Apex Legends Season 16 Patch Notes Buff Peacekeeper And Mastiff, Add Shiny Gold Shotgun Bolt

Apex Legends Season 16: Revelry is set to launch this Tuesday, but with all the upcoming tweaks to the game--from new legend classes with new abilities to new nerfs and buffs--players have been especially eager to get their hands on this season's patch notes. Thankfully, the wait is over, and the Season 16 patch notes are finally here.

In addition to the aforementioned revamped class system, developers also announced that characters like Wraith and Seer would be seeing some serious changes via a blog post featuring Season 16's patch notes. But legends aren't the only item on the menu facing some changes--shotguns are getting a never-before-seen weapon attachment.

The blog does, of course, mention the new legend classes, the upcoming launch of TDM and Mixtape mode, the introduction of the Nemesis assault rifle, the new Anniversary Collection Event (featuring Heirloom Shards as its reward), and the new firing range changes that will provide a much better experience for new players. But there's a lot of info tucked away in the patch notes that is worth unpacking. See our patch notes breakdown below for an idea of what to expect when Season 16: Revelry goes live on Valentines Day.

Weaponry

The Hemlok will enter the Supply Drop while the Rampage will return the floor loot pool. The CAR SMG and G7 Scout will also return to floor loot, with the Volt SMG and Longbow taking their place in the Replicator.

The Anvil Receiver hop-up (applicable to the R-301 and Flatline) is being removed from the loot pool, with Hammerpoint Rounds returning for the Mozambique and P2020. Assault rifles in general are having a bit of a rough go this season, with the R-301's base damage decreased from 14 to 13, and "reduced hipfire accuracy" affecting all weapons of this class. The Hemlok, however, is getting some TLC to make up for the hipfire nerf: Starting in Season 16, the Hemlok will be able to use the Boosted Loader hop-up, which allows player to reload faster when low on ammo and "overload" the magazine with nine extra rounds. Its headshot multiplier has also been increased, base weapon damage has been increased from 20 to 23, and recoil has been improved.

The Peacekeeper is also getting some love on Valentine's Day--when Revelry goes live, the Peacekeeper's projectile size will increase at close range, and it will gain access to the Tactical Stocks attachment, which improves handling and reload speed. The Peacekeeper will also gain access to another new attachment: a legendary-tier shotgun bolt. The bolt's gold-tier perk allows players to automatically reload when sliding--even if the Peacekeeper is stowed on their back and not actively in use.

Speaking of gold, Season 16's gold weapon rotation includes the following weapons: the Nemesis, the Rampage LMG, the Peacekeeper, the Wingman, and the R-99

Legends

The legends themselves have quite a few ability changes. Wraith's portal length has been doubled, but its duration has been decreased by 25%. Her speed now increases over time when creating longer portals.

Pathfinder’s passive Insider Knowledge benefits are no longer gained by scanning Survey Beacons. Instead, those passive benefits--which are now an ultimate ability charge and a 10-second reduction in ultimate cooldown--are gained by revealing Care Packages with the Skirmisher class perk, not by scanning Survey Beacons. His zipline's range has been increased by 60%, and the maximum speed when riding the zipline has been increased by 66%.

Seer is seeing some serious nerfs in Season 16. His passive Heartbeat Sensor is now more audible to nearby enemies, his tactical no longer produces full-body scans of scanned enemies, and his ultimate ability has had its duration decreased by five seconds (from 30 to 25), while its cooldown has been increased from 120 seconds to 180 seconds.

Another change to the scan meta comes in the form of Bloodhound's ability update. Bloodhound's Tracker passive now includes White Ravens, which spawn near Bloodhound when no enemies are around. They can be scanned or interacted with to make them fly in the direction of the nearest enemy, leaving behind a misty trail for Bloodhound to follow. Bloodhound's team members can see this on their maps if Bloodhound shares it with them. Using the White Raven will recover 25% of tactical and ultimate ability charges. Scanning it will fully refill Bloodhound's tactical charges.

