Apex Legends Mobile Season 3 update patch notes: Ash, buffs & nerfs, map changes

Philip Trahan
apex legends mobile ash champions header

Apex Legends Mobile Season 3 is here, bringing Ash to the battle royale alongside various buffs, nerfs, and map updates. Here, we have the full patch notes.

Apex Legends Mobile has received steady updates since its launch on May 17, 2022, with many fans comparing it favorably to the main game.

While Season 2 introduced the Mobile-exclusive Legend Rhapsody to the battle royale, Season 3 is set to bring back a familiar face: the simulacrum Ash.

Additionally, Season 3’s update is bringing a brand new upgradeable melee weapon for Fade, brand new events, map updates, and much more on October 19, 2022.

What’s changing in Apex Legends Mobile Season 3?

Ash arrives

Arguably the biggest change coming in Season 3 is the introduction of Ash. While Ash has been a part of the main version of Apex Legends since Season 11, she’s brand new to Apex Legends Mobile.

While her Passive, Tactical, and Ultimate abilities are the same as the main game, Ash has brand new Legend Perks exclusive to Mobile.

Ash’s Perks enhance various aspects of her kit. For example, “Spoils of War” and “Enhanced Hunting” buff her Passive ability to gather info from Death Boxes, while perks like “Instigator’s Precision” and “Enduring Trap” buff her Tactical Arc Snare.

Legend buffs and nerfs

This update is also bringing various Legend buffs and nerfs. Bloodhound received shortened start-up animations to their Tactical and Ultimate while Caustic received buffs to his Nox Gas Damage, Tactical Trap deployment time, and Ultimate cooldown.

apex legends mobile ash
Apex Legends Mobile Season 3 introduces Ash alongside a brand new Battle Pass and much more.

Finally, Fade’s Tactical ability’s cooldown was increased from 20 seconds to 25, as “Fade players face little to no consequences for bad engagements” according to Respawn.

Map changes

As for map changes, Season 3’s map rotation will be updated. Notably, World’s Edge and Kings Canyon will not actively rotate every hour in both Normal and Ranked Battle Royale modes.

Kings Canyon is also getting a new Town Takeover event called Coliseum, which can be found floating about the Shattered Forest.

According to Respawn, “While in the Coliseum, activate the control panel to initiate a duel, notifying the whole lobby that you are accepting all challengers. The more kills you accrue while in the Coliseum, the better the loot.”

The full patch notes also detail various bug fixes, the new Battle Pass, and a special upgradeable melee weapon for Fade.

Apex Legends Mobile Season 3 update: Full patch notes

Champions goes live on October 19th (0:00 UTC). Champions, let’s just jump into it!

NEW LEGEND: ASH

Born in the unforgiving Frontier, Dr. Ashleigh Reid – still very much a human – learned early that the only person who was going to look out for her was herself. One day, she was hired by a mercenary group for a delicate job: steal an experimental fuel source being researched in the Outlands city of Olympus. It was the perfect job for Reid, who infiltrated and psychologically manipulated the researchers for years. When the lab self-destructed, she died.

And didn’t.

Her brain was put in a simulacrum shell, but in the process, she lost years of memories, and the trauma of her “death” caused her personality to fracture. Ash is the embodiment of the cold, perfectionistic, power-hungry side of Dr. Reid. But behind that confident facade, something sinister is simmering. After an encounter with Horizon that overrides Ash’s simulacrum programming, the framework that kept the vulnerable–yet intelligent–Leigh personality dormant has begun to crack. Ash joins the Games to prove she has transcended all humanity. Leigh’s determined to prove her wrong.

Passive: ​​Marked For Death

Ash’s map shows the location of recent deathboxes and marks surviving attackers.

Tactical: Arc Snare

Throw a spinning snare that damages and tethers the first enemy that gets too close.

Ultimate: Phase Breach

Tear open a one-way portal to a targeted location.

Legend Perks:

Spoils of War – Death box icons appear on the map and as the color of the highest tier loot inside.

Enhanced Hunting – After 3 death box extractions, your Data Knife reveals more information. After 6, periodically see the killer’s team on your map.

Red-Handed Reveal – The first time an enemy uses a scanned death box, their location will be pinged.

Instigator’s Precision – You can adjust the throw trajectory of Arc Snare, but the throw speed is reduced.

Enduring Trap – Arc Snare persists after being thrown but can be destroyed.

Shadow Step – Phase Breach can be reactivated within 7 seconds of its first use, but the ability’s distance is halved.

Battle Adaptation – Using your Finisher adds 100 points to your EVO Shield.

Deadly Momentum – Using your Finisher reduces your Ultimate’s cooldown by 30%.

Mag Subscription – Using your Finisher refills the ammo of your active weapon and increases reloading speed for 8s.

SIGNATURE WEAPON: CONSTELLATION

Introducing the Mobile-first upgradeable melee weapon for Fade!

The Constellation was once taken from the Huamaní family. Now back in Fade’s hands, he’s bringing these four deadly blades to the battlefield.

