Respawn dropped the Overclocked Split 2 Designer’s Notes on June 18, 2026, and the changes hitting the game on June 24 are some of the most impactful mid-season updates in recent memory. Four legends are getting nerfed, three are getting buffed, a brand new hop-up is entering the loot pool, and Ballistic has been almost completely redesigned from the ground up.

Apex Legends Season 29: Overclocked Split 2 Complete Patch Reference

System LayerLegend Balance Changes & Weapon Sandbox OverhaulsMobile-Optimized Strategy & Ranked Meta Impact

Pathfinder

(Mobility Buffs)

* Permanent dual-charge Grappling Hook added to base kit with a flat 20-second static cooldown.

* Passive Tweak: Lifts his legs while ziplining to shrink his visible hitbox silhouette.

* Ultimate: Faster deployment speed; cooldown lowered to roughly 2 minutes.

* Grapple God upgrade replaced by Landing Gear (adds air control and eliminates high-drop landing stuns).

Rebuild Team Roles: Pathfinder becomes an elite positioning asset. His Field Research and Ringmaster upgrades now secure full Recon or Controller class perks seamlessly.

Ballistic

(Core Redesign)

* Sling Weapon: Natively persists across respawns (including Care Package tiers).

* Tactical: 2 base charges; Overheat damage up to 50; debuff duration scales to 15s.

* Ultimate: Swift forward team sprint boost replaces global combat movement speed advantage.

Weapon-Swap Counterplay: Overheat cooking now strictly damages you if you keep firing your active gun. Swap to your secondary weapon to bypass the overheat tick completely.

Seer

(Anti-Movement)

* Passive: Highly responsive armed/unarmed sensor tracking; frequent heartbeat telemetry intervals.

* Tactical: Launch delay minimized; blast triggers a severe movement slow tailored to stop slides/dashes.

* Ultimate: Instantly scans the perimeter upon zone creation; cloaked targets leave active tracks.

Shut Down Flankers: Deploy your Tactical to cleanly trap hyper-mobile legends like Axle or Ash, stripping them of their slide and dash momentum mid-combat.

Axle

(Targeted Nerfs)

* Level 2 Super Slider upgrade completely removed from selection nodes.

* New Level 2 path shrinks Tactical cooldown and returns max concurrent Nitro Gates to 3.

* Kickstart ultimate drone boop reworked to send players flying in a natural arc with inherited velocity.

Maintain Aerial Direction: Since you are no longer locked into a helpless, straight vertical freefall when struck by her drone, use your velocity to guide yourself safely behind physical cover.

Maggie & Valkyrie

(Meta Regulation)

* Mad Maggie: Tactical cooldown increased; Wrecking Ball movement speed bonus limited strictly to a sprint boost.

* Valkyrie: Slashed her legacy landing speed passive bonus upon exiting Skydive rotations.

Anticipate Slower Drops: Valkyrie teams can no longer drop from the skies and instantaneously ambush targets. Monitor incoming skywards audio cues to easily punish her landings.

Conduit

(Support Nerf)

* Placed a flat cooldown extension directly on her Radiant Transfer tactical armor regeneration.

* Core modification prevents Enduring Barrier shield objects from generating or regenerating health inside ring damage.

Audit Ring Sustainability: Conduit can no longer be exploited to keep teams alive indefinitely outside the safe zone. Monitor your ring rotation positioning tighter.

Weapon Economy

(Executioner Mod)

* New Hop-Up: Executioner added natively to the Peacekeeper and Mastiff pools.

* Securing a knock triggers automated, fast shield regeneration over time.

* Replaces Disruptor Rounds (Peacekeeper) and Dual Shell (Mastiff).

Stack Shield Replenishment: The Executioner mod effect layers directly with the Skirmisher Knock Expert perk, creating massive, rapid shield siphon loops during close-range squad wipes.

If you are grinding ranked right now, these changes are going to affect your lobby before your next session ends. Below is a full breakdown of every legend change, what it means in practice, and how to adapt your squad around the new meta.