Bloodhound's tactical can no longer see full-body scans of enemies for three seconds--instead, they'll display full-body enemy scans for one second. Additionally, Beast of the Hunt no longer increases the cooldown rate of Bloodhound's tactical, but will instead release a White Raven in the enemy's direction. Killing an enemy while Beast of the Hunt is active will also trigger a White Raven.

As for Mirage, he can now revive an ally and stay invisible for a full three seconds afterwards--this applies to the revived ally as well. His weapons now remain stowed when cloaked, and pulling them out will end the cloaking effect early. Enemies who have been bamboozled now get an alert on their screen, and the resulting marker that appears over an enemy who has been bamboozled lasts 3.5 seconds instead of 2.5. Additionally, the marker now moves with the enemy, helping Mirage keep track of enemy movement post-bamboozle.

That's the end of the biggest changes to the game, but Season 16's patch notes are some of the longest we've seen from Apex yet. You can read them in full below, or check out Respawn's developer blog.

Apex Legends Season 16: Revelry goes live on Tuesday, February 14 at 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET.

PATCH NOTES

Legendary Shotgun Bolt

• New shotgun bolt rarity tier added to floor loot and crafters
• Gold Perk: Automatically reloads rounds while sliding. Activates while equipped or stowed.

Care Package Rotation

• Hemlok Burst AR enters the Care Package
• Rampage LMG returns to the floor

Weapon Crafting Rotation

• Longbow DMR enters the crafter
• Volt SMG enters the crafter
• G7 Scout returns to the floor
• C.A.R. SMG returns to the floor

Gold Weapon Rotation

• Nemesis, Rampage, PK, Wingman, R99

Anvil Receiver Hop-Up [R-301, Flatline]

• Removed from floor loot and crafting

Hammerpoint Rounds Hop-Up [Mozambique, P2020]

• Added to floor loot and crafting
• Rarity tier increased to Legendary

C.A.R. SMG

• Reduced base ammo capacity to 19 (was 20)

R-99

• Increased damage to 12 (was 11)

Assault Rifles

• Significantly reduced hipfire accuracy

R-301

• Reduced damage to 13 (was 14)

Hemlock Burst AR [Care Package]

• Damage increased to 23 (was 20)
• Headshot Multiplier increased to 1.8 (was 1.75)
• Improved recoil
• Integrated Boosted Loader Hop-Up
• Boosted Loader: Faster reloads at low ammo that overload the magazine with 9 extra rounds

Mastiff

• Spread pattern adjusted to be tighter
• Added Tactical Stocks attachment to improve reload speed and handling
• Increased projectile size at close range

Peacekeeper

• Added Tactical Stocks attachment to improve reload speed and handling
• Increased projectile size at close range

EVA-8

• Increased projectile size at close range

Rampage LMG [Floor]

• Reverted to non-Care Package version
  • Damage reduced to 26 (was 28 in Care Package)
  • No longer auto-energizes when picking up
• Energy decays slower when not firing

LEGENDS

Seer

• Passive - Heartbeat Sensor
  • Audio from Seer’s passive is now more audible to enemy players
  • Activation is now delayed to match raise animation of weapon or unarmed
  • Lock-On indication will now only show on heartbeat cadence of target
• Tactical - Focus of Attention
  • No longer shows full body scan on scanned targets
• Ultimate: Exhibit
  • No longer reveals on initiation
  • Duration reduced from 30s to 25s
  • Cooldown increased from 120s to 180s

Bloodhound

• Passive - Tracker
  • White Ravens
    • Ethereal White Ravens will now occasionally spawn near Bloodhound when no enemies are around.
    • White Ravens can be interacted with or scanned to trigger them to fly towards the nearest enemy player
    • The White Raven will leave a misty trail behind for Bloodhound to follow, and will share this direction with their team on the map.
    • Using a White Raven will recover 25% Tactical / Ultimate charge
    • Scanning a White Raven will fully refund the Tactical Charge
• Tactical - Eye of the Allfather
  • Reduced full body scan time from 3s to 1s
  • Diamond target on scanned enemy is unchanged
• Ultimate - Beast of the Hunt
  • No longer recharges or speeds up the cooldown rate of Bloodhound’s Tactical
  • Will launch a White Raven that flies towards the nearest enemy
  • Killing an enemy while in Beast of the Hunt will also trigger a White Raven

