Apex Legends has a ton of significant changes in Season 8: Mayhem as Respawn have updated several characters with new buffs and nerfs to Wraith, Octane, Mirage, and a lot more.
Respawn have been ramping up to the new chapter of Apex for a long time, and it’s finally culminated into the new character Fuse along with a packed Battle Pass for people to sift through as we jump into the next season.
In addition to the changes implemented to several of the weapons in the game, the developers have made tweaks to a good number of characters as well – eight to be exact – all the details of which can be found below.
Apex Legends Season 8 character nerfs and buffs
Wraith
Wraith has experienced the most success throughout the life of Apex, but she does see some changes to her hitbox in Season 8. Respawn is taking some inspiration from Pathfinder’s Season 7 adjustments to help balance the character even further.
Wraith’s hitbox is now slightly bigger than before, but it’ll still “stay true to her model.” She will retain the Low Profile passive, with most of the changes coming to body and leg hitbox dimensions.
“The fact remains that her win rate continues to be at the very top as it has since day one,” Respawn wrote. “With Season 7 hitbox adjustments to Pathfinder, we were able to control his power without nerfing his kit. We hope to do the same with Wraith.”
Rampart
From the best to the worst, Rampart hasn’t been doing so well in Apex, according to the devs. The devs are going to increase Sheila’s range of motion from 120° to 180° and bump up her Amped Cover’s health from 1 health point to 45.
Respawn said that they’re going to be “keeping a careful eye on this one,” as it pertains to the reactive power of her wall, but something needed to be done to give Rampart more prominence in the game.
Horizon
While Wraith has historically been the most picked/winningest Legend in the game, Horizon debuted right at the top next to her in Season 7.
Respawn sees this as healthy competition, but are giving a slight nerf to her Gravity Lift that will increase the effective cooldown from 21s to 25s (15s cooldown timer will now start when the Gravity Lift disappears).
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The devs don’t want to completely gut Horizon’s power, though, so they’re going to be monitoring how these changes affect her performance in the game.
Octane
The job just got a lot easier for Octane players who’ve been trying to master the ‘super jump’ with the Launch Pad since Respawn redid the ultimate’s mechanics to include a consistent way of performing the trick.
- Hitting the jump pad from a standing position will launch players along a high arc (the speed and trajectory of the old super-jump).
- From a crouched position, players will launch along a low arc, meaning they’ll fly lower but farther in the horizontal direction.
This gives Apex players a more straightforward avenue to get the different jumps off, opening the tactical possibilities for everybody, not just those who’ve practiced a lot with this character.
Caustic
A quality of life change hit Caustic’s Nox Gas in Season 8 now that Respawn are going to clear up any residual fumes on the battlefield once he dies: “All gas now dissipates as soon as Caustic’s team is eliminated.”
This means there’s going to be a new target on Caustic’s back since it gives teams an active incentive to eliminate him first in a fight.
Crypto
Not much has changed with Crypto this time around, but players can no longer stick arc stars to his Surveillance Drone, negating the bomb-delivery service that people have been slightly abusing since it was discovered.
Loba
Loba’s passive ‘Eye for Quality,’ and by extension her Black Market Boutique, can now take a peek inside unopened Care Packages. The devs have expanded the High Society Thief’s ability to steal the Arena’s loot with the change, making her haul a bit more valuable to team comps.
Mirage
Mirage’s decoys will officially have footsteps in Apex Legends. Previously this change was announced in the Fight Night patch notes, though the studio admitted the notification went out early and should have been saved for Season 8.
Those are the complete changes coming to Apex Legends Season 8 update once the patch officially lands on Tuesday, February 2, at 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET.
