Apex Legends Defiance Patch Notes: All Legend Buffs and Nerfs

Apex Legends Defiance patch notes dropped on Monday, a day before the launch of the new season. And while the community is excited for the new map changes and system adjustments, the focus is always on Legend and weapon buffs and nerfs.

The new season is bringing Mad Maggie and a few Legend changes. We're going to focus heavily on the Legend balance changes.

Apex Legends: Defiance Patch Notes: All Legend Buffs and Nerfs

To the surprise of no one, especially those that pay attention to leaks, Caustic and Crypto are the two focused Legends.

Apex Legends Defiance Patch Notes Legend Buffs

Crypto

Drone View HUD and Other Quality of Life Updates

• Added gamestate (e.g. Ring information, round timers), minimap, killfeed, team status, , and ping information to the Drone's HUD.
• Repurposed the Drone HUD's old Crypto health/shield presentation into displaying the health of the Drone itself.
• Survey Beacon markers are now displayed in-world while piloting the Drone (same as when controlling Crypto himself).

Neurolink Changes

• Increased the Neurolink detection FOV from 160 -> 240 degrees.
• Neurolink detection is now disabled while the Drone is being recalled.

Surveillance Drone Changes

Deployment of the Drone

• Pressing the Tactical button causes Crypto to send the Drone flying in a straight line in the direction of Crypto's view for a few seconds.
• If thrown to a wall (or other geo), the Drone will hit the wall and re-orient itself so that it's facing away from the wall.
• Crypto no longer immediately accesses Drone View after deploying his Drone in this way.
• Pressing and holding the [Tactical] button will launch the Drone forward in the same way, but then Crypto will immediately access Drone View.

Drone Generalizations

• Reduced Drone health from 60 -> 50.
• The HUD marker for the Drone has been tweaked to increase visibility.
• The HUD marker for the Drone is now always displayed on-screen while the Drone is deployed (instead of only when the Drone was off-screen.

While the changes aren't necessarily what the community wants, Respawn accepting Crypto needs some work is an important step. Respawn believes this should help the pick rate of Crypto without making him too powerful in higher levels.

Apex Legends Defiance Patch Notes Legend Nerfs

Caustic

Nox Gas Traps are now destroyable after detonation

• 150 HP
• Detonated traps will expire at 11 seconds (instead of 12.5)
• Gas effects linger for two seconds after barrel destruction or expiration (gas particles still linger a bit longer as they dissipate)

This has seen a lot of community feedback and Respawn has ignored it for now. But Caustic mains aren't happy and it's easy to see why.