Mirage

• Passive - Now you see me…
  • Mirage and his ally now remain cloaked after a revive for 3s
  • Weapons remain stowed while cloaked
  • Drawing your weapon will remove the cloaking effect early
• Mirage Clones
  • Bamboozles are now only triggered by bullet fire and melee
  • Enemies who are bamboozled now receive notification on their screen
  • Bamboozle icon marker now tracks the Bamboozled player’s movement
  • Bamboozle icon marker duration increased from 2.5s to 3.5s

Pathfinder

• Passive - Insider Knowledge
  • Pathfinder’s passive benefits are no longer gained by scanning Survey Beacons
  • Pathfinder’s passive benefits (Ultimate charge and 10s Ultimate Cooldown reduction) are now gained by revealing Care Packages with the Skirmisher ability
• Ultimate - Zipline Gun
  • Max Range increased by ~60%.
  • Max Speed increased by 66%.
  • Acceleration and exit speed adjustments.
  • Targeting improvements, including updated visual and audio cues.
  • Can no longer place the end station on OOB zones.

Wraith

• Ultimate - Dimensional Rift
  • Max Portal Distance has been doubled (~76m to 152m)
  • Portal Duration reduced from 60s to 45s
  • Wraith now increases speed over time when creating longer portals

Horizon

• Tactical - Gravity Lift
  • Increased weapon spread in Gravity Lift
  • Increased vertical speed of Gravity Lift by 10%

Lifeline

• Passive - Combat Revive
  • Reduced the slow penalty on Lifeline when initiating a revive
• Ultimate - Care Package
  • Decreased the drop animation speed of Care Package from 14s to 8s
  • Increased the deployment range of Care Package

RANKED - MAP ROTATION

Ranked queue will now rotate through all maps in play, 24 hours per map. The maps for the first split are:

• World's Edge
• Storm Point
• Broken Moon

LIVEAPI 2.0

Official release of version 2.0 of Live API for PC previewed during 15.1.2. The API is a built-in mechanism for listening to gameplay events and programmatically interacting with Apex Legends. This release includes:

• Support for WebSockets server connection
• Support for Protocol Buffers (protobuf) to send and receive data
• Configuration through both command line and JSON
• 12 new API requests, including
  • 2 gameplay requests: ChangeCamera and PauseToggle
  • 10 lobby requests specifically for Custom Match

More information, including technical documentation, can be found in the LiveAPI folder of the game installation.

QUALITY OF LIFE

• Added map rotation previews to the game mode selector in the lobby.
• Players can now be any team in Gun Run.
• Increased the odds of becoming Team Nessie in Gun Run.
• Team Nessie is now viewable for all teams.
• Added new indicator on HUD unit frames for the Ratings Leader in Control.
• Consumables now show a progress bar for teammates next to their unit frame on the HUD. Similar to reviving.
• Added damage to the scoreboard in Control.
• Increased the minimum distance between airdropped replicators and other airdrops.
• Map Features when accessing the Full Map now reflect currently selected Class Perk info. Additionally, the Hot Zone map feature description is removed from the Full Map while the Hot Zone is hidden from the map.
• When in Firing Range, players now regain full health and shields when they reselect their legend in the legend select menu.
• Added ability to ping for an optic even if the optic attachment slot is filled.
• Slightly increased audio for enemies attaching, riding, and detaching from Ziprails.
• Adding Credits to Items inspired and designed by Creators.

