Apex Legends’ Season 14 release time is looming and Respawn Entertainment has just shared the patch notes for this free-to-play battle royale game’s Hunted update. While we already knew a little bit about what to expect from this Apex Legends update, one thing that hasn’t been revealed until now are the exact buffs and nerfs being dished out to the game’s legends. With Apex Legends patch notes now out in the wild, it makes for interesting reading – especially if you’re a Valk, Gibraltar, and Mad Maggie main.
While many will focus on the huge and much-needed nerfs to Valk (and the surprising lack of nerfs to Seer, who grew massively in popularity throughout last season), there’s one very interesting change to Mad Maggie that could be quite significant in Season 14. To combat her pretty awful pick rate, Respawn has buffed Maggie’s Wrecking Ball ultimate – and it’s about to piss off everyone it comes up against.
Not only has Wrecking Ball’s duration been doubled and can travel twice as far as it used to, it will now deal damage (thus potentially destroy) loads of legend utility, such as Loba’s Black Market, Newcastle’s Castle Walls, and Caustic’s gas traps. The biggest shock of them all? It can now take out a Gibby dome.
Yep, Gibraltar’s Dome of Protection – which was a must-use piece of defensive utility for most teams in the recent ALGS Championships – can be taken out by a well-placed Maggie ult. These changes will definitely see Maggie’s pick rate climb in Season 14, but with just how much of nuisance she can now be, you might see her make a real dent on the meta and our Apex Legends tier list.
Elsewhere, Horizon’s ultimate has received some slight nerfs to make it easier to destroy, Newcastle’s kit got some buffs, and there were further changes to Mirage, Revenant, Caustic, Rampart, and Wattson – check them all out, as well as the dozens of other changes across the game, in the full Apex Legends patch notes.
These legend changes are not the only surprises battle royale players have to look forward to next season. Apex Legends’ Vantage has a fun passive ability perfect for snipers and Respawn Entertainment are rethinking ultimate abilities with her Sniper’s Mark too.
In addition to this, it looks like Apex Legends’ Kings Canyon rework should shake up the meta alongside a series of unusual Season 14 weapon changes. However, as the patch notes reveal, if you’re hoping for a Charge Rifle nerf in Season 14 you’re out of luck – but, this sniper is on the development team’s radar.
It might seem like Season 14 is packed with a lot of strange changes, but there’s a reason behind everything and this attention to detail is what makes Apex Legends one of the best battle royale games out there right now.
Additional reporting by Kyle Wilson.