Apex designer teases Rampart buff, changes to Mirage, and improved Pathfinder grapple

Rampart has barely landed in Apex Legends and she’s already in line for a buff. Rampart and her roommate/tenant, Mirage, could get a buff when season seven launches.

Pathfinder’s controversial buff to his grappling hook (which can act as a nerf at times) will also get some attention during season seven—including a possible drop in its cooldown.

Rampart and Mirage

Respawn designer Daniel Klein confirmed that Rampart and Mirage will go under the knife in Apex‘s next season. A fan asked about changes to Mirage and a buff to Apex‘s newcomer. “Both of those are in there,” Klein said.

Rampart is the latest legend to join the Apex Games, but it seems that the novelty wore off quickly. She’s the lowest-picked character, according to data from Tracker.gg. She works well with defensive legends such as Wattson and excels at fortifying and holding positions, but her talents don’t seem to spark the interest of the community as much as the other competitors.

Rampart’s low presence could be explained by the fact that she’s one of the latest legends to join the Games and needs to be unlocked. Starting legends such as Wraith, Pathfinder, and Bloodhound dominate the pick rates, while post-launch characters such as Crypto, Loba, and Wattson are at the bottom of the leaderboards. Caustic and Mirage, the first two locked legends in Apex, also fall below their counterparts.

Mirage, on the other hand, saw a significant buff in season five that allowed players to manually control their decoys and changed his ultimate with a reduced invisibility timer and a lot more bamboozles. The trickster still has a handful of tells (like footstep audio) that let players discern the real Mirage.

It’s unclear what’s changing in their kits or the exact release date for the patch, however. Respawn usually saves major character changes for season launches, which points to season seven as an expected timeline. It’s possible, though unlikely, that the buffs could come during the upcoming Fight or Fright event.

Pathfinder

Klein also confirmed that a fix for Pathfinder’s extra-long cooldown was on the way for season seven. A player asked when to expect a solution for the scout’s extra-long cooldown. “This patch,” Klein said. “To be clear, that’s the season 7 patch, coming soon.”

Pathfinder saw two controversial changes. Season five crippled his grappling hook cooldown to a long 35 seconds and the Aftermarket event brought in a buff and a nerf to the same skill. With the latest patch, Pathfinder’s cooldown ranges from 10 to 35 seconds based on how far the robot travels.

Although the description sounds like an undeniable improvement, the upgrade comes with a catch: the new cooldown only starts counting after the robot lands instead of on ability use. The new system means that Pathfinder mains could end up having more downtime on his tactical ability—at least until the next season.