BUG FIXES

• Fix for Crypto’s drone reticle not being centered when on 16:10 resolutions.
• Fix for players not being able to emote if they were dead during the champion sequence.
• [Control] Fixed an issue where the MRB disappears if the player holding it leaves the match.
• Various UI bugs and improvements to the private match flow.
• Various bug fixes to some cosmetic items.
• Fix for the weapon camera in the Loadouts tab not resetting to the correct position when exiting a weapon from the Charms subtab.
• Fix for footer buttons in the seasonal quest not being clickable.
• Fix for the players' crosshairs being present sometimes during the champion sequence.
• The hide hints option no longer hides the waving person icon on items your teammates can use.
• Fixed a bug where if a team was empty in Gun Run the HUD would display incorrect information.
• [Emotes] fix for emotes camera sometimes passing through walls.
• Removed exploit that allowed players to remain out of bounds longer than intended.
• [Seer]Fixed an issue where Seer’s ultimate could be crushed by swinging doors.
• [Seer]Fixed an issue where Seer’ s ultimate and Crypto’s drones would block large sliding doors.
• [Seer] Fix for cases where Seer would have issues scanning Crypto.
• [Seer] Fix for when Seer's passive heartbeat sensor works through Catalyst's ult when placed on uneven surfaces.
• [Seer] Fix for cases here Seer’s tactical can get users stuck if used when they are crafting.
• [Valkyrie] Fixed bug where her animation warps in the in-flight meal emote.
• [Newcastle] Fixed bug where the Ultimate is not refunded/is not placed if a user is getting hit with Seer Tactical right when using it.
• [Crypto] Fixed an issue where Crypto’s drone would be destroyed when he’s knocked but not eliminated.
• [Crypto] Fix for bug where Crypto’s Drone scanning can block Catalyst from reinforcing doors.
• [Crypto] Fix for cases where his Ultimate stops from deploying if Crypto gets downed
• [Catalyst] Fixed bug where their Tactical makes it difficult to interact with ziplines, death boxes, and loot bins.
• Fixed bug where the player is unable to use melee attacks through Catalyst's Ultimate.
• Fixed an issue where players could be stuck after being hit by Seer’s tactical while using a crafting station.
• Fixed an issue where Seer’s move speed would be higher when in ADS while unarmed with the heartbeat sensor disabled.
• Fixed an issue where Crypto would not be scanned by Seer’s tactical while he was piloting his drone and the drone was not also hit by the tactical.
• [Vantage] Reduce the number of accidental tactical activations on controller when pulling out or putting away the ultimate with both bumpers.
• [Vantage] Increase visibility of Sniper's mark by adding on-screen prompt, similar to scans.
• [Vantage] Using tactical in areas blocked by geo, can result in the player getting launched into the air
• Fixed an issue where when Newcastle’s Ultimate was interrupted it would not correctly refund his Ultimate.
• Fixed an issue where Newcastle would continue to target allies while phased with his Ultimate.
• Fixed a rare issue were Newcastle’s tactical could get hung in the air and not deploy
• Fixed an issue with the Black Hole that allowed it to pull players through walls and around corners incorrectly.
• Fixed an issue where swapping legends in Firing Range would crash if bleeding out as Revenant.
• Fixed an issue where swapping legends in Firing Range while in Crypto’s drone would crash.
• Fixed an issue where Newcastle’s ultimate could fail to deploy on landing.
• Fixed an issue where a spectator swapping between two players being healed by DOC would crash the spectator.
• [Lifeline] Fixed ultimate cooldown appearing to need 101% charge.
• Fixed an issue where the Ultimate is ready prompt could appear while the player is still skydiving.
• Fixed bug where the previous Season rank is being shown on enemy gladiator cards.
• Reduced accidental launches on controller.
• [DX12] Fixed missing error popup on launch for unsupported hardware.
• [DX12] Fixed an issue where some emissive textures would not appear in third person.

Apex Legends is free to play on console and PC. A mobile version of the game, Apex Legends Mobile, is available to play on Android and iOS devices, but will be sunset on May 1, 2023.