Apex Legends Season 17 release date, launch time, Arsenal PATCH NOTES

Apex Legends’ fans are counting down to the launch of Season 17 on PS5, PS4, Xbox consoles, Nintendo Switch and PC. Titled Arsenal, the Season 17 update introduces a brand new character to Apex Legends. That’s on top of new items, gameplay balance updates and various map changes. If you’re looking forward to Apex Legends Season 17, then the good news is that you don’t have long to wait. Apex Legends Arsenal has a May 9 release date and a 6pm BST UK launch time. The new season launches alongside a big update, which you can see in the patch notes below.

The headline new feature is the addition of a brand new hero character named Ballistic.

Ballistic’s passive ability lets him store a third weapon in a sling, while his Tactical shoots a projectile that heats up an enemy’s gun as they shoot.

His Tempest Ultimate ability gives nearby teammates faster reloads, move speed and infinite ammo.

Elsewhere, World’s Edge gets a number of new points of interest, including Monument, which is said to commemorate the game’s history.

As you can see from the Season 17 patch notes below, Respawn makes countless bug fixes and balance changes.

Apex Legends Season 17 update patch notes…

BALANCE UPDATES

• Crate Rotation

 – L-Star EMG enters the crate

 – RE-45 returns to the floor

• Weapon Crafting Rotation

 – Alternator SMG enters the crafter

 – Sentinel enters the crafter

 – EVA-8 returns to the floor

 – 30-30 Repeater returns to the floor

• Gold Weapon Rotation

 – Flatline, Triple Take, Spitfire, Mastiff, Volt

• Loot Spawns

 – Improved Vault Loot

  – Increased chances of gold loot

  – Added light mags to spawn pool

 – Improved Cargo Bot Loot

  – Removed small healing items, Mobile Respawn Beacon, White Armor, White Backpack

  – Adjusted Large Healing and Heatshield spawns to allow for more desirable loot spawns

  – Removed gold weapons from purple tier Cargo Bots but increased spawn chance in gold tier

WEAPONS

• L-Star EMG [Crate]

 – Added Disruptor Rounds: 60% damage increase against shields

 – Base Damage Reduced to 16 (was 17)

 – Projectiles now have passthrough: 60% damage retained

 – Projectile growth increased

 – Improved recoil pattern

 – Removed barrel

 – Ammo Stockpile: 324

 – Reduced VFX brightness when hitting unarmored targets

• 30-30 Repeater

 – Projectile size increased when fully charged

• Triple Take

 – Projectile size increased

 – Improved hipfire spread

 – Tightened bullet pattern when fully choked

 – Ammo per shot reduced to 1 (was 3)

 – Magazines sizes adjusted to match the new ammo costs

  – Purple Mag: Increased to 10 shots (was 9)

• R-99 SMG

 – Removed 1 bullet from base and all magazines

  – No Magazine reduced to 19 (was 20)

  – White Magazine reduced to 21 (was 22)

  – Blue Magazine reduced to 24 (was 25)

  – Purple & Gold magazine reduced to 27 (was 28)

• Charge Rifle

 – Reduced shots per magazine to 3 (was 4)

 – Reduced spawn rate

LEGENDS

Catalyst

• Dark Veil

 – Scan Highlights & Diamonds are no longer visible through the Dark Veil

Mirage

• Class changed from Skirmisher to Support

Ash

• Now gets slowed to weapon sprint speed instead of weapon walk speed when targeting with her tac

Assault Class

• Smart loot gains have been adjusted to reduce skipping an upgrade tier

 – It will now be less likely to jump from White to Purple or Blue to Gold

• Optics are now given based on team rather than just Assault Legend who opens them

• Added special drop rate for Gold Optics

Skirmisher Class

• Care packages are now automatically pinged for the team on reveal.

 – This includes empty Care Packages that have already been looted by another team

Support Class

• Support Bins will now guarantee at least one Battery in one of the Secret Compartment slots

• Support Bins will now award MRBs if your ally is dead, even if you don’t have their banner card.

• Legend Banners can now be crafted by ANY player who has a Support Class Legend in their Squad

MIXTAPE

• New Podium screens for Gun Run and Control

• Display a message in the Kill Feed if Leaver Penalties are disabled for the match due to an unfair match

• Control and Gun Run will indicate the team’s MVPs on the intro podium

• Control and TDM have updated loadouts (Crate Weapon changes and updates based on weapon meta/pick rates/kill rates)

• Gun Run and TDM now have XP Bonuses for Match Completion and Match Completion after Join in Progress

Control

• Map rotation: Barometer is out, Olympus: Hammond Labs is in

• Weapon Evo Change: No longer Evo weapons automatically when a new Rating Tier is reached. Players now reach the new tier and their weapon will Evo when the player holsters and then unholsters their weapon in any form (reload, weapon switch, manual holster, rides a zipline, performs a skydive, etc)

Gun Run

• Weapon Track update for new crate weapons.

• Added an additional XP bonus on the last weapon knife kill

Team Deathmatch

• Map rotation: Skulltown is out, Phase Runner is in

BUG FIXES

• Prowler: fixed ADS while crouching

• IMC Armories: fixed spectres taking too much damage from arc stars

• Fixed Duos showing NBR challenges instead of BR challenges

• Fixed comms wheel not being usable when a game is over

• Fixed players glitching inside of loot bins

• Fixed spectators not receiving audio queues for all types of launch pads/jump pads

• Fixed flickering of banners during victory and end of match screens

• Scoreboard is saved when a game is finished now, not post-podium sequence

• Lifetime Stats numbers no longer overlap for more than 7 digits

• Various lobby ultrawide UI improvements

QUALITY OF LIFE UPDATES

• Removed Auto-Taunt Prompt on Enemy Killed

• Can now ride ziplines while playing the banner pickup animation

• Bullet impact VFX on snow reduced