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Apex Legends Season 17 launches on May 9, later this year, heralding a new chapter in EA's highly successful first-person shooter battle royale game. Along with the debut of a brand new Legend called Ballistic, Season 17 "Arsenal" will also introduce plenty of balancing changes for the newly-reworked Legend classes and fan-favorite Legends.
Season 17 will feature tons of new in-game content for Apex Legends. This includes a massive overhaul to the Firing Range, a map rework to World's Edge with all-new POIs, all-new Weapon Mastery challenges with exclusive rewards, a revamped Ranked system, and more.
Apex Legends Season 17 Arsenal patch notes reveal major buffs to the Support class, changes to Catalyst's ultimate, Mirage buff, and lots more
As the commencement of Season 17 in Apex Legends draws near, the official patch notes for the upcoming season were released to the public. This expectably excited fans with everything they should look forward to when the seasonal update gets released.
The patch notes featured the new content and gameplay changes incoming with Season 17 Arsenal. It also highlighted the game adjustments, such as weapon and Legend balancing, loot changes, bug fixes, quality-of-life updates, and more.
The Legend changes that will be introduced with Arsenal will be the first of many that aim to align characters with their newly assigned classes in Season 16. It will also make overall improvements to the classes to make them a more viable pick.
Without further ado, let us take a more in-depth look at the specific Legend balancing that will be implemented when Season 17 goes live on May 9, 2023:
Catalyst
Dark Veil (Ultimate Ability)
- Scan Highlights & Diamonds are no longer visible through the Dark Veil
Catalyst debuted with the Season 15 Eclipse update, bringing her mystical yet lethal demeanor to Apex Legends. Able to control a special form of ferrofluid, she is a defensive conjurer that can lock areas and provide the necessary cover for you and your teammates in times of need.
The Season 17 nerf will make her more defensive by obscuring any highlights, diamonds of Legends marked through abilities, or ultimates when present on the other side of her ferrofluid wall known as the Dark Veil.
Mirage
Legend Class
- Class changed from Skirmisher to Support
Mirage has been a fan favorite of the community. This is mainly because of his ability to fool, or more popularly "bamboozle," his opponents and his comedic and quirky nature.
While originally assigned the Skirmisher Legend class in Season 16, Mirage's playstyle of being an escape artist didn't necessarily benefit the team composition. With Season 17, Mirage will be able to craft respawn banners and unlock blue loot bins as part of the Support Class. This will be helpful to his teammates.
Ash
Arc Snare (tactical ability)
- Now gets slowed to weapon sprint speed instead of weapon walk speed when targeting with her tac
No one wishes to get on the bad side of Ash, and they will find plenty more reasons not to. This incisive instigator is known to show no mercy and will take any means necessary to meet her demands.
With the Season 17 update, Ash will receive a small tactical buff. This will remove the movement penalty when walking with her snare equipped and instead apply the penalty to her sprint speed.
Legend Class: Assault
Upcoming Changes:
- Smart loot gains have been adjusted to reduce skipping an upgrade tier (It will now be less likely to jump from White to Purple or Blue to Gold)
- Optics are now given based on team rather than just Assault Legend, who opens them
- Added special drop rate for Gold Optics
The Assault Class has proven to be one of the strongest Legend Classes after the rework. The introduction of the red 'Smart' loot bins enabled them to aid their team significantly by unlocking upgraded weapon attachments.
The Season 17 update will now feature multiple updates to the Smart loot bins that will make sure that teams with an Assault Legend won't necessarily have an unfair advantage.
Legend Class: Skirmisher
Upcoming Changes:
- Care packages are now automatically pinged for the team on reveal (This includes empty Care Packages that have already been looted by another team)
While being assigned to Legends that master mobility and aid team retreat from sticky situations, the Skirmishers class also comes with a passive ability that allows them to scan Care Packages and reveal the exotic loot.
With Season 17, this ability will be subject to a buff by automatically marking Care Packages for the entire team upon reveal.
Legend Class: Support
Support Class
- Support Bins will now guarantee at least one Battery in one of the Secret Compartment slots
- Support Bins will now award MRBs if your ally is dead, even if you don’t have their banner card.
- Legend Banners can now be crafted by ANY player who has a Support Class Legend in their Squad
The support class will be subjected to a massive buff with the newly updated blue 'Support' loot bins that will now guarantee at least one Shield Battery. It will also allow any teammate to craft Legend banners from Replicators, as long as their team consists of a Support Class Legend.
These changes would significantly help the competitive scene of Apex Legends. It will, without a doubt, also lead to a surge in the pick rate of Support Legends, including the newly-assigned Mirage.
Apex Legends Season 17 Arsenal will go live on PC (via Steam and the EA App), PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, and Nintendo Switch.
