Check out the details from our latest Reddit AMA
Hey Legends!
Our latest AMA covers various aspects related to Legend meta in Apex Legends. Check out the full AMA here or dive straight into the questions below!
Here’s our team on deck:
u/RSPN_Josh, Lead Game Designer
u/RSPN_Berryhill, Game Designer
Q: Are we going to see any changes to Octane soon? He is my favorite legend but there are so many better options at this point.
Octane managed to sprint his way onto the start screen for this season somehow! ;)
Q: Octane - Why does he still take damage to move fast, when so many other legends have gained bursts of fast movement without damage. Do we really think it would break him to take away stim damage? Could he have a “fuel meter” instead ala Valk so stim isn’t spammable.
Q: Why is Octane the only movement legend that has a drawback when using his main movement ability?
Q: I main octane and I’m wondering if their will be any buffs to him soon I feel that his abilities need a little more love similar to the recent buffs like rampart, valk, horizon, bang, etc.
Glad you're feeling the recent buffs to other legends! Octane definitely needs the same scope of change to feel the love. When we change him we'll look to extend his core gameplay rather than just "up his numbers"
Q: Can already see a lot of comments around octane needing a buff. Previously he’s gone under the radar because his pick rate stays high regardless (+10 respect to octane mains) -Are there already any plans for octane and if not already are those the sort of things that would be considered?
Just wanted to take this point to talk about how challenging the internal discussion is around Octane because of his pick rate. He's such a favorite he's almost immune to dropping into the bottom half on pick rate. BUT even if he's popular and resilient, there are other consideration to look at when deciding what legends need a buff.
Q: What is the reason to rework or balance some legends per season and other keeps untouched? Overtime some legends are forgotten and creates a meta with a few good legends but the other ones seems outdated and bad in game. - Why dont you balance all legends every season with at least minor changes to adapt at the patch overall?
We wish we could touch every Legend, every season! This purely comes down to time and resources.
Making meaningful buffs to Legends, not just number tweaks, takes a lot of time. In 2025 we adopted a new approach, trying to buff at least one Legend meaningfully at season launch and at the mid-season split. There's a lot of Legends towards the bottom end of the power curve that required these larger changes, and just number tweaks wouldn't make a huge difference (see Seer's spike and fall recently).
This is a new approach for us, and these decisions need to be made pretty far in advance since these changes take so long to make and balance internally. We are refining this decision making process, and will be more transparent in the new year about who we are picking and why.
It doesn't only come down to pick rate, but we also consider how effective that Legend is at fighting and more subjective feedback about how frustrating it is to play against that Legend. Many factors go into who we pick each season, and we want to share more of that thinking very soon.
Q: I like the movement meta (speed bursts, blinks, dashes, jumps).
But the movement is so high and easily accessible, combined with the low ttk, playing movement legends is now the only way to play. Unless another legend has a very powerful critical utility, like rezzing.
It’s got to be clear that adding movement perks is increasingly leaving all other utility and the associated legends in the dust.
<snip>
The question is: where are we going? What is the long term plan with this?
We look at Apex's roster of characters both in the context of Legends vs. other Legends, as well as Apex as a game compared to other games on the market.
Apex's identity compared to our competitors is rooted in fun movement, tracing back to Titanfall, and so it's no surprise those changes resonate with our players the most.
Our future plan is to continue to build on Apex's identity of movement, it's core to what makes us unique, but do so in a way that doesn't just 'speed up' the game.
For some Legends like Crypto, this might mean giving them movement or speed boosts so that they can 'keep up' in a game where movement is a core facet of the design. See Seer's recent buffs.
We're definitely keeping an eye on the movement economy as a whole, and trying to make sure that we can lean in to fun, physics based movement while not leaving behind a chunk of our roster.
Q: Are there plans to nerf caustic. He’s been in the meta fairly regularly since the evo perk changes came in season 20. He’s way too strong at the moment, feels awful to fight and die to and the play style isn’t particularly engaging.
Just to peak behind the curtain a bit on Caustic. Players of different skills have a wildly different opinion of Caustics health to the game. The higher you go the less endearing he becomes, but he's still positive overall across all the skill bands. We're definitely hearing murmuring of frustrations though so we'll keep our eye on it so his gas is toxic in the right way.
Q: Are you guys satisfied with the state of Controller legends? Considering how handicapped they are in early game, I feel like they could use some love Especially catalyst lol
The controller fantasy is definitely not hitting in the way we're intending. Having playtested multiple internal prototypes around the controller class, the rub we keep coming up against is that more defensive and stationary fantasy is at odds with our core gameplay. Apex's movement is a large part of what makes our game so special so encouraging players away from that inevitably fails. We haven't given up on it though and what we've taken away from these prototypes is that it can't just be solved by one part of the game (legends, maps, weapons, etc.) and will need to be a collaborative change to breach the problem.
Q: Considering that Caustic and Wattson haven't been nerfed significantly, in addition to legends like Valkyrie and Rampart that have received quite substantial buffs, is this a sign that moving forward legend abilities are intended to have a higher overall power level than previously?
One piece of feedback that has been extremely consistent for the entire time I've been here (and likely before) is that a large number of current and potential players want our Legends to be more impactful - without invalidating gun skill. People see a game like ours with Legends and bring in a lot of expectations from other games they play. When we don't fulfill the hero fantasy, players that were looking for that gameplay can bounce off. So short answer is that yes we're looking for legends abilities to be more powerful and impactful but in a way that works for Apex.
Q: Any plans to update Crypto to be more relevant to the meta? Idea of allow him to ultimate while the drone is on his body? (Suicide ultimate?)
Crypto has been getting drip fed buffs slowly and they've helped, but never really got him all the way. In his current state, he's nearing the best possible version before we would look at larger systemic changes to his kit.
Q: Are there any legends you think could use a rework rather than buffs? Last rework was a year ago.
Yes there are several Legends we feel need reworks, and plan to do a couple next year. I've touched on our Legend selection logic in previous comments, and we plan to be more transparent about that in the coming months.
We have done a handful of reworks in the past, and each one will look slightly different based on the needs of the kit. It could be a total overhaul like Revenant, or just improving the 'feel' of an ability like the Lifeline Tactical. These take time because large, qualitative, changes to a Legends ability take a ton of time to not only execute on but to balance in a way that ensures it's actually better than the thing it's replacing.
Personally, I believe we've accrued a backlog of ability reworks on our roster, and we hope to pick up the pace in the coming year on how quickly we can hit these long-standing pain points.
Community Manager