Fade’s Signature Weapon has 6 levels with 2 deadly forms. The base weapon can be unlocked by playing select missions to earn Signature Merits or by buying Signature Tributes during special events. Stay on the lookout for these opportunities!

In addition, you can customize the Constellation with visual effects, textures, and more!

Get ready to slice through the competition in style, Legends.

NEW EVENTS:

Second Shot Blitz:

Second Shot Blitz is a new limited Battle Royale mode that will be active during the season. While Second Shot Blitz is active, everyone will gain the chance to respawn automatically. We hope you enjoy this fast paced and thrilling BR experience!

Halloween Event:

Our Spooky October Halloween event is coming! Be on the lookout for spooky additions to the Kings Canyon and World’s Edge maps as well as frighteningly cool cosmetic rewards for your favorite legends and weapons! 

Faction Missions:

The three commissioners of the Apex Games were once leaders of mercenary groups. While these mercenary groups have technically been disbanded and merged into the Syndicate, these former leaders still hold influence with their former followers.

Pledge your allegiance to one of the big three factions vying for power in the Apex Games. Completing missions on behalf of these factions will provide seasonal currency for you to redeem in the seasonal shop!

MAP UPDATES:

Map Rotation:

World’s Edge and Kings Canyon will now actively rotate for Normal and Ranked Battle Royale. The maps will rotate every hour.

Kings Canyon

New Town Takeover: Coliseum

Prepare to Rumble, friends! – The Coliseum has appeared in Kings Canyon.

Coliseum can be found floating above the Shattered Forest. You can enter the Coliseum by skydiving or by zipline. 

While in the Coliseum, activate the control panel to initiate a duel, notifying the whole lobby that you are accepting all challengers. The more kills you accrue while in the Coliseum, the better the loot!

TDM & Gun Game Map Rotation:

Thermal Station, Artillery, Pythas Block 0

NEW BATTLE PASS

The Champions Battle Pass is coming with some amazing cosmetics! Unlock this battle pass to show your enemies your warrior spirit inside and out!

RANKED UPDATES:

Perks in Ranked:

The diversity that Legends bring to the Apex Games is a core ethos of what Apex Legends Mobile is built on. To enhance that experience and create a deeper, more distinct competitive environment; we are excited to announce that we will be enabling perks in Ranked for Season 3 and beyond. 

Rest assured that we will be carefully watching for any balancing needs, what metas are forming and their impact on the game, and – as always – we will be listening intently to player feedback over the course of the season and future seasons.

Ranked Entry Costs:

 VIVIIIIII
Iron00000
Bronze036912
Silver1518212427
Gold3033363942
Platinum4548525660
Diamond6468727680
Master85
Predator90

Ranked Rewards:

Rewards for Ranked are now accessible directly from the Rank page. Additionally, prestigious rewards for Predator, Masters, and Diamond players – specifically the Dive Trail, Profile Frame, and Badge – will now be rewarded based on Ranking at the end of the Ranked Season.

WEAPON POOL CHANGES:

Airdrop Weapon Pool changes:

Added: Prowler, L-STAR

Removed: EVA-8, Devotion LMG.

Fully Kitted Weapons:

Added: Rampage, R-301, VOLT SMG, Sentinel, RE-45

Removed: Havoc, Prowler, Charge Rifle, Mastiff

Weapon Balancing:

  • Devotion LMG basic damage reduced from 17 to 16. Mag size adjusted to 40/44/48/52.
  • EVA-8 single pellet damage reduced from 7 to 6.
  • L-STAR LMG basic damage increased from 18 to 19. Overheat ammo adjusted to 34, reserve ammo capacity adjusted to 320.
  • Prowler SMG reserve ammo adjusted to 300.
  • RE-45 can now equip the Hammerpoint Rounds Hop up. Damage to non shielded targets increased from 12 to 16.
  • Selectfire hop up removed from Battle Royal ground loot pool. Selectfire has been moved to Airdrop prowler SMG.
  • Equipping a level 4 shield will cause the Sentinel to only need one shield battery to recharge.

TDM Weapon Pool Changes:

Added: Rampage, EVA-8, Devotion LMG

Removed: Prowler, L-STAR

LEGEND BALANCING

Bloodhound

Tactical Ability: 

  • Cast animation time reduced from 2s to 1.5s.
  • Cast animation while Bloodhound’s ultimate is active reduced from 1s to 0.75s.

Ultimate Ability:

  • Cast animation is reduced from 1.5s to 1.05s.

Dev Note: In order to better identify Bloodhound as a faster paced fight initiator, we shortened the cast times of Bloodhound’s tactical and ultimate ability to allow players to feel more proactive and reactive when playing Bloodhound.

Caustic

Nox Gas Damage:

  • Gas base damage increased from 5 to 8.

Tactical Ability:

  • Gas Trap deployment time reduced from 2s to 1s.
  • Gas Traps can now be destroyed after they have been triggered. Traps have 150 health and the gas effect will remain for 2s after the trap is destroyed.

