Apex Legends patch turns Caustic and Gibraltar into real tanks

Apex Legends’ latest patch is here, and it’s full of balance changes. While Respawn has taken a slower approach to adjusting the game so far, it seems the developer is finally comfortable making more substantial adjustments.

The standout changes in this patch address the hitbox issues that players have had with Caustic and Gibraltar since the game’s first few weeks. While Respawn attempted to correct the problems in a previous patch with updates to the characters’ physical hitboxes, they remained the easiest characters to shoot. Now, Respawn is taking a different path to help make Caustic and Gibraltar more viable: turning them into tanks.

Instead of making them smaller, and hoping that fewer bullets hit them, Respawn is giving Caustic and Gibraltar a new passive ability called Fortified. The ability reduces damage taken by 10 percent. Along with this passive, Gibraltar is also getting a buff to his shield. For Caustic, the buff is a little more substantial: Instead of his gas canisters doing 1 damage per poisonous tick, they’ll now do 4.

Also arriving in this patch are a few weapon changes that may completely shift the game’s gun hierarchy. Weapons like the Wingman are getting nerfed, again, while snipers are getting some major buffs in accuracy, fire rate, and magazine size.

Lastly, Respawn is starting a new event to give players a little extra progress on their Battle Passes. From April 16 to April 18, players’ first top 5 finish of each day will grant one full Battle Pass tier. This should help players upgrade their passes quicker, and help out with the frequent complaints of the Pass’ slow leveling.

For a look at all the changes coming to Apex Legends in patch 1.1.1, you can see the full patch notes below.

Legends Balancing

Caustic

• Fortified Passive Perk added: reduces damage taken by 10%
• Gas Damage per tick increased: 1 -> 4
• Ultimate Throw distance increased: 28 meters -> 33 meters

Gibraltar

• Fortified Passive Perk added: reduces damage taken by 10%
• Gun Shield health increased: 50 -> 75

Weapon Balancing

G7 Scout / Triple Take / Longbow DMR

• Lowered leg shot damage reduction: 25% -> 10%
• Reduced base weapon sway by about 33%
• Reduced base sway speed by about 25%

Longbow DMR

• Increased fire rate 1.2 -> 1.6
• Increased magazine size:
• Base mag increased: 5 -> 6 rounds
• Common mag extender increased: 6 -> 8 rounds
• Rare mag extender increased: 8 -> 10 rounds
• Epic mag extender increased: 10 -> 12 rounds

​Havoc

• Increased base magazine size: 25 -> 32 rounds
• Charge Beam:
• Reduced cost per shot: 5 -> 4
• Increased close range damage: 55 -> 60
• Increased damage at range: 45 -> 50
• Close range damage falloff increased: 35m -> 75m
• Ranged damage falloff increased: 75m -> 125m

Wingman

• Reduced magazine size:
• Base mag reduced: 6 -> 4 rounds
• Common mag extender reduced: 8 -> 6 rounds
• Rare mag extender reduced: 9 -> 8 rounds
• Epic mag extender reduced: 12 -> 10 rounds

Spitfire

• Reduced base damage: 20 -> 18
• Magazine extender attachments reduced:
• Common mag extender reduced: 45 -> 40 rounds
• Rare mag extender reduced: 55 -> 45 rounds
• Epic mag extender reduced: 60 -> 55 rounds

Adjustments to gold weapon attachments

• Gold Havoc:
• Now has Turbocharger
• Now has 1x-2x variable holo site
• Gold R301:
• Now has 1x-2x variable holo site
• Gold Wingman:
• Now has digital threat

Battle Pass XP Bonus Event

From approximately 10AM PST 4/16 through approximately 10AM PST 4/18, your first Top 5 of the day (your squad places 5th or better in a match) will grant you 1 full bonus Battle Pass Level (29,500 BPP), up to a max of level 110. You can earn this once per day.

Addition Changes

Jump Ship Speed

• Increased the speed of the ship by about 50%

Bug Fixes

• Fixed UI bug where the wrong percentage would be displayed for all boost badges.