Apex Legends patch buffs Caustic and Bangalore

Respawn Entertainment has released its latest patch notes detailing everything being added to the battle royale game ahead of the 26th season, Showdown, with legend buffs being a key highlight.

Two playable legends will receive significant changes to their kit to make them more competitively viable against some of the best Season 25 characters, such as Ash, Alter and more. Here is everything you need to know about the upcoming balance changes and how they will impact the esports scene.

Fans have been demanding that Caustic receive a rework or buff for some time, and their prayers have been answered ahead of the new season.

Various buffs have been given to his tactical ability, Nox Gas Trap. It will now deal increased damage, have more health, a wider radius and last longer. In addition, it can ground enemies, draining movement ability cooldowns.

His Ultimate, Nox Gas Grenade, will also see reduced cooldown and toss time, plus increased projectile speed and duration. However, his abilities can now be disrupted by ordnance and abilities for five seconds.

He will also see a new passive, with Nox Vision integrated into the base kit and replaced by Field Research. This will allow him to gain research points from poisoning opponents, scanning ring consoles, and opening unique death boxes, to spend on perks. The new passive also means he is uniquely able to have all four upgrades unlocked at once.

Caustic will also receive new upgrades in this patch. The level two Parabolic Force and Residual Toxins perks have been added to the base kit. They will be replaced by Breathe It In, which moves down a level, and Extra Traps, which gives one extra charge and allows for two additional active traps in the world.

Level three will see the new upgrade Gas Fighter, which allows his tactical to recharge 300% faster while in gas.

In the blog post, Respawn shared that it aimed to Buff Bangalore into more of a ‘flex pick’ by giving extra power and versatility to her kit to keep up with characters such as the recent addition, Sparrow.

She can now move 5% faster with her passive, Double Time. Her tactical, Smoke Launcher, moves faster, activates quicker, and has a reduced cooldown. Her ultimate can also be used more frequently and has reduced animation frames to fire projectiles.

Her upgrades have also seen some key changes. Level two sees both the Ultimate Cooldown+ and Tactical Cooldown removed. Now, Cover Me and Refuge have combined into a single upgrade and have been moved down a level. Furthermore, a new upgrade has been added called Electric Smoke, which allows the tac to deal 100 damage to enemy ultimates and tacticals.

Level three sees new upgrades; ECM payload electrifies her ultimate to deal 10 more damage and destroys deployables, while Medal of Honor gives faster revives and activates passive when running towards knocked allies.

In the official post, Respawn Entertainment added: “We’ve updated her upgrades to give her more choices and be a stronger balancing force overall. Similar to how other Controllers are set to answer highly mobile Legends, Bangalore can now be the one to tackle slower, more defensive metas.”

The latest balance changes will no doubt affect the esports scene, as these changes could encourage professional players to diversify their choice of Legends.

The Bangalore buff is noteworthy as she saw a lot of play in many squads during the Apex Legends Global Series 9ALGS) Mid-Season Playoffs in the Esports World Cup. The winning team, VK Gaming, saw Cai ‘Kassa’ Denglang use Bangalore throughout the series, including match nine during the Finals.

Caustic also saw a fair amount of play, notably used by Ninjas In Pyjamas player Cole ‘McLovin’ Wilson in match seven, 100 Thieves Noyan ‘Genburten’ Ozkose in match eight and Wolves Esports’ Wang ‘CrazyCong’ Yao during matches eight and nine in the Finals.

Players are also likely to see these changes take effect in the upcoming second split for ALGS 2025, in Pro League, across all four regions starting August 31st. However, with other alterations coming to the esports scene, such as map pool changes, and other additions detailed in the blog post, such as loot pool rotations, only time will tell how effective these Legends will be in the future.