Apex Legends new update comes with Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order skin

While many might be playing Respawn’s latest release Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, a new update to their breakout shooter Apex Legends has arrived with a Star Wars incentive.

After some brief delays to going live on PC and consoles, Respawn has released a major update to address bugs and throw in some new additions. 

The key addition is the game’s level cap will be increased from 100 to 500, with the amount of experience required to hit level 100 reduced by 5 per cent. 

An abundance of new Apex Packs are being thrown in too, 199 in total. While 36 new Gun Charms are also being added into Apex Packs at epic and legendary tier.  

Following an Imperial Stormtrooper heading to Fortnite, Respawn has released a Star Wars skin inspired by BD-1 for Pathfinder. To claim the skin, login to Apex Legends from 3 December to 14 January.

BD-1 appears in Respawn's Jedi: Fallen Order, which comes in advance of new film Star Wars: Rise Of Skywalker. 

You can check out a full breakdown of the update below.  

Player level progression changes 

Player Level cap increased from 100 to 500 

• XP required to hit level 100 has been reduced by approximately 5% to smooth out per level XP increases. 

Players can now earn 199 Apex Packs by level 500 (previously 45) 

• Level 2 – 20: One pack every level 

• Level 22 – 300: One pack every two levels 

• Level 305 – 500: One pack every five levels 

• You will continue to earn 600 Legend Tokens per level  

• Apex Packs rewards will be retroactive 

Players will also earn a Player Level Gun Charm every 100 Player Levels 

Gun Charms 

• 36 new Gun Charms are going into Apex Packs at Epic and Legendary tier 

• Gun Charms will now appear in the Rotating shop for players who prefer direct purchase 

Player Level Cap increase and an additional 154 Apex Pack Rewards 

The Player Level cap has been increased from 100 to 500. Players can now earn a total of 199 Apex Packs related to Player Level rewards at the following cadence:  

• Level 2-20: One pack every level (19 Apex Packs total)  

• Level 22-300: One pack every two levels (140 Apex Packs total) 

• Level 305-500: One pack every five levels (40 Apex Packs total)  

• You will continue to earn 600 Legend Tokens per level and per 18,000 XP at level 500 

(Picture: Respawn/EA)

All players will be retroactively awarded any Apex Packs they should have received under this new system. 

Players will now earn a new badge every 10 levels from 110-500. Players will also receive a Player Level Gun Charm inspired by the badges at levels 100, 200, 300, 400, and 500.  

Player level XP reductions 

The rate has been reduced at which XP required to level up increases from levels 20 to 58, meaning it should be easier for new players to rise through the ranks.  

The total XP required to hit level 100 has been reduced by 5 per cent, with players maybe finding they are higher level when the update goes live. 

The Peacekeeper

Changes are coming to the Peacekeeper after criticism it's still feeling too powerful. Respawn have promised they're "working to push out more tweaks" to fix the issue. 

Quality of life

• Helmets and armor should now be more colorblind compatible and appear slightly more vibrant - please let us know if this improves the experience for you! 

• Added on/off setting that determines if taking damage while looting a deathbox closes the menu. You can toggle this in the Gameplay section of settings. 

• Improvements to final circle locations to help bad end locations and provide more variety. 

• Players that have auto-sprint enabled can now sprint out of a slide by using L3. 

• Added inspect animation for Lifeline’s Heirloom. 

• Fixed bug where “Thank you” key became unbound. It’s now back to its original default: “F1”. 

• [PC ONLY] Fixed issue where using any arrow key after selecting a number field in the settings would jump to the next option instead of changing the selected value. 

• Gold Armor spawn rate has been reduced. 

• Players will now receive a prompt allowing them to cancel Finishers in progress. 

Bug fixes

• Fixed bug where other players would appear to be in the wrong Rank (e.g. they are actually Apex Predator but appear Bronze IV) 

• Bunch of bug fixes to World’s Edge related to collision, geometry, supply bins spawning in bad areas, and cases where loot couldn’t be picked up in certain areas near Geyser. 

• Fixed bug where sometimes the Respawn Dropship would be silent when arriving. 

• Fixed bug where Bangalore would reference the Skullpiecer hop-up when pinging a Wingman. 

• Fixed issue where player banner would appear off center in the match summary / squad eliminated screens. 

• Fixed a visual bug where the progress bars for Shield Cells and Phoenix Kits appeared desaturated and hard to read. 

• Fixed bug where players were able to instantly revive in certain locations. 

• Fixed bug for rare cases where a player was unable to revive a teammate while outside the Ring. 

• Fixed bug where the visual FX for the knockdown shield would remain visible after being destroyed by an enemy. 

• Fixed bug where equipping the EVA-8 Auto Shotgun Double Tap hop-up would remove the rate of fire increase from equipped shotgun bolt. 

• Fixed bug where some Legends would relay incorrect “ability not ready” sound FX when trying to activate an ability that was still on cooldown. 

• Fixed a visual bug where sometimes when a Legend starts using a Shield Cell it causes their weapon to appear to be briefly floating past their arm. 

• Fixed bug where sometimes the Train's lead car would detach from the rest of the Train after a player stops and then starts it back up. 

• Fixed bug for cases where players could get crushed by the Train while standing near the back of the front car. 

• Fixed bug where Legend’s faces would appear distorted in third person during matches and while browsing inventory. 

• Fixed issues with corrupted graphics and frame drops that we found were related to detonating ordnance in certain locations causing object to trigger bad pixels. 

• Fixed bug for cases where flying Crypto’s Drone near the Train can cause Crypto to move around without player input. 

• Fixed a bug where Crypto’s tactical hud looked like it was stuck recharging until you used it. 

• Fixed bug for cases where a deathbox would not come to rest on stairs and players were unable to retrieve the player’s Banner Card.. 

Update to knockdown shields

• KO shield protection now extends over and behind the player’s head. 

• Changes to Shield health 

• Common [gray]: 100hp -> 200hp 

• Rare [blue]: 250hp -> 450hp 

• Player movement speed while KO Shield is active reduced: .65 -> .55 

Firing range

• Friendly fire is now supported! You can toggle it off and on in the setting menu. The option only appears if more than one player is in the Firing Range with you. 

• [PC ONLY] Fixed cases where players could not enter the Firing Range. 

• Fixed various issues related to players in other realms affecting each other in Firing Range including: Seeing other Legends abilities and animations that are not in your realm. Invisible zip lines. 

Legends

Wattson’s Trophy System 

• The trophy system is now significantly more aggressive in the way it shoots down grenades. Rather than just identifying between incoming and outgoing projectiles, it now predicts the trajectory of grenades thrown within the interception zone and intercepts them if they will land anywhere within that zone. This means that no grenade can contact any surface within the interception zone regardless of team, but players can fire grenades outwards from anywhere within the zone.