With Season 9 dropping on May 4, we’re taking a look at all the planned buffs and nerfs that Apex Legends developers have revealed so far. All of these are subject to change, but for now, this is what we know.
It’s that time already – time to look ahead to the next season of Apex Legends, and round up all the Legend buffs and nerfs that Respawn have confirmed so far. Some big changes dropped in the Chaos Theory Collection event, but more are planned.
As the balance team is working constantly on new changes, and sometimes complete reworks, to help keep the game fresh and healthy, they’ll often update the community on social media and Reddit.
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As it can be hard to keep track of all their comments, we’re going to compile them here. This article will be updated when we hear new information about what the developers are working on.
Legend buffs and nerfs for Season 9 (so far)
It’s important to note that these aren’t all the changes that will be in the Season 9 patch – only ones confirmed or discussed by developers.
Octane
- Tactical nerf + buff
This is bound to be a controversial one, but the developers have confirmed they are planning to nerf Octane’s stim tactical, but will also give it a small buff to counteract this. The plan is to “increasing the health cost for his Stim” but balance it by “letting you stim again much sooner.”
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The current plan is to take 20 damage from Octane’s stim, rather than only 12. But the cooldown will be reduced to only 1 second, and regen speed will remain the same.
This will make using Octane’s stim a more dangerous decision, as you’ll need to balance the tradeoff between health and speed.
Lifeline
- Passive nerf
- Ultimate buff
It’s also bad news for Lifeline mains – but not all bad news, as Respawn are working on both a nerf and a buff for the medic.
The main nerf will be to Lifeline’s passive, which the developers admit can be “frustrating” to play against. But, if they’re nerfing her passive, they’re also going to buff her ultimate.
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The planned nerf is to remove Lifeline’s res shield. This is obviously a big downside, but there are some buffs too. Healing from Lifeline’s Doc drone will be 60% faster, and the care package will be given a big buff, guaranteeing an upgrade.
Whether this is enough to balance the removal of the res shield, we’ll have to wait and see.
Loba
- Bracelet buff
- Ultimate nerf
Loba mains have been begging for some improvements to her kit since she was first released, and hopefully, Season 9 will finally be that time.
Respawn have confirmed that there will be a lot of bug fixes for Loba’s bracelet in Season 9, as well as some Quality of life improvements.
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The bad news, though, is that Respawn are also planning a “light” nerf to her Black Market Boutique ultimate. We don’t know what this nerf will be exactly.
One change players might be hoping for is a quicker animation time, making Loba less vulnerable when entering/exiting the teleport.
Horizon
- “Big” nerf
Horizon has been getting cut back constantly after she released very strong. Nerfs in almost every subsequent update, to both her tactical and her ultimate, haven’t been enough to drop her out of the top spot as a Legend.
So, Respawn have plans. Although they haven’t said what exactly will be nerfed, Game Designer Daniel Klein said: “We weren’t ready with the big nerf for Horizon, so we shipped what he had first. Bigger nerf coming soon, hopefully S9, but no guarantees.”
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The plan is to reduce her mobility: “We’re just reducing how quickly you can wriggle back and forth as you go up her gravity lift to make tracking her a little easier.”
It’s possible that Horizon escapes this big nerf at the start of Season 9, but expect it at some point.
Fuse
- Buff (unknown)
It’s no secret that Fuse hasn’t launched very strong in Season 8. At first, there were concerns about the strength of his ultimate, especially when paired with other Legends, but so far, that hasn’t really panned out.
The developers revealed that Fuse has the lowest win rate across all skill levels, and so are planning a buff. However, we currently don’t know what the buff will be.
Other Legends
The following Legends aren’t confirmed to be getting a buff yet, but Respawn have said they are looking into some improvements.
Revenant
The devs have been trying to work out the best way to improve Revenant’s spot in the meta for a while now, but haven’t confirmed anything yet. One potential idea was to change his hitbox – similarly to how they adjusted Wraith and Pathfinder, but in a more positive way.
Crypto
There’s no guarantee that any buff will be coming for Crypto in Season 9, but the devs have said they’re looking into some potential improvements.
Nothing's planned right now, sorry 🙁 I do wanna give Crypto some more love, but he's in a pretty good state right now. I do think a medium size rework to how his drone works is necessary at some point, but it might be a while before we get to it
— Daniel Zenon Klein (@danielzklein) February 10, 2021
That’s all the buffs and nerfs we know of from official developer comments at this time. We’ll update this article with more as and when they are confirmed, ahead of Season 9.
Season 9 is set to start on May 4, so expect there to still be more news to come on Legend changes between now and then.
