Apex Legends patch notes: Season 24 midseason update brings huge buffs for Skirmishers

An unexpectedly beefy patch is hitting Apex Legends alongside the Beast Mode event, with teased buffs to the Skirmisher class already coming just weeks after the beginning of the season saw big changes for Assault class legends.

Skirmishers are picking up two new class perks, and more legends are getting adjustments as well, including big buffs for Alter. Read on to check out all the most important changes from the Apex Legends 24.1 patch notes.

Apex Legends 24.1 patch notes: Beast Mode update

Skirmisher class buffs

The Skirmisher class is getting two new class perks, which are as follows:

• Trailblazer: Allies get a speed boost when sprinting towards an ally Skirmisher. Must be more than 20 meters from the ally to get the boost.
• Charged Knock: Skirmishers get an extra tactical ability charge and 50 HP regeneration when they knock an enemy.
  • Octane gets an extra ultimate charge instead of a tactical charge.
  • Extra charge lasts for 30 seconds.
  • HP regen heals shields first, then health. Can be interrupted by taking damage.

After the Assault class buffs earlier this season, these changes will make the Skirmisher class much more engaging to play, as they had felt a little lackluster for a while. Most of the Skirmishers were already among the most fun legends to play when the class system came out, so their disappointing passives made more sense then, but now I’m ready to get my Wraith pick back out and do some damage.

Alter buffs

I’ve really enjoyed Alter since her release, but I can also admit she isn’t the best legend to play on most Apex maps. There often isn’t a ton of opportunity to use her full ability kit, and then when you can, her ultimate feels one-dimensional and her tactical easily telegraphed. She’s getting some hefty buffs to help her out, and I can’t wait to try them.

• Void Passage (tactical)
  • Now has two charges.
  • Max portal depth increased from 20 to 30 meters.
  • Void Vision upgrade now in base kit, will always see enemy health bars after using portal.
  • Tactical also highlights enemies briefly after being placed.
  • Can now use the “Void Siphon” for the portal on ceilings up to 45 meters (was 30 meters).
  • Void Siphon will also now appear for horizontal portals that are unreachable on a wall.
  • Placement preview will show you where the Siphon will appear.
• Void Nexus (ultimate)
  • Reusable on a 30-second cooldown now.
  • Two can be active at the same time (Multidimensional upgrade now in base kit).
  • Can interact with Nexus to summon knocked allies while they still use their knockdown shield.
• Gift from the Rift (passive)
  • Can now grab banners from ally death boxes with the passive.
• Level Two Upgrades
  • Friends: Gain all Support perks.
  • Eye to Another World: Gain all Recon perks.
• Level Three Upgrades
  • Void Breacher: Using an ally Void Passage grants move speed and reload speed boosts.
  • Staring into the Void: Void Passage scan now lasts the full duration of the portal for Alter. Scan requires LOS to the enemy.

That’s a lot, and the build I envision for Alter now makes her something of a pseudo-Support with a light recon ability—though you can build her either as a full Support or full Recon utility character.

Other legend changes

• Ash (Nerf)
  • Ultimate cooldown increased from two minutes to two minutes and 30 seconds.
• Horizon (Buff)
  • Big Bang and Battpack upgrades removed.
  • Tac Cooldown and Ult Cooldown upgrades moved to level two.
  • New level three upgrades.
    • Conservation of Energy: Spacewalk passive grants 25 HP shield regen on soft landings.
    • Combat Reserve: Access Assault bins, carry extra ammo per stack, and gain extra grenade slots.
• Loba (Nerf)
  • Escape Artist shield regen reduced from 50 HP to 25 HP.
• Pathfinder (Change)
  • Down and Away upgrade removed since it became a new Skirmisher perk.
  • Grapple Cooldown+ added as new level two upgrade. Decreases tactical cooldown by 10 seconds.
• Revenant (Buff)
  • Allies now see low health tracking Revenant sees with Assassin’s Instinct.
  • Shadow Pounce tactical activation time reduced by 30 percent, cooldown reduced from 25 to 20 seconds.
  • Forged Shadows ultimate shield HP increased by 25.
  • New upgrades
    • Murder Machine removed from level two, Grim Leaper removed from level three.
    • Tac Cooldown now reduces tactical to a 15 second cooldown (was 20).
    • Try To Hide (level two): Doubles the duration of the Assassin’s Instinct mark.
    • Agile Assassin (level three): Halves the activation time and charge time for Shadow Pounce.
• Wraith (Buff)
  • Into the Void (tactical)
    • Cooldown reduced from 25 seconds to 20.
    • Activation time decreased from 1.25 second to 0.8 seconds.
    • Can exit Void at any time by pressing attack or tactical button.
  • Dimensional Rift (ultimate)
    • Cooldown decreased by 30 seconds.
    • Max speed when using ult now ramps up faster.
  • Upgrade changes
    • Ult Cooldown now reduces to one minute, 30 seconds (was two minutes).
    • Fast Phase now decreases tactical activation time by 30 percent (was 20 percent).
    • Tac Cooldown now reduces to 15 seconds (was 20).

Weapon changes

Some Accelerator changes, buffs to SMGs, and one of my favorite marksman weapons getting a buff it needs highlight the weapon changes here.

• Accelerator Hop-Up
  • Removed from C.A.R., G7 Scout, and Nemesis
  • Added to the P2020, Volt, and Wingman.
• SMGs
  • All SMGs (Alternator, C.A.R., R-99, and Volt) have had their mag sizes increased across all tiers.
• Nemesis
  • Charge deplete time increased from six to eight seconds.
  • Delay before depletion starts increased from six to eight seconds.
  • Increased barrel effectiveness.
• Devotion
  • Early recoil pattern has “reduced intensity.”
• L-STAR
  • Removed reverse hipfire.
• 30-30 Repeater
  • ADS charged shot damage buffed from 58 to 65.
  • ADS charged headshot damage buffed from 93 to 104.
• G7 Scout
  • Damage buffed from 35 to 36.
  • Headshot damage buffed from 56 to 58.
  • Slightly increased fire rate.
• P2020
  • Normalized laser effectiveness.
• Wingman
  • No longer takes Boosted Loader.
• EVA-8
  • Widened blast pattern.

Map rotation

E-District is returning to ranked and pubs, where it will join Kings Canyon and Storm Point, which will remain.

Ranked changes

Interestingly, there’s now a rather large change coming to how ranked resets work every split. Instead of sending people down to a lower tier than they were before, players will now be reset to the lowest rank of the tier they achieved in the last split. So, if you made it to Gold Three, you’ll only be reset to Gold Four.

There’s also been a little scoring tweak, with kills, assists, and participation point now being worth 50 percent of their normal value after the eighth kill, assist, or participation, instead of the sixth.

There’s also plenty of bug fixes, quality of life changes, and event info in Respawn’s full patch notes. The patch goes live with the Beast Mode event on March 25.