Apex Legends Season 26 patch notes: Accolades, Legend Amps, Ranked updates, and more

Apex Legends Season 26 patch notes are here, and the latest update is a breath of fresh air. EA and Respawn Entertainment have kept a keen ear tuned to the needs of the community, and have provided some major quality-of-life updates, alongside some fantastic weapon balance changes, and a ranked overhaul.

In this article, we will explore all the new changes and additions that have been made with the Apex Legends Season 26 patch notes. Read below to know more.

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All additions made with Apex Legends Season 26 patch notes

ACCOLADES

Time to recognize players and their squadmates for all that they do during a match - not just winning. From pulling off tricky double kills to expertly blocking damage for your squad, Accolades highlight actions that often go unnoticed, uncelebrated, and untracked. They’re designed to celebrate varying playstyles and skill, and can be earned in Unranked, Ranked, Wildcard, and Mixtape with each tracking separately.

Each Accolade has up to four tiers for you to achieve as you progress, and they’ll award XP too. Post-match, the summary will show your earned Accolades and your Gladiator Card, the top three. You can earn and record multiple Accolades each day, but there’s a cap of 2200XP for these per day. Find the full list and your tracking under Account Progression, including descriptions, targets, and those you’ve earned this season, per mode, and how many times you’ve hit them.

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Check out: All Legend changes in Apex Legends S26

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CHALLENGE UPDATE

We’ve updated our challenge system to try and help you progress more consistently no matter which mode you choose. Most challenges that used to require specific modes or had dual targets now count across all modes, making it easier to play how you want and still finish your Battle Pass.

To keep time-to-completion balanced, some challenge targets have increased and we've added progression boosts to some modes. For example, “Deal 10K damage as a Skirmisher or Assault Legend” gets a 2x progress modifier in BR to match it to Mixtape’s completion time.

This is part of our long-term goal to create challenges that support a wider range of playstyles. Jump in, play your way, and get rewarded just like before.

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In case you missed it: Apex Legends Season 26: Elite Weapons and Locked Hop-Ups

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NEW REWARD FLOW

Based on your feedback around reward confusion, we’ve created a new summary to showcase your hard work and rewards without the plethora of pop-ups. You’ll now be able to see each reward (including those occasionally granted silently), how it was earned, and additional details all at once—giving you more time to celebrate those Ws.

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GAMEPLAY UPDATES

NEW: Amps

• Purple tier loot items
• Early game: fairly uncommon with a higher chance to spawn in high tier loot locations such as Care Packages, Vaults, and the Hot Zone
• After Bins Reset: all bins have a higher chance to spawn an AmpMythic, Legendary, Extended, and Weapon supply bins guarantee one
• Five Amp types:Infinite Ammo Amp: gain infinite ammo for non-care package weaponsTemporarily locks two inventory slots. These slots can hold ammo, but you cannot drop their contents.
• Bottomless Batteries Amp: Batteries are not consumed upon useMust have at least 2 Batteries in your inventory to activate
• Over Armor Amp: gain an additional 25 shield capacityStacks with Ring Expert, but cannot exceed 125 total shields
• Heal Overflow Amp: after using a cell or syringe, the corresponding health bar will fully heal over timeTaking damage stops the regeneration
• Power Booster Amp: reduces cooldown for Tac and UltRefresh a Tactical charge when knocking an enemy

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You might be interested in: All weapon buffs and nerfs in Apex Legends Season 25

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MAPS

NEW: E-District Daytime

• Lighting overhaul: now takes place during the day
• Lotus: new rotation added
• Added adjacent doorways to many shops for additional flow
• Removed some buildings and clutter to improve readability

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MAP ROTATIONS

Unranked & Ranked

• Broken Moon
• E-District
• Storm Point

Mixtape (August 5-September 15, 2025)

• TDM: Thunderdome, Fragment, Skull Town
• Control: Lava Siphon, Barometer, Production Yard
• Gun Run: Skull Town, Thunderdome, Zeus Station

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MODES

Trios & Duos (August 5-September 15, 2025)

Wildcard (August 5-18, 2025)

• Second Chance Revivals
• Legend stacking possible
• Self Revive Drop Kit
• Simplified Loot & Inventory
• Auto Looting
• EVO OrbsLevel up weapons
• Reduce respawn timers
• Grant a percentage of shield & Ult charge
• Kickstart health regen

Wildcard (September 9-15, 2025)

• Return to core Wildcard experience

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RANKED

Drop Zones Details

• Match start: Squads are randomly assigned a POI
• Pre-Legend Select: Players are presented with a map preview of Drop Zone
• After Legend Select: Players deploy via squad Dropship to assigned zone with nearby enemy POIs marked for imminent threat
• During landing: Added warning for incoming threats if an enemy squad invades Drop Zone

Heat Shields

• Heat Shields are disabled in Ranked

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Also read a detailed brief on: Ranked changes in Apex Legends S26: New Drop Zones, KP adjustment, Entry Point changes, and more

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QUALITY OF LIFE

• Bots: Improvements to behavior
• Lifeline: Updated Halo’s enemy coloring to help differentiate against the ring
• Newcastle: Ult can now be targeted and placed over Alter’s Tac portals
• Replicator: Updated color and associated assets to blue (was purple)
• Vantage: Scanning an enemy will no longer show shield information if enemy’s eliminated. Previously, dead enemies would show if banner was active. (Previous Hotfix)
• Wattson: Electrified doors no longer end if the fence placer dies or disconnects
• Updates and tuning to some VFX, primarily on 1P Impact FX revolving around Armor and Flesh Impacts
• Armor: 90% less smoke, 40% less debris

AUDIO

• Reduced occlusion of roof footsteps for clarity and consistency
• Skydiving audio will be quieter in intended in certain situations
• Mic monitor in audio settings now displays for solo players in lobby

GRAPHICS

• New tonemapping for a more natural appearance of highlights with very bright colors
• VFX: More consistent brightness regardless of in-game auto exposure, preventing extreme brightness in dark areas

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That's everything that you need to know about the Apex Legends Season 26 patch notes.

If this article was to your liking, you can also check out:

• Apex Legends S26 confirms arrival of Legend Amps
• Apex Legends S26 might disable aim assist, but there's a catch
• Revenant's pick rate surges after latest Apex Legends update: Everything we know

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Edited by Jay Sarma