In Season 13 of Apex Legends, many changes are expected to come to different Legends in order to protect the competitive balance of the game. It's important for Respawn Entertainment to monitor those characters in its game are becoming overpowered, and which have issues that make them nearly impossible to play with.
Whether it's something the developers have already alluded to, or simply intel that prominent data miners have leaked, here are the rumored Legend buffs and nerfs that could be coming to Apex Legends in Season 13.
Rampart Buff
As detailed back in April, prolific Apex Legends data miner Shrugtal discovered a raft of buffs intended for Rampart in the game's files, indicating Respawn Entertainment has big plans to resuscitate the character's pick rate. The buffs target Rampart's Amped Cover ability, giving it the following improvements:
- Initial building health increase from 40 to 120
- Upper arm shield extension delay decreased from 0.25 seconds to 0.10
- Front armor deploy duration decreased from 0.5 to 0.3
- Placement delay decreased from 0.5 to 0.3
It's unclear why Respawn has held back on these buffs, or if it intends to push them to the live game at all. If these buffs are slated for release, it's likely they'll arrive in Apex Legends Season 13, which is expected to begin in early-to-mid May.
Pathfinder Passive Rework
Players in the Apex Legends community have called for a changes to Pathfinder's passive for the past few seasons. Live Balance Designer John Larson said in an Interview with Dexerto that the team was open to reworking Pathfinderâs Passive, but they donât want to give him a âstraight-up buffâ.
Since Pathfinder is one of the most popular Legends in the game, it's unclear how soon the developers may start the rework process, but likely we can see changes sometime in Season 13.
Gibraltar Rework
Despite having just a 3.2% pick rate overall, Gibraltar posted a 100% pick rate in the NA Apex Legends Global Series (ALGS) Pro League Split 1 Playoffs, prompting players to continue to call for the Shielded Fortress to receive a nerf.
Back in Season 9, Respawn live balance designer John Larson mentioned the oddity of handling this dynamic, and that it's tough to nerf Gibby for the pros without making him even worse in the eyes of the general community.
"When we think, 'We've got to do a Gibby nerf,'" Larson said, "it's a little scary because we don't want to tank that pick rate any more for the majority of the player base. So the question is, how do we make him a sexier pick without incorporating too much power?
"I would just want to think about something that could sort of complement that, to maybe give him a bit more selfish power or just make him a little sexier."
Ultimately, Season 13 could finally be the time we some some major changes to Gibraltar's Dome of Protection.
Scan Meta Changes
In the Raiders Collection Event patch, Respawn mentioned it would be evaluating the Legends that fall into the scan or "reveal meta" and attempt 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. Itâs obvious the devs want to rectify this without disturbing the overall balance of the game, so expect Seer to have some sort of buffs in Season 13.
For more on Apex Legends, feel free to check out our April 2022 tier lists of the current Legends and weapons available in Defiance.
