The new Apex Legends Season 14 Hunted has arrived today and the accompanying update brings a long list of patch notes. The update will also bring along a new Legend, a level cap increase, and a reforged King’s Canyon map that sees the area of Skull Town rise from the ashes and increase the play area again.
Apex Legends Season 14 Hunter Update Patch Notes
When Skull Town and Thunderdome were sunk at the end of season 5, the play area in Kings Canyon was reduced. This changed how players navigated the map and prompted complaints the new area was too small. However, the area now known as Relic has been rebuilt with sand dredged from the ocean floor and a new battleground with a skull centerpiece. Other points of interest, like Hillside, Cage, and Relay have been modified to prevent teams from being able to use the areas as strongholds, while area connections have been redesigned to help with player movement.
The update also introduces new Legend Vantage, a survivalist sniper with a bullet drop indicator on her weapon and the ability to spot enemies for team mates. She also has a bat companion called Echo who can be moved to a better position before Vantage launches towards him. A level cap increase now quadruples the number of levels through which players can progress, going from 500 to 500 Tier 3 for a total of 2000 levels. This also adds 345 more Apex Packs to earn through leveling and a guaranteed Heirloom. The rest of the changes and gameplay improvements can be seen in the patch notes below:
SEASON 13 RANKED RESULTS
For Split 1 of Season 13, we have the following max tier distribution among players who played more than 10 hours of Ranked (versus Season 12’s Split 1):
- 10.80% Bronze (0%)
- 28.78% Silver (3.78%)
- 44.45% Gold (25.12%)
- 14.60% Platinum (39.52%)
- 1.25% Diamond (26.63%)
- 0.10% Master & Apex Predator (4.95%)
As of August 2nd 2022, we have the following max tier distribution among players in Split 2 who played more than 10 hours of Ranked (versus Season 12’s Split 2):
- 2.22% Bronze (0.01%)
- 15.22% Silver (4.28%)
- 41.50% Gold (25.48%)
- 32.57% Platinum (42.80%)
- 8.05% Diamond (23.56%)
- 0.45% Master & Apex Predator (3.87%)
14.0 Ranked Changes
- Entry Cost: +5 to all.
- Kill RP: Removed diminishing returns on eliminations .
- Rank Reset: No change. Resuming ranked reset of 6 divisions.
BALANCE UPDATES
Laser Sights
- New attachment to replace barrels for SMGs and Pistols.
- Reduced hipfire spread.
Crate Rotation
- G7 Scout returns to the floor.
- Volt SMG returns to the floor.
- Bocek Compound Bow enters the crate.
- Rampage LMG enters the crate.
Crafting Rotation
- Wingman returns to the floor.
- CAR SMG returns to the floor.
- Devotion LMG enters the crafter.
- RE-45 + Hammerpoint combo enters the crafter.
Gold Weapon Rotation
- Longbow DMR, G7 Scout, Mozambique, R-99, Hemlok
SMGs
- Base hipfire spread increased.
Assault Rifles
- Base hipfire spread increased.
EVA-8
- Recoil improvements.
- Now takes stocks.
- Removed 1 pellet from blast pattern.
- Fire rate increased to 2.3 from 2.0.
- Pellet damage increased to 7 from 6.
- Bolt rate of fire bonuses increased.
- White: 1.1 to 1.1.
- Blue: 1.15 to 1.2.
- Purple: 1.2 to 1.3.
Bocek Compound Bow
- Damage at full draw increased to 70 from 60.
- Tempo draw speed increased to 0.38 from 0.32.
- Shattercaps pellet damage increased to 12 from 11.
- Fired arrows can no longer be collected.
- Arrows spawns have been removed from the floor.
Rampage LMG
- Damage increased to 28 from 26.
- Rampage comes with a Thermite Grenade.
Volt SMG
- Damage reduced to 15 from 17.
CAR SMG
- No longer takes barrel attachments.
G7 Scout
- Damage reduced to 34 from 36.
- Headshot multiplier reduced to 1.75 from 2.0.
- Double Tap hop-up burst fire delay increased to 0.4 from 0.375.
LSTAR
- Increased projectile speed.
- Increased number of shots before overheat at base to 24 from 20.
- Removed bright red flash when hitting non-armored targets.
RE-45
- Increased ironsight FOV to 70 to be consistent with other pistols.
- Increased strafe speed by 5% to be consistent with other pistols.
Wingman
- Wingman now uses sniper ammo and magazines.
