Apex Legends Season 23 patch notes: Lifeline rework, Rift weapons, major balance updates
Season 23 of Apex Legends may not have a new Legend, map or weapon, but there are still many exciting changes in the update, which Respawn has laid out in the full patch notes.
The headline for Season 23 isLifeline’s rework, as well as the buffs to support Legends generally, who are getting some love this season.
And while there isn’t a new weapon joining the loot pool as such, there are still new toys to play with, thanks to thenew Rift Relics, which drops weapons from the Titanfall and Apex universe into the games for the first time.
And, as always, there are plenty of weapon changes, hop-up adjustments, and quality-of-life improvements to see here too.
Ranked hasn’t been changed around too much this season, but there are some tweaks to entry costs, and a new transparency feature to show the ranks of players in the game when loading in.
Check out the full patch notes for Apex Legends Season 23,From The Rift, below.
Apex Legends Season 23 patch notes
NEW MODE: LAUNCH ROYALE
Step back in time to the experience that started it all: Launch Royale. This new LTM drops players into the original Apex Legends circa 2019—it’s the old school weapons, Legends, abilities, ruleset, and map that started it all. That means no EVO Armor or Ability Upgrades—just pure skill and your wits to survive the Apex Games.
If you’re craving that old-school Apex vibe or just want to see how it all started, this is the best time to jump in and see where Legends were born. Conquer Launch Royale Challenges to unlock Legends and earn rewards like Apex Packs and more. Ready up, because we’re going back to experience that first drop once again.
LIFELINE REVIVED
The original medic is now a frontline menace! Lifeline dives into action with an aggressive new kit, the ability to teleport D.O.C. to your allies, glide for unmatched mobility, and deploy an indestructible force field that amps up healing efficiency for your squad. She’s not just saving lives—she’s fighting her way to the Champions Podium.
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PASSIVE: COMBAT GLIDE
Hold JUMP mid-air to use to D.O.C. to briefly glide.
Deploy D.O.C. to revive teammates, leaving Lifeline free to defend.
TACTICAL: D.O.C. HEAL DRONE
D.O.C. heals nearby allies. D.O.C. can be assigned to follow allies once deployed.
ULTIMATE: D.O.C. HALO
Throw D.O.C. to activate Halo Shield System. All players inside use Health & Shield consumables faster.
RIFT RELICS
Rift Relics come from the unstable Rift in the sky, creating a temporary tear in reality that provides the contestants of the Apex Games with powerful weapons and a new Survival Slot item, Boost Kits, that may just give you a boost that you need. You could say they’re aptly named. Grab the EPG-1 Launcher with splash damage and rocket-jumping capabilities. Unleash exotic Hop-Ups like Lifesteal, healing with every hit and instantly refilling health and armor on headshots.
Rift Relics will appear randomly throughout each match, across many rounds. They will be easy for you and your enemies to spot, and they’ll also inform you if an enemy team has gotten there first. Destroy the Rift Relic to receive your reward, but be warned—the Ring messes with their stability.
NEW: SUPPORT CLASS PERKS
Last season we gave the Recon and Controller classes unique gameplay perks to help define their areas of expertise in the game. This season will be the season of Support!
Alongside Lifeline’s Revival, the Support Class is getting a specialization of their own through two new perks: Heal Expert and Revive Expert; empowering their reset and recovery role on the team, and continuing our efforts to bring more meaning and identity to the classes in Apex.
Support Legends will still maintain access to extended supply bins (blue bins), however, in the spirit of support, banner crafting is no longer an exclusive class perk and instead will be accessible to all Legends.
Support Class Perks
Collecting Banners will automatically take a Mobile Respawn Beacon in an ally deathbox if possible (will not replace current survival item).
SKILL DISPLAY IMPROVEMENTS
Into the Rift is bringing nostalgia, but we’re also bringing something new: skill display improvements. This new feature will display the balancing of each match and update live as each player loads into the match—giving you a true rank distribution of all players.
This is just the latest in our ongoing evaluation and improvement of Ranked. Players were looking for more insights and fairness in their matches and this is our next step.
BALANCE UPDATES
Battle Sense
Better health state awareness & feedback
Better ammo awareness & feedback
Both voice lines and on screen prompts can be toggled on/limited/off in Settings. The limited option provides a less frequent cadence for both voice lines and on screen prompts respectively.
Dev Note: We are continuing our work that was started last season around providing better awareness to the state of the game, and this time we’re tackling the health state. These additional mechanisms of feedback are incredibly helpful for some, but can be overwhelming for others. The addition of a settings menu allows for as much player customization as possible to best suit their needs when playing Apex.
Care Package
Gold Weapon Rotation
GAMEPLAY UPDATES
Crafting Stations
Loot Bin Reset
Dev Note: Even after adding the ‘recently opened Bins eject loot’ logic last release, we’re still seeing issues where players are racing to get that attachment or backpack they saw from afar in an open bin, and the loot bin slams shut denying the pick up. By adding a proximity check, now just being near a Loot Bin during Reset will ensure you may get what you want.
Mythic Bin Updates
Dev Note: Mythic Bins are a big spike in power for the opening team, but it can sometimes feel like a lottery when it appears, leaving little room for counter play. We’re now messaging to the whole game when they appear to hopefully give players the chance to make an active choice to pursue the bin should they wish. This informed choice should feel more fair than it has in the past.
AMMO & ATTACHMENTS
Dev Note: We’ve rebalanced some of the Hop-Up spawn rates to compensate for the amount of power they bring to the table cough Hammerpoints cough. We like the big power swing and how they set up their respective weapons for the end game, but the consistency at which they were available felt a little too high.
