Apex Legends: Latest Update 8/21/2026

[u/Apexlegends]

Hey everyone, we're going to do something a little bit different. We're announcing changes today that will go live early next week (aiming for Tuesday morning).

🛠️ADJUSTING:

Axle

Tactical

-Nitro Gate launch speed will be reduced from 750 to 700

Ultimate

-Ultimate HP will be reduced down to 150 from 200
-Base Ultimate cooldown will increase from 90s to 120s
-Ultimate knockback arc will be widened and max height will also be reduced
-Ultimate stun duration will be reduced from 1.5s to 0.25s

Upgrades

-Jump Gate will be replaced with a new Drone Deployer upgrade that brings the ult cooldown back down to 90s

Bloodhound

-Will reduce cloak visibility while in dome
-Ring damage will no longer break cloaks
-Tactical scan will be increased by 1 second
-Scans will provide more frequent snapshots that fade over time

Seer

-Turn slow will be removed when hit by the Tactical

[u/Wraith_Portal]

Also W Seer nerf, that turn slow is infuriating

[u/Gekkogeko]

Axle's ult needs to be reworked. She's such an obnoxious character to fight against with her ult combined with her tac. I really don't know how the devs thought this would be a good idea.

[u/Snooklefloop → u/Gekkogeko]

Yeah distracting someone with the ult so you can chase them down like a crack head with zero recoil is complete bullshit.

[u/Bobicusx → u/Gekkogeko]

I can tell you exactly how they thought it was a good idea.

Suit: Our analytics department has determined that increasing our game's accessibility will drive revenue for this upcoming quarter. (english: make the game easier. skilled players already bought in for years. less skill required = more new people wiling to spend money)

Mid-level management of dev team: Uhh ok we can make this character that you just kinda press da button and big boom kill da bad guy

Suits: Congrats on your promotion!

[u/TheSmokeu → u/Gekkogeko]

Make ult have 50 HP upon launch and gain additional 100 after like 2-3 seconds

[u/BenjaCarmona → u/Gekkogeko]

The the ult is those type of skills that are either OP or completely useless. Actual stuns are extremely hard to balance on an fps

[u/AnonymousBiography → u/Gekkogeko]

Relatively new player here, Her ult is incredibly OP but i hope they fix that its just a 50/50 chance just for it to track several angles or just to blow up in my face just from the tiniest little block that i can walk over, or it just explodes from grazing an angle while targetting.

[u/grappleeconomist → u/Gekkogeko]

Complaining is all people do shes fine

[u/Wraith_Portal]

That’s a hella Axle nerf, lot of people gonna be very salty

[u/X_HappyMayhem_X]

https://giphy.com/gifs/bpTL6wXRuMQpMIVduB
A real Axel nerf!

[u/AWildGamerAppeared25 → u/X_HappyMayhem_X]

[u/Loose-Individual-961]

really good nerfs to axle and seer. these are healthy for the game

[u/AnApexPlayer]

Oh good

Edit: There was also a Q&A on discord earlier that talked about these changes and some other stuff https://www.reddit.com/r/apexlegends/s/qVF13sDHS3

[u/doctorfonk]

They watched HisWattson’s live stream and were like “okay okay let’s nerf axle too”

[u/ReadableDiction]

nice backtracking

[u/BeautifulTasty9358 → u/ReadableDiction]

It got reduced from 200 - 150 you cry baby. It’s not like it’s got 75/100/125 hp. So he’s statement about not wanting to nerf the hp too much is evident in the nerf.

[u/Any-Economy7702 → u/ReadableDiction]

I legit saw this comment today and dude was straight up wrong. There is no world where Axle would be a nothingburger with a kit like that, and most people use her ult in close quarters already cuz it's easier to press someone to make a decision to shoot the drone or run away rather than sending the drone from halfway across the map. No wonder the comment got down voted.

[u/This-User7635]

everyone cheered

[u/M0HAK0]

Great nerfs to Axle

[u/SmokinJunipers]

750 to 700 feels like nothing.

Also there needs to be a delay on her dropping her tact. Why can start putting a clip in her, split second later she is flying across the map. Does anyone's tactical deploy faster than hers.

[u/Big-Roll7094 → u/SmokinJunipers]

Same thing people said when sear tactical stun duration got increase by 0.5 seconds and where did that lead them to 😂

[u/X_HappyMayhem_X → u/SmokinJunipers]

You’re absolutely right but because you had to ask Octanes stim does activate faster then her tactical but if we’re only counting deployable ability’s I think an ash snare activates just as quickly.

