Early Patch Notes for Apex Legends Season 22: Introducing a New Map, Significant Gameplay Updates, and More

Despite not introducing a new character, Season 22 of Apex Legends brings significant changes to various aspects of the game. This includes the addition of a new battle royale map, E-District, a new ‘Revival’ mode, and numerous updates to weapons and Legends.

It has become customary for the developers at Respawn to occasionally shift their focus from introducing a new character, which is typically the highlight of a new season, to improving other elements of Apex.

The focus is now on the new map, but veteran players will be particularly interested in the gameplay modifications, such as the incorporation of battle sense in all modes and the decrease in aim assist.

Ahead of the launch date on August 6, a comprehensive breakdown of the primary updates for Season 22 of Apex Legends has been provided. The complete patch notes will also be made available at this time.

Apex Legends Season 22 Early Patch Notes

New map: E-District

This night-time map is often referred to as “a cyberpunk playground”due to its abundance of vertical structures.

The new map brings a night-time cyberpunk vibe to Apex.

Despite being set at night, the developers have made sure that the environment is well-illuminated to enhance visibility. These include some noteworthy points of interest such as:

The Street Market is known for its intense close-quarters combat.
Neon Square: Inspired by Shibuya Center in Japan
Stadium: An old Prowler race tracking turned into a residential community
The Lotus: High-end luxury apartments

Additionally, there is a new map feature called Gravity Launcher, which functions similarly to the Grav Cannons found on Storm Point.

New mode: Revival

This new mode will have a trios takeover at the beginning of the season, and it bears a strong resemblance to Resurgence in Call of Duty: Warzone.

Upon your death, a respawn timer will commence. As long as at least one of your teammates remains alive, you will be able to respawn. Additionally, taking damage or being knocked out will decrease your respawn time. However, in the final rings, the revival option will no longer be available.

Aim Assist Nerf

The aim assist for controllers on PC in crossplay lobbies will be reduced. The developers acknowledged that the current strength of aim assist is excessive, therefore a 25% decrease will be implemented.

Weapon Changes

Included in the changes for this season are some modifications to weapons:

When using the Mozambique and P2020, having both weapons in your hands allows you to dual-wield them. Any attachment you come across will be automatically applied to both guns. With this setup, both weapons become automatic, with a faster fire rate, and aiming down sights is replaced with more precise hip fire.
LMG upgrades: Every LMG has been equipped with a front-facing shield, comparable to Gibraltar’s previous passive ability, known as the Gunshield Generator. This shield can withstand up to 40 damage and has a brief recharge period after being depleted.
The damage per pellet for the Mastiff and Peacekeeper shotguns has been increased, but they now shoot a reduced number of pellets.
Havoc: Hip fire nerf
The damage of Hemlock has been decreased from 20 to 19, while also increasing the time between bursts. Additionally, the mag size for both white and blue variants has been reduced.
Light ammo stacks increased from 60 to 72. Shotgun to 20, and Energy to 54. Magazine capacity increased for Light Amma guns, including the R310,
Removing aim flinch from weapons and abilities, but not ring damage flinch

apex legends akimbo — Respawn Entertainment

You can dual-wield the Mozambique and P2020 pistols.

Battle Sense

Now, core BR modes are incorporating battle sense by including features such as enemy health bars and highlighting enemies at close range, but not at long range.

In addition, there is a new feature called Health Sense that requires line of sight and displays the enemy’s health bar. If you do not like this feature, you can easily toggle it off.

Legend Changes

While Respawn has yet to confirm the exact buffs and nerfs to individual Legends, it is known that Rampart, Wattson, Vantage, and Crypto will all receive balancing adjustments.

They did, however, generally confirm changes to both Controller and Recon Legends:

As the controller, you will receive an additional 25 shield when inside the designated zone. Additionally, the remote pick up feature now allows for picking up charges from a distance.
The recon update includes a higher frequency of survey beacon spawns and a more concentrated reveal of nearby areas, which will occur five times but with a reduced radius. All recon legends will now have access to threat vision, a bright red highlighting feature similar to Bloodhound’s ultimate.

Looting

Deathbox layout has been rearranged
Midway through matches, all open loot bins will reset
To enhance the gameplay experience, two new bins have been introduced: Rare Gold Bins that offer higher quality loot than usual, and one Mythic Bin in every match that contains evolution materials, gold weapons, and even care package weapons. However, these bins take longer to open and are indicated on the map for players to locate.

The new Mythic Bin in Apex Legends.

Ranked & Rumble

During each season, there are two ranked rumbles where the scoring format is altered. Your ranking is determined by your top 10 matches, while regular ranked play is temporarily suspended.
There will be bigger changes for ranked in the future as we continue to fine-tune it.
A new map will be implemented in two weeks.
Developers aim for a smoother start to the season with more closely contested matches by reducing resets.
The RP value will determine the initial RP for the upcoming season.
Placement rp increased – 15 and above won’t lose RP
Small adjustments RP on kills

New Player Experience

To enhance the new player experience, we will be introducing a welcome pass and challenges in Apex that aim to teach and strengthen skills. These features will only be accessible for new accounts after shockwave, and they will also have the opportunity to unlock starter legends through completing challenges.

Bot Royale

Replacing orientation matches is a new, smaller, faster version of battle royale, where all enemies are bots. All legends are usable. Of course, you can’t complete badges or challenges (except Welcome challenges), as this is just for learning and practicing the fundamentals of Apex

So far, these are all the major updates that we are aware of for Season 22 of Apex Legends.

The complete patch notes will be released closer to the launch date and will provide specific information about the changes. However, it is evident that Respawn’s goal with this update is to address the concerns of the player base.