L-STAR EMG
Dev Note: The L-Star never really gained a benefit from Gold mags because it doesn’t have a traditional reload. To show it a little love, we’ve improved the Gold mags on the L-Star which should make them a more exciting find over Purple mags. In addition we’ve done some animation work to make firing feel smoother; especially when feathering the trigger, something the L-Star excels at.
Dev Note: The Longbow hasn’t been fulfilling the fantasy of a sniper lately so we’re taking a big swing at its damage to really push its relevance and carve out a place for it within the long range meta. We’ll continue to monitor this change as the season progresses.
Dev Note: Overall we’re really happy with Akimbo and the P2020s are performing well but could use a little improvement to their overall consistency to remain a competitive option.
Rampage LMG
Dev Note: The Sentinel is a beloved sniper but can be a little intimidating to run with its high risk and reward gameplay flow. We wanted to open this up a little bit and make it easier to engage with and more approachable so we’re making the energized state a little more forgiving and adding Boosted Loader to temporarily increase its magazine size.
Spitfire LMG
Dev Note: Our LMGs have seen more play since the release of the Gunshield Generators but they still haven’t quite been able to compete with our more versatile ARs. These updates continue the work to push them into being valuable primary weapons.
Peacekeeper
Triple Take
Dev Note: Both the Triple Take and the Peacekeeper are doing well in the meta but are feeling a tad sluggish compared to the competition. These adjustments should make them feel a little more responsive.
Support Legends: New Class Perks
Dev Note: Support Legends are the restorative anchors of the team. They are the legends who should help their allies reset and recover quickly. This class change aims to infuse a more classical approach to the support role, allowing these legends to inherently excel in healing and recovery.
To ensure the class felt like it had mastery over that domain, we wanted to make a strong statement about their recovery potential. As a Support, securing a revive should feel powerful. Lessening the downtime before your ally can re-engage is a potency that cannot be ignored – allowing them to fight immediately or pop a shield med to be at full strength much faster. Similarly, access to Mobile Respawn Beacons through Death Boxes and banner crafting means a lot less jumping through hoops to respawn a teammate if you’ve clutched up to recover a banner or made the long trek to a crafting station.
Support Legends often suffer from a lack of mobility or offensive utility to stay alive and properly anchor the team. Leaning into the ability to reset faster themselves makes them a strong backline force in combat and gives them more options to stay in the fight themselves. Both these changes are powerful and we’re eager to see how the more defined role alters the legend landscape in this support-focused season.
Dev Note: Conduit’s passive is great for helping to keep up with her team. Looking at her role as a Support Legend, we wanted to extend this passive to impact her recovery play potential as well. Additionally, we’ve combined Battery Collection and Battpack into a single upgrade to make it a stronger option for Conduit and other Legends (Mirage, Lifeline & Horizon).
Dev Note: Off the Grid has been a strong pick and has offered up some wild and creative new play patterns that feel on theme for Crypto, but it has also come with frustrations that have felt like unfair advantages or exploitable drone behaviors. These targeted changes aim to make it more possible to find a Crypto you know is in your immediate vicinity, and discourage ring-parking patterns without taking away the core of what the upgrade has brought to the Crypto fantasy. You’ll still have to work to spot the glitch in the matrix, but you’ll spend much less time scouring for invisible collisions with him.
Dev Note: Much of Gibraltar’s strength can come from the versatility of his dome. In From the Rift, we’re removing the hard counters and allowing Gibraltar to play off his dome more frequently and utilize the new class perks more. With the new Revive Expert perk coming online, we’ve shifted his early game upgrades to offensive choices to play off the new dome frequency or lean into the power of his Ult.
Dev Note: The new Support Class Revive Expert perk made Miracle Worker obsolete, so we’ve replaced it with another minor support-focused choice…for now.
Dev Note: With the new Revive Expert perk and the Mobile Shield simplifying to an invulnerable version, two of Newcastle’s upgrades needed to be replaced. We’ve aimed to tap into the support angle of his kit with both, giving speed to make bigger revive plays and shield healing to encourage Newcastle to leap to his ally’s aid. Additionally, Newcastle’s shields are getting beefed up this season to allow more players to feel safe behind his sources of protection regardless of skill level.
Dev Note: The new Support Class Revive Expert perk made Wattson’s “multi-class” revive perk option feel less relevant. So we’re trying out a rather potent upgrade this season and letting Wattson tap into the power of the improved revives of the Support Class. We’re keen to see how this kind of cross-class upgrade selection influences her overall power, pick rate and the identity of the new class ability in general.
Launch Royale
Take a trip back in time to experience what it was like to play Apex when it first launched. The following changes are meant to be a highlight of some of the most important differences and are not completely inclusive to all changes. Additionally, quality-of-life improvements from modern Apex Legends have been retained for a smoother experience.
Straight Shot Revival
Trios Revival
Rift Relics
The items available in Rift Relics will be updated regularly, adding an additional weapon to the lineup as well as rotating the available Boost Kits.
MAP ROTATIONS
Pubs & Ranked
Entry Cost Tuning
Ranked Skill Display Changes
Dev Note: This has been added specifically to address matchmaking and perception of unfairness in matches. We believe that this change gives our Players the right amount of information so that they feel informed about what they are up against as they enter a match.
Looking for something else?Our public Trello boardis updated weekly with the status of bugs that we can talk about ahead of the patch note drops. We also update our game status here for those of you not on other social platforms.
