 2s burst of speed (Level 3)
Bangalore
- Rolling Thunder: Cooldown increased to 4.5 min (was 4)
- Smoke Launcher
- Cooldown increased to 35s (was 33)
- No longer deals damage
- Smoke duration decreased to 11s (was 18)
- Smoke particles now dissipate faster
- Upgrades: Level 2
- Big Bang: removed
- NEW Tactical Cooldown: reduces Tactical cooldown by 5s
- Upgrades: Level 3
- Cover Me: Auto-Ping no longer tracks the player who triggered double time
- Refuge : Heal Rate increased to 3.5 HP/s (was 3HP/s)
Bloodhound
- Upgrades
- Odin’s Glare: moved to Level 2
- Tactical Cooldown: moved to Level 3
Caustic
- Gas Damage now increases by 1 each tick (was 5/5/6/6 etc.)
- Downed players still only receive 5/tick
- Gas Slow effect now only applies on first damage tick for 2s
- Upgrades
- Particle Diffuser: moved to Level 3
- Residual Toxins: moved to Level 2
Conduit
- Radiant Transfer
- Cooldown Increased to 31s (was 26)
- Regen Interruption delay time increased to 2s (was 1)
More Season 20 patch Legend Changes:
Fuse
- Upgrade - Wreckless: explosive damage is now reduced by 50% (was 25%)
Lifeline
- Upgrades: Level 2
- Tactical Cooldown+: removed
- NEW Tactical Cooldown++: Tactical Cooldown reduced by 25s (making the cooldown time equal to its deployment duration, so you always have DOC)
- Upgrades: Level 3
- Gift Wrapped: removed
- NEW Gold-Plated: next Package spawns with Golden Gear
- EVO Cache, Gold Knockdown Shield, Gold Backpack
- Also contains 1 Shield Battery, 1 Medkit, and either a Phoenix Kit or a Mobile Respawn Beacon
Octane
- Upgrade - Wreckless: explosive damage is now reduced by 50% (was 25%)
Pathfinder
- Upgrade - Zipline Zen: damage reduction increased to 50% (was 25%)
Revenant
- Forged in Shadows
- Knocks no longer refresh the Tactical during Ultimate
- Tactical Cooldown is no longer shorter during Ultimate
- Ultimate Cooldown Increased by 60s
- Upgrades
- Agile Assassin: removed
- Tactical Cooldown: moved to Level 3
- NEW Ultimate Cooldown: reduces Ult Cooldown by 30s (Level 2)
Seer
- Focus of Attention: decreased activation delay to 1.2s (was 1.4)
- Upgrades
- Artist’s Reach: moved to Level 2
- Long View: moved to Level 3
- Racing Hearts: removed (now integrated into base Tactical)
- NEW Ultimate Cooldown: reduces Ult Cooldown by 30s (Level 2)
Wraith
- Upgrades
- Tactical Cooldown: moved to Level 3
- Ultimate Cooldown: moved to Level 2
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