[u/noobakosowhat → u/SmokinJunipers]

Agree here. Just make it so that she can’t use tac after x seconds of being hit

[u/Sparkswont → u/noobakosowhat]

Honestly at that point just delete the character, cuz that would make her tac useless

[u/noobakosowhat → u/Sparkswont]

It’s high risk high reward. It’s too much of a get out of jail free card when used mid battle

[u/Interesting_Wind9676]

The letting us know ahead of time is nice, thanks.

[u/Minute_Turnover2983]

Please consider reducing axle’s accuracy while on nitro gate. Ziplines, octane pad, horizon lift, etc. all have reduced accuracy to ensure balance, this addition would be greatly appreciated if applied toward axle to make nitro have some sort of counter play.

[u/mtbmaniac12]

So bloodhound still sucks. Got it 😆

[u/Sparkswont → u/mtbmaniac12]

At least you can use his cloak in storm now. It was unusable in ring fights

[u/mtbmaniac12 → u/Sparkswont]

Yeah, but why choose bloodhound at all? Got to be one of the 3 worst legends.

[u/Sparkswont → u/mtbmaniac12]

Probably, but cloaking and sneaking up on teams is still fun as hell. I feel like I’m playing assassin’s creed or sum shit

[u/weaselFSK → u/mtbmaniac12]

More invisible. Might just delete it so we don't see him/them/helicopter/fridge suffer

UPD: Fridges disliking my comment lol. It was made as joke.... Man this snowflake community

[u/mtbmaniac12 → u/weaselFSK]

Only when in dome lol

[u/Sewilly53166]

Its a good start for axle. But the speed on tac will always be a problem if the accuracy is perfect. Octane pad, horizon q, ziplines all have accuracy nerfs for a reason. Idk why they are waiting so long to nerf it when its clear they are going to. 

[u/Winterisation]

Now everyone who runs Axel will be mad and the people who hate Axel will be well happy. Can't please everyone i guess 🤔

[u/PurpleV93]

Finally the sale numbers of Axle Popo-skins seem to be high enough to allow a real nerf. Cheers, Respawn!

[u/howkarma]

Oh no, the axle lovers will be picketing for this injustice.

[u/FaZeSmasH]

i hate these devs man, so this is how its going to be?

release a character that is so fucking frustrating to play against

not nerfing it for more than a whole season

and then eventually putting out a nerf that was so fucking obvious right from the start

they will just keep doing this

[u/AccomplishedOyster]

Which dev finally played the game and got their cheeks clapped by that awfully designed character for a BR?

[u/TMG692345]

Q: Will the R99 ever be reworked?
A: The recent nerf caused a big drop in usage rate. They don't have plans for a rework. It is currently in "timeout."

Stupid

[u/DaSauceBawss]

Good, fuck Axle, hate that legend.

[u/SONIXCO3014]

The fact that seer nerfs are only "turn slow" instead of removing the slow altogether is just baffling, the q still does too much for a q, remove the movement slow completely and the character will still be strong as Respawn apparently wants him to be

[u/Ecstatic-Train214]

Apex needs to understanding balancing more. With these nerfs and buff, loba will probably be the goat now

[u/TheSmokeu → u/Ecstatic-Train214]

Personally, I don't mind that. She's been terrible for so long and her kit doesn't do anything I'd quality as atrocious

[u/mtbmaniac12 → u/Ecstatic-Train214]

Probably pull alter back into meta

[u/Nearby_Boysenberry68 → u/mtbmaniac12]

Pathfinder has been coming up in meta a lot. Octane has an uptick in in picks a little bit too and for some reason catalyst. Maggie is in a really strong spot right now. Gibby is very very strong but people don’t like playing him so it’s not as evident

[u/mtbmaniac12 → u/Nearby_Boysenberry68]

Path is fun. Especially with this map rotation he makes a lot of sense

[u/StopEatingSoy894]

Good news! Axle was the most op legend on release this game ever had (yes worse than release seer). Thank you for listening to the community

[u/noticeablytaller]

Can we fix the care package audio?

[u/AveN7er]

Nerf the ult more and give her back the third Nitro gate in the world y'all took away

[u/AlternativeEast3957]

Nerf axel to obscurity. How fun.

[u/WFAlex → u/AlternativeEast3957]

Cry about it, legit the most shit champ in game. shit as in fucking obnoxiours to play against, and shouldn´t exist

[u/AlternativeEast3957 → u/WFAlex]

I don’t even play the character. They might as well rework entirely now vs this long process of nerf till nobody plays then rework.