Apex Legends Mirage Rework Highlights Season 5 Balance Changes

Apex Legends' Mirage rework arrived Tuesday as the headlining change among many introduced in the Season 5 update.

Respawn Entertainment said the previously confirmed Mirage rework aimed to give Mirage deeper gameplay, and to give Apex Legends players new ways to better trick enemy players.

Bloodhound, Crypto, Lifeline, Caustic, Octane, Gibraltar and Pathfinder all received changes in the update. See the full list of adjustments below.

Apex Legends Season 5 Legends Changes

Mirage

Designer Note: The hope for this rework is that it gives more depth to Mirage gameplay by giving Mirage players avenues to get better at Bamboozling people.

• Tactical – Psyche Out: Pressing the character utility action button allows Mirage to gain control of his decoy. When controlling the decoy, it will mimic Mirage’s every move. Decoys now last for 60 seconds. Releasing another decoy will remove the previous decoy.
• Ultimate – Life of the Party: Mirage deploys a team of decoys that mimic his every move (think “Emergency Dance Party" from DUMMIEs Big Day). Cooldown 60 seconds.
• Passive – Now You See Me…: In addition to cloaking when downed, Mirage also cloaks while using a respawn beacon and reviving a teammate (the teammate is also cloaked). Mirage’s “You got Bamboozled” line will now trigger when you bamboozle an enemy, instead of when you release a decoy.

Bloodhound

Tactical: Eye of the Allfather

• Increased Sonar Detection from 3 seconds to 4 seconds.
• Decreased Cooldown from 35 seconds to 25 seconds.

Crypto

Tactical: Drone

• Crypto can now ping banners, while in drone, to warn teammates of nearby squads.

Lifeline

• Increased Lifeline bin ratio to 20%
• Removed Knockdown Shields from Secret Compartment loot pool

Caustic

Designer note: This is something that is a bit of an experiment. We will be keeping an eye out to make sure this change doesn’t cause any degenerate player behavior.

• Friendly gas no longer slows teammates.
• Caustic traps are no longer triggered from the other side of a door.

Octane

Designer note: This is a first step in pushing more team utility for Octane. We have more updates planned but they didn’t make the cutoff for this patch.

• Launch Pad cooldown is reduced from 90 seconds to now 60 seconds.

Gibraltar

Designer note: Internal data shows that Gibraltar’s performance in individual fights is in a good place, but we want to bring down his power a bit in team fights.

• Reduced Dome Shield duration from 18 seconds to 12.

Pathfinder

Designer note: Given the power of quick repositioning in Apex, being able to use Pathfinder’s Grappling Hook multiple times in a fight is both too powerful and muddies combat legibility.

• The cooldown for Grappling Hook has been increased from 15 seconds to 35 seconds.