Apex Legends’ latest midseason update blog from Respawn pulls back the curtain on one of the game’s most debated topics on why some struggling Legends wait months, or even seasons, before getting meaningful buffs.
In its new Designer’s Notes post, the development team addresses the frustration surrounding low-pick, low-win Legends that never seem to cut the balance.
According to the team, the answer is less about ignoring unpopular characters and more about the size of the work involved. Some Apex Legends at the bottom of the meta need complete reworks rather than small tweaks, and those larger overhauls demand longer design, prototyping, and testing cycles than a standard patch window allows.
The blog points to Octane as an example, one of the characters that has been buffed this midseason update, of how this plays out behind the scenes. While community discussion around the speedster ramped up at the start of last season, Respawn says his overhaul, including the new Stim Surge mechanic that adds survivability and team value, had already been in development for some time, even if the studio could not talk about it yet.
The devs also stress the scale of the game they are working with, as there are 27 Legends now with multiple modes, maps, and a deep weapon pool. In that environment, even a seemingly minor adjustment can ripple through ranked play, casual matchmaking, and pro-level metas in ways that are hard to predict from raw pick-rate charts alone.
That wider view helps explain why the Amped update targets a mix of fan favorites and underused options rather than just the statistically “worst” picks. Octane, Newcastle, and Crypto all received changes, which were aimed at smoothing out pain points specific to each Legend, right from mobility and team pacing to how rewarding their core abilities feel in real matches.
Alongside the Legend adjustments, the blog post also introduces clear definitions for metrics such as pick rate, encounter win rate, and share of downs, underlining how much of the balancing process is driven by data.
Still, the team notes that numbers are only one part of the equation, with community sentiment and long-term meta health also shaping which Legends get attention in any given update.
On the weapons side, the post outlines a clear attempt to pull classic guns and underperforming gear back into the spotlight. The Infinite Ammo Amp, previously considered one of the weaker perks, now works with Care Package weapons.
Respawn is also nudging the R-301 and VK-47 Flatline upward after both rifles slipped behind newer, more specialized options in encounter win rate by increasing their damage by one to shave time-to-kill across key shield thresholds.
Finally, the Prowler gets a second look after its Season 27 auto-burst rework, where the devs rolled back the burst delay while slightly boosting full-auto damage to 17 per bullet so that unlocking Selectfire feels like a meaningful payoff rather than a sidegrade.
