Apex Legends Season 17 patch notes: All buffs & nerfs

Season 17 of Apex Legends is nearly here and Respawn has revealed all the changes coming to the game with the major update.

Multiple Legend, gun, and class changes are being implemented in Arsenal that are guaranteed to shake up the meta and bring new characters into the limelight.

So, without further ado, let's check out the official Season 17 patch notes and find out which guns and Legends are being buffed or nerfed.

• Find out what the Apex Legends best PC settings are in this handy guide to improve your performance in-game.

Apex Legends Season 17 patch notes

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Balance updates

Crate Rotation

• L-Star EMG enters the crate
• RE-45 returns to the floor

Weapon Crafting Rotation

• Alternator SMG enters the crafter
• Sentinel enters the crafter
• EVA-8 returns to the floor
• 30-30 Repeater returns to the floor

Gold Weapon Rotation

• Flatline, Triple Take, Spitfire, Mastiff, Volt

Loot Spawns

• Improved Vault Loot
  • Increased chances of gold loot
  • Added light mags to spawn pool
• Improved Cargo Bot Loot
  • Removed small healing items, Mobile Respawn Beacon, White Armor, White Backpack
  • Adjusted Large Healing and Heatshield spawns to allow for more desirable loot spawns
  • Removed gold weapons from purple tier Cargo Bots but increased spawn chance in gold tier

Weapons

L-Star EMG (Crate)

• Added Disruptor Rounds: 60% damage increase against shields
• Base Damage Reduced to 16 (was 17)
• Projectiles now have passthrough: 60% damage retained
• Projectile growth increased
• Improved recoil pattern
• Removed barrel
• Ammo Stockpile: 324
• Reduced VFX brightness when hitting unarmored targets

30-30 Repeater

• Projectile size increased when fully charged

Triple Take

• Projectile size increased
• Improved hipfire spread
• Tightened bullet pattern when fully choked
• Ammo per shot reduced to 1 (was 3)
• Magazines sizes adjusted to match the new ammo costs
  • Purple Mag: Increased to 10 shots (was 9)

R-99 SMG

• Removed 1 bullet from base and all magazines
  • No Magazine reduced to 19 (was 20)
  • White Magazine reduced to 21 (was 22)
  • Blue Magazine reduced to 24 (was 25)
  • Purple & Gold magazine reduced to 27 (was 28)

Charge Rifle

• Reduced shots per magazine to 3 (was 4)
• Reduced spawn rate

Legends

Catalyst

• Dark Veil
  • Scan Highlights & Diamonds are no longer visible through the Dark Veil

Mirage

• Class changed from Skirmisher to Support

Ash

• Now gets slowed to weapon sprint speed instead of weapon walk speed when targeting with her tac

Assault Class

• Smart loot gains have been adjusted to reduce skipping an upgrade tier
  • It will now be less likely to jump from White to Purple or Blue to Gold
• Optics are now given based on team rather than just Assault Legend who opens them
• Added special drop rate for Gold Optics

Skirmisher Class

• Care packages are now automatically pinged for the team on reveal.
  • This includes empty Care Packages that have already been looted by another team

Support Class

• Support Bins will now guarantee at least one Battery in one of the Secret Compartment slots
• Support Bins will now award MRBs if your ally is dead, even if you don’t have their banner card.
• Legend Banners can now be crafted by ANY player who has a Support Class Legend in their Squad

So, that's all of the changes arriving in Season 17 of Apex Legends. Buffs to the L-STAR are going to be particularly intriguing, and hopefully, the reduced magazine size of the R-99 should lower its power level to a more acceptable rate.

The Legend and class changes are guaranteed to shake up the popularity of certain characters, so make sure to check out our dedicated Apex Legends pick rates tracker.