Apex Legends Season 13 has finally arrived and there was only one legend buff in the patch, but what changes could arrive later in Saviors?
With Apex Legends Season 13 here and Newcastle finally setting foot on the Outlands, it’s more essential than ever that Respawn keeps all of the characters on the roster balanced and viable throughout Saviors.
While it’s impossible for every Legend on the roster to maintain a high pick rate, each character should have an identity and role within a squad.
If a specific Legend is struggling in the meta, Respawn is often forced to tweak their numbers or in some cases, completely rework abilities. Now Season 13 is here, let’s check out what buffs & nerfs arrived with the update and what others could be implemented later in Saviors.
Season 13 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 and leaks have indicated. Some changes may release later in Season 13, such as in the mid-season update.
Rampart: Buff
With a 1.4% pick rate in Season 12, Rampart was the most unpopular Legend in the Outlands so it makes sense that Respawn decided to buff the Amped Modder in the Saviors patch.
The changes all revolve around her Amped Cover Tactical and Ultimate Sheila, making the abilities significantly stronger by speeding up the wall’s deployment and decreasing Sheila’s spin-up time. Here’s a full breakdown of the changes below:
- Sheila spin-up time decreased from 1.75s to 1.25s
- Amped Cover deploy health increased from 45 to 120
- Amped Cover deploy time decreased from 4.25 to 3.6
While it’s unlikely Rampart is going to transform into a meta pick overnight, these buffs are going to make her significantly stronger, especially when Sheila is available.
Gibraltar: Nerf/Changes
Despite only having a 3.2% pick rate, Gibraltar’s abilities make him invaluable to a well-coordinated squad, especially in the upper echelons of Ranked and pro play.
As a result, in an interview with Kijanna Henry in Season 11, Live Balance Designer John Larson revealed that the devs are looking to make small changes to his shield that make it slightly less powerful, but also more fun to use.
“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.”
Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest updates on Esports, Gaming and more.
As it’s been an entire Season since John Larson made this statement, it’s obvious the balance team is still evaluating the best way to alter Gibraltar’s kit. Therefore, it’s possible that the changes may not be ready until Season 14 or 15, but we’ll have to wait and see.
Pathfinder: Passive Rework
While Pathfinder’s Passive remains a major discussion point within the community, the devs have made it very clear that changes to the ability are not a priority for them.
In the same interview, 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”.
So, although we can keep our fingers crossed, it’s extremely unlikely that the Forward Scout will be getting a new Passive in Season 13.
Scan meta: Changes
In the Raiders Collection Event patch back in Season 11, Respawn mentioned they’d be evaluating the Legends that fall into the scan or “reveal meta”.
While some characters in this pool are incredibly strong such as Bloodhound, others like Seer maintain a very low pick rate and are rarely seen in-game.
By the looks of it, Respawn wants to resolve this and get all of these Legends back on a level playing field. Unfortunately, the nature of their recon kits makes this extremely difficult, as balancing scan abilities is not an easy task.
As this was mentioned back in Season 11, it’s possible we’ll see some of these changes in Season 13. There’s even a possibility the devs even roll out a buff for Seer, but there’s nothing to indicate this at the moment.
So, there you have it, those are all the changes Respawn employees and leaks have alluded to that could arrive during Season 13. Keep in mind, none of these buffs and nerfs have a confirmed release date, so take them with a pinch of salt.
