Season 12 Patch Notes: New Kinetic Loader Hop-Up, Crypto rework, Volt to Care Package and more

A new season means a brand new set of patch notes! Today, Respawn delivered with a brand new set of patch notes for Season 12: Defiance. The notes feature changes to Caustic, Crypto, tons of weapons and a plethora of bug fixes. As season 11 comes to a close, the return to a sabotaged Olympus with all these new changes is sure to flip the Apex games on its head.

Surprisingly, in the official post for the Season 12 patch notes there are only 2 changes to the existing roster of playable Legends. Alongside the introduction of Mad Maggie, there are big changes to Caustic and Crypto this season.

Caustic Changes

Nox Gas Traps are now destroyable after detonation

This is quite the nerf to the go-to defensive legend. His ability to defensively hold buildings and stall areas with near indestructible and long lasting trap can now be negated. This puts him on par with the other defensive legends like Wattson or Rampart, whose defensive abilities can be destroyed. Regardless though, his gas obscuring sight, slowing and dealing AOE damage will still keep him as a solid pick.

On the other hand, the rarely picked Crypto got quite the buff to his surveillance drone. With a new and improved HUD and field of vision of the drone to now allow for better scouting and information gathering.

However, the real game changer is now Crypto's drone is thrown similar to a Mirage clone: as in to send out the drone in a straight line without "entering" it. This change to Crypto is huge as now he doesn't need to play as far back and can push with his team.

There are several weapon changes coming in Season 12, some big and some small. We've highlighted some of the major ones for you below.

In terms of the supply drop, the Volt is moving into the package as the Alternator rotates to ground loot. Sadly, the Alternator will lose the disruptor rounds hop up and return to its state prior to its inclusion in the package. The Volt on the other hand will get increased damage and mag size (17 damage and 30 mag size) as it moves to the Care Package.

A personal favorite hop up of mine returns this season: Hammerpoint rounds. The counterpart to Disruptor rounds, Hammerpoint rounds do increased damage to flesh. So, for the P2020, Mozambique and RE-45 will have more potential uses than just weapons you find when there's nothing else nearby. The exact damage increase for each weapon is as follows:

The newest addition to the various hop ups in Apex is the Kinetic Loader for the Triple Take and Peacekeeper. Replacing the Precision choke hop up for the same weapons, the Kinetic Loader gives speeds up choke time and reloads your weapon when sliding.

In a surprising new change, the Flatline and Longbow are moving into the crafter. For 30 materials, you can craft either of the weapons which also include 2 stacks of ammo (and no attachments). However, the caveat is that you can't find the weapons as ground loot anymore. The dev's made a note about the surprising change, as it was meant to help disperse some of the ground loot and not to overwhelm certain areas.

As per tradition with each season, a brand new set of fully kitted weapons are coming in and out of the rotation.

Season 12 features these new fully kitted weapons:

On the other hand, the Mastiff, 30-30 Repeater, R-301, CAR, Longbow have all been demoted and are not available as kitted weapons.

There are a tons of bug fixes and quality of life changes coming in season 12. Of the massive list, we've highlighted some notable ones:

And there you have it! Tons of brand new changes in the season 12 patch notes that are sure to revitalize the Apex games. On top of the new legend and the new game mode, season 12 is sure looking to be one of the best seasons yet. For more Apex content, stick around on Esports.gg!