Apex Legends Update 1.69 Patch Notes Explained

Apex Legends Update 1.69 dropped this week and players are already feeling the changes.

Players are already a few weeks into Season 9: Legacy and seem to be enjoying both the new Legend, Valkyrie, and new game mode, Arenas. So much so, in fact, that all the playtesting has resulted in a few tweaks to both. Update 1.69 dropped on Monday, May 24, at 1 p.m. ET, and included several major topics that could affect players heading out into the field.

We've broken these down for you below.

Apex Legends Update 1.69 Patch Notes

At the very top of the list—both figuratively and literally—is the return of Wattson's fence's slow effect. This has been a highly requested fix, allowing Wattson to once again have a bit more crowd control in her kit. It's unclear whether this is a permanent decision or if Respawn will be monitoring the results for further action.

Respawn has also decided to temporarily boost Survival XP in Arenas to counteract the buying phase not being taken into consideration.

Valkyrie

Valkyrie players may notice a brief "input delay" when activating their ultimate abilities. This is intended, as Respawn noticed several instances of calling on the ability by accident and immediately cancelling it. To this end, they've also fixed an issue where her ultimate was prompted by using a jump pad.

Respawn have also fixed Valkyrie's exploit in the firing range and reinstated her availability in the mode.

Arenas

The biggest change here is the addition of a penalty if or when players leave an Arena match early--similar to how it's applied in Ranked BR. Upon electing to leave, a warning will be displayed explaining the repercussions. Players who leave a full squad will be punished accordingly.

Otherwise, the tweaks are mostly fixes for exploits and bugs. Players will no longer be able to unlock upgrades they don't deserve and shifted the hop-up upgrades for the Bochek bow to Shattercaps on level two and Deadeye's Tempo on level three.

Loot Distribution

A change has been made to how the game handles loot spawning. Players should now be able to find more backpacks lying around in the field as opposed to exclusively inside loot bins. Level two Evo armor has also received a spawn rate boost.

Players should keep their eyes open for further meddling with Wattson's kit and the Arena going forward.