Ultimate Ability:

  • Cooldown reduced from 180s to 120s.

Dev Note: Currently, Caustic is underperforming. His kit excels through fortifying positions and disrupting enemy teams but is struggling to be successful in accomplishing that during the game’s current meta. With these changes we hope to make Caustic more flexible in an intense combat environment. We will continue to monitor Caustic’s performance to make sure we keep him in line with other Legends.

Fade

Tactical Ability: 

  • Cooldown increased from 20s to 25s.

Dev NoteFade is both very strong and very popular at the moment. Upon further review of player data, it was determined that with the current cooldown of his Tactical Ability, Fade players face little to no consequences for bad engagements. The goal of increasing the cooldown time is to not only make players think more critically about using this part of Fade’s kit but also allow for enemy teams to better capitalize on a bad engagement.

Legend Perk Balancing:

Gibraltar: 

Quick Decision: ADS and gun shield open speed increase has been reduced from 50% to 33%

Parasite: Health Regeneration effect reduced from 50 to 30.

Lifeline:

Recovery Room: Shield Bonus duration has been reduced from 3s to 1.5s.

Wraith:

Phase Haste: Boost Effect has been reduced by 10%. Max speed boost has been reduced from 75% to 65%.

Caustic:

Airborne Contaminant: Deployment time reduced from 5s to 2.5s

Mirage:

Deadly Momentum: Finisher recharging ult by 50% has been reduced to 30%.

Octane:

¡Vámonos!: Duration reduced from 3s to 2s, speed boost effect reduced from 40% to 30%.

Fade:

Lingering Shadow & Phase Echo: Slipstream duration increased from 8s to 12s.

Loba:

Secret Compartment: Randomly dropped attachment will now be at least Purple quality.

REPLICATOR CHANGES:

  • New: All crafting materials claimed by players are now shared across the squad.
  • The Selectfire hop up has been replaced by Dual Shell.
  • Added 2 new ways to check the crafting rotation info:
    • Tap and maximize the minimap to view the crafting list.
    • Tap “Mark all replication locations” while in the drop ship to view the crafting list.

BUG FIXES AND OPTIMIZATION

Club Store:

  • Optimized the in game chat system experience for clubs. Direct message history will now be kept and the translating feature is now more reliable.

In Game Support:

  • Players will now be able to contact support directly in game via the new Helpshift integration!

Gameplay:

  • Reduced the overall mobility for jump firing, reduced continuous jump height which will cause players to be unable to slide after consecutively jumping.
  • Fixed an issue that was affecting the projectile spread of select weapons while crouching or strafing
  • Fixed an issue that caused the Chrome Equalizer Spitfire skin ironsights to persist while ADS.

Controller: 

  • Full optimization pass to controllers. Increased button customization options and controller steering axis.
  • Fixed several issues that affected the responsiveness of controllers.
  • Fixed an issue where icons were not localized correctly.
  • Optimized the feel of skydiving on controller.
  • Fixed an issue where switching between deathboxes would cause your cursor to not be visible.
  • Fixed an issue where Lifeline’s revive could not be canceled once initiated.
  • Optimized controller use on Android devices.

Legends:

  • Fixed an issue that would cause lag when using Gibraltar’s Dome Shield.
  • Fixed an issue where Arc Stars would occasionally go through Gibraltar’s Dome Shield.
  • Fixed an issue where Loba could enter terrain with her Tactical Ability.
  • Fixed an issue where heat shields could be placed on Crypto’s surveillance drone.
  • Fixed an issue that would sometimes cause Caustic’s Gas Traps to become temporarily invisible.
  • Fixed an issue that allowed Caustic to hide his barrels.
  • Fixed an issue where Caustic’s Ult VFX would remain on the screen of affected players after the duration ended.
  • Fixed an issue that would cause Bloodhound’s tactical cast time to be extended while in Ultimate form. 
  • Fixed an issue that caused Crypto to sometimes clip through geo while piloting his drone near its max range.
  • Rhapsody’s ultimate ability release method can now be correctly toggled between classic and quick.
  • Optimized Caustic Gas Trap deployment screen swipe sensitivity.

Misc.

  • Optimized the charm loadout display.
  • Added adjustment options for ping icon size and transparency.
  • Optimized VFX while under fire.
  • Optimized ADS lag for long range scopes.
  • Optimized the look of muzzle flash while ADSing with long range scopes.
  • Optimized the Skydiving experience to improve smoothness.
  • The break off button is now adjustable in the settings menu.
  • Fixed an issue that was causing Mirages “Bamboozles” tracker to be inaccurate.

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About The Author

Philip is a Staff Writer at Dexerto based in Louisiana, with expertise in Pokemon, Apex Legends, and general gaming industry news. His first job in the games industry was as a reviewer with NintendoEverything.com while attending college. After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Communication focusing on Multimedia Journalism, he worked with GameRant.com for nearly two years before joining Dexerto. When he's not writing he's usually tearing through some 80+ hour JRPG. You can contact him at philip.trahan@dexerto.com.