The full patch notes drop officially on June 22, 2026, at the EA Apex Legends news page, ahead of the live update on June 24.

Axle Is Finally Getting Nerfed, and the Changes Are More Clever Than You Think

Respawn confirmed they intentionally shipped Axle strong at launch to shake up the meta, but they now have clear data showing two problems: she can generate too many Nitro Gates in quick succession, cluttering the map and giving her movement that is far too free, and her Kickstart ultimate throws victims in a predictable straight-up arc that punishes you for no fault of your own.

Here is what is changing for Axle in 29.1:

The Level 2 upgrade Super Slider is being removed entirely. Respawn’s own data showed it was by far the most-picked Level 2 upgrade, a clear sign the balance was off. It is being replaced by a new upgrade that reduces Tactical cooldown and restores Nitro Gates to three active at once (up from two, which actually reverses a nerf she received mid-split).

The Kickstart boop mechanic is being reworked. When you get hit by a Kickstart drone, you will no longer be launched straight up into a helpless freefall. Instead, you will be sent out in an arc that carries your existing velocity, meaning you have real influence over where you land. This is a meaningful quality-of-life fix for anyone who has died from a Kickstart launch they had zero answer to.

These are targeted changes. Respawn is not gutting Axle. Her core slide mobility remains intact, but the most frustrating parts of her kit now have counterplay.

Pathfinder Mains, Your Wait Is Over

Pathfinder’s pick rate has been dropping all season. Respawn confirmed he has hit his lowest usage since the beginning of the year, and they are pushing a set of changes that directly address his two biggest issues: uptime on his Tactical and how exposed his large hitbox makes him while using his own Ultimate.

Here is every Pathfinder change coming in 29.1:

Passive (not technically a passive, but a movement tweak): Pathfinder will now lift his legs up when riding horizontal ziplines. This reduces his exposure while on his own Ultimate’s zipline, giving his large hitbox a bit of extra cover.

Tactical (Grappling Hook): Now has two charges with a flat 20-second cooldown. No more variable cooldown scaling. You always know when your next grapple is ready, which makes aggressive plays far more reliable in ranked.

Ultimate (Zipline Gun): The zipline now deploys faster and the cooldown is being reduced. Respawn confirmed the new cooldown appears to be around two minutes based on gameplay footage they posted on Twitter. Using your Ultimate feels less precious now.

Upgrades: Grapple God is out and Landing Gear is in. Landing Gear gives Pathfinder better air control and the Soft Landings passive for quick recovery from high drops. You are not losing anything here since Grapple God’s double-charge benefit is now built into his base Tactical.

Field Research perk now grants full Recon class perks, including seeing threats while ADS.

Ringmaster perk now grants full Controller class perks, including overshield while in the ring and an Evac Tower that spawns when using a ring console. He can also reinforce Hardlight with this perk.

These are two genuinely strong changes to Pathfinder’s core kit. If you have been shelving him, the 20-second flat grapple cooldown alone is a reason to bring him back.

Ballistic Is a Different Legend After This Patch

Ballistic had a stretch where he was one of the most frustrating legends to play against, then got nerfed into near irrelevance. His pick rate has been at the floor for most of the year. Respawn is going all in on a refresh that brings back his power but builds in real counterplay.

Passive: His Sling weapon now respawns with him in every game mode. This includes care package weapons, so that investment carries forward through death.

Tactical (Whistler) overhaul

This is the biggest change. Overheat previously punished you by applying to your weapons regardless of what you swapped to, leaving you with only two options: run or take the damage. Now overheat only applies to the weapon you are currently holding. Swap to your second weapon and you fight freely while the first one cooks. This counterplay gave Respawn room to bring back the full power of overheat.