Sniper Ammo
- Sniper ammo inventory stack increased to 28 from 24.
- Sniper ammo boxes now contain 14 rounds instead of 12.
Spitfire
- Recoil adjustments to increase vertical barrel climb.
- Spitfire now uses light ammo and magazines.
30-30 Repeater
- Dual Loader has been worked into the base 30-30 Repeater.
- Now takes Skullpiercer Rifling.
Mastiff
- Projectile growth reduced.
- Base fire rate reduced to 1.1 from 1.2.
- Dual Loader removed.
Sentinel
- Deadeye’s Tempo has been worked into the base Sentinel.
Hop-Ups
- Double Tap
- Adds burst fire mode to EVA-8 and G7 Scout.
- Skullpiercer
- 35% headshot damage increase on Longbow, Wingman and 30-30 Repeater.
- Removed Deadeye’s Tempo & Shatter Caps from floor loot.
- Boosted Loader has been reduced to Epic quality from Legendary.
Backpack Gold Perk
- New Perk: Deep Pockets.
- Deep Pockets: Large medical supplies stacks higher in your inventory.
- Batteries and Medkits now stack to 3 in inventory.
- Phoenix Kits now stack to 2 in inventory.
Knockdown Shield Gold Perk
- New Perk: Guardian Angel (Previous Backpack Perk).
- Self Revive removed from the game.
Arc Star
- Reduced stick damage on armor to 10 from 40.
- Remove aim slow on stick, remains on detonation.
- Detonation damage increased to 75 from 70.
Explosive Holds
- Added Blue attachments to possible spawns.
- Added Laser Sights to the pool.
- Reduced spawn rate of gold magazines.
LEGENDS
Valk
- VTOL Jets
- Acceleration on activation decreased by about 8%.
- Fuel consumption on activation increased by 33%.
- Aerial boosting & strafing take a 20% debuff when hit by slowing effects.
- Added a third orange state to the fuel meter UI between green (>60%) and red (<30%).
- Missile Swarm
- Aim/turn slow removed.
- Move slow duration decreased from 2.5s -> 2.0s.
- Reducing the explosion radius from 175 -> 125.
- Skyward Dive
- Height reduction of 25%.
- Launch time reduced from 5.5s -> 5.0s. Coupled with the height reduction, players in Valk ult now travel upward at a slightly slower speed.
Horizon
- Black Hole: Adjustments to N.E.W.T’s hitbox to make destroying it more reliable.
- Black Hole: N.E.W.T. takes 50% more damage from explosives.
Wattson
- Improvements to Perimeter Security placement system.
Newcastle
- Retrieve the Wounded:
- Increased move speed during revive by 25%.
- Reduced turn slow while reviving by 50%.
- Increased White Knockdown shield health from 150 -> 200.
- Increase Blue Knockdown shield health from 250 -> 300.
- Mobile Shield:
- Increased hp from 350 -> 500
- Doubled max movement speed.
- Castle Wall:
- Added turn slow to electrical barrier effects and increased the severity of the slow effect to movement.
Mad Maggie
- Riot Drill:
- Projectile Launch Speed doubled.
- Wrecking Ball:
- Will travel twice as far while dropping the same amount of magnets.
- Duration increased from 5 sec → 10 sec.
- Magnet Spawn delay increased from 0.4 sec → 0.8 sec.
- Wrecking Ball will deal damage to enemy placeable objects: Black Market, Castle Walls, Exhibit, Death Totem, Mobile Shield, Black Hole, Amped Cover, and Gas Barrels. It will also destroy Gibraltar’s Dome of Protection.
- Fixed Wrecking Ball not blinding and slowing enemies.
Rampart
- Now ignores friendly collision on Amped Cover placement (i.e. placing walls around teammates will feel more smooth).
Caustic
- Fixed gas ramping bug where transitioning from friendly to enemy gas would initially damage for more than intended.
Mirage
- Mirage Decoys will now be scanned by Valk when skydiving.
- Mirage Decoys will now be picked up by Seer’s Heart Seeker.
- Fixed a bug where Mirage Decoys were picked up by Seer’s Exhibit as AI and not players.
Revenant
- Death Totem will now show a placement preview when activated instead of placing immediately.
CRAFTING UPDATE
- Team-Use Harvesters: When any player interacts with a Materials Harvester, all players in their team will be given the Materials..
- Removed Shatter Rounds from crafting.
- Removed Hammerpoints from base crafting and added to RE-45 Weapon Craft.
