25 Oct 2023 11:12 AM +00:00 UTC

Apex Legends changes to legend abilities in Season 19

Apex Legends newest legend Conduit provides teammate Gibralter with extra shields

As with any new Apex Legends season, there will always be changes in store for particularly meta legend abilities. With Apex Legends Season 19: Ignite, there are a whole host of buffs and nerfs coming for most of the legends in Respawn's infamous battle royale.

We'll be going through all the scheduled changes coming for legends like Catalyst and Bangalore - who had some of the highest pick rates we've ever seen over the course of ALGS Year 3 back in September.

Once we get our hands on the full patch notes for Season 19 we can go through these alterations in detail, but for now, we'll run through what we know so far.

Changes to Catalyst's abilities

First up is Catalyst, who is one of the most popular Control legends in the game right now. She's been pretty high up on our legends tier list, too, so it's unsurprising that the developers are keen to balance her out even further. In a game where movement is such a key component to engaging gameplay, it can be quite tough to make Control legends fun. This is likely the reason Catalyst crept so high into the meta almost right from the off, thanks to her versatility in fights.

Apex Legends control character, Catalyst

However, developers are keen to reign in some of her abilities to bring her in line with others in her class, namely with her tactical and ultimate abilities. The distance of her tactical ability, Piercing Spikes, has now been nerfed, meaning she can't throw them as far as before, and it's in order for her tactical to be used defensively rather than offensively, which sits more in line with her Control class.

The core of these spikes will also no longer be able to block projectiles, either, meaning grenades and other offensive abilities, as well as good old bullets, will pass through the main portion of her tactical. As well as that, her capacity for ferrofluid is being nerfed from 3 to 2, meaning she can only hold down 2 doors, or produce 2 rounds of Piercing Spikes, at a time.

Changes to Bangalore's abilities

Next up on the receiving end of nerfs, is another top ALGS pick, Bangalore. Bangalore is a day-one Apex Legend and has always been a strong contender in most variations of the game. However, due to the current "can't see sh*t" meta, it's no surprise she's in store for a slight nerf this season. She'll always be a really flexible pick, for new starters and veterans of the game, and she's strong in situations that call for high movement and area denial.

Apex Legends assault character, Bangalore wielding a Triple Take weapon

But with that in mind, developers are nerfing her smoke tactical ability this season, by reducing the time it takes for her smokes to clear from the field, as well as reducing the duration of her Double Time passive ability. The recovery time after being hit by her ultimate ability, Rolling Thunder, is also being slightly nerfed. So most of her kit remains exactly the same, it's purely just the timings that are being tweaked.

Other changes to legend abilities

But with these nerfs, buffs are also on the horizon for some legends in Season 19. Wraith's passive, Voices From The Void, will be getting tweaked to make it far more reliable and intuitive. And Pathfinder mains rejoice because your favourite robot is finally getting a slight buff in this coming season, too. He will now be able to scan care packages even after teammates have already done so, meaning he will always be able to get his zipline ultimate ability in this way.

Vantage will also gain an extra bullet in her ultimate sniper rifle to round it to an even 6, and Newcastle is also having his ultimate buffed. Newcastle's Castle Wall ability will now have an increased leap height, and the recovery time once he's landed will also be reduced, meaning he can jump into the fight far quicker than before.

But there you have it, that's what we know so far about upcoming legend changes to Apex Legends in Season 19. Once we get our hands on the full patch notes, we'll let you know if anything else is due to be changed, but for now be sure to check out our breakdown of new legend Conduit, as well as everything we know about cross-progression coming to Apex Legends.

For more articles like this, take a look at our Guides and Apex Legends page.

Verna Colosi

Content Manager

A certified Apex Legend, chaotic-good Baldur's Gate 3 adventurer, and canonically feral Junkrat on Overwatch 2.

Verna is a day-one Apex Legends player and Mad Maggie main. When she's not hot-dropping she's lobbing fireballs in Baldur's Gate 3 or running rampant as an unnecessarily aggro Kiriko in Overwatch 2.

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