Specific numbers in 29.1:

  • Ballistic starts with two Tactical charges

  • Overheat damage is back to 50

  • Overheat duration increased from 12 seconds to 15 seconds

  • Overheat no longer degrades when you stop shooting or swap, but cannot be reapplied once active

  • Improved delay between firing and projectile homing activation

Ultimate: The full team speed boost is replaced by a sprint boost, matching the change made to Maggie in this same patch. You get the push potential without the frustrating in-fight speed that made fighting a Ballistic-buffed team feel unfair.

Upgrade breakdown:

Upgrade What It Does in 29.1 Extra Bullet One more Tactical charge (three total) Trap Mode Modified Lasting Bullet with longer in-world duration, plus 35 damage in trap state Quiet Time Now applies silence on hit (not overheat). No overheat debuff with this upgrade. Short slow on impact added Killing Time Unchanged, moved to Level 3

The Quiet Time upgrade is worth watching closely. Silence on hit with a slow is a genuinely different playstyle that does not rely on the overheat mechanic at all.

Seer Gets Faster and More Punishing Against Movement Legends

Seer has one of the lowest pick rates in the game outside of Diamond and above, where he performs well. Respawn is not doing a full rework, but the changes focus on speed and anti-movement utility, which fits the current meta full of Axle slides and Ash dashes.

Passive (Heartbeat Sensor): Activation time is faster, heartbeat intervals are more frequent, and unarmed ADS speed is increased. Consistency between armed and unarmed states is also improved. Using Seer’s passive feels snappier and less punishing if you are caught without a weapon drawn.

Tactical (Focus of Attention): The delay between launch and hit is reduced, making it easier to land in real fights. The slow on hit is also being strengthened specifically against high-speed movement abilities like Axle’s slide or Ash’s dash. Seer now has a real answer to the legends currently dominating ranked.

Ultimate (Exhibit): A short scan now fires the moment the zone is created, showing you who is inside before you need to track footsteps. Any enemies who enter the zone after activation are also revealed. Cloaked enemies inside the zone will now leave tracked footsteps as well.

That last point is interesting. Respawn has quietly made Seer a hard counter to any future stealth legends and Mirage specifically.

Four Legends Are Getting Nerfed: Maggie, Valkyrie, Conduit, and Axle

Axle is covered above. Here are the other three:

Mad Maggie:
Her Tactical cooldown is being increased to reduce how many Wrecking Balls are active on the battlefield at once. Her Ultimate speed boost is being swapped for a sprint boost, the same logic applied to Ballistic. Maggie mains still get the pushing power, just not the in-fight speed advantage.

Valkyrie:
She has been one of the top-picked legends for several seasons and Respawn is pulling back the buff that let her land from Skydive significantly faster than other legends. Players were using this to scan from the air, then drop on teams before they could react. That landing speed advantage is gone in 29.1. Respawn confirmed they are watching her match data and more changes could follow.

Conduit:
She was present in eight of the ten most popular team compositions in Season 29, which is a clear sign she is crowding out every other Support legend. Respawn made a hotfix before this patch to slow her Tactical regeneration, and 29.1 adds a cooldown increase on top of that. Enduring Barrier also no longer regenerates through ring damage, which removes one of the more annoying edge cases that kept squads alive in the zone far longer than intended.

The Executioner Hop-Up Is Coming to the Peacekeeper and Mastiff

Respawn shared a stat that puts the shotgun problem in clear terms: shotguns are the weapons players die while holding most often. You use a Peacekeeper to secure a knock, then get cleaned up by the enemy’s teammate a second later. Instead of buffing raw damage on finisher shotguns, Respawn is adding a new hop-up called Executioner.

Once locked, getting a knock with the Peacekeeper or Mastiff starts a shield regeneration over a few seconds, similar to the Skirmisher class Knock Expert perk. It also stacks with that perk if you are playing a Skirmisher.

Executioner replaces:

  • Disruptor Rounds (from Peacekeeper)

  • Dual Shell (from Mastiff)

The Mozambique and EVA-8 are also getting small handling buffs so they are not left behind in this shotgun shuffle.

Separately, the Graffiti Mod is moving to the Volt and Flatline in 29.1.