- Heavy, Energy, and Sniper mags price increased from to 35 from 25.
- Laser Sight added to crafting: 25 materials.
- Stock and Barrel price reduced to 25 from 35.
- Added Skullpiercer Rifling Hop-Up to crafting.
- Added Double Tap Trigger Hop-Up to crafting.
- Added Kinetic Feeder Hop-Up to crafting.
- Increased Shotgun Bolt price from to 30 from 25.
- Reduced 2-4x ACOG optic price to 30 from 35.
MAPS
The maps rotating for public matches during Hunted are; Kings Canyon, World’s Edge, and Storm Point.
ALL BATTLE ROYALE MAPS
- Replicators and Crafting Materials have been rebalanced across the maps.
- Ring Adjustments:
- Ring 1 Damage increase from 2 to 3 hp/tick (equivalent to Ring 2)
- Ring 1 Preshrink Time decreased from 180s to 60s.
- Ring 1 Closing Time:
- Kings Canyon – 4:10 -> 4:32
- World’s Edge – 3:42 -> 4:32
- Storm Point – 4:15 -> 4:35
- Olympus – 4:10 -> 4:32
WORLD’S EDGE
- Removed some frustrating final rings at Staging that were causing heal offs.
- Fragment East Loot buffed from Low Tier to Medium. .
- Added OOB to west rocks at Lava Siphon.
QUALITY OF LIFE
- New Mode/Map name UI element on load screen and start flow.
- “Winning” and “Champion” tags added to the scoreboard.
- Added ability to use “tap” interact prompts when they conflict with “hold” (e.g. reloading near downed teammates is now a lot more reliable on controller).
- Added flourish to the crafting materials in the top right of the HUD when they increase.
- Added a flourish to items if they become craftable while in the crafting station UI.
- Added accessibility switch for turning on and off TTS (Text-to-speech), defaulting to what your console or system has it set to (where available)
- When dropping from the dropship, the location of the POI player lands in is now displayed.
BUG FIXES
- Hipfire reticles now change size based on the FoV
- Fixed bug where canceling a Lifeline revive would cancel it for other teammates also being revived by Lifeline.
- Fixed bug where players could not deal melee damage to Caustic Gas Barrels or Octanes Jump Pads.
- Fix for issue where the buy menu would close each time a teammate completes a purchase/and or closes the buy menu.
- Crypto’s Ultimate now destroys Wattson’s Pylon.
- Fix for issue where Crypto’s heirloom animation audio would play globally when using a survey beacon.
- Fix for issue where players could sometimes get stuck while crouched between a Replicator and Black Market after crafting.
- Fixed bug where players could not unlock the “Fully Kitted” badge.
- Fix for issue for Legends losing functionality like meleeing, using an ability, etc, while mantling.
- Fix for bug where players could not switch ammo types for the C.A.R. SMG.
- Newcastle – fix for issue where Newcastle could get stuck in their Ultimate animation while riding a zipline.
- Newcastle – fixed bug where throwables placed on a Mobile Shield would start floating after the Mobile Shield disappears.
- Newcastle – fix for cases where players wouldn’t take damage from ordnance or activate Caustic’s barrels when positioned between a Tactical Shield and its drone.
- Newcastle – fix for bug where throwable abilities placed on a Mobile Shield could float away after the Mobile Shield disappears.
- Wraith – fix for bug where Wraith would still take damage in the Ring while phasing.
- Fix for a reload bug with the Mastiff and 30-30 Repeater where players could not ADS until reloading animation was finished.
- Fixed bug where Crypto’s melee animations wouldn’t show his heirloom while in third person.
- Vending Machines in Big Maude now have buyer protection.
- Fixed an issue that could cause some stuttering and framerate spikes on consoles, especially PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.
- Fix for bug where the Dropship would sometimes spawn players outside the ship.
- Fixed a bug where Heat Shields would disappear when placed under a respawn beacon, or mobile respawn beacon, and then the beacon was used.
- Fixed a bug where Pathfinder’s zipline would be destroyed if placed on top of a respawn beacon and then the beacon was used.
- Fix for cases when a Heat Shield could disappear when set under a Respawn Beacon that is activated.
- Fix for a bug where Mirage decoys would not show up on scan for a few Legends.
In other news, a nerf to Horizon’s Black Hole Ultimate move has Apex Legends players in uproar. Elsewhere, the new Hunter Battle Pass has more than 100 new rewards to earn including the Fortune Hunter Reactive Triple Take.
