Season 21 ofApex Legends, also known as ‘Upheaval’, is set to launch for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, and PC tomorrow, and we’ve finally received the full patch notes fromRespawn Entertainment.
The update will see the arrival of a brand-new Legend to the Apex Games, known as Alter. Equipped with some unique dimension-bending abilities, Alter will be Apex Legends' first new Legend since Conduit joined the Apex Games in Season 19. Alongside a new playable character, players can also expect to see the return of Solos mode,massive changes to Broken Moon, and plenty of balance adjustments to existing Legends and weapons.
Apex Legends Season 21: Release Date & Start Time For New Update
Here’s exactly when you’ll be able to jump into Apex Legends' next major content update, Season 21: Upheaval.
There’sstill one more day to gountil Season 21 launches, but for those eager to find out what’s new, we’ve got the full change log below.
Apex Legends Season 21 Patch Notes
NEW LEGEND: ALTER
Alter is an agent of chaos, primarily concerned with having fun and bringing about the end of the world. Everything is a game to her, and she is always looking for an advantage. Her kit adds an entirely unique dimension to the Apex Games, allowing her to create void passages through geo or escape through the Void to her Nexus when her enemies believe they have the upper hand. Her ability to craft unsuspecting rotations through the world will sow new levels of disorder in the ring and she can’t wait to watch the whole place burn.
For more details on our newest and most devious Legend, check out ourHighlights Blog. Read more about her abilities below.
PASSIVE: GIFT FROM THE RIFT
Can remotely interact with a deathbox to claim one item. Cannot be a shield core.
TACTICAL: VOID PASSAGE
Creates a portal passageway through a surface.
ULTIMATE: VOID NEXUS
Create a regroup point that all allies can remotely interact with to open a phase tunnel back to that location.
Level 2 Upgrade Options
Ultimate Cooldown
Reduce Ultimate cooldown by 30s.
Void Vision
Extend highlights and see health bars after exiting Tactical.
Level 3 Upgrade Options
Eternal Nexus
Void Nexus no longer times out.
Tactical Cooldown+
Reduce Tactical cooldown by 10s.
SOLOS TAKEOVER
In case you missed it, Solos will be taking over Duos from June 30, 2025 to August 19, 2025. We’ve taken aspects of some of our most popular modes and integrated them to keep things interesting: use your Battle Sense to detect nearby enemies, tear things up with pre-kitted weapons and attachments, and keep the fight going with auto heal and Second Chance mechanics.
UPHEAVAL MAP ROTATION
The following maps will be available in Pubs and Ranked for the first half of this season:
BROKEN MOON MAP UPDATE
Read the full breakdown of the Broken Moon updates in our Upheaval Highlights bloghere.
APEX ARTIFACTS
The pantheon of Apex Artifacts is expanding. Check out our dedicatedblogfor all things Apex Artifacts including lore connections and customizations.
PATCH NOTES
BALANCE UPDATES
Care Package
Gold Weapons Rotation
Guaranteed Weapons out of Loot Bins
Dev Note: Bringing knuckles to a gunfight isn’t the most engaging gameplay, so we’re improving weapon acquisition consistency in the early game. When completely unarmed, opening a bin will guarantee at least a low tier weapon.
Retrieving Banners from Death Boxes
Dev Note: It’s happening, it’s finally happening! I’ve died, you’ve died, we’ve all died trying to help our allies get back in the fight, but at least now we can’t blame grabbing the banner! Collecting banners is a positive action in Apex and for too long we’ve punished that action with a brief moment of pure helplessness. We’re putting your gun quite literally back in your hands, so get out there and save some Octanes and Wraiths!
Survival Items + Support Bins
Dev Note: Survival items have been feeling abundant lately so we’re reducing their frequency in support bins by only spawning them when players meet specific requirements (like needing a Mobile Respawn Beacon when you’ve got eliminated allies)
WEAPONS & ATTACHMENTS
30-30 Repeater
Dev Note: The 30-30 has been dominating the mid-long range for a few seasons and our recent adjustments weren’t quite enough to dethrone it. Removing the Skullpiercer should create some space for other Marksman and Sniper rifles to shine.
Charge Rifle
Dev Note: The Charge Rifle remains a high risk-reward weapon, however the risk slightly outweighs the reward. We’ve taken a smoothing pass at its recoil so it shouldn’t be quite so unwieldy when firing.
Longbow DMR
Dev Note: We’ve always considered the Longbow a great entry level sniper that’s easy to run. Over time, we’ve come to realize that being a good entry level weapon and requiring lots of attachments to come online are at odds with one another. Simplifying the Longbow’s loot chase to make it more base level approachable is intended to improve its early game effectiveness and overall consistency as a sniper.
Triple-Take
Dev Note: The Triple-Take is a strong weapon on paper, but it can feel a bit sluggish to maximize damage output. Providing quick reloads and extra ammo in the mag allows players to keep pressuring for longer with more chances to punish.
1x Digital Threat Optic
Dev Note: The Digi represents a sharp power spike in Apex—a single loot item that both counters and synergies with a specific Legend. Its power ebbs and flows with the Legend meta in a way that proves very difficult to tune. We’re giving the 1x Digi a hiatus while we investigate healthier optic based perks.
