Apex Legends Season 12 is guaranteed to bring a variety of exciting new content for players, but what Legend changes does Respawn have planned for the major update?
With Apex Legends Season 12 set to introduce the 20th character to the battle royale, it’s more essential than ever that Respawn keeps all of the Legends on the roster balanced and viable.
However, when making major changes or reworking a character’s ability, the devs have to make sure they don’t lose the Legend’s original identity in the process. This makes balancing a difficult task that’s often more complicated than just tweaking a few stats or damage numbers.
Heading into Season 12, Respawn devs have already alluded to a set of changes that are in the works, so here’s what buffs and nerfs you can expect to see in the upcoming season.
Season 12 buffs & nerfs
Note: Not all of these changes are confirmed yet, and we will have to wait for the full patch notes to lock them in. This is just what Respawn has said publicly. Some changes may release later in Season 12, such as in the mid-season update.
Crypto: Buff
In Season 11, Crypto is currently the least popular Legend with a pick rate of 1.6%, as a result of this, a lot of players are calling for a buff to the Surveillance Expert.
Luckily, in a recent dev panel ahead of Season 12, Respawn has confirmed the hacker will be receiving a buff in Defiance.
Instead of having to remain stationary to get any use out of his Tactical, Crypto will be able to throw his drone out to gain information without settling down in a single spot.
Not only that, if he does decide to take flight with his drone, he’s now given more data including his own health and game status. So, while this won’t make Crypto the best Legend in the game, it will patch up one of his biggest weaknesses,
Pathfinder: Passive rework
Pathfinder’s Passive has been a huge discussion in the community for multiple seasons, with a lot of players calling for Respawn to rework it completely.
Well. in an interview with Dexerto’s own Kijanna Henry, Live Balance Designer John Larson revealed that the team was open to reworking Pathfinder’s Passive, but they don’t want to give him a “straight-up buff”.
As a result, although it’s not a priority for Respawn at moment with the Forward Scout being so popular, it’s possible they make changes to his Passive later on in Season 12.
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Gibraltar: Nerf/Changes
In the same interview with John Larson, he also commented on Gibraltar’s current status as a “must pick” character in competitive and at the game’s highest level of play.
Despite only having a 3.7% pick rate, his abilities make him invaluable to a well-coordinated squad, so Respawn is looking to make small changes to his shield that make it more fun to use but slightly less powerful.
“It’s tough though, because a lot of the ideas I see are things like, give bubble health… I don’t like how that would affect Gibby, and that’s not really how I’d nerf the bubble, that would be way too big of a nerf.”
It’s obvious the devs are still evaluating the best way to balance Gibraltar’s bubble heading into Season 12 without ruining his pick rate, but at least we know changes are definitely in the pipeline.
Caustic: Nerf
While only being a minor nerf, the Toxic Trapper’s Tactical is receiving a change in Defiance. Enemies will now be able to destroy his traps while they’re active, making it a lot easier to disable the tick damage in confined areas.
With Caustic only maintaining a pick rate of 3.6%, it’s likely this is going to drop further in Season 12.
Scan meta: Changes
In the Raiders Collection Event patch, Respawn mentioned they’d be evaluating the Legends that fall into the scan or “reveal meta” and attempting to make changes to them over time.
While some of these characters like Bloodhound remain incredibly strong, others like Seer have an extremely low pick rate. It’s obvious the devs want to rectify this without disturbing the overall balance of the game.
“Seer was dialed back to a healthier spot with the balance hotfix soon after his release, however, after four months of evaluating his use in the live game, the detonation delay seems a little too sluggish…we want to improve its feel while continuing to evaluate the reveal meta as a whole.”
So, there you have it, those are all the changes Respawn employees have alluded to in the lead up to Season 12. Keep in mind, none of these buffs and nerfs have been confirmed to arrive in the upcoming season, they could arrive at a later date.