Dev Note:It’s about time, huh? Allowing Ash to fire her Arc Snare with her off-hand has been something we’ve wanted to do for a while now. Holstering and redrawing her weapon to use the snare put Ash at a disadvantage in combat and minimized a lot of her play options. Ash should now be able to be much more active with her snare and apply pressure more aggressively when successful.
Dev Note: We’re replacing a lackluster perk with something more interesting, especially for those Ballistic players that like tapping into their sling weapons in non-Ult scenarios. Three Tac related upgrades is plenty, let’s make some room for that third weapon.
Breakout: Level 2
Lasting Bullet
Smart Bullet duration in-world is tripled.
Care Package Insight
Reveal Care Packages.
Upheaval: Level 2
Sling-Shot
Sling weapon levels up with each upgrade selection.
Bloodhound
Dev Note: Beast of the Hunt has a lot of power baked into it considering perfect vision through smoke, increased move speed, and a generous extension timer. We wanted to break that down to see if players lean into a specific playstyle and ax the uninteresting hidden power of a decreased Tac cooldown. Bloodhound synergizes very well with two of the most popular Legends at the comp level, but we want to be mindful of their appeal across skill bands. We’re not doing anything big to this approachable Legend until we gauge their place at the top-end in a digi free world.
Breakout: Level 3
Taste of Blood
Gain 25 hp on knocks while Ultimate is active.
Tactical Cooldown
-5s Tac Cooldown
Upheaval: Level 3
Knocks extend Beast of the Hunt duration.
Gain 50 hp on knocks while Ultimate is active.
Dev Note:Catalyst could use some love after her Ult nerfs, and Sister Spikes needed some competition. Hopefully making Tac charges more available with a baseline cooldown buff and creating a situationally strong alternative via passive upgrade helps strike a balance. Now that the Ult upgrades are decoupled, there are some difficult choices to make at both levels that we suspect are influenced by match flow. Will you hunker down with a friendly zone pull, or will you need an upgraded wall to help with rotations?
Sister Spikes
Increase max number of active Spikes by one.
Increase Spike throw range by 40%.
Increase Ultimate length by 15m.
Resilient Veil
Increase Ultimate lifetime by 5s
Increase Ultimate length by 15m
Ferro-Door
Fully rebuild and reinforce missing doors with Passive.
Increase Ultimate lifetime by 5s.
Dev Note:Conduit maintains a healthy pick rate and has cemented herself as a strong Support pick even after her last round of nerfs. We don’t want to hit her effectiveness as a Legend that pushes the tempo in combat. This is a targeted nerf to one of her synergies that felt more exploitable than we’d like.
Battery Collection
See Battery Count of death boxes.
Bigger Jam
Jammer damage radius increased by 20%.
Stack up to 3 batteries per inventory slot.
Dev Note:Crypto’s upgrades at the start of Season 20 left a lot to be desired. We hope this suite of changes resonates with a couple different playstyle types—particularly when it comes to players’ affinity to pilot the drone more actively vs. passively.
Reduce Tactical cooldown by 10 seconds.
Reduce Ultimate cooldown by 20%.
Network Expansion
Passive & Ult range increased by 25%.
Quick Transmission
Improved drone handling.
Network Traffic
Deploying the drone calls out squads in the area.
Double drone recharge rate; gain speed boost when it explodes.
Satellite Imagery
Drone scan persists for 1.5 seconds.
Dev Note:Fuse is destruction and chaos. The goal of these changes, whether it be a new strategic-level upgrade or a simplification of a convoluted damage model, is to bring some method to the madness.
See ordnance through walls & death boxes.
Scar Tissue
Take 50% damage and ignore slow effects of The Motherlode.
Ring Master
Gain access to Ring Consoles.
Take 20 damage and ignore slow effects from The Motherlode.
Dev Note:The Castle Wall’s in-game strength rarely matches the grandeur of its presentation. More often than not, the wall serves as a grenade beacon to surrounding threats knowing that Newcastle just jumped to an ally in distress. An Ultimate-level wall should not fail as much as it does, especially on a Support Legend that’s built around turning the tide when his squad starts losing the advantage. The wall now requires more calculated counterplay and makes the Stronghold upgrade a more compelling option. We were also finding the long wind-up when tossing his Mobile Shield left him pretty vulnerable trying to get back to his weapon, so we’ve sped up the animation to let him be more reactive with it.
Dev Note:Octane has a “Plus Ultra'' tattoo, so we shouldn’t inhibit his ability to double down on his tac or ult. While Wreckless was thematically fun, Octane already has one of the best forms of explosive damage mitigation that’s less hidden: stim away.
Thick Skin
-25% Stim damage
-50% Explosive damage
Gain an extra Launch Pad charge.
Take 5 less Stim damage.
Airborne Agility
Change directions with Launch Pad double-jump.
Dev Note: While we are happy with how Breakout Ranked was received, there is some feedback that we want to address for the start of Upheaval. As always, we’ll be monitoring feedback and data for any required tuning changes during the season and any major updates required for the future.
Season Reset
Split Timing
Upheaval Ranked Rewards
WORLD SYSTEMS
QUALITY OF LIFE
Thunderdome
Nessie Note: Nessie would like to congratulate everyone on the success of finally finding Blue Nessie. Our girl is finally free! The Nessie Army is now complete!
Apex Legends
Apex Legends' Broken Moon To Receive Big Changes In Season 21, As Devs Say It’s Like A “Brand-New Map”
Major changes are coming to Broken Moon when Season